Just how lost can a tampon be?

[DayDate]

I haven't retrieved the last one.

I've had a good rummage around and I can't find anything. So that means it's not there? All I can think is that I "pooed" it out. I did have a big straining poo on the last day of my period, is that a possibility?

Sorry TMI I realise, but I'm a little bit concerned.

There's been no residual blood or discharge.

I can’t be that lost. It could be up around the side of your cervix. Obviously it can’t get into your uterus or anything.

Squat down on the bathroom floor and check all around your cervix.

I still can't find it. Does that mean it's not there?

Do you have an urgent care centre? If so pop in and maybe see if you can get some advice. You probably have pooed it out but some of the applicator tampons are tiny and get lodge quite firmly against the cervix

Have a bath and a rummage

It's a standard Tampax, the ones with the cardboard applicator, so not tiny.

A friend had to get the practice nurse to remove hers once, as she couldn't get it out.

Isnt there a pouch that they can get lost in

Does it smell in there?

If it's stuck in there, you'll notice an absolutely foul smell within a few days. In my younger drunken days, I once thought I'd taken a Tampon out but had drunkenly left it in. I began to notice a discharge that had a very concerning smell. I visited a nurse who agreed she could smell something but she couldn't see anything. It wasn't until a week later that I was having sex with DH. He said he could feel something and pulled it out. Honestly, that's the most horribly intimate we've ever been. I ended up on antibiotics to stave off infection.

Embarrassingly I'm not sure about a smell. There is something but I'm not sure if I'm imagining it that it's different to usual. It's not awful....yet

Oh god I remember these from my days as a sexual health nurse.
Woman would present with foul smelling discharge and I mean foul, obviously worried about STD. The consultant who had seen everything this clinic had to offer would take one look and say "oh yes. This is a job for my lovely staff nurse". Then I would be summoned to extract the wretched thing with long this forceps.
Please go and get it removed!

@DayDate

Embarrassingly I'm not sure about a smell. There is something but I'm not sure if I'm imagining it that it's different to usual. It's not awful....yet

Go to urgent care

What do you mean by urgent care? Afaik the only option is A&E

Just a caution to posters: not everyone is who they say they are, and there are creepy losers out there with a tampon fetish. Be careful about posting stories (esp. as this poster is new to MN today).

Oh yes, I see how it looks. I have a break every now and again, but I've been here since the days of icod and her brilliant typos.

@Theunamedcat

Isnt there a pouch that they can get lost in

A... pouch?

Can't you squat in the bath and just feel around?

Giving potential tampon troll the benefit of the doubt as well pointed out by PP.

MN had an absolute kitten when I responded to a post like this in the past saying I’d happily don my blue gloves and have a rummage around for the relief of a close friend/ sister etc and know close friends who would do the same for me. Any nurses or similar in your circle OP?
I’d 100% rather get it out without having to go to A&E etc.

I think a good 75% of respondents were and I remember being in a hot tub with my sister at the time, shocked at such an outpouring of disgust she joined in to be honest! Maybe I’m just a really good boundary crosser friend

I once went to bed (I'd had a few gins) and could of swore I'd put one in...anyway next morning there was no string I was Ill. I'm super squeamish too.. turns out the wrapper and tampon were in my dressing gown..grim I know.

I would go to A&E.

I know someone who died of TSS, better to be safe than sorry imo.

@penguinwithasuitcase Yes, the pouch of Douglas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recto-uterine_pouch

The string detached from one I was using once. I tried everything but I couldn't retrieve the tampon.

Had to go the GP surgery and beg for an appointment (it was 5pm!).

It had shifted and was lying horizontally and my fingers weren't able to reach it but easy enough for the GP/nurse (can't remember who I saw now!) to get.

[quote Snozzlemaid]@penguinwithasuitcase Yes, the pouch of Douglas [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recto-uterine_pouch]][/quote]
Woah! And another female body part with a man's name... of course!

But is that inside the vagina? It looks like it's on the other side of the vaginal wall? Or am I reading these wikipedia drawings weirdly (very possible!)?

Urgent care:

www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/other-services/Urgent%20Care/LocationSearch/1824

I took DH here when he had a particularly nasty cut, it's sort of between the GP & A&E