Like babies and children, women will always remain in the centre stage or commanding height of men’s thoughts. While many men would bottle urinary problems until they begin to get out of hands, they run helter skelter for help immediately their wives or mothers, sisters or daughters report a breast lump, lower abdominal pain or some issues in their secret places. 

 

Toilet infections

Women appear ashamed to admit when they have troubles “downstairs” that it is all of their own making. They probably believe they would be seen as having been sleeping around, or of not being hygienic enough. So, they heap all the blame on “toilet infections” which they want you to believe they inevitably and innocently picked up in the rest room, which they share with other people, male or female. In some cases, they are correct, as I have explained in some publications. There are few clean public toilets in Nigeria. The water system in a toilet may not run, and flushing may have to be done by filling a bowl with water from a bucket and pouring it on the poop in the water closet. That is why public toilet users deposit layers and layers of poop in the water closet before someone finally rids the poor bow of the damn stuff. The toilet room air is filed with odour and germs which get into the lung. 

Where there is no poop in the water closet and the user deposits compacted, heavy poop which sinks, displacing water, the force of upthrust may be significant enough to slash infected water closet water on the buttocks. This may be bad news. There is no soap in such a toilet to wash off the mess and no sanitizer to apply in the buttocks. The briefs are worn after the deed, and the germs left on may migrate to the vagina to infect it. Where this is not the case, the habit of washing underbrief and hanging them in the toilet room to dry may cause havoc. For every flush of the water closet displays air which may come up with germs, and they may eventually settle on parties. As many women do not iron their briefs to kill germs before they wear them, this may be another source of exposure of the vagina to germs. 

 

Yet another exposure comes from sun drying. Dust may settle on wet laundry. So many pollen and fungi flying in the air. The net result may be smell, itching, discharges, pain during sex or urination, sperm reflux, pelvic inflammatory Disease (PID), uterine bleeding, changes in the cells of the cervix, blocked fallopian tube, ectopic pregnancy and infertility.

 

All of these may be successfully dealt with, using appropriate herbal medications, some of which may be used in douches or inserted in the vagina overnight. The use of panty liners is also advised. A panty-liner worn over the brief not only protects it from damage by discharges from the vagina but protects the vagina from re-infection in about three ways… It prevents re-infections from discharges on the brief by killing those germs in the discharge; it oxygenates the vagina to make it inhospitable for germs to live in; it mobiles repair proteins for the healing of injuries caused by germs apart from boosting immunity in the region.

 

Sexual appetite

A woman’s sexual appetite may cause trouble for her, if she is voracious, irrespective of whether she jumps in and out of bed with just one man all the time. 

 

In studies which link sexual appetite to cervical and vagina troubles, the question is often asked: which woman is at lesser risk? The one who has sex with 1,000 men or the one who has sex with one man 1,000 times? What the investigator is driving at is how frequent sperm deposits in the vagina affect its health for good or ill. The pH of the vagina is acidic. This makes it difficult for germs to survive in it. On the other hands, the pH of sperm is alkaline. For sperm to survive in the vagina, the semen protects them with antibody-antibody. The antibody-antibody temporarily overcomes the antibody of the acidic environment of the vagina. This means that, in the course of the residence of sperm in the vagina, the latter’s defences are weakened by a mightier force. This can only be temporary if the vagina is not to cave in, health-wise. Thus, when a woman is mated by 1,000 men the cervix and the vagina stand the risk of developing an alkaline environment, which does not protect their special nature. The same result occurs when a simple sexual partner is literally involved 1,000 times in one day.

 

An additional risk in the exposure to multiple sexual partners, there is not only exposure to different grades of sperm but, also, of exposure to the cancer-causing Human Papilo Virus (HPV). Talking about different grades of sperm, some cervical cancer researchers believe that the cervix and the vagina “study” and adjust themselves to the sperm they receive. This is like adaptation. But when they are bombarded with different grades of sperm, and consistently for that matter, their capacity to “study” the sperm and adjust is weakened and they cannot protect themselves against the bombardment.

 

Today, many Nigerian women, in or outside marriage, are sex-oriented for money. Many of the young women are unskilled and take jobs which fetch them no more than twenty thousand naira a month. It costs them between N15, 000 and N20, 000 to transport themselves to the office and back home every month. Lunch a month will cost them about N10, 000. Where does the money for clothes, shoes, bags, creams, hair do and perfumes come from if not from men most of the time? These girls cannot escape multiple sex partners. Most married women, who set up small businesses are hardly different from them. Often, it is other men, not their husbands, who maintain these businesses and their lifestyles.  Both categories of women fuel the condom industry, which tries to protect them against embarrassing, unwanted pregnancies. But condoms are foreign to flesh tissues and cause their own irritation and hazards, which are not immediately noticed because they aggregate in small, hardly noticeable doses before they strike one day in large accumulations. 

