Columbus (USA) - For months, a woman from the USA felt very unwell physically. In her search for answers, the 30-year-old consulted several doctors, who did not really take her seriously and accused her of exaggerating. But the patient persisted. During an examination, a doctor then made a shocking discovery that would ultimately lead to a horrifying diagnosis.

Anna Osborn suddenly began to feel unwell in October 2023. Her doctor dismissed the symptoms as merely a recurring urinary tract infection and put her on strong medication, which did not bring any improvement.

"Every time I took a dose of antibiotics, I immediately felt sick again. I knew my body was fighting something," recalls the 30-year-old from the US state of Indiana, according to the Daily Star.

For this reason, Anna could not accept her diagnosis and demanded further examinations, which were quite sobering. "I was told I just had a low pain tolerance or I was exaggerating." Some doctors even turned her away, even though her mother sometimes had the feeling that her "organs were failing".

The now 30-year-old suffered from severe pain and nausea. "I just asked myself: 'Is my body rotting from the inside out?

It wasn't until a visit to a doctor in February 2024 that light was finally shed on the matter: Anna had actually just come in for a routine vaginal check-up, but the doctor suddenly came across a foreign object.

"She started pulling on it and then I heard her say: 'Oh my God, I think it's a tampon'," says Anna. She and the doctor were equally shocked by the discovery. Especially when the US-American started to think about when she had last used such a menstrual product.

"After I had my IUD inserted in 2023, I had used a[tampon, editor's note] for spotting. That was the last time I used one." Anna believes that she had been wearing that sanitary product for six or even twelve months .

In the meantime, body tissue had even grown over it, which had apparently made the foreign body invisible during previous examinations. Anna had also never felt the tampon during sex, nor was it noticed during a smear test.

After the discovery, the diagnosis was made fairly quickly: toxic shock syndrome (TSS). The mother from Columbus had to be treated for a whole month as a result and is now no longer in danger.

She advises other women to listen to their gut feeling, even if doctors don't believe you at first. "I really felt the need to stand up for myself and my health. That's what saved me."