The tragic story of Lauren Wasser, who lost her legs after using tampons

Lauren Wasser (Lauren Wasser) once lived an ordinary life. She worked as a model, played basketball in her spare time, sometimes rode a bicycle. But when she was 24 years old, a tragedy occurred that changed Lauren's life forever…

And the worst thing is that it was caused by "completely safe" and such necessary feminine hygiene items as tampons. What happened and how Lauren Wasser lives now, read in our material.

It all started on October 3, 2012. In those days, Lauren was menstruating. As expected, the girl changed tampons in the morning, afternoon and evening, and on the same night she decided to go to her friend's birthday party.

Even then, Lauren felt unwell, which resembled the symptoms of an approaching flu. And although the girl tried to behave normally, have fun and communicate with friends, her only desire was to go to bed as soon as possible.

When the fatigue became even stronger, Lauren drove home, quickly took off her clothes and fell into bed.

Lauren was woken up by loud knocks on the door and screams: "Police!". The law enforcement officers were called by the girl's mother, who was very worried that her daughter did not get in touch for a long time. It seems that she felt that something was wrong with her…

Lauren reassured the police, explaining that she "just wants to sleep." After that, she called her mother, telling her the same thing, and fell asleep again. It is not known exactly how long she slept. In the morning, the police and Lauren's friend came to her again, but this time the girl did not open it to them. After opening the door, she was found lying face down on the floor in the bedroom.

The unfortunate woman was taken to the hospital on the verge of death. Her organs were failing, she suffered a severe heart attack, the doctors did not understand what was happening to her and could not stabilize her condition. A specialist in infectious diseases explained the situation. As soon as he saw the girl, he immediately asked:

As it turned out, Lauren suffered from toxic shock syndrome. One of the tampons she used turned out to be infected with staphylococcus.

Lauren was in a coma when doctors told her mother to pray and prepare for the funeral. The girl's legs were affected by gangrene. The only possible rescue was the amputation of the right leg and the removal of the fingers and heel on the left leg.

The girl agreed to the operation, became disabled, but continued her modeling career. And everything would have been fine, but a few years later, she had to remove the second leg – the gangrene had spread too far.

In January 2018, Lauren shared a photo from the operating room on Instagram, which shows her (already without legs) and a famous para-snowboarder Amy Purdy.

Now Lauren is known in the fashion world as "the girl with golden legs". This nickname was given to her because she uses gold-colored prostheses.

The model calls on tampon manufacturers to stop using dioxin, synthetic fibers, chemical flavors and other harmful components. In addition, according to the girl, companies that produce feminine hygiene products must necessarily write on the packaging about possible risks, as they write on cigarette packages.

Lauren maintains an Instagram account in which she periodically talks about her story. Thus, she wants to make girls and women more aware of their own safety. According to Lauren, once she and a friend conducted a survey among dozens of girls on the street, and it turned out that none of them had heard about the toxic shock syndrome that can occur due to the use of tampons.

Toxic shock syndrome is a dangerous bacterial infection that can lead to hair loss, peeling of the skin, amputation of limbs (which happened to Lauren) and, in the worst case, death. STH, as it is also called, is provoked by staphylococcus bacteria. They can exist without health risk in the nose, mouth and on the human skin, but when they get into the blood, they lead to serious consequences.

The first symptoms of STH are very similar to the flu: muscle pain, weakness, fever, diarrhea. Then, as a rule, there are headaches, nausea, rash on the palms or feet, failure of some organs. The symptoms of STH develop very quickly, and it is quite difficult to diagnose this disease. Therefore, experts strongly recommend that if you find any suspicious symptoms, immediately consult a doctor.

To protect yourself, be sure to follow the recommendations indicated by the manufacturer on the packaging of tampons, namely, change every 4-8 hours, in no case leave a foreign object overnight. STH can also occur from the use of menstrual caps, sponges and contraceptive caps. The safest means of feminine hygiene are pads.

And, of course, regularly undergo preventive examinations, monitor your health and contact doctors in a timely manner. Compliance with these simple rules will help you reduce the risk of developing this already quite rare disease (1 case per 100 thousand people).