A woman was rushed to hospital in “excruciating” pain after wearing her underwear to bed caused an infected cut in her private parts.
Kaela slept in a pair of underpants that she had worn “100 times before” – only to wake up and spot they had “flossed” her, rubbing and causing a cut inside her vagina.
The 26-year-old assumed the wound would heal on its own, but over the next few days, she felt an “intense burning” in the area and was exhibiting feverish symptoms.
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The cut formed a “bubble” and she struggled to close her legs due to the pain, so the young woman visited her doctor to get antibiotics.
“I took them for two days before I decided I was going to die if I didn’t go to the hospital,” Kaela, an assistant property manager from Dallas, Texas, told Need To Know.
“I couldn’t sit, stand or even, lay down.
“My only option was to ride to the hospital lying on my left side because it was on the right side of my vagina.”
At the hospital, doctors used an ultrasound wand to confirm a 4.8cm Bartholin cyst – a fluid-filled blockage in a Bartholin’s gland in the labia – had formed, with blood work showing she had a “raging” infection as a result.
Kaela added: “They were worried had I waited any longer, that I would have gone septic.
“They had me on several different IV antibiotics hoping that the cyst would burst on its own instead of having to do it surgically.
“Thankfully, the cyst did burst on its own, but not without excruciating levels of pain.
“It was the second night at the hospital that I was practically screaming in pain that not even morphine could cure.
“I have even had two feet reconstructive surgeries that I thought would be the most pain I would ever experience in this lifetime – until I met an infected vaginal cyst.”
On the morning of her third day in hospital, Kaela stood up and felt a “massive burst of liquid gushing” down her legs.
She said: “If I was pregnant, I would have thought that my waters broke.
“But hallelujah – my cyst burst following an immediate rush of relief.
“Now I could sit, stand and lay normally.
“They kept me for two more days until they were happy with my white cell count indicating that I no longer had an infection.”
But Kaela’s turmoil didn’t end there – and she claims she was sent home with an “open wound”, which became infected and was untreated for months.
She said: “I was constantly exhausted, frustrated, and close to losing my mind.
“I saw several OBGYNs who fed me more antibiotics and yeast-fighting creams that you manually shoot up your vagina, and yet, the open wound got slowly, but surely, worse.”
Towards the end of June 2024 – three months after the underwear had cut her – she started to feel as poorly as she previously had and went back to hospital.
There, they found the cyst was back and she was, once again, infected.
Kaela also claims she was mistreated by staff members who “discredited” her pain and experience, and alleges that a senior staff member apologised on their behalf.
She ended up in hospital for five days but claims that no one knew how to treat her.
She added: “I really thought I would die if no one would help me.”
Kaela moved to a new doctor’s office at the end of July and says, there, she was finally diagnosed with a fungal infection.
She said: “She had me start taking this antifungal medication that within a week I started to feel so much better.
“You never know how sick you are until you aren’t sick anymore.”
Over the next few months, the wound slowly healed and Kaela was finally cyst and infection-fee.
Reflecting on the incident, she said: “It’s so silly and insane that a pair of underwear caused mass torment and pain for me for nine months.
“Each time I had to tell a family member, friend, or doctor that this all started because of
a pair of underwear I died a little inside from embarrassment, but now I think it’s quite hilarious.
“It’s a great comedic relief story that people would never expect to hear.”
Now, she refuses to sleep in underwear, preferring to let the area “breathe” and says she has learnt to advocate for herself.
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