American model shares how she lost her legs and nearly died from toxic shock syndrome after using a tampon

An American model has shared how she lost both of her legs and was “minutes away from death” after using a tampon.

Lauren Wasser revealed she was just 24 years old when she contracted Toxic Shock Syndrome after using a tampon.

TSS is a rare and potentially life-threatening illness caused by an infection with certain types of bacteria.

Women who are menstruating are more at risk of contracting TSS as it can be associated with tampon use.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

Speaking on the podcast Life Uncut with Aussie hosts Laura Byrne and Brittany Hockley, the now 36-year-old said she changed her tampon quite regularly as per the instructions despite still contracting the life-threatening infection.

“People think they’re invincible, no one is off-limits, TSS can happen to anyone at any time,” Wasser said.

The model explained how tampons contain toxic chemicals using “bleach and chlorine” and tampons marked as 100 per cent cotton are “sprayed with pesticides”.

Her parents were told she had only a one per cent chance of survival.  Credit: Instagram

“We’re putting that inside of us at such a delicate time and it creates a perfect storm. It takes one of those toxins to get inside your body and start acting like the flu and shutting down your organs, it’s lethal, it’s dangerous,” she said.

“It’s my goal and life mission to make sure that not only is this information out there but women have these conversations amongst each other, create the dialogue and check in with each other because knowledge is key.”

However, other medical reports, including a study from the National Centre for Health Research, confirmed modern tampons no longer contain these chemicals.

Wasser said she was changing her tampon every four hours during one menstrual cycle in 2012 when she began to experience high fever and flu-like symptoms.

The doctors were able to save her life but sadly her lower legs were irreparable and she needed to have them amputated. Credit: Instagram

Her mum called for a welfare check after not hearing from her for hours, and the policeman who checked on her saw she was sick but didn’t think she needed to go to the hospital.

Wasser was found face down in her apartment hours later only 10 minutes away from her death.

She was rushed to hospital where she suffered two heart attacks and was placed into a medically induced coma because her organs were shutting down.

Her parents were told she only had a one per cent chance of survival.

“They couldn’t figure out why this young, healthy 24-year-old girl was dying before them,” Wasser said.

“I was given a one per cent chance of survival, they told my parents to start planning for my funeral.

Loading Instagram Post

“Once they found the tampon, they sent it for testing and it came back as Toxic Shock Syndrome and they gave me the medicine needed for it.”

The doctors were able to save her life but sadly her lower legs were irreparable and she needed to have them amputated.

“My mum told me about Toxic Shock Syndrome, but I had no idea that I could be using the product as I should and still get it,” she said.

Since the horrific experience, Wasser has only ever used pads when menstruating and has dedicated her life to getting the word out there and informing women of the products they are using.

The model uses her large Instagram platform, where she has more than 160,000 followers, to share her story.

Tampon use is the most common cause of the rare illness — which affects about one in 100,000 people — and occurs when usually harmless bacteria that live on the skin invade the bloodstream and produce dangerous toxins.

The symptoms include having high fever, low blood pressure, vomiting, confusion and seizures.