Student suffers deadly ‘toxic shock’ syndrome after leaving tampon in for 9 days

A Student was left in intensive care after suffering deadly ‘toxic shock’ syndrome after leaving a tampon in for 9 days. Emily Pankhurst,20, was in intensive care for three days after forgetting to remove a tampon due to the stress of her exams. 

Speaking to the Mirror Emily revealed she was still unable to walk far and has not been able to return to university saying: “When I finally realised the tampon was in me and I pulled it out it was pure black. It was obviously coated in bacteria. I wouldn’t have known what it was apart from the string. It was horrible. I immediately chucked it in the loo, I felt sick. But just half-an-hour later my speech slurred and my skin became mottled. I started to feel faint and I was rushed to hospital by ambulance. I know now that was the poison entering my blood stream.”

She revealed that she had been so stressed during her exams she had accidently inserted another tampon instead of removing the other. So when she removed one she forgot to remove the first. After a few days she began to suffer bloody discharge and a bloated stomach. Nothing showed up in tests and after eventually discovering the tampon after nine days she removed it but immediately began to feel worse. 

She was rushed to hospital and immediately she was placed in intensive care. Doctors told her if she had left it any longer she would have died. She added: “It’s amazing a tampon could have such an impact.I will never ever wear a tampon again. Through research I have found that sepsis is not so common in cases such as mine. However, girls my age are not aware of the dangers of using tampons.”