To fucking cry about this

[Fedup19473]

Hi,

i know posts like this sometimes get accused of being a troll- I’m not, I’m a long time poster but I’ve namechanged for obvious reasons.

possible TMI as I’m talking about female issues but I could honestly sob I’m so down about this all. Sorry for swearing in the title but tbh it sums up perfectly how I feel

I’ve had issues with vaginal discharge for a while and after another particularly bad day of it I actually feel like I’m at my wits end and could burst into tears. It’s quite literally ruining my life. I’ve always had issues with it but recently it’s changed - it used to be normals/whiteish etc but just a lot of it, but over the last few months it’s changed- I’m getting more of the white discharge and an insane amount of other discharge- it’s so watery that it’s soaking my underwear and trousers. I work in retail and today at work I suddenly realised I had a huge patch of discharge which had soaked through my trousers and left a patch probably around 6cm by 6cm. It was the worst shift of my life trying to hide it. I didn’t even realise at the time it had happened which is what scares me most because I can’t tell until I see it on my own trousers.

I don’t know why this is happening. It’s not pregnancy or STI ( I’ve never had sex), I’m in my mid 20s and when I went to the doctor before they said it’s normal. I understand that it can be normal, and previously I was getting a lot of white discharge so that’s normal for me- but now there’s significantly more and to the point I regularly look like I’ve peed myself. I’ve had hormone blood tests which were fine and now I’ve just been left to get on with it and frankly I could fucking cry about it

I tried tampons but I’d basically have to wear tampons everyday which isn’t great, and same with sanitary towels because it dries my skin. But the other alternative is I’m walking about looking like I’ve peed myself without realising

has anyone else ever had this and have any clue wtf it could be? Google says pregnancy or STI which it’s not, and my hormones are fine, but I just don’t feel like this is right and my friends the same age as me don’t get this. Otherwise I’m fine apart from bleeding in between periods but the doctor wasn’t concerned about that- it started a few months ago and only happened a few times, but I don’t get any cramps or pain so they said it’s fine

if anyone knows what tf this could be and how I can fix it I would be so so grateful

I have had similar OP. Sometimes I don't know if I've leaked pee or it's very watery discharge. Mine normally happened when I had a bit of ?cystitis and other irritation. I never went to Dr with it as it tended to last a week and get better. But it was really really hard to manage when it happened.
Definitely try sexual health clinic. Also the usual things of drinking lots of water and avoiding irritating foods like coffee and alcohol for a bit

Sorry if this has already been mentioned but a good probiotic might help. It has cleared up a lot of my intimate issues including constant thrush.

I had this issue but it was post partum and as you say - you're not sexually active so it rules that out. Do you ever get thrush? It could be a yeast infection. Have they swabbed the discharge at all? I had a nasty yeast infection PP and it was very similar to what you're experiencing. It was cleared up with the anti-fungal tablet used for thrush. Hope it clears up soon OP. Period pants are your friend, they're really good!

At the GP or sexual health clinics they test for only basic STIs and don’t test for other non specific infections. They are useless for more complex cases.
try to get a referral to a gynaecologist and testing for a wider range of infections (not just standard STIs but things like e.coli etc).

or go private.
you must insist it is an infection that they are not finding and not treating

So sorry to hear you’ve got this going on. Looks like you’ve been given some good advice on here, but I just wanted to add that there are ‘natural’ /organic sanitary pads which would hopefully be less irritating for your skin while you’re getting this sorted.
I think it’s totally reasonable to contact the GP practice again, in the light of the issue getting worse. If you book the appointment online there is usually an opportunity to click that it’s an ongoing issue that has worsened – you could point out how it has now impacted you at work. Most female GPs at my practice state (on the website blurb) that they have a particular interest in women’s health - hopefully you will get a sympathetic female GP who will help you to resolve this.

Best of luck, OP. You’ve had some good advice here, but I’d also try posting on Mumsnet’s Health board, where more readers may be specialists.

