My Tampon Nearly Killed Me

For Kirsten*, Being On Her Period During Her Party-Filled December Holiday Was No Biggie – Tampon In, Carry On! Until A Dangerous Infection From One Of These Tampons Changed Everything. Now 25, Kirsten Remembers The Month That Would Change Her Life Forever,

- Sarah Browning-De Villiers

It was 35°C outside, but I was freezing cold and dipping in and out of consciousness. My legs and hands had turned black, my nails were blue and my lips were so swollen that my friends later said they could barely recognise me. The incessant vomiting from the night before hadn’t stopped, and now I was too weak to move. It was quickly becoming clear that what I’d thought was an extreme tummy bug was something far more sinister. But what I didn’t know was that it would very nearly kill me.

It was December 2010 and I was 18, in my first year of varsity studying media and writing at UCT, and having the best summer holiday I could imagine. I’d just finished five days of road tripping with friends from Cape Town to Kentonon-Sea and back. It was a crazy but fun time – we just wanted to experience all the parties.

On the second-to-last day of the road trip, I’d started my period. And just like any other period, I put in a tampon and got on with having fun. I’ve used tampons since I first got my period when I was 12 – to me, it was either tampons or pads, and tampons felt so much more discreet and practical. At the end of the road trip, I had one night back at home before heading off to a trance festival in Durbanville, Cape Town.