OMG A Forgotten Tampon

I went to planned parenthood a few years back. (too embarrased to go to gyn) I thought i had left one up there. Luckily i had taken it out and not remembered. The dr there was so nice. She told me she sees more patients with this issue then you could imagine. You are not alone :) I would take a nice hot bath and try to relax.

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I knew someone that 'lost' one for an entire month... She didn't get TSS. You'd be showing a lot more symptoms by now I think.

It's not unheard of.

And for those that can't understand how this happens... Women, just like men, are of all different sizes. (and no... I don't mean the 'hole' size)

Oh Hon, been there, done that...take a hot bath and add about a cup of white vinegar to the water. Vinegar provides a natural Ph to the water, so is a great restorer of vaginal health. This will clear up the smell.... Remember your vagina is a self cleaning oven. So keep it dry and aired out until the smell improves :)

EDIT - and Nicole below- absolutely NO DOUCHING. Not good for the self cleaning oven. EVERY OB/GYN will tell you that.

I shouldn't laugh... but I've been there and done that TWICE in 20 years. Once for over a week, the other I forget, but it was awhile. As in long enough I was having sex and neither of us noticed. Ewww ewww ewww, gross, icky, gross. I've also gotten fairly compulsive about "checking" at the end of each period now.

And if it makes you feel better, I know from working in a women's clinics LOTS (hundreds of women just from our clinic alone) have done this. (Made ME feel better at least). And talking with nurses (who notoriously have NO shame), most of them have done it at least once.

It happens. As long as you don't develop a fever, and the smell goes away over the next 48 hours, you'll be fine.

One of my sisters has a phrase I'm going to borrow:

"Nothing injured but my pride."

DO NOT DOUCHE, if you have an infection you will push the infection furthur up and cause more issues, let nature take it's course.

TSS is VERY rare. you are fine. Your pelvic reagion is aching from trauma, it will be fine. Take a warm bath and relax. If you need to see your OBGYN just to check you out to reasure you.

(((HUGS)))

Let me preface my response by saying that I'm SURE you're fine.

That said, I am LMAO. Not at you... just because I could SOOO imagine myself in your situation. I have often wondered if I took that 'last' tampon out. And I have to say that you are cracking me up with your "shoving your fingers up there" description... you'll be ok... really...

Relax. You'll be fine. :)

For future reference you might want to switch to a Diva or Moon cup - no risk of TSS and you can safely leave them in much longer than a tampon.

I haven't done it personally, probably because my mom told be about a time she left one in, but it was discovered by her dr at her annual exam! She was mortified! Ever since that story I have been so vigilant about remembering. I would just continue to monitor for signs, I do think it is unlikely that you will get TSS, the rate is only about 3-4/100,000 menstruating females, and while serious, is not a death sentence. Even at its highest incidence (1980) only 4% of women that were diagnosed with tampon-related TSS died. Since you are on the lookout for symptoms and would obviously be seeking immediate treatment, you will be fine.
As the office has already advised, I would definitely see your dr if the odor continues. But DO NOT douche to try to get rid of the odor. It could cover up an actual infection, or even set you up for an infection by altering your normal flora (healthy bacteria and other organisms that keep the vagina in balance). Just let nature take care of it, and if it is too much for nature to handle see your dr.
At least you know you will never have to go through this again. I am sure you will never forget again. Good luck.

Unfortunately this happened to me about a month ago and I'm fine! I honestly didn't even think about anything serious resulting from it either. I, like yourself, had a horrible odor one day and upon further 'investigation' I discovered a forgotten tampon. I was pretty grossed out and after a soak in the bubble bath all was back to normal. That horrible, nasty odor was gone. If I were you I'd stop searching the internet (I've done that to myself on different medical issues and it will literally drive you crazy) and take a nice, warm, relaxing bath and I'm sure you'll feel much better!

I had left one in before and I can't tell you how long it was. It was during a time that I was going through a lot of stuff emotionally and I had forgotten about it. Didn't find out about it until I had gone into the doctors for my yearly checkup. How embarrassing that was! I must have had it in for at least a couple of weeks. Didn't have any discomfort or anything that I can remember which is strange. I didn't develop TSS or any other type of infections from it so I guess I got lucky. I don't have any information to share concerning TSS but I just wanted to let you know that you aren't the only that's done that. Just try to stay calm. Just keep an eye out for any symptoms and contact your OB again if necessary. You are definitely not the only one who has done this!

I don't think you have TSS however, I would be concerned that BV has set in causing the smell etc. A piece of tampon broke off that I didn't know about and low and behold I had to go for similar symptoms and the doctor discovered it. In that case you would need to use a cream similar to those for yeast infection. Keep checking for smell and watery discharge. If it seems to disapear I would wouldn't worry. Wash with non scented soap as to not cause irritation.

