Incontinence?

[electricdruid.livejournal.com]

I know there's no such thing as a stupid question but sometimes I wonder if this might be one. Not that I'm embarrassed if it is :P

Basically, my question is: how does a girl know if she's suffering from incontinence?

I'm 21, and for much of my pubescent life I've experienced discharge that stains my underwear. Often is is pale yellow, which washes out, but over time it becomes darker, more like a pale brown. Buildup, I suppose. I'm not talking years, here. I'm not keeping my underwear that long. Obviously if I've had it for years and it's stained like that, I'm going to toss it. But if I've only had the pair a few months... 

I know every woman is different, but my mother likes to declare that my "stains" are so dark and she never had any discharge like that and there must be something wrong with either me or the way I wear my underwear (her suggestion is to change my panties twice as often. She also told me to buy only dark underwear so that this doesn't happen anymore. Which is false, of course. It'll still happen, I just won't see it). My boyfriend occasionally gets uncomfortable about it when we're doing laundry at his place and asks me to throw out some of the worst offenders, telling me that when he was a kid he did his family's underwear and never noticed this with his mom's or sister's undies (TMI?).

Anyway, so I've got to thinking- what if I'm experiencing incontinence? How do I know if this is a drop or two of urine, or if it's regular discharge? Would urine be likely to color underwear in this way? Would discharge?

Comments

[katscanx.livejournal.com]

I've had the same problem, and honestly, I've come to just accept that something in my vag - I'm guessing something to do with the acidity or PH - changes the color of my underoos. Black underwear gets a kind of bleached effect, and white underwear gets a yellowish staining effect. If you're concerned, you can certainly go to the OB-GYN and have them test for abnormalities, but honestly, I'd just say that this is how your vagina works. If you aren't having any problems - if you have an otherwise healthy vagina - leave well enough alone, and tell your mom to stay outta your crotch's business.

Everyone's body works a little different. As you can see from the responses here so far, you are NOT alone. I very, very, VERY much doubt this is incontinence, or you not being "clean" or something like that. Vaginas are interesting environments with all kinds of biology & chemistry type stuff going on. So try not to worry about it. You're not alone. :)