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Foul menstrual blood odor

I have never noticed much of an odor with my period, up until last month and now today.  It is absolutely revolting!!!  The blood has gone from being a lightish red to a deepish red-brown and it's kinda gooey and ickey.  I have not experienced many vaginal infections of any type in my life (I'm 38), so I'm very concerned about this smell.  I tried using the 3-day Monostat, but it appears to not have worked.  I'm really scared about this abrupt change in the odor.  On top of it all, I don't have any health insurance.  What should I do about this?  I can't risk getting naked with my man because the smell is literally that bad.  
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Avatar universal
OMG! I literally just had an old tampon pop out of me! (forgive me for being so forward with this) but I was on the toilet going number two and for some reason I had to push a little harder and next thing I know a tampon was also coming out of my vagina at the same time the poop was coming out!  To be honest I feel so much better knowing that the old smelling blood that was a brownish reddish color finally won't be smelling or looking like that anymore. Last month I went to the doctor and told Them that I think I left a tampon inside of me and they checked and claimed that I just had a cervix infection. However, that was simply not the case , based on what just happened to me! And yes! It does help to squat!
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Avatar universal
Omg I pulled a dirty tampon out too. I thought I was losing my mind lol I said how could I forget about a tampon. It stuck so bad taking it out. How long does your vagina stink after you take it out? I pulled mine out about 6 hrs ago.
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Avatar universal
I CANT BELIEVE IT!!! I;ve had all the same things going on. I thought it was a bacterial infection. I had my OBGYN call me in some antibiotics, and today was my last day on them. The odor hadnt got any better, so I was worried I would have to go in and see what else it could be. I just happened to stumble on this post and Ill be damned if it wasnt a tampon!! OMG! Extremely embarrassing/relieving. IVe been using tampons all my life and this has never happened. I dont know how this happened. I know Im going to be WAY more careful moving forward. Thank you so much to all of you for being brave enough to post this and respond. Toxic shock syndrome is really hard to treat, so the sooner someone discovers it, the better chances they have of not getting really sick. Thank you so much!!
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Avatar universal
So... after a couple days and a google I found this answer, and the mystery tampon - and am STILL not feeling well, and still dontsmell normal... how long till this all gets back to normal?!
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Avatar universal
I just found this discussion by googling smelly periods. I just searched, no tampon. What else could it be?? I'm in the exact situation as the question we're all answering almost 34 no health insurance and everything's been normal until I don't know a couple of few periods ago could it have something to do with menopause? I have REALLY big blood clots too, some are half dollar size. I can feel it when it comes out! That's happened for like the past year-and-a-half - 2 years. What is going on with me?!?!
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Avatar universal
I found this topic because i was looking for a similar info. Actually i have always been using menstrual cup ( lunette) and at my 2nd last period it started to smell soooo badly. I thought this might be a problem of a cup, because it was getting old ( been having 3 yrs) though i never had this problem. So i threw it away and for my next period i got a new cup. And to what a suprise it got smelly straight away! When i was reading first all these comments, the signs seemed all so similar, but i was still laughing and sure that was not my problem. However after some time i got fustrated, cause its not my cup that gets that nasty smell,  but its inside me!! I am quite sure i have one old tampon ( i use it sometimes when i dont have my cup with me) , and most likely its at least month old :////. I tried searching for it, but i cant really grasp for sure, i feel some strange tissues inside me , but i dont know if its part if me or the tampon :// . Is it possible that the nasty thing is destroyed in parts in me ( i had sex in the mean time too)? And should be the interjor of my vagina clear and smooth or not? I am affraid that due to stress i dont feel the pain and i can makd more trouble for myself..
In anycase,  i will try to get to a doctor asap ..
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