Vaginal yeast infection

Fungi and bacteria are always present in your vagina. They live in a natural balance and that’s very normal. All women have these fungi and bacteria on the skin and mucous membranes. A fungus can only start to cause symptoms if this is in your mucous membrane or skin and are out of balance. This means certain fungi and bacteria are dominant and these can subsequently cause an infection.

There is a mucous membrane on the inside of your vagina. This mucous membrane protects your vagina. You can end up with symptoms if a yeast infection develops here. The yeast infection can also be in the skin around your vagina. In both cases you could experience the following symptoms:

• Itching in or around the vagina.
• White discharge from your vagina.
• Your vagina may be a bit redder or more swollen.
• Pain or burning sensation, especially when urinating or having sex.

A vaginal infection caused by a fungus or bacteria is harmless. The balance of bacteria and fungi in your vagina will automatically be restored by your body. You can promote this by taking good care of your vagina and not irritating the insides. You can do this by following the advice below:

• Wash the outside of your vagina with lukewarm water. You only need to do this on the outside. The inside will clean itself.
• You should only use lukewarm water when cleaning. Don’t use soap or other agents like deodorant or oils. These agents will only irritate your vagina’s mucous membrane more and won’t help against the fungus.
• Don’t use spermicides during sex. This can irritate your vagina even more. Also make sure you take plenty of time to get aroused. Take time to moisten your vagina, or use a lubricant before having sex. If it hurts, stop immediately.
• Using garlic, yoghurt or probiotics won’t help.

And be sure to follow the above advice to prevent another vaginal yeast infection.

Taking good care of your vagina will restore the balance of fungi and bacteria inside your vagina. The infection and associated symptoms will subsequently also disappear. We would still recommend contacting your GP in the following situations:

• If you have symptoms of a vaginal yeast infection for the first time. In that case it would be useful to have it assessed by your GP.
• If your symptoms still haven’t gone away after 2 weeks.
• If you’ve bought medication from the chemist and this hasn’t resulted in sufficient improvement.
• If you also develop symptoms in addition to the above, such as abdominal pain or fever.
• If the mucus from your vagina is not white or transparent, but yellow/green, brown or red.
• If the mucus from your vagina smells bad.

You generally won’t need to call your GP if you recognise the symptoms from a previous vaginal yeast infection. However, you can still contact your GP if you recognise the symptoms from previous vaginal yeast infections and the symptoms persist for more than 2 weeks. You can also get medication for this from the chemist. This is often a cream or pessary for the vagina.