Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wear tampons only?

92 replies

Rowennaravenclaw · 29/06/2019 17:38

I lived in fear of TSS as a teen. I was religious about wearing a pad for at least 8 hours a day and never wore tampons at night.

At some point, probably in my early 20s, I stopped thinking about it and put convenience first. Now tampons is all I ever use, one after the other, as I hate the feeling of pads.

Obviously it’s a risk, but how unusual am I in this?
Has anyone ever had TSS from a tampon?

And before everyone tells me to get a mooncup, I do plan on trying one soon.

OP posts:
BumandChips · 29/06/2019 22:52

I just don’t feel clean using pads. It’s like a constant reminder that I’m on my period, and the mess every time I go to the loo. No thanks.

Divgirl2 · 29/06/2019 22:53

You're far more likely to be killed by your partner than by your tampon.

But there's no need to alternate with pads, just remember to take your last one out when your period ends.

TheHandsOfNeilBuchanan · 29/06/2019 22:58

I used to just use tampons, but just before I fell pregnant I started using period pants over night, ooh it was like when you take off a pair of high heels or an underwired bra, brilliant. DS is almost seven months old and no period back yet (thank you bf, had to be some perks after the blisters and infections). I will go back to tampons in the day and period pants over night when I have to though.

partialsoup · 29/06/2019 23:10

Always use tampons, just change regularly. If at home j might use pads just for ease of changing. Nearly 50 so not done bad for 36 years. Sure beats the mattress and belt given to me by my mum in the 1980's!!!!!

ElizaPancakes · 29/06/2019 23:15

I use a cup now, but the only time I'd use a pad was when I couldn't use a tampon due to really bad thrush.

I quite often used them for longer than 8 hours which I know I shouldn't, it was a bad habit I couldn't break from when I first started my period.

notso · 29/06/2019 23:16

Pads are grim. I used tampons from my very first period at 12. My Mum made me use pads as well as I wouldn't use the school toilets due to bullying but I loathed wearing them.
However after I'd had my fourth DC I found tampons really uncomfortable and couldn't get the position right , so I tried mooncup and after a bit of getting used to I was converted.

I do know someone who has had TSS, she was very poorly for a while but recovered. She didn't leave her tampon in overnight.

INeedAFlerken · 29/06/2019 23:18

Tampons for days, pad of some kind at night due to TSS risk. I hate pads; so irritating.

I know TSS is incredibly rare, and yet I know two women who've had it! They don't use tampons now.

BoronationStreet · 29/06/2019 23:36

I've never worn anything but tampons. I had 2 older sisters and the day I got my period, I couldn't wait to pop a tampon in. Sanitary pads seem anything but! Confused

LoafofSellotape · 29/06/2019 23:47

Urghhh I don't know how people wear towels,it's like wearing a wet nappy,it feels awful. I used them when I was 13 then at 14 used tampons and used them until I got a mooncup when I was about 33 and I'm 48 now.

BumandChips · 29/06/2019 23:51

I know a couple of people who use cloth pads, and yes I get the environmental benefit but it’s still a pad. So, no.

LilQueenie · 30/06/2019 00:04

You can TSS from many things not just tampons so don't worry.

happymummy12345 · 30/06/2019 02:35

I'm on the pill so I have a withdrawal bleed not an actual period. But I only ever use tampons.
The only time I've used sanitary towels or pads as an adult was after childbirth, I used maternity pads first then normal always when I no longer needed maternity pads. And for my withdrawal bleeds after childbirth until I felt ready to use tampons again (I went back on the combined pill at the 6 week check so I had one proper period after giving birth.
I hate pads and will only use tampons.

Dillow · 30/06/2019 02:38

I accidentally left one in for a month once. It fell out at the start of my next period.

TMI

Looked like a squashed grey mouse.

Quintella · 30/06/2019 03:22

I hate tampons and I also hate friends (and a couple of knobbers on this thread) saying 'ugh, doesn't it feel like you're wearing a nappy?' when I tell them I prefer pads. No it doesn't feel like a nappy. Less of the sanitary wear shaming please.

Quintella · 30/06/2019 03:23

Looked like a squashed grey mouse

RIP, mousey.

Quintella · 30/06/2019 03:26

Urghhh I don't know how people wear towels,it's like wearing a wet nappy,it feels awful. I used them when I was 13 then at 14 used tampons and used them until I got a mooncup when I was about 33 and I'm 48 now.

I'm not saying you're an absolute thicko but don't you think sanitary towels might have changed a bit in 35 years?

(actually yes, I am saying you're a thicko)

avamiah · 30/06/2019 03:33

I’m 46 and have been wearing tampons since I was 12 years old .
I started my period when I was 12 and started off with sanitary towels that my mum gave me and I hated them so tried tampons and thought they were the best thing ever invented and still do .

SushiForAmateurs · 30/06/2019 03:39

Urghhh I don't know how people wear towels,it's like wearing a wet nappy,it feels awful.

I don't use pads or tampons, but surely you must realise that if people who do use pads don't find them awful, or they'd switch to one of the alternatives....?

Different people prefer different thing shocker.

avamiah · 30/06/2019 03:45

YES I agree that tampons aren’t for everybody and neither are sanitary towels, it’s just personal preference .
My daughter is 9 and she knows about periods as she calls them ( lady days) she learnt that at school by the way .😬

avamiah · 30/06/2019 03:48

She knows I wear tampons as she has seen me buy them and they are in our bathroom but she knows about sanitary towels as her aunts have them so she tells me .😬😬
However I will give her both options when the time is right .

mathanxiety · 30/06/2019 03:55

Dillow me too, and YY to squashed grey mouse. Grin

Way back in the late 70s TSS was definitely up there on the list of things women worried about, I suspect because tampons were making inroads into the pad business.

From my late teens I have used only tampons. I got tired of never sleeping properly for the first few nights of my period and ending up knackered one week out of every month, and tired of the extra laundry too. Sleep was far less stressful a prospect once I ditched the pads.

Ihatehashtags · 30/06/2019 08:06

I have never heard of a single person getting TSS

LoafofSellotape · 30/06/2019 08:06

I don't use pads or tampons, but surely you must realise that if people who do use pads don't find them awful, or they'd switch to one of the alternatives....?

Yes of course I do HmmConfused

TheTrollFairy · 30/06/2019 08:09

@ShinyMe where did you get your cup from? I’m looking at getting one

MustardScreams · 30/06/2019 08:11

Oh ffs ‘pad shaming’?!?!! You have got to be having a laugh, seriously I’ve never heard of anything more ridiculous.