Toxic Shock Syndrome: Way Beyond Tampons 

I had TSS in 1986 when I was 16. I thought I was dying. Like the video said, it came on out of nowhere to me having a temp of 105, throwing up and my entire body hurt. I would scream if you barely touched me... I was the first diagnosed case in my city/county and it took a couple of days to even diagnose. At first it was even misdiagnosed with my parents being told I had the flu then mono b4 finally being told I had TSS. I was unconscious for over 24 hours after being admitted to the hospital & was there for 10 days. I never wore another tampon again even though I changed every 3-4 hrs and never slept with one. Thanks for the video because it is really not discussed as much as it should be since it can kill you if left untreated.

tbh the fact that a guy is sharing these facts and ain’t uncomfortable is 👌👌👌

A male speaking for SciShow and talking about menstruation? Hell yes. Thank you, SciShow! For showing not every man has to get uncomfortable or disgusted when talking about it.

Thanks for sharing the news that it's not just a "girl" or "period" problem!

... DAYS?

The thought of getting TSS is why I have never tried tampons and why I likely never will. A little convenience is not worth dying horribly if I insert it wrong, get a scratch in my vagina, leave it too long, or just get really unlucky. I first read about it in The Care and Keeping of You at the age of 8 and it freaked me right out. They didn’t even go into detail but I knew what words like “bacteria”, “infection”, “toxic” and “die” meant thank you very much.

Well, there's my anxiety trigger for the day.

I actually had TSS back in 2006 and at the time none of the doctors treating me could even figure out what it was there were so few cases. It took a misdiagnosis of scarlet fever to get me the antibiotics to even start to improve. It flared up again a month later and it was only my mother that noticed both times I came down with it in the middle of my period. The ER doctor told her she was wrong and I didn’t have all the symptoms. Good thing I didn’t since the last symptom I didn’t have was death... later on I was tested for antibodies and they discovered I had none for it. I’m a rare unicorn by medical standards...

This would always scare me when I wore tampons.

I know it's not the point of the video but thank you for having a male scientist giving this female-oriented information and not thinking it's uncomfortable or inappropriate, this is the progress we are looking for :)

When you talked about the small scratches I cringed so hard 😳😳

Thank you for educating me SciShow!! I thought Toxic Shock Syndrome was from eating under-cooked electric eel.

Thanks for the comforting part near the end. I needed that deep breath because even though I don't where tampons, my health anxiety was rising rapidly.

Stefan did an awesome job of being the perfect educator: straight, informative data without acting as if it were in some way 'cringy' for a man to use words like 'tampon.'

I learn something from every one of your videos. I'm always glad to see my notifications for your videos pop up. You guys do a great job.

The title sounds like a rather strange horror movie.

Okay, I was a young woman in the 80s. My coworker's sister was suddenly hospitalized with high fever, etc. She was in a coma briefly, but recovered fully. Later that year, TSS was first described by doctors. Neither she nor anyone I knew regularly left tampons in for days or weeks. You might forget your last one of the cycle for a few hours longer, but it's not likely that legions of women were leaving them in for days at a time. It was last century, but we did understand hygiene.

Eh, I rarely use tampons anyways. I mainly just use pads.

I've seen a few comments about this, and I want to mention my experience. TSS can happen in women without tampon use. (Tampons increase risk) I had TSS from a skin infection several years ago in 8th grade. There was a big staph outbreak in my area and a lot of schools were actually closing and keeping kids home! I had severe eczema all over, so essentially an open wound that didn't really occur to me or anyone as a problem. It was just part of life. I went to school since it was the last day before Xmas break. Felt fine. But when I got home I was miserable. I'd had skin infections before. Many caused that clear (sometimes yellow) lymph fluid to come off my skin. And that happened quickly. I wasn't too concerned since my skin did that all the time. But then I got a fever. My eczema/rash/infection got worse. And when my mom realized I was severely dehydrated she called EMTs. I did NOT get TSS from a tampon. Like the video says, it can be from a cut. My situation was the perfect weird and a freak thing!! Absolutely be careful~ but don't frighten yourself. They kept me in the hospital, there was a special protocol for not spreading the bacteria outside my room, and I survived!! :)

Watching this while having a tampon in... hm.

In seventh grade I thought I had TSS because I got really sick the first time I used tampons. It was probably just a regular virus from swimming in some really gross tide pools, but I thought I was gonna die.

I’ve always wondered what else can cause it besides tampons, that’s the only thing you ever really see with toxic shock syndrome warnings

Guess I’m starting my monthly “watches period videos while on period.” Seriously. This is getting ridiculous. Literally every month, at the perfect time, one of the channels I’m subscribed to posts a video related to menstruation. Creepy.

Preventing TSS as a man seems difficult. How am I supposed to use a tampon correctly?

