Phoebee Bambury was at university one evening just over a month ago when she started to get a headache. During the night, the 19-year-old then developed muscle pains, vomiting and a high temperature, and her condition continued to worsen. “In the early hours of the morning I woke up shivering uncontrollably,” she said.
Most us would likely assume the symptoms were fairly general and benign – but Bambury had something far more serious in the back of her mind. At university, she’d learnt about toxic shock syndrome (TSS), and was acutely aware that what she was experiencing matched the symptoms.
Instead of assuming it would pass after a few days, she rang 111 (the emergency number in New Zealand), and was told she needed to get to hospital as soon as possible. She was only there for 10 minutes before she had a drip inserted, and a fan placed next to her to try to lower her body temperature.
“What followed were days of being very very poorly,” she said. “I had an extremely low blood pressure, a constantly high temperature, rashes all over my body, I was being sick a hell of a lot and I was in agony. My face, my wrists and my ankles swelled up and I looked like Violet Beauregarde.”
Doctors confirmed that Bambury had contracted TSS from tampon use, although she maintains she always stuck to the guidelines, and never had a tampon in for longer than eight hours.
She also didn’t have a tampon in when she was hospitalised.