Random Gruesome Facts You Need To Know About Toxic Shock Syndrome That May Save Your Life (16 items)

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  (#2) TSS Wiped A Woman's Memory

  In 2011, a woman from Wales reportedly ended up in an induced coma, and reportedly TSS was to blame. She also lost her memory. Four years afterward, her memory had still improved only slightly. Considering that she originally couldn't walk, talk, or feed herself in the immediate aftermath, it's practically a miracle that she recovered at all. 

  The woman originally thought she had the flu, but when she soon became unable to even walk or communicate, she went to the emergency room where the staff ran CT scans. The woman had an ovarian cyst, and emergency surgery quickly removed not only the cyst and her ovary but also her fallopian tube. Doctors at the time suspected the problem developed because she had been using the highest absorbency tampons throughout her entire menstrual cycle. 
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  (#13) We Don't Really Know The Long-Term Effects

  Due to the rarity (and severity) of TSS, we don't know what effects it has long-term, if any. If it's found early enough, most are able to fully recover. However, if you've had TSS once, you're at risk to get it again - your body still harbors the bacteria that caused it in the first place, and you don't magically become immune. For example, the condition can sometimes pop up again after you've delivered a baby.

  The long-term effects that we know of are mostly one-offs; a few women have had memory loss, but that doesn't mean that all who get TSS will lose their memories.
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  (#6) Things Go Downhill Very Quickly If You Get TSS

  If you think you have the symptoms of TSS, you need to move quickly, and it's better safe than sorry. It's much like having a bad flu, with a high temperature over 102 degrees, vomiting, rash, lightheadedness, dizziness, or confusion. Other symptoms include low blood pressure, decreased urination, bruising, and difficulty breathing.

  If you're having symptoms all over your body, that's a sign that you need to get to a hospital ASAP. 
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  (#3) A Model Had Her Legs Amputated

  Lauren Wasser, a 24-year-old model living in Los Angeles, fell ill quickly - despite using tampons responsibly and changing them frequently. In 2012, she ended up at the hospital with a fever of 107 degrees after having a heart attack. Like others who have suffered from this sudden illness, she was put in a medically induced coma. When she woke, she had developed gangrene as blood was no longer flowing to her legs. When they tested the tampon she had in when she arrived at the hospital, analysis revealed TSS. She has since described the experience as the most excruciating pain you could ever imagine. 

  The infection turned into gangrene and Lauren ended up losing her right leg below the knee. In 2018, due to lingering complications, she had the left leg amputated as well.
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  (#1) The Most Famous Person To Die From It Was A Man

  Jim Henson, creator of the beloved Muppets, passed at age 54 of toxic shock syndrome. Clearly, Henson wasn't using tampons, but he did have the Streptococcus pyogenes germ (the same germ that causes strep throat). Henson appeared for the last time with Kermit on May 4, 1990. On May 15 of that year, he told his wife he felt awful and eventually went to the hospital. On May 16, he succumbed to pneumonia, a direct result of what TSS had done to his immune system.

  Though the doctors gave him antibiotics, the toxins had already damaged many of his organs. 
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  (#5) Tampons Have To Be Approved By The FDA

  In 1982, Proctor & Gamble was found negligent in a court case - and 400 more trials followed. Today, tampons are considered an "intermediate risk" device and must be approved by the FDA, hence the small-print warning on all the boxes.

  What was Proctor & Gamble's defense in that 1982 trial? That the woman had the flu. 

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