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Whether you get vaginal infections once a month or once a decade, you know, at best they are thoroughly annoying and you'd do anything to get far from the maddening itch. At worst, they can seriously affect your health. Is it possible to treat, and clear up, vaginal infections yourself? The answer is sometimes, especially if you catch them early enough. But often they require prompt medical attention. However, the good news is that you can prevent most vaginal infections, most of the time. The key to prevention and some times treatment is understanding the vaginal 'ecosystem'. We call it an ecosystem because in spite of the occasional annoyances, the vagina is usually a wonderfully efficient, and astonishingly complex, self-maintaining system. It washes itself out. It harbors good microorganisms that keep it healthy and shuts off bad ones. So usually the best kind of health maintenance you can do especially for the internal areas is nothing. The more you interfere with the vaginas natural systems for example with vigorous douching the more likely; you are to upset the balance works is the first step to staying healthy.
Natural defense: -
The vagina keeps itself healthy and clean with some ingenious protective systems.
Perhaps the most common is the acid balance. A healthy vagina is usually slightly
acidic (it registers about 4.0 to 5.0 on the pH scale that runs from 1.0, most
acidic, to 14.0 most alkaline) acidity prevents many different kinds of bothersome
bacteria and other microorganisms from flourishing. Interestingly, a kind of
friendly bacteria keeps the vagina acidic. The 'Good guy' bacteria are called
lactobacilli, or doderlains bacilli. If it weren't for the lactobacilli the
vagina might always be sugary, alkaline breeding ground for infections that's
because the cells of the vaginal wall store sugar, in the form of glucose; secretions
in the vagina slough off the cells, releasing the glucose. Bacteria, fungi and
protozoa love the feed off that sugar. The lactobacilli thrive on sugar, too,
but unlike the other organisms, the lactobacilli turn the sugar into weak lactic
acid. The acidity kills off many of the bad organisms. Another important protective
system is the vaginal mucus. Some women think of the mucus as 'unclean', but
infect. The opposite is true. Unless the discharge is an unusual colour or has
a very strong odor. It's a sign that the cleanup process is working fine.
Mucus cleans out the vagina with the help of gravity. The mucus comes from the
cervix, and the amount, colour and thickness depend on where you are in your
monthly cycle. As it moves down the vagina, the mucus picks up some additional
moisture from the vaginal walls and it also picks up dead cells that line the
vaginal walls, cleaning them right out. (The cells contribute to the whitish
colour) the mucus also moistens and protects the vaginal walls. And it 'plugs'
the cervical opening to defend the sterile uterus from microorganism invasion.
Things go wrong- itch & infections vaginitis. You are going 'itch' in the night
or day. Something's wrong. Your discharge has taken on a yellowish or garish
colour. There's been a coup some micro organism is holding your vaginal ecosystem
hostage.
It could be a lot of things. The general term for vaginal infections is "vaginitis", but that covers a lot of territory. There are five major kinds of vaginal infections.
Fungal or yeast infection: -
The most common is a microscope cause "candidacies" also called "moniliasis"
and more commonly, 'thrush', plant like organisms called candida albicans. A
few are normally present in the vagina and in the bowels whence they can be
brought over to the vagina. They can also be sexually transmitted, and the flourish
in a sugary alkaline environment. Small, one-celled animals cause protozoan
infections. The best known is trichomonas vaginalis (sometimes referred to as
'trich'. Like fungal infections, protozoa thrive in alkalinity, sexual contacts
wet wash cloths there are a variety of ways to pick up trich. One estimate is
that half of all women normally have a few trich swimming around in their vagina
only 15 percent will get a full fledged out break.
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