I had it. With both Staph and Strep at the same time infecting a lymph knot in my armpit. I survived it, but it took me two years to recover, since every time I stopped the antibiotics, I'd get another illness from that. Thanks for this video, it's so hard to get reliable info!

I may have lost a friend to this. Her death is officially unexplained, but it's a leading possibility. Her organs just started failing one day. By the time they realised what was happening it was too late. She was 19.

I've had this when I was 15 due to an boil infection. And after months of not doing anything I decided to finally get some help. I took medicine that had Sulfate, and Bactrum which only made it worst. Finally one day after taking a cold shower I came out red and swollen. I was so dehydrated that when i went to the local ER, they couldn't even find my veins in my arms , they had to put the needle (with meds) near my groin area. When I was finally transported to the texas children's hospital I had (i think, this was a long time ago) a heart rate of near 160 and a blood pressure of 180/90ish. It is truly a horrible disease as it will poison you from the inside. I was in the ER with needles in my veins for a week. In case you're wondering the boil was formed from a cut I got at a water park.

Ba Dum TSS!!! * dies *

Had a junior high friend die from this, from tampon. Due to being undiagnosed until after death. They thought she had the flu, then maybe mono, then she was gone...they had to do an autopsy to find the TSS. It was around 1986-1987.

Thank you SciShow for the info (and thank you Cells at work for helping me understand things in this video I wouldn't understand before.)

my sister died last february because of complications of streptococcus type A during a flu.. now my country is making people aware of the risks that bacteria can have to healthy people. And now I see this video and other videos, it is great that this information is spread because it causes more people harm than you whould think :(

I'm sorry i can only visualize cells at work characters now

Whoa I had no idea that’s why your supposed to change them so often, I thought it was a trick so you’d buy more of the product. And these products ain’t cheap. I switched to the cup about a year ago. I been using it almost completely for 2-3 months or longer now. It’s a money saver really. I’m up for anything that saves me around $10 or $20 a month.

...skin peeling off, why do I keep watching sci show when eating?

I thought watching this would calm my constant anxiety about having an infection. Oh how wrong I was. Still a good vid though.

"Almost half of all cases are in males" OOF

I'm never using tampons.. staying with my pads

Who knew this channel had so many subscribers?? I’ve never heard of it. I just happened to look this topic up. Wow!!

Author-and male-Clive Barker suffered from toxic shock while pulling a rotten tooth. He went into a coma in the dentists chair and had something like 6 heart attacks and strokes in the chair.

Thank you for doing this! I always wanted to know more about this!

This was great!!! Truly informative.thank you

This is why I’m just gonna stick with pads...

I have no idea why I’m watching this. I’m literally giving myself a panic attack

This was perfectly presented, thank youuuuu

I was hospitalized for over 2 months, stayed home another month and returned to school for half days because of strep throat. The doctor said there were signs that the infection may be effecting my organs. They pumped me with antibiotics and asprin. I was very weak for a long time and they removed my tonsils after I recovered enough for the operation.

I clicked on the notification so fast it said the video was private

Being in a country where women mostly use pads instead of tampons, my first reaction to the title was 'what does TSS have to do with tampons?!' 🤔

Amazing video thanks so much!

Hey, a random question completely unrelated to the topic: Why can I take a 30-minute nap and feel awake for hours, even as far as making me awake when I should be asleep, but when I sleep for the recommended 8 hours, I wanna just go back to sleep for all eternity?

This was great!!! Truly informative .

Wash your hands after going outside, eating, and going to the bathroom. Bathing daily and not wearing soiled clothing also help lower your chance of infection.

The prevailing hypothesis for years for strep cases was localized Magnesium absorption via bandages, gauze, tampons, etc. What happened to that school of thought?

Very informative video, thank you.

toxic shock syndrome is why im afraid of using tampons even though im 19 ;;

Can you guys do a video the top three bacteria that lives on your skin that could possibly make you sick and the chances of them making you sick?

I had only put my tampon in for less than 30 mins & I was nearly fainting on the floor. I felt a rush of heat through my body. I instantly became diaphoretic. My whole body was becoming immobile and It felt like I was being smothered with a pillow. I couldn’t breathe. Thankfully I managed to have enough strength to reach & pull the tampon out . As soon as it was out it was like I could breath again and the pillows was lifted from my face. I immediately could breath and the faint feeling resolved. It was a very scary experience.

Huh, I just assumed that toxic shock syndrome was a catch all term for excessive toxic material in the blood stream. It's very counterintuitive to give a broad sounding name to a very specific form of sepsis/septicaemia.

This topic came up a few times with my ex a while back. I had no idea it could happen to guys as well because of what it is and how it infects us. So I've learned something new today, which is pretty awesome.