I would get a full vaginal swab done at a private lab. Also ask GP to test for BV - but NHS standard tests aren't always great. It sounds like you have an infection which is just an imbalance of bacteria.

I've used these in the past and found them good. A lot of the online testing companies are American, unfortunately:
https://www.digital-microbiology.com/product/prod_O9w7hebv1JPJjz

Also there is the Focus Medical Testing in the UK that I have also used for urine samples.

Go to the doctor.
Buy period pants.

I’ve had hormonal vaginal discharge since I began my periods, BUT it is not as bad as what you have been experiencing recently and definitely requires specialist investigation. I think you’ve had some great advice on this thread and I am confident you will get to the bottom of it. Don’t waste any more time with GP, straight to private specialist if you can afford it. I’m really glad you posted OP - no woman should have to suffer like this! 💐

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it but have you tried Tena pads/liners? They hold a lot of liquid as they're designed for urinary incontinence. I wear a tena light liner everyday (shout out to my children and perimenopause here) and I've not had any irritation from them but I have had soreness/irritation from extended wear of sanitary pads before.

To rule out anything sinister, it is important that you go back to your GP and request a cervical smear test. You should also request a swap for infection. Hope it can be cleared up for you.

Is there any chance you could actually be wetting yourself a bit? Especially with you mentioning the issue with your bladder not feeling completely emptied.

keep going back to the doctors until they listen to you, you shouldn’t be having to put up with this. Take some on with you if you can to support you, GPs aren’t great at taking women’s issues seriously

I second cervical erosions, STD/GUM clinic is a good idea. Good luck.

Another vote for period pants, I have leaking issues with urine and they are a game changer!

I have this- they picked it up at my last smear (I had no idea). I do also get the occasional 'gush' of discharge too - not so bad I worry about it going beyond my pants but enough for my underwear to be uncomfortably wet for a while afterwards.

Are you 100% sure it's vaginal discharge and not urine leaking? You describe having urinary symptoms as well. It may be a bladder problem. Keep fighting for a diagnosis, and treatment, no-one should have to live life this way.

Could it be a lost tampon? I experienced similar watery discharge as a teenager and an internal exam found that I'd inserted a new tampon without taking the old one out. Once removed, the problem disappeared. Wishing you well x

My son had what to me clearly looked like a UTI- frequent urination, urine leaking/ urgency to pee, pain when he peed, and he went to the GP and his urine tests were all negative and they gave him broad spectrum antibiotics just in case too, nothing changed.

I had to push them to look again. They eventually found it WAS a UTI, something a bit more uncommon, they couldn't see it on the first tests. It needed to be treated with a specific antibiotic to clear it (and even then it took three increasingly strong doses of it as by that time it was really taking hold!).

I'm not sure your symptoms necessarily sound like a UTI but after our experience I do warn people that sometimes those first tests can be wrong. But UTI wee is in my experience very stinky/ potent. I don't think you could mistake it as wee.

You might have a ‘overgrowth’ of a naturally occurring bacteria in your vagina called Gardnerella. This can cause very liquid discharge in large quantities. I know as I had similar symptoms a long time ago. It is not an STI but just one of those things.
It was easily cleared up with a course of antibiotics.

@Fedup19473 this sounds awful but there’s some great advice on this thread and hopefully you can find an answer.

my mum had a similar thing when I was a teen - she told me about it later - but she’d forgotten to take a tampon out and it was wedged way up inside her. She had terrible discharge apparently and had to be removed by doctor. Am guessing maybe you e had an internal and a smear already though as part of your elimination process? If not, it’s worth adding to your list of things to try.

You might have to explain exactly what OP is supposed to do with the the fresh (or dried) coconut shell 🤔

OP hasn’t had a sexual relationship so can’t have cervical cancer.

The boots BV and thrush treatment is great at just resetting me when somethings abit wrong.

But yeah if it is your normal then period pants would be best, you can get them that just look like normal underwear so just use them as your go to normal.