By Antonia Rosu
This article may be written from my perspective, but I speak for all women who have lived through this nightmare and spent years looking for answers. I am one of those women.
Menstruation, ovulation, STDs, vaginal discharges, pregnancy, menopause - basically, all our lives we keep making discoveries about our bodies and how to control them. More or less. Candida or the vaginal yeast infection is among those discoveries each woman makes at some point in her life. Except it is one of the unpleasant ones. I was unlucky enough to experience it and let me tell you, what a rollercoaster that was.
First it starts with an itching, then an irritation and then boom, white cottage cheese-like discharge on your panties and a weird smell. This first happened to me three years ago and I decided to visit one of the best gynecologists in town. I would not rate sitting with my legs widely spread and having a lady exploring my genitals as one of the best experiences in one’s life but it is something we have got to do once in a while. She tells me the infection is caused by an imbalance in my vaginal flora, the pH has changed and she will give me medication so there is nothing to worry about. I take 12 ovules for 12 nights before bed, I take two blue pills that make me feel sick, I use a sticky substance on the affected area and tell my boyfriend we are only going to watch Netflix. No chill.
3 years and 10 doctor appointments with the legs spread later, I was still in an endless miserable cycle. White discharge, annoying smell, another round of ovules and pills. I blamed it on sexual intercourse and this unconsciously led to my fear of having sex again. I was so tired of all the medication and the same story going on and on every three months I started making excuses to my boyfriend who had no idea what was going on. He was confused, he had no idea how to even ask what was happening and obviously, he started overthinking - you guessed it, he thought I had someone else. Poor soul.
I was so stuck on the idea encouraged by experts that this issue was caused by my sex life until one day I started putting the pieces together. Somehow, whenever I had a flu I treated with antibiotics, my genitals were going crazy a few days right after. The last time it happened, I decided to ditch the gynecologist and go straight to the pharmacy. A young lady who asked what kind of medication I took lately made it pretty clear to me that probiotics are a must. Funny thing was I took probiotics, just not an antifungal one. She handed me a small pill, called Fluconazole. I was so skeptical I laughed all the way back to the car thinking about all the treatments I tried before.
A few days later, normal discharge, no itching, no odour. It had nothing to do with my relationship or expensive medication in the first place, there was nothing wrong with me, I would not have to live my life in fear this will happen whenever me and my partner decide to also chill, not just Netflix and it was all thanks to a small pill I had no idea I had to take.