Five years ago today, Amy Rae Elifritz (the ARE in You ARE Loved.org) lost her battle to tampon related toxic shock syndrome (TSS).

Read her store here.

Be period wise.  Be tampon wise.  Be TSS wise.

Know the facts about TSS.

Take care down there.  Don’t use any internal products that have the potential to leave fibers in your vagina.

Know that longer wear does not always mean safer wear.  Changing tampons every two hours (or less) and alternating between internal and external menstrual products provides less risk of developing TSS.  This means using the smallest possible tampon/absorbency for your two hour flow need.

Traditional tampons contain super absorbent fibers.  The better choice, tampon wise, is 100% organic cotton tampons.  Menstrual cups, in my opinion, are the best choice for many reasons. (no fibers, longer wear time, lower risk, less expense in the long run, often reusable, etc)

For more information about TSS, please visit www.you-are-loved.org .

And, if you’re interested, you can find my story here.