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Topics: Health, Periods, Life, Advice, Women's Health
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Health, Periods, Life, Advice, Women's Health
Anyone who wears tampons - listen up!
Now, for many people who bleed each month (or whatever your cycle may look like), it seems to be somewhat of a regular occurrence that you often bleed through your tampon and stain your undies. This is the last thing you want to be dealing with when you've already got a splitting headache as well as feeling tired and bloated beyond relief when all you want to do is just get under the covers and shut the world out.
However, as much of a faff (and an expensive one at that) it is to constantly keep on top of your tampon schedule, it's clear it's not something that should be pushed to the side as one doctor has now issued warning to anyone who uses the wrong-sized tampon on their period without realising.
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Many people choose to wear tampons to bed - something which is generally OK to do as long as you opt for the tampon which has the right absorbency for you while being sure not to wear any tampon for longer than eight hours.
If you know you’ll sleep longer than eight hours, use a sanitary pad, period underwear or menstrual cup.
To help clear things up, obstetrician-gynaecologist Stacie Jhaveri, MD, has shared her insights regarding how to sleep safely with a tampon in.
"In order to maintain safety, you should always put in a new tampon before bed," she explained. "Also, make sure that it’s a tampon that fits the heaviness of your flow."
Your flow may vary for a number of reasons including what day of you’re period you’re on or whether or not you’re on certain contraception.
The expert continued: "I always recommend inserting a tampon that fits your flow.
"If you use the most absorbent tampon for a very light flow, chances are, you’ll think about changing it less often. You’ll also run the risk of drying out your vaginal mucus, allowing room for more bacteria to enter the body."
So, in short, the next time you go to use a tampon overnight, be sure to change it right before you go to bed, use the proper absorbency and change it after eight hours (at the maximum) and this should minimise your risk of developing toxic shock syndrome (TSS) - a very rare, but life-threatening bacterial infection.
"Developing TSS is rare," Dr Jhaveri reassured. "In fact, the main issue I see in patients who leave their tampons in too long is an unpleasant vaginal odour."