I haven't forgotten one that long, but I have forgotten them. I actually plan to try the moon/diva cups when my period comes back. If you weren't having symptoms before you found it, it is probably all the worry. If you are that concerned, you can just make an appointment with your GYN and feel better sooner.

From what I understand, TSS from tampons is SO RARE, that it's almost non-existent. If I were you I would take a hot relaxing bath, that has the added benefit of soaking your vaginal area for a while to help restore the pH. I'm sure you will be fine!

I'm going to ditto the others here.

I'm sure you're fine. I've known of that happening and TSS is rare.

Do not douche.

I can hear your stress from reading your post though. IMO take a bath with vinegar as suggested below, but I would also pour myself a glass of wine. That always helps me relax =-)

Please take a moment and calm down (I know easier said than done). 1st TSS is relatively rare,.. and 2nd you said you have no symptoms so have a cup of tea relax (I know again easier said than done). Did your doctor reccomend a vinegar douche for cleaning? That should help get rid of odor. And last try to relax, because it is out of your hands... so don't make yourself sick for real worrying about it.

And um not quite that long but I have forgotten I had one; only for about 15 hours though...

I will say a prayer for you... and please try to relax :)

I'm sorry but HOW can you possibly forget you had a tampon in there??? Is it the kind w/o a string? I'd use the string kind from now on, that way, when you wipe you can see 'oh there's a tampon in there' b/c I too had been SOOOO tired that I forgot abt it but when I wnt to pee, I wiped & said "what the heck is that...oh, it's a tampon" but for me, it hadn't been in all that long so I wouldn't worry abt it b/c if you had TSS & believe me, I used to get those symptoms EVERY time & I wasn't using tampons back then (it quit happening once I started using them, actually..very strange) but if you read abt it, it causes cold sweats, diarrea, nausea, dizzyness or the feeling that you're going to black out, even vomiting & 'the shakes' on top of that so if you hadn't gotten any of those, I'd say you'll be okay, just try to keep up w/your tampons going forward & let this be a learning experience to make sure to at least mark it on a calendar. :) As far as the smell, try a douche & see if that helps. good luck!

K I had to laugh a little at this too. Only cause I did the same thing once. I remember thinking how long has this been up there? LOL Like it must have been a few days...gross right? Anyways i just took it out and took a shower to clean myself out really good. But I just used soap and water and nothing harsher. I did worry at first about TSS but then I realized like your doc said if I had it then I would be getting sick already. So I was fine. I did have a friend that would always put in two tampons when she was on her period. I know that is crazy and I always told her not to do that but she said she bled so bad the first few days of her period that it was the only way to keep it under control. So after years of her doing this she did get TSS but lucky she was home when it happened and was rushed to the hospital and she is fine now. So i really think you are fine. Try not to worry.

I just want to thank all of you for your supportive answers to this question. This just happened to me and I thought I had BV or worse. I felt really stupid for not knowing that it was a tampon and reading your answers made me feel a lot better. Thanks moms!

My cousin/best friend had TSS when we were younger (in high school)...I'm pretty sure if you had it, you would know. She said the pain from the cramping was worse than childbirth. She actually collapsed in the middle of the grocery store and couldn't move. The internet is wrong in saying that the signs show and 2 hours later you're dead...she had it for a couple of days (which is probably why the cramping was so bad) and she is still here with us and she now has a very healthy 2 year old boy!

i remember hearing about a girl that got tss because she left one there for 2 weeks!!! i would say definately get it checked if you start having fever's, or if smell dont' go away after 48 hours, maybe try douching? dunno, never been there

I would try douching and see if the smell goes away. If your abdominal cramping doesn't ease up by the end of the day, I'd definitely get checked out asap. Even if you don't have a fever or vomiting. Just to be safe.

I'm sure things are fine. I was having so many issues with tampons that I did a lot of research on menstrual cups (diva, moon cup, etc) and settled on a Lunette cup. I LOVE it and will never, ever go back to tampons or pads. If you forget it, it's not a big deal at all. You'll probably have an odor, similar to the tampons, but there's NO RISK of any disease at all. I've left mine in on purpose for over 12 hours and have had no problem. I'd highly recommend it. Changed the way I felt about my period completely! Whatever is going on now, I don't even think about getting it- beach, overnights, etc.

I left one in for three weeks. It shot out of me one day while I was sitting at my desk at work. Other than being embarrassed, I was fine. No TSS. OB said it's rare these days. Hang in there & try not to fret!

Haven't done that..yet, but have worried about doing it! I switched to Diva Cup and love it!!! You can leave it in much longer than tampons. You still need to remove it before it is full or it will spill over but so much better than tampons.