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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
I have a foul odor too. Im 17 and its never happened before. I went to the doctors and they said if the blood is deep red, its gooey, and it stinks, we are not taking care of our immune system.
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Okay ladies, here's my story: I noticed very smelly, very unusual period blood. Read all your responses and it sounds like a forgotten tampon is usually the culprit. I almost always use a menstrual cup but do use a tampon in emergencies or if I'm out of the house when my period starts, so I thought I'd feel around up there just in case I forgot to remove a tampon over the last few days. Squatting down in my bathroom, I felt something caught in the hanging strings of my IUD - a tampon? some stubborn tissue paper? - and wound up pulling it out! Looks as though a small clump of hair had gotten tangled in with the synthetic strings along with menstrual discharge, and by the smell of it, there was my answer. Just goes to show the importance of checking one's strings, and making sure they are short enough not to get tangled in them. Will go to the clinic in the next couple of days to see about replacing the IUD.
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Avatar universal
Oh my gosh!  Guess it was my turn to have this nasty thing happen to me! Yes I read all the post and first I was relieved to at least know that having a nasty smell that was so foul happened to other ladies too! Then I read on a saw that it could be an old tampon as the culprit and I thought WHAT! Seriously!?! Sure enough - there it was! I'm mortified but so relieved! Not thrilled to have this in common with you gals but hey it's the strangest things that bond us together and let us know that we are not alone.
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Avatar universal
Oh my goodness. The same thing happened to me this month. I began my cycle Thursday evening and Friday morning I noticed that same atrocious smell and it was definitely NOT normal so it raised my eyebrows, but I shrugged it off that morning thinking it was just me. Friday evening came and the smell was just so abnormally bad I started doing research and saw some women saying how it could be an old tampon, but I thought to myself, "No. I always take them out. Wouldn't the string be hanging if one was still there? What about TSS?" So, again, I just left the question unanswered. Saturday morning came and at this point I was beginning to wonder what was going on. "Maybe it is a tampon, but how?" In any case, I reluctantly one in because of the pants I decided to wear for the day and carried on despite how I began to had a feeling that just maybe there was one in there which is why it felt like the new one wasn't going in correctly. Well, Saturday night came and I saw these posts because, again, I researched what could be the cause of this horrendous smell, so during my shower I made the decision to just check. SURE ENOUGH I felt a tampon in there and spent about five minutes trying to maneuver the string down and pull it out. Oh my GOSH, it was disgustingly horrible and smelled revolting! Now, I am hoping this smell goes away. I'm so thankful for you ladies and these posts. It saved me an embarrassing trip to the doctor and a co-pay. Thank you!
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Avatar universal
I can't believe it took this post to make me realize I left a tampon in. This is so embarrassing, but apparently the string broke off at some point and the tampon just went super high up in there. The smell was revolting and I was convinced I developed some kind of infection. But nope! Just a tampon. I am equal parts grossed out and relieved.
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Avatar universal
I had my IUD removed while on my period, 5 days later I noticed I still had some spotting and after having sex with my bf, I had even more bleeding and the nastiest smell ever, it was humiliating. I thought removal of IUD was causing an imbalance in my pH level down there. I went online and found this forum. After reading 7 comments about a tampon being left in,  I went and checked in bathroom and OMG it was a TAMPON lodged so deep inside probably from having sex previously. Had to go to urgent care,got it removed and gave me antibiotics. I may sound like I'm exaggerating but I feel like these posts saved my life (healthwise) and my love life. Thank you all for sharing.
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