I couldn’t help but think, laugh at my innocent self and also be thankful that things didn’t get out of hand when I was putting this together. Let me share with you the reason why. A few months back, I was feeling weird and hot down there. Why? I didn’t know. I was quite an extremely busy person who had little or no time to take care of herself but this doesn’t include personal hygiene. This is because I for one do not joke with it. Over time, it got extremely itchy and so uncomfortable but the innocent me actually thought it was stress. The itching continued for a week or two and my mind totally went off from checking the internet for leads. I guess it was because what got me really occupied then was offline and I had little or no time to be with the online world. I was scared of talking to my friends including my doctor because he was a man for the fear of being shamed or laughed at. I’m sure by now, you already have heads up on what I want to talk about, TOILET INFECTIONS.

“Toilet infection, is a sort of infection contracted from the toilet and as a result causes a female to experience discomforts such as burning, itching and unpleasant foul odor coming right from the vagina. There are several kinds, however, the most common types include vaginal yeast infection, Trichomoniasis and bacterial vaginosis.”

Fast forward to weeks later, it became quite unbearable as the itching got me anywhere including public places. At this point, I knew I needed to talk to someone so I opened up to my best friend about it. Eventually, she told me it was a toilet infection. I wondered if it was true because my discharge was looking normal, no color change and no foul smell. I was worried because I had no idea what it was. When I got back home, I did a little research about it online and found some information about infections generally. She prescribed a few medications to me that she used each time she had it.

‘Now, this is where I’ll make my first warning and at the same time advice; OUR BODIES ARE NOT THE SAME. Reason is this, what worked for A might not work for B. Reason I said this is because I actually used the medications but it didn’t completely work except for the fact that the itching reduced(this was after exhausting all my medications). ‘

At this point, I realized I needed a better treatment. So, I went to the hospital and took a test and when my result came out, it was confirmed I had a toilet infection. Now, my test result also showed that it was almost getting to the advanced stage so I needed to take drastic and urgent measures. I thought about how I got the infection because I stayed alone in my apartment and I rarely visited people. I also avoid the use of public toilet as much as possible but then, I realized it could have been a one-time thing and it could have been just 1 out of the 0.1% times I probably shared toilet with another person. If you read up to this point, you’ll realized I made a few points;

• A grown adult like me had little or no idea about what and how to identify an infection. I’m sure there are more people like me out there.
• I didn’t speak out early enough because of the fear of being shamed.
• I was also shy of going to the hospital for proper treatment. Don’t be shy, it’s not a death sentence.

I’m not here to tell you about a particular infection but to tell you things to do and when you need to visit the hospital when you start seeing signs like this. Once you start getting a kind of odor from your body or your discharge starts getting colored, you need to visit the hospital. A normal discharge is meant to be slimy but whenever yours starts to look cheesy, you need to see a doctor. Also, redness, burning, itching or even pain during urination are signs that you need to see a doctor. Do you know it can cause Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), a major culprit responsible for infertility in women? Now, you do.

So here is my plea, as much as you pay attention to your make up, to your dressing, to your hair, pay good attention to your body. Self-medication also doesn’t help sometimes, just because you complained to someone and the person attested to the fact that she had similar symptoms doesn’t mean you guys have the same infection. The fact that hers was a yeast infection doesn’t mean yours is, that is why proper treatment that starts with taking a test is important. I shared a personal experience because I want you to learn from it. Delay can be very dangerous!!

Please pass across to the female figures you have in your life.

Images: Goggle Images