A mother of three is warning other women about the dangers of leaving your tampon in for too long. The mom was on her period during her friend’s wedding, and used a tampon, as she normally does. Due to the festivities, the woman didn’t change her tampon for eight hours. Days later, she began feeling ill, and took herself to the hospital.
It turns out that as a result of not changing her tampon, she had developed toxic shock syndrome, almost dying. After spending five days in the ICU, she is sharing her story to keep other women from suffering the same fate.
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She began feeling ill, and took herself to the hospital.
Ashley DeSkeere woke up two days after her friend’s wedding suffering from “major chills” and vomiting every half hour. She assumed that she had gotten food poisoning from the wedding, but what she was dealing with was much worse.
After her blood pressure dropped and she began having trouble breathing, she went to the hospital where doctors discovered she had developed toxic shock syndrome from a tampon, she explained to the Daily Mail. She told the doctors that she hadn’t changed her tampon for eight hours while at the wedding.
Normally, DeSkeere is diligent about changing her tampons.
“I typically change them every four hours and in the night,” she shared. “For something like this to happen to me, eight hours doesn’t seem enough.”
Even though it wasn’t her normal habit, it was enough to give her TSS. “I was very scared,” she said. She added, “I said to my husband that I thought I was dying. I have never felt so awful in my entire life.”
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If she had waited any longer, she probably wouldn't have survived.
DeSkeere told the outlet, “Multiple doctors told me I was very lucky that I was able to make it to the hospital as most people die after two days [with this], and I was on day two-and-a-half.”
“I was told that I came in at the right time because if I came in any later they may not have been able to do anything for me.” She also shared that TSS is “one of those things that you don’t think is going to happen to you and you don’t hear about it as much these days.”
This has absolutely changed her life.
Once doctors diagnosed her with toxic shock syndrome, she spent five days in the ICU receiving treatment. Doctors gave DeSkeere antibiotics, fluids, and other medications to stabilize her blood pressure during her time in the hospital.
“I will never use a tampon again,” she said. “This absolutely terrified me and I cannot believe it happened and there is no way I would do it.”
She has a warning for other women who use tampons.
DeSkeere admitted that she has had a “rough recovery,” saying it has been “harder than I thought it would be but every day I’m getting better and better.”
“To people that do want to use tampons, my advice is to just change them very frequently. My advice would be to change your tampon every time you go to the bathroom and to never wear one that is a higher absorbency than you need,” she warned.
Family friends have set up a GoFundMe for the DeSkeere family to help them recover from the ordeal.
*Disclaimer: The advice on CafeMom.com is not a substitute for consultation with a medical professional or treatment for a specific condition. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem without consulting a qualified professional. Please contact your health-care provider with questions and concerns.
