What happens if you are ina car accident or something and you are unconscious and you have a moon cup or tampon in?

[WHITELINE]

Do they check??

Yes they check at some point

So they check every woman's vagina who is unconscious?

Here's a perfect marketing opportunity for 'tampons on board' stickers.

give examples, OP. Who do you think should know? why might it be an issue? who do you think might check? who do you think might want to know?

Is this something that just popped into your head, or are you basing it on something you read? something that happened to someone you know? are you writing a novel?

If a patient in unconscious they will be catheterised in hospital. It would be noted at this point, although cups may differ slightly, they also carry less risk with prolonged use than a tampon.

If they have to fit a catheter, they’ll probably check. I imagine there are a number of things that need to be checked.

I'd hope it would be checked when I was catheterised.

Same with contact lens, dentures hopefully?

Oh blimey! I'm not writing a novel 🤣

Just nearly crashed my car into the back of someone this morning and I have a mooncup in and it just got me thinking

I just thought it might become a problem if left in for days or weeks or whatever

What if someone died in the crash, would they leave it in?

I'd hope not! I'd hope they'd take a bra off if I had one on as well. Imagine needing to wear a bra for eternity!

I might start making notes in case of my untimely demise

@WHITELINE yes, just as they would test every woman for pregnancy, they need to assess everything. No point in treating a woman to then let her get toxic shock.

@WHITELINE yes, just as they would test every woman for pregnancy, they need to assess everything. No point in treating a woman to then let her get toxic shock.

I'm not a period troll Jeez

I was in a bad accident and my lenses were removed and put in containers and given back to me.

My clothes were cut off and I was also given those back.

Probably the sort of thing they check in ITU. Hopefully a Tampon string would be noticed when a catheter is inserted, probably in A&E. Dentures would be seen when incubating or putting an airway in. Not sure about contact lenses, do they have a checklist in ITU??

Oh I hadn't thought of pregnancy

This happened to a friend of mine - she went to her daughter's room one morning and found she was in a coma - she had toxic shock. She called the ambulance but knew her daughter had a period - she knew about TSS and removed the tampon and put it in a bag for the ambulance men. She was told she'd done the right thing. Her daughter survived but was very ill for a long time.

It's actually quite rare to be unconscious for long enough that this would be an issue, and when it is it's usually bad news. A tampon string would be seen when a catheter is inserted or when the genital area is being washed. Mooncup might go undetected for longer! But is unlikely to be a major infection risk.

If you are in an accident at some point first aid or healthcare will turn up.

They will assess the situation and triage casualties. As more people arrive someone will get to you.

They'll do DRABC - check for danger, try to get a response from you. If you are unconscious then no response so they will check airway breathing and circulation.

If any of those are a problem they will take action - eg open airway by tilting head, do cpr etc.

By this point an ambulance is probably on its way.

At some point you'll be handed over to ambulance staff. They'll take a handover from the people on the scene and continue cpr if necessary.

You'll also have a top to toe survey done which basically checks for obvious injuries - broken bones etc.

When you get to hospital, they will deal with immediately life threatening injuries immediately.

(This is now a bit out of my area of knowledge but depending on what's wrong)

They will also do a survey of your body in more detail and will cut off clothes as necessary to access body parts (eg cut off legs of trousers to access ankle injuries).

They'll treat what they see and probably put in a line into a blood vessel to get drugs in.

When you are have been assessed and they have dealt with the immediately life threading stuff they will try to stabilise you and at that point you'll probably have a catheter put in at which point they will notice.

If you are unconscious they would probably need to put a catheter in and the nurse would just deal with a tampon/ mooncap at the same time as sorting you out.
Your hygiene and dignity is part of care especially in intensive care settings.
They would obviously also do neuro OBS which involves checking your eyes and no doubt remove a contact lens if seen.
If you are conscious you obviously just tell them about these things!

Would a mooncup stem be seen though? Obviously everyone knows what a tampon string looks like but mooncups? I had an ultrasound scan once with a mooncup in and the nurse commented that she'd never seen one in situ before and it provoked quite a discussion on their merits

I'd never even thought of this until now OP. Now something else for me to ponder at night when I can't sleep 😂