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??

They make up a very small proportion of the people unconscious in A&E though: that's dominated by older people then adult men. And increasing numbers of women choose not to menstruate.

@thistimelastweek

Good one!

Oh god I'm never using a mooncup

If you're unconscious for long enough to need a catheter then they would notice it and remove.

I fell off a horse when I was 14, I had a tampon on when it happened. I have no memory of the accident at all and had a head injury.

I woke up after 5 days being kept unconscious, period finished and no tampon.

It’s a very long time ago but I’ve seen a thread on here before asking this same question. IIRC medical people confirmed that tampons were often removed (but it was so long ago I don’t think mooncups were really a thing - can’t remember them being mentioned).

To the poster who said yes, just as they would test every woman for pregnancy, they need to assess everything - interesting point. There’s been great discussion on the Archers thread recently after a character was involved in a RTA and told she was pregnant (and hadn’t been aware of this). Setting aside the huge blunder of the doctor telling her in front of her husband - is it routine to do pregnancy checks without asking the permission of a patient who can consent? In this (fictional) case she wasn’t unconscious or unable to answer questions, they apparently just went ahead and tested anyway.

Surely whether or not a woman is pregnant would influence treatment options, down to something as routine as painkillers, so to give informed consent for treatment, a patient would have to have this information?

Yep - my friend was in a car accident and was unconcious. When she came to, she realised that the tampon she had in beforehand had been removed.

Presumably she gave her consent to blood tests/urine tests/a scan? They just didn't specify everything they were testing for.

Yes, true. But is a pregnancy test a different order of thing? It feels a step up from the others, somehow. Not really relevant to this thread (and fictional anyway - though don’t say I said that 😅) but it just struck me as interesting.

How do you choose not to menstruate?

Like me. I have been on the depo injection for 11 years. Haven't had a period in all that time.

Same here, no periods for the last 20 years, mirena coil.

And you can just take the pill back to back.

I take the mini pill and don't bleed. Lots of options available to stop periods if you don't want them for whatever reason. In my case it was periods so heavy I was becoming anaemic and unwell so it wasn't a choice really

If you were critically ill, likely yes.

1. It could obstruct your airway
2. Offer a further route for infection
3. If you needed shocking by a defib it would conduct electricity and burn you

However in emergency situations it’s not a priority to remove.

I have been asked if I have a tampon in on when taken to A and E. I imagine they would check if you were unable to respond e.g. unconscious. Also if they take blood (they often do) that would show if you are menstruating and perhaps if there was an infection; they would also take your temperature.