Aunt Vadge: why is my vagina itchy and sore?

Hi Aunt Vadge,

I’m 22 years old. Married for one year. Have no plans to have a baby, so we use safety measures… usually condoms. He fingers me sometimes. 

Last month I felt like my inner vagina was swollen… I went to the gynecologist. and she said everything is ok. It was cured naturally after some time.

Now I feel itching, very much on the lips and mucus coming out of my vagina, and if try to do sex, it feels like wounds inside my vagina. I showed my gynecologist, but she just suggested some precautions like wipe that area, and wash it with a particular wash. Thats it…

I have been suffering for the last two weeks. I didn’t find doctors treatment useful for me.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Itchy
_____

Dear Itchy,

Sorry to hear you have been suffering. The usual suspect for itching is a yeast infection, though it seems an obvious choice from your gynaecologist – she would have been able to see. Did she do any tests?

Itching and discharge indicates that you have an infection of some kind, as the most simplest of answers, however yeast infections don’t usually last for two weeks unless you have changed something perhaps in your diet. Yeasts love carbohydrates, so bread, pasta, potatoes, etc. Starchy, white foods, usually.

Look on our yeast infection page for some tips. You may want to increase fermented foods in your diet to increase good bacteria, and cut down on carbohydrates for a few days, and see if it makes any difference.

Drink plenty of water, eat fresh and whole, don’t drink alcohol. Don’t douche, don’t have sex, no fingering, no nothing.

If it is a yeast infection, then you should notice a difference within a couple of days.

If you notice any bad smells, then you need to go back to your gynaecologist. If there is bleeding, swelling or it starts to get worse, your gynaecologist will need to perhaps send you for some swabs to see if you have an infection.

Other infections that can cause itching are bacterial vaginosis, and sexually transmitted diseases – chlamydia, genital herpes, genital warts, trichomoniasis and gonorrhea. While I understand that you are married, sometimes these infections can lay dormant for some time, and can flare up unexpectedly. It happens more often than you’d think, but people don’t like to talk about it! It can pay to get tested anyway just to be sure. This is often a process of elimination – tick off the things it isn’t.

The other thing that can happen for no known reason is vaginitis – inflammation and itching, soreness, discharge for none of the above reasons. If you have vaginitis, you need to find out why – check your condom and lube brand (have you changed recently?) – and look for things you are doing differently, or something you changed two weeks ago. Contact allergic reactions can trigger off swelling and inflammation.

Our bodies can react to things spontaneously, and having a reaction to condoms is not unusual, even if you have never had a reaction before. You will only know from trial and error. Don’t put anything inside your vagina for a couple of weeks, check your diet, and see how you go. Make sure you are using neutral laundry detergent – hypoallergenic is best while you are trying to figure out what the problem is.

We have a couple more tricks up our sleeves, but try those suggestions, and if this doesn’t help, please write back to us with more information, and we’ll throw the next lot of solutions at you!

Warmest regards,
Aunt Vadge