With a practice mostly comprised of females, I come across a fairly regular caseload where I am called to do pelvic exams and retrieve a foreign object from within the vaginal canal.
I put my gloves on and take on the role of a bounty hunter hunting down the fugitive left back “down there”.
Talk about some embarrassing patient-doctor encounters!
Use the following to avoid this stinky and pesky pitfall.
1. Retained tampon- most women simply forget to remove as recommended every 4 hours. Alcohol is usually involved or unplanned sex.
Avoid this by:
-Keeping a log of insertion/removal of tampon.
-Don’t use if planning to drink or have sex.
2. Retained or lost genital piercing Yep! Have had to root around for that partner’s tongue piercing or patient’s vaginal one in the birth canal.
Avoid this by:
-Removing all piercings near openings prior to sex.
-Rethink the locations of piercings.
3. Forgotten IUD (intrauterine device). Sometimes women forget to change them out. Most IUDs have a change out recommendation of 5-10 years.
Avoid this by:
-Getting routine PAP and pelvic checks- the longest PAP recommendation is every 5 years now for low risk women and this type of exam will cover contraception surveillance.
What great tips, thank you so much for sharing. This actually happened to me before. I kept experiencing pain and it happened to be a tampon I didn’t remove. Very embarrassing.
It happens more often than we care to admit Terri!
Very useful information. I had never thought to record……but that would avoid the scary moment when I can’t remember. lol
Great advice! I will schedule my exam even though I hate them.
Only ear piercings for me, so no danger there. I didn’t realize this was a common issue. Glad you’re putting that info. out there!
You wouldn’t believe the stuff we dig out sometimes Teresa!
Important info to remember, I didn’t realize all these could be an issue. Thanks for the tips.
You have the most adventurous job. I am going to be passing this to my sister, niece, and my older Girl Scouts. I love the idea of keeping a chart for the tampons, this is why I don’t wear them. Looking forward to your future postings. Have a great weekend.
Never a dull day in a family medicine clinic Tamika.
I have to admit that I’m guilty of at least one of these, but thank goodness I didn’t need medical help. Since then though, I’ve never forgotten! LOL
These would definitely leave me in an embarrassed state. Great tips to help to avoid that from ever happening. Thank you for sharing!
You are welcome Bismah!