Vaginosis Explained

Vaginosis Is many times accompanied by either mild or even severe vaginal itching & burning. The following article explores vaginal infection.

Candidiasis is an infection caused by a group of microscopic fungi or yeast. There are more than 20 species of Candida, the most common being Candida albicans. These fungi live on all surfaces of our bodies. Under certain conditions, they can become so numerous they cause infections, particularly in warm and moist areas.

Vaginosis

Female Trouble

by J. Lite

Lauren Kunis woke up in the middle of the night itching & burning so badly she wanted to scream.She'd had vaginosis on and off since her teens, sometimes several each year, and would often self-medicate, buying one of the various over-the-counter drugs available to women who recognize the hallmark signs of an infection: intense vaginal itching & burning accompanied by a white, cheeselike discharge.

But something about this episode felt different. Her vagina was red and swollen, she says with a grimace. Like Kunis, a general practitioner assumed she had a severe vagina bacterial infection and prescribed the anti-fungal drug Diflucan, touted in ads as the one-pill miracle. Her symptoms quickly returned. She tried Monistat, and when that didn't work, some of the other nonprescription treatments.

In women, signs and symptoms of Vaginosis infection are a white cheesy discharge that typically itches and irritates the vagina and surrounding outer tissues. On occasion there may be pain with sexual intercourse or burning with urination.

She'd feel better for a few days, only to find herself in agony days later. A gynecologist agreed that her vagina was inflamed, but all the tests for yeast came back negative. She gave Kunis creams to curb the swelling and irritation. Those didn't help much, either.

I would feel okay for three or four days, and then I'd feel lousy and have that itching, says Kunis, 31. I felt antsy. I knew I needed to sit still but everything was making me ... I can't describe the feeling, it's so indescribable.

It's just so hard to do daily functions, to get up, to go to the supermarket. You don't want to walk, you don't want to see people, you're grouchy, and all of these things affect your mood," the Queens woman says.

Three-quarters of all women will experience a yeast infection at some point in their lives, accounting for 10 million office visits each year, according to a study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. But while most patients are quickly and successfully treated, 5% may develop chronic or recurrent yeast infections, defined as four or more annually. Studies show that up to another 10% are infected with strains of yeast other than the common Candida albicans type and, therefore, are resistant to the most popular medications.

These stubborn and sometimes persistent infections diminish the quality of women's lives, at times forcing them to stay home from work and making sex painful or impossible. Why women develop these tough-to-treat infections is largely a matter of conjecture, and solutions often a process of trial and error.

Recomended reading: 12 Hour Cure for Yeast Infection

Misdiagnosis is common

Part of the itching & burning problem stems from disagreement over the role yeast plays. A series of books on the "yeast connection" that have gained a steady readership since the 1980s suggests that an overgrowth of yeast in the body is responsible for recurrent vaginal infections. Cleansing the body of yeast and following a yeast-free diet are touted as solutions. But while most physicians dispute the theory and the usefulness of the diet, not all health-care providers diagnose women with vaginitis, or vaginal irritation, the same way, leading to improper treatments that can make the real source of pain worse and frustrate women and their doctors.

Some candidal infections can be treated at home with over-the-counter or prescription medication and can clear within a week. But if some other disease has weakened your immune system, consult your doctor for any new symptoms before attempting self-treatment. You may risk getting an infection.

Conventional medical practice says yeast must be observed under a microscope and cultured in a lab for a positive diagnosis to be made. But some doctors diagnose women with a yeast infection without taking either of these steps, others make diagnoses based on the results of a culture alone and still others will make a positive diagnosis if they see yeast during the microscopic exam, even if the culture comes back negative. It's more common to be misdiagnosed than correctly diagnosed. That's the major problem,says Dr. William Ledger, professor and chairman emeritus of obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

About 70% of women with vaginitis that they attribute to a yeast infection don't have one at all, Ledger says. Instead they suffer from any of a number of other conditions, some of whose symptoms mimic those of yeast infections: bacterial vaginosis, trichomoniasis (a parasite that is sexually transmitted), skin allergies, hormone abnormalities or vulvodynia (pain of the vulva, the exterior region of the vagina). Normally a proper balance of beneficial bacteria in the vagina keeps growth of yeast in check. When that balance is disturbed, as is common during treatment with antibiotics or through use of douches, or when a woman's immune system is weakened from diseases such as AIDS or cancer, yeast can multiply and cause an infection.

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