Our wonderful blogger Zoe, gives us a straight down the line intro into keeping the vagina healthy and comfortable this summer

Yeast Infections, Bacterial Vaginosis, and Urinary Tract Infections

Wonder Women + Yeast = Normal

If you’re a female-bodied person and you’re in possession of a vagina, you’re probably aware that they’re not all sunshine and rainbows. With summer on our doorstep, things can get a little trickier to manage. Many people don’t know the sort of small problems that can crop up until they appear, and even then they don’t really know what to do. So I’m here to talk to you about three common vaginal problems: Yeast Infections, Bacterial Vaginosis, and Urinary Tract Infections.

Yeast Infections

One of the most common complaints of vagina-owners is having a yeast infection – Called Candidiasis. A yeast infection is an overgrowth of a fungus that lives naturally in the vagina, Candida Albicans. Typically it lives quite harmlessly in the vagina – just chilling – but when vaginal conditions change, Candida Albicans can flourish and cause irritation of the mucous membranes. Some things that might cause a yeast infection are the following:

• Antibiotics – sometimes, antibiotics kill off more than just the nasty bacteria, and end up killing good ones too! When there isn’t enough good bacteria in the vagina, candida albicans can easily overgrow.
• Pregnancy – because of the change in hormones, the vaginal environment changes, which can make it party time for yeast.
• Poorly Controlled Diabetes – Yeast eats sugar, and if you have diabetes and it isn’t well controlled, your natural yeast could have more food than it deserves and grow far more than it should.
• Tight Fitting/Poorly Ventilated clothing – The vagina and vulva needs to breathe! Yeast loves warm, dark and damp environments, which is exactly what the vagina is. You can minimize the risk of having a yeast infection by wearing loose clothes, plain cotton underwear, and NOT sitting around in a wet bathing suit after swimming.

Natural Unsweetened Yogurt Can Help

Some common symptoms are a consistent itching of the vagina or vulva, a thick clumpy discharge that might resemble cottage cheese, redness, soreness, and irritation/pain during or after sex. Yeast infections do not have any long-term ill effects, but they can steadily get worse (to the point where you’re scratching at your genitals constantly!) and they can be passed to a male or female partner during sex. However, usually they are easily treated!

If you think you have a yeast infection but you’ve never had one before, you should go to a doctor so they can confirm. A doctor might take a quick look if the infection is external, but more usually they’ll take a swab of the affected area and send it off to make sure it’s a candida overgrowth and not a different infection. Usually you will be given a 3-7 day course of antifungal cream that is inserted into the vagina/spread onto the affected area. This cream is available over the counter and comes in 1 to 7 day varieties, but with antifungal cream, the longer the course the better the results. You may also be given an oral antifungal tablet. If you don’t like the idea of an antifungal treatment, you can also use natural unsweetened yogurt with live cultures (it MUST have no added sugar or flavourings) to spread on the affected area, just like the OTC cream, but it may not be as effective. It is, however, a safe alternative that can do no harm, but has the potential to do some good.

It is important to remember that yeast infections can happen to anyone, whether they’re sexually active or not. It most definitely is not a sexually transmitted infection (even though it can be spread through sexual activities) and sometimes just happens for no discernable reason whatsoever! (Candida Albicans is a very enthusiastic fungus.)

Bacterial Vaginosis

A healthy vagina houses several different kinds of bacteria. All these bacteria, for the most part, coexist quite happily in a delicate balance inside the vaginal environment. Like inside the stomach, some of these bacteria are good, happy, peaceful bacteria, and others are grouchy, warmongering and spiteful bacteria. Usually they get along quite well, but sometimes there’s a nudge in one direction. Some new bacteria are introduced, the vagina isn’t quite as acidic, maybe one of the good bacteria absentmindedly left the cupboard open. Then it’s an all out war, and the bad bacteria have the upper hand.

It can happen to anyone

Bacterial Vaginosis is an overgrowth of various kinds of bacteria in the vagina. Similar to a yeast infection, when there aren’t enough good bacteria to keep the balance, the bad ones throw a party and leave a mess. This can happen to anyone who has a vagina and it is one of the most common complaints for a vagina owner. It is not a sexually transmitted infection, but sex is able to introduce new bacteria into the vagina and so it might be a trigger.

Some factors make people more susceptible to bacterial vaginosis, such as pregnancy, menopause, anal to vaginal sex without changing the condom/cleaning the inserted object effectively, douching, or having an IUD (Intra Uterine Device). However, sometimes the infection occurs for no discernable reason. Some symptoms include a grey or white (sometimes yellow or green) discharge that may be milky in consistency, foul or ‘fishy’ smelling, pain, burning or itching in the vagina or vulva, pain during sex and pain during urination. Sometimes it’s very obvious when you have bacterial vaginosis, but other times you may only experience one or two symptoms, or none at all.