I thought I was gonna die if I left my pad in during my sleep without waking up to change it, back then they left them in for days oh god😭

I had TSS (probably strep based on the descriptions here) in 2010. I almost died at least twice. Ventilator, tube feedings... Tubes in places i don't wanna think about.

This should be shown in every health class.

They should talk more about this in school.

learning this in school. thnx for a cool video!

Stefan Chin is the man!

Leaving tampons in for days!? I know in the early days of tampons people probably didn't know not to leave them in, but even leaving one in for just 8 hours causes a pretty awful stench. I can't even imagine how awful it must be after days.

I do everything to lower my risk but I still have a severe fear of this illness. I had so skip to the end of the video.

I don't know why but some reason i realy find toxic shock syndrome antigens very cool especialy streptococcus ones .

For days oh my!

Hey I know it's not really related to this video, but can SciShow do an episode on the achievements the 2018 Nobel laureates had done? You can even skip the peace prize! I just wanna know what they do.... Explained by you guys!

Yeah that’s why I wear pads, sitting in your own blood is a little uncomfortable but tbh I’d rather sit in my blood than be dead so yeah xx

I take I.V.I.G., you guys need to do an episode on C.V.I.D., my disease is rare an it is rarer that I am auto immune problems from it, it is more odd that my mother has it making my particular case rare. I feel like awareness needs to be brought to this. It is an interesting topic and knowing that someone else knows about it would make me and people like me feel less alone.

Cells at Work really helped me understand this better

I've always been super scared of this. And now I'm even more scared, hearing the effects of it below. xD Thanks for sharing, though!

Thanks.

nearly lost my arm to TSS. from a 2mm paper cut on one of my knuckle's lol

Cells at work helped me understand this

Hi, long time watcher, first time commenter- thank you for this episode.

One more thing to be worried about. Living is survival itself.

This is why I always wear pads. Only time a would wear a tampon is when I'm swimming near the end of my period (where the blood flow is little). Also tampons feel weird, I don't know how other girls can wear them all the time.

Let me pause while I change my tampon. Thanks for the reminder scishow

I was a young person in the early 1980s, during the big scare about tampons causing toxic shock. I didn’t know anyone who got toxic shock syndrome, but there was a lot of publicity and a lot of worry about it. Then the AIDS pandemic and the crack plague came along (both largely thanks to Reagan and Bush), and we forgot what we were scared of back in simpler times. 35 or so years on, the fact toxic shock syndrome is about as common in males as females suggests that tampons may not have ever played such a big part. Presumably all those males are getting it without using tampons, so at least some significant portion of the female cases must not be tampon-related, either.

To be fair I'm a guy so I've never eaten a tampon but I appreciate this information anyway.

And I stumble on this video on the first real period I have had in over a year LMAO

And now it's 2020 have doctors and scientists answered those unknown questions said in the video yet

Wow, I'm so *S H O O K*

Also menstrual cups are usually made of medical-grade silicone, and if you use them correctly there's almost no chance of TSS!

I have a fever Rn, idk if it’s cuz I’m ill but it started as soon as I started using tampons which was a few days ago as pads were just annoying me. So I’m so confused. And apparently a sign of tss is a fever

I just got it so I looked this up so I know

Honestly I didn’t know guys got toxic shock until now, Dang!

Heard of this from a lady on shark tank, it's crazy she was able to survive this.

This is why I feel wary of using those reusable plastic menstruation cups as must be hard to dinifect them properly . I wonder if anyone has had TSS from one of those cups.

I was actually wondering why this was a thing on a box of tampons and was going to research it. Naturally forgot until I saw this video. Thank you, you made my life a lot easier.

I literally got a tampon ad before this.

So let me get this straight. If I use the right absorbency level on my tampons, as well as take them out after a reasonable time (don't leave them in for too long), there is a low risk of me getting TSS? My mom wont let me use tampons because of this risk, and I hate pads, so I'm really upset about it. I know that she's just doing it because she's worried about my health, but the chances of me getting TSS are so low! I'm not downplaying it, but it's highly unlikely, that if I'm responsible with my use of tampons, that I will get TSS.

I had this. I feel special.

I'm genuinely shocked this video had an ad on it

I switched to a menstrual cup, which you leave in for about 12 hours, take out to rinse it, and then immediately put back in. Pretty sure there's no TSS risk associated with cups, because they're silicone

Do a video on autonomic dysreflexia AD

So, if 50% of cases are male, and 50% of cases are also from tampons, that means 100% (or nearly so since those numbers I'm sure are rounded) of female cases are tampon related... so what are the men doing that's causing it? I'm curious about the other half of the story here that just got glossed over...

Huh, I just assumed that toxic shock syndrome was a catch all term for excessive toxic material in the blood stream. It's very counterintuitive to give a broad sounding name to a very specific form of sepsis/septicaemia.