https://twitter.com/WorldHealthNews/status/702557272350728192
Emily Pankhurst is lucky to be alive after she failed to remove her tampon for nine days.
The 20-year-old English college student attributed her symptoms of toxic shock syndrome to stress leading up to her final exams. “I blamed deadlines…Actually I was seriously ill,” she told the Press Association via BuzzFeed. It wasn’t until Emily noticed she had a bloated stomach and bloody discharge that she found the forgotten tampon.
“When I finally realized 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.”
Yikes. She was then rushed to Maidstone Hospital after she became faint and her speech slurred. Emily spent three days in intensive care and temporarily lost her mobility.
“The doctors asked me when I had last been to the toilet and I couldn’t remember. I was stressed about my exams and really wanted to do well on my degree. It didn’t register,” she said.
Emily was able to make a full recovery, to which she credits her mother: “Mum knew it was something more and pushed me to feel better. She saved me life.”
Hopefully, her cautionary tale can help prevent future cases of TSS.
SOURCE: BuzzFeed | PHOTO CREDIT: Twitter
