14-Year-Old Girl Almost Dies From Wearing A Tampon Overnight

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A teenager almost died after developing toxic shock syndrome (TSS) from using tampons.

14-year-old Molly Pawlett, from Daventry, Northamptonshire in the UK assumed that she just had a sickness bug when she woke up on April 10 feeling unwell.

A rash started to spread over her entire body and her quick thinking Mom urged her to remove the tampon she was wearing and immediately rushed her to the hospital.

Her organs had already starting to shut down, triggering sepsis. Sepsis strikes when an infection sparks a violent immune response in which the body attacks its own organs.

The student was placed in intensive care and was finally diagnosed with TSS which is a rare condition associated with using a tampon for too long.

She has now been recovering at home, but her mother, Sonia, 39, now wants to warn other parents of the symptoms of the deadly illness.

Sonia said: ‘At first I assumed Molly had a bug, but for some reason, I had strange feeling it was something more serious. That’s when I asked Molly if she was wearing a tampon, which she was. She removed it straight away, but by this point she had been wearing it for 10 hours and it was already too late. Because I acted so quickly, and she removed the tampon when she did, she was one of the lucky ones. If we hadn’t of taken her to the hospital when we did then it could have been fatal.’

Molly first developed a sore mouth and red tongue, which are two key warnings signs of TSS.

It is caused by bacteria getting into the body and releasing harmful toxins.

Tampons can increase your risk of developing TSS especially if you leave them in for longer than recommended. Her kidneys then started to fail and her body went into toxic shock, forcing her to be monitored every 30 minutes and given drugs to stabilize her condition.

Her doctor admitted that this was the first case she had treated before, but Ms. Pawlett said that she ‘saved her life’.

Sonia added: “I had told her not to wear a tampon overnight but of course, being 14 she thought she knew better. After five days in hospital we were finally able to take Molly home where she is now recovering.I am so proud of her, it has been a really difficult time but she has been incredibly brave throughout the past couple of weeks.A lot of the mothers I met at the hospital had heard of toxic shock but weren’t aware of any of the symptoms which is really dangerous. Hopefully by sharing her story we will be able to warn others to always get a second opinion.”

Molly said: ‘I never thought this would happen to me, I usually wear a tampon and so do my friends at school, so I was completely shocked and didn’t think I was doing anything wrong. At first I thought it was just a bug, but when I didn’t start to feel better I got really worried especially when I was taken to hospital. I really want to encourage other girls not to leave tampons in for longer than eight hours, thankfully I pulled through but others might not be as lucky.’