An Indiana mom of six is warning against tampon use after two of her daughters were sent to the hospital with sepsis from toxic shock syndrome infections.
“We truthfully thought we were going to lose them,” Javon Johnson, 46, of Elkhart, told Kennedy News. “They were each in really bad shape. It was a touchy situation because their organs were inflamed and vulnerable to shutting down.”
Johnson said her daughter Devine, 21, fell unwell in May 2022 after using a “super-plus absorbency” tampon. She had just finished her period when she developed flu-like symptoms and an inability to walk without assistance.
Devine spent every week within the intensive care unit. The family returned to the hospital that July when Johnson’s daughter Jaya, 17, experienced similar symptoms during a family vacation to Florida.
“She had only used tampons for the very first time within the last two days,” Javon explained. “We were in Florida on a family vacation, and he or she just wanted to make use of it to go swimming.”
Javon initially thought Jaya was experiencing heat stroke attributable to the redness on the palms of her hands — until Jaya’s condition worsened with a viral infection, nausea and high fevers.
She was reportedly taken to the emergency room, only to be given ibuprofen.
Jaya passed out, so an ambulance was dispatched to bring her back to the hospital.
“We couldn’t imagine this had actually happened to us again. What are the percentages?” Javon wondered.
Jaya was diagnosed with sepsis from toxic shock syndrome, similar to Devine.
Toxic shock syndrome, often related to tampon use, is a bacterial condition that affects 1 in every 100,000 people, in line with The Cleveland Clinic. It could cause severe organ damage or death.
“It was a deja vu moment after we got the identical diagnosis for [Jaya] just 30 days later,” Javon confessed.
“We just got one kid out of the ICU, who remains to be recovering, and now we’ve got one other kid who was about to begin this process again, but she looked worse,” she added.
The childcare business owner disclosed that doctors said her daughters’ infections were brought on by the “higher potency chemicals” in super-plus absorbency tampons.
The tampons the sisters reportedly used weren’t identified.
“Doctors said [Jaya] had used the super-plus absorbency when she didn’t have to. They contain a distinct sort of chemical with a better potency,” Javon shared.
She said her daughters used tampons from the identical box but didn’t sleep with them in.
“I didn’t think people would imagine it happened to 2 of my girls inside 30 days of one another in the identical 12 months. That was unrealistic odds,” Javon said.
Each daughters had a slow recovery process, Javon said, and within the 12 months since, the Johnson home has turn into tampon-free.
“No one can use them, so we don’t keep them in the home,” she declared. “I’d just not recommend tampons in any respect at this point. I advocate to not to make use of tampons in any respect as they’re not secure to make use of.”
Meanwhile, the Johnson family stays focused on helping their daughters through this ordeal.
“My husband and I are grateful because each of them survived it,” Javon sighed.