Does anyone actually know someone who had Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS)?
In 1980, I worked in an emergency room and we actually did have a young woman who developed toxic shock due to her tampon use. Since then, I’ve not encountered one single solitary case. At that time, there was a spike in the numbers, which was associated with a particular brand using superabsorbant material intstead of the old standby cellulose or cotton. When they were removed from the market, the rate associated with menstruating women dropped down radically. I believe the last stats showed less than 8 women in the US, and those cases were not necessarily associated with the tampon either- although they were menstruating at the time of diagnosis. You are quite safe dear. Tampons ideally would not be worn for more than 8 hours, but if you weren’t sick before, you should be just fine. Millions of women all over the world do exactly the same thing, and are all alive to tell the tale. The whole toxic shock thing has been overblown, and it’s not helped a lot by those scary inserts in the
