Yeast is SCARING ME! D:
Jul. 30th, 2008 04:22 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
primeveire.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
vaginapaginaHello! I'm a new member here.
I looked all over the internet for an answer to my question and couldn't find one anywhere. I also looked in the archives of this community and couldn't seem to find anything there either, so I decided to just pose the question myself. :P Apologies in advance if this has already been discussed and I've overlooked it!
My question is...
I went to the gynecologist today for my first pap smear, and while she was checking me she found that I had a yeast infection. The thing is, I now realize that I've probably had the infection for a while. I've had all of the usual symptoms -- burning, redness, itching, and thick white discharge -- on and off for quite some time. I (stupidly, I admit) never really thought much of it, though, because it kept going away for short periods of time and it was rarely unbearable. Most of the time I was able to just ignore it. It has become a little more severe recently, but for some reason it still never clicked in my head that I might have a yeast infection until my gynecologist informed me.
Now I'm starting to freak out. I'm probably just being irrational, but I'm worried that I'm going to have kidney problems or become infertile or my vagina is going to turn blue and fall off. My main question is how long can you go with an untreated yeast infection before it becomes really bad for your health? Also, what exactly can it do to you, as far as long-term damage goes? I'm not sure how long I've had the infection, but I'd say a few months. The last time I went to the gynecologist was June of last year, and she just did a quick check then but everything was normal. I don't think the infection started until this year, maybe in the spring? I'm really not sure.
Anyway, I hope someone can answer my question! I'm probably just being overly paranoid, but if so, reassurance that my vagina is indeed not going to die or hate me for the rest of my life would still be appreciated. :P I know I should have gone to the doctor as soon as the symptoms started, and I don't have a good excuse for not doing so besides that I was busy and it didn't seem like a big deal at the time. Also, I would have asked my gynecologist about it while I was there, but I didn't start freaking out about it until now, heh.
Thanks in advance and yay for this community! :D
I looked all over the internet for an answer to my question and couldn't find one anywhere. I also looked in the archives of this community and couldn't seem to find anything there either, so I decided to just pose the question myself. :P Apologies in advance if this has already been discussed and I've overlooked it!
My question is...
I went to the gynecologist today for my first pap smear, and while she was checking me she found that I had a yeast infection. The thing is, I now realize that I've probably had the infection for a while. I've had all of the usual symptoms -- burning, redness, itching, and thick white discharge -- on and off for quite some time. I (stupidly, I admit) never really thought much of it, though, because it kept going away for short periods of time and it was rarely unbearable. Most of the time I was able to just ignore it. It has become a little more severe recently, but for some reason it still never clicked in my head that I might have a yeast infection until my gynecologist informed me.
Now I'm starting to freak out. I'm probably just being irrational, but I'm worried that I'm going to have kidney problems or become infertile or my vagina is going to turn blue and fall off. My main question is how long can you go with an untreated yeast infection before it becomes really bad for your health? Also, what exactly can it do to you, as far as long-term damage goes? I'm not sure how long I've had the infection, but I'd say a few months. The last time I went to the gynecologist was June of last year, and she just did a quick check then but everything was normal. I don't think the infection started until this year, maybe in the spring? I'm really not sure.
Anyway, I hope someone can answer my question! I'm probably just being overly paranoid, but if so, reassurance that my vagina is indeed not going to die or hate me for the rest of my life would still be appreciated. :P I know I should have gone to the doctor as soon as the symptoms started, and I don't have a good excuse for not doing so besides that I was busy and it didn't seem like a big deal at the time. Also, I would have asked my gynecologist about it while I was there, but I didn't start freaking out about it until now, heh.
Thanks in advance and yay for this community! :D
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Date: 2008-07-30 10:30 pm (UTC)If it ends in .org, .edu or .gov, then I check it out -- those sites are usually going to be quite reliable.
If it ends in .com or .net, I look at the site name very carefully before deciding whether to click or not (still without reading the blurb). Most of the time, it doesn't pass the test.
A few exceptions that I do trust are MayoClinic.com and WebMD.com; other exceptions are the official sites of specific, well-known pharmaceuticals or medical products (i.e. thehpvtest.com for the Digene HPV test).
Basically -- avoid reading any of the actual hits before you've scanned the site to make sure it's reasonably trustworthy, otherwise it just leads to a whole lot of scary!