Re: Tampons: A Cause of Endometriosis?
From: A (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Sat Oct 9 20:03:40 2004
Very well put, Marla. I am not accustomed to reading/replying to emails
found on forums. Your experience parallels mine. I have also made the
switch to pads for the very same reason. I find it interesting that
I've kept this to myself, feeling unique, and now I read your email.
Very fascinating.
I have been recently diagnosed with severe Endometriosis. I am baffled
that it has progressed this far, and none of my doctors thought to
consider this possibility sooner. It was discovered during surgery for
an entirely different problem. I have six diseases total now.
Thank you kindly for sharing your thoughts. :)
Abbie
At Fri, 21 Aug 1998, Druzgal wrote:
>
>I don't know anything about the conference hypotheses. However, I have
>always wondered, as you husband did Chandra, as to whether or not they
>could be the CAUSE. My reasoning was always that whenever I have used
>Tampons, instead of the blood evenly flowing into and through the Tampons
>(i.e. the wicking effect - being drawn out of the uterus), any time I would
>use tampons I found that I would actually become "clogged" - in other
>words, any small clots of uteran lining always seemed to not penetrate the
>tampon, but instead sit at the very top, preventing more of the lining from
>passing through. This was always evidenced by the fact that sometimes when
>tampons were removed, even after hours of use, a (sorry this is really
>gross) small amount of blood seepage would sit at the furthest end of the
>tampon (furthest into the vagina that is), but nothing would be soaking the
>rest of the tampon downwards toward the string. I always called it my
>"backing up" problem. I quit using tampons because of this very thing,
>because I also noticed that wearing the tampons, and in effect causing the
>backing up of the blood, would actually sometimes cessate my periods for up
>to a day or more, dragging it out longer. I have often wondered, if the
>backflow from the clogged tampon could be causing a chain reaction in
>uteran lining breaking off and flowing backwards through the fallopian tubes.
>
>I have no empirical evidence of course, to support my own hypothesis, but I
>would be very curious to find out the exact data on the women studied, how
>long they left the tampons in their bodies, how heavy of "clotters" they
>were, etc. It seems interesting that two exact opposite theories would be
>proposed for the same set of circumstances. I know of other women on the
>board as well, who share the same concerns about tampons. I think anything
>which could cause fatalities if left inserted too long (i.e. tampons) is
>something worth investigating.
>
>Just thought I would add my own two cents on this one. I personally have
>had much shorter, easier periods since I stopped using tampons.
>
>Incidentally, I know they wonder about endometriosis and it's genetic link
>(i.e. other family members having endo increasing the likelihood of having
>endo) - and I thought this was an interesting fact - all the women in my
>family who do not use tampons do not have endo. Those who do use tampons
>do have endo. I realize that tampons of course cannot in any way be a sole
>cause of endo, since I have met girls as young as 10 years of age via the
>internet, who have not of course used tampons, who have endo. It's just an
>interesting thing to look into.
>
>Thanks for taking the time to read my reply.
>
>Yours in sleuthing,
>-Marla
>
>At 07:28 PM 8/21/1998 -0500, you wrote:
>>Chandra,
>>In the reports for the world endo conference in Japan (last year) the
>>studies showed that women who used tampons exclusively were LESS likely to
>>have endo than women who used pads exclusively. They hypothesized that the
>>tampons may have some kind of wicking effect. I have tended to avoid
>>tampons since the pain became bad because the extra pressure of having a
>>tampon in makes it hurt more, so I thought the report very interesting. Now
>>I use smaller tampons and change very often.
>>Caroline
>>
>>----------
>>> From: Chandra <mrscmartin@hotmail.com>
>>> To: Multiple recipients of list <endo@talk.obgyn.net>
>>> Subject: Tampons: A Cause of Endometriosis?
>>> Date: Friday, August 21, 1998 5:36 AM
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> My husband asked me if it is possible for Tampons to be the cause of
>>> Endo. I searched through all literature and books that I have around
>>> the house and could not find anything to support this possible theory.
>>> I wanted to ask everyone if you've heard that this could be a possible
>>> cause.
>>>
>>> Let me know.
>>>
>>> Chandra
>>> Manassas, VA
>>> mrscmartin@hotmail.com
>>>
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