 

To worsen matters, foreplay these days come with lots of finger works solicited or invited by the woman. Yet this is a major source of vaginal infections. Her partner may have come into the bed-room from the toilet where he had just turned off the water tap, flushed the water closet or pulled the door-knob to shut the door… and picked up germs along the way. He may have been stroking her hair and body, picking on those fingers Staphylococcus aureus bacterium. This is a commensal bacterium. By commensal, it is meant that this bacterium is normally resident on our bodies, in our nostrils etc. It is inactive when our immune system is active. When immunity is low, the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium strike in either barber’s rash, sore throat or in the urinary system, the vagina or elsewhere. For some women, the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (plural) is a cause of P.I.D and infertility.

 

Dressing

American gynecologist Christiane Northrup with  almost 40 years of practice behind her, says women in her book, WOMEN’S BODIES, WOMEN’S WISDOM, that the growing wave of gynecological problems today may have arisen from the habit of women wearing pairs of trousers, which some societies call pants. She believes women “suck in” energy from the earth through the vagina, and that dresses, which inhibit this process, would deny their reproductive system these “radiations.” Dr. Northrup is a Firm believer in mind-Body-Spirit relationships.

 

Infections

As said, the average Nigerian woman groups vaginal and cervical problems under the common umbrella of “toilet infections”, even when they may not have come from the toilet-room. In the website self.com Amy Morturana writes:

 

“Those tight pants look great from the back, but do you know what is going on upfront? There are a lot of things that can go wrong with your vagina. From yeast infection to toxic shock syndrome, problems range from straight up uncomfortable to flat out dangerous if you are not treating your Lady parts with care. So naturally, we got a little nervous when we heard that the clothes we wear might be unknowingly wrecking havoc down there. 

 

“If you search the internet to find out what causes yeast infections or other ailments like bacterial vaginosis, chances you stumbled upon the notion that wearing tight pants (jeans) can cause some issues.  Does this mean you have to give up your skinny jeans to avoid an obnoxious itch, we asked some-one whose job it is to keep the vagina healthy. Tight pants can definitely irritate the Lady bits, but usually the problem only seems like an infection. The biggest problem with tight pants, especially jeans, is that they can rub against the vulva and cause irritation ‘some women have more sensitivity’.

 

Tami Rowen, M.D., and OB/GYN, at UCSF Medical Center specialising in sexual health concerns tells SELF:

 

‘Tight pants rubbing and putting pressure (on the vulva) can cause irritation.’ This can lead to symptoms that look very similar to an infection, like itchiness, redness and irritation. But what is really happening is that the skin is inflamed. ‘I will do a biopsy, and it comes down to that something is irritating the skin tissue,’ Rowen explains. ‘The biopsy shows inflammation that just shouldn’t be there’ some people may mistake this irritation for infection, which is why it is important to see your gynecologist instead of trying to self-treat. Chances are slim though, that your skinny jeans themselves will cause an overgrowth of yeast or bacteria. Theoretically, however, they could be one small part of a layer equation.

 

You could, in theory, say yes that tight pant may increase your risk, Rowen said. They decrease breathability, helping trap heat and moisture in your vagina, which can promote an environment where yeast and bacteria thrive. It makes sense. But what you have on underneath those jeans is more important.

 

‘For women with chronic yeast or bacterial infections, something is clearly disturbing the pH of the vagina, so we do look at what kind of detergent they are using or underwear they are wearing she says:

 

“Underwear made of synthetic material trap moisture, decreasing the airflow in that area. When you pair the two together, it could potentially make a greater impact that either factor itself. (Underwear made of wicking materials, like polyester, is good for a very sweaty workout but not necessarily everyday use).

 

“So, what can you do to keep your vagina happy when you are squeezing into your favourite pant? If you suffer from irritation Rowen says, it may be worth switching to a skirt for a little bit or at least pants that don’t cause friction, to see if it helps. All women, but especially those prone to irritation or yeast or bacterial infections, should wear plain cotton underwear and change it often. “Once a day should be enough but if you’re having excessive discharge, you should be changing more frequently or using a panty liner and replacing it when its gets near full”. If you’re experiencing recurrent yeast or bacterial infections or simply don’t know your diagnosis, see your doctor to figure out the underlying cause.