"For a while there in the ‘90s it felt like every teen-girl magazine was required to publish at least one (terrifying) it-happened-to-me toxic shock syndrome story per year.
“I left a tampon in for eight hours and almost died.”
“My friend looked at a tampon once and died from TSS.” Maybe these tales were leftovers from the TSS epidemic in the late 1970s, or maybe editors tracked down new cases from actual teens.
I can only assume that the intent was to make young girls aware of the dangers of toxic shock syndrome.
Mission accomplished.
Now, TSS is back in the news because a model—who lost her leg to the disease in 2012—is on an awareness campaign to teach young girls about the dangers of tampons.
...Every woman I know heard these tales as a kid and had one takeaway: we were all definitely going to get TSS if we left a tampon in for even a minute longer than the prescribed eight hours.
In 9th grade I accidentally left one in for 12 hours and genuinely thought I’d narrowly escaped death.
But it turns out almost everything that I and other girls my age believed about TSS is flat-out wrong.
Let’s clear up a few misconceptions, starting with the basics..."
Read on!