If you think you have bacterial vaginosis, you need to get checked out by a doctor. Normally the doctor will take a swab of the vagina and diagnose it that way – very occasionally the symptoms will be so obvious that a quick look during the swab will tell them what they need to know. It’s easy to treat – a doctor will prescribe an antibiotic oral tablet or a vaginal gel. Even though bacterial vaginosis is not easily transmitted to a partner, it is recommended that you abstain from any sexual activities until the infection has cleared, and if you keep having recurrent infections, your partner may be treated too. If you think you have bacterial vaginosis you should see a doctor as soon as you are able, because while most infections pose no complications, if left alone too long it can cause problems like Pelvic Inflammatory Disease and an increased risk of contracting an STI. It’s better to sort out the balance in your vagina than to leave it and let it get worse!

Urinary Tract Infections

Finally I’d like to talk to you about a potentially more dangerous infection. Urinary Tract Infections, or UTIs, are a gathering of nasty bacteria in the urethra and/or bladder. UTIs can be caused by consistently ‘holding on’ for too long, wiping bacteria from the vagina or anus into the urethra (either by wiping up after using the toilet, or from sex), and sometimes just happen for no discernable reason whatsoever. They cause symptoms like burning, itching or sharp pain when urinating, difficulty passing urine, discomfort around the bladder, and in more extreme cases it can cause blood in the urine and lower back pain. If you notice any of these symptoms for more than a day, you need to see a medical professional.

Wipe Front to Back

Diagnosing a UTI is easy – you simply give them a small urine sample, and the doctor will dip a special chemically-marked stick into it, which will tell them everything they need to know. A UTI is easy to treat, too – you’re given a short course of antibiotics, drink a LOT of water, and you’re fine! But it isn’t something to mess around with – if you think you have a UTI, you need to see a medical professional as soon as you can. When left untreated, UTIs can climb up to the bladder, and in even worse cases it can infect your kidneys, and you need your kidneys to live. If you notice blood in your urine or significant back ache, you need to see a doctor that day, the sooner the better. It wouldn’t be an overreaction to go to an emergency department, either! Just remember, the sooner you catch it the easier it is to treat, but you can easily end up in hospital if you leave it for too long.

Some people are prone to recurrent infections, but there are several things you can do to help prevent getting one:

• Drink plenty of water – This helps flush the bad stuff from your body. The urethra is self cleaning, but it needs water to do the job.
• If you’re female-bodied, wipe front to back – The urethra is the first orifice at the front, so you’re less likely to wipe bacteria into the urethra if you’re wiping front to back.
• Urinate after sex – No matter what type of sex you’re having – even masturbation! – you should always pee after sex, because sex can massage all sorts of other things into the urethra, and urinating flushes it all out.
• Take cranberry supplements – While cranberry juice/tablets cannot cure a UTI, they can help prevent one from occurring. If you’re suffering from recurrent infections, try some unsweetened cranberry juice once a day – or if you find it’s not to your taste, get some cranberry capsules from your local chemist or health food shop.

If you’ve got an infection now:

• Drink plenty of water – double your intake unless you’re unable to pass urine.
• Call a doctor – explain you think you have a UTI and you need to see one ASAP
• If it hurts to urinate, use water – You can sit in a semi-filled bathtub to urinate, or pour some lukewarm water over your genitals over the toilet. It might not be the most fun way to empty your bladder, but it can provide some relief until you get your medicine!
• If you have a fever, backache, blood in your urine or an inability to pass urine – call a doctor and explain your symptoms, or just head straight to an emergency room. It’s better to go and be told you’re fine rather than waiting and risking some real damage to your body.

Drink Plenty of water

All three common infections are easy to treat and usually easy to diagnose. In warmer weather it can be more difficult to manage the vaginal environment, but following general vagina-care tips (No douching, no sitting around in a wet bathing suit, minimizing foreign bacteria in the vagina) you can help prevent them. Just remember that most female-bodied people suffer from one or all of these infections at least once in their life and that none of them are the direct cause of being sexually active – all of them can occur in people who have never been sexually active before.

So while having a vagina isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, it doesn’t have to be doom and gloom either. Now you know a little about three common infections and a little about what to do about them, so you can go forth and enjoy having a happy and healthy vagina. (Yay!)

Tags: Bacterial Vaginosis, sex, Urinary Tract Infections, yeast, Yeast Infections