Is it harmful to check your vagina everyday???????

[jen76]

Ok, this is weird.....please tell me if this is harmful.  Every single day, sometimes twice a day, I stick my finger in my vagina and push around and dig out any vaginal discharge that may be in there.  I do this because i am paranoid about having an infection.  I have long acrylic nails; sometimes this irritates my vagina.  I seriously will stick my middle finger up my vagina and "dig" around up there to monitor my discharge every single day.  I do it in the shower in the morning just to clean it out and then once or twice in the afternoon/evening to monitor everything just to see if it's up to par.  Am I crazy?  Is this harmful to my vagina?  Please let me know

[Demiguise]

This is definety a ? for the Womens Forum but I'd say yes, it's
strange & dangerous. Sounds like borderline OCD & if tissue gets
scratched w/ those nails, may get infections. If a scratch is
present w/ a parnter, it can poss. cause some problems. Do you
know abt the Womens Forum? This is 'Undiagnosed Symptoms' &
wonder why so many females are asking abt sex or vagina questions? Seems more intimate over there. Anyway, OCD is a
poossible answer & I'd discuss w/ MD. Some of the 'natural' you're referring to is necessary for a healthy environment.

[Humanbeing12345]

I would say it's dangerous but, what if your fingernails are short?

[adflkhwyeldhdxd]

I was under the impression that this is the Women's Health forum...anyway, I understand the urge to "monitor" your discharge but it can be irritating and even cause an infection to stick your finger up there.  The vagina cleans itself really well so even in the shower it shouldn't be necessary to do that.  So, your urge is natural, but try to resist because your suspicion that you may do yourself harm is correct.

[AnnieBrooke]

Hi, I agree that the fingernails are about the worst thing you can put up your vagina.  If you were to culture the dirt under your nails, you would find all kinds of bacteria and maybe even funguses, possibly of worse kinds than ever could get in there normally.  And the vagina (despite the fact that you see discharge from it) is generally self-cleaning and almost without harmful bacteria if nothing is put into it.  

That said, I can understand a compulsive urge to do some unexplainable thing with the body.  (I have a small scaly place on my scalp that is normal [the dermatologist has even shown me a pic of one in a medical book] but I will scratch at it when it gets flaky even though I know better!)  

My suggestion is that you look for some of those long swabs that doctors use during pap smears -- they're like a giant Q-tip with a normal cotton bud on the end but a longer stick.  The good thing about them is that they are packaged in a sanitary way (each individually, like Band-Aids).  Then pick up some Betadine (which, again, is what the docs use if they are going to poke around in the uterus) and clean the lips with it so you don't push bacteria from there up into the uterus.  Then you can use the swab to look at your discharge, instead of your fingernails.  If this is too hard, try some exam gloves and the Betadine.  

Hopefully, after a while you'll get tired of the whole process and break yourself of the habit, but even if you don't, at least you won't give yourself a nasty vaginal infection in the meantime.  Good luck!

[Demiguise]

This is what happens when you don't stay on board & ck. email
when signaled. Yes, this IS the Womans Forum. No wonder all
the female questions. I came here from other forum to read something someone asked abt. However, my response still is the
same.

[jacquie87]

well I'd say she asked a good question. I'm sure she's not the only girl that does it, and I appreciate the informative answers that it may be OCD related.

[AnnieBrooke]

Hi, what jen was doing was essentially focusing on what her vaginal secretions look like, to the point of "cleaning out" the vagina with her fingernail.  As another poster said, probably she's not the only person to do this, so it's a good thing to have a discussion on the boards of at least being able to keep from infecting oneself, given that compulsive habits are hard to break.  (I wouldn't mind being able to break myself of the habit of scratching at the scaly spot on my scalp, but at least I've worked out to put antibiotic cream on it if I do. LOL)  It's funny, every time we reveal something embarassing on these boards, someone else writes with almost the same thing. :)  I live in Oregon, maybe there is a West Coast mindset that you are recognizing.  Have you always lived in California?

Annie

[oceans3]

what is it exactly that you are looking for? if your discharge is creamy? lumpy? clear? stretchy? milky? whitish? yellowish? grayish? smelly? sweet? no odor?
as soon as i read your post i also thought OCD.
as everyone else has stated, inserting those long nails can put bacteria in your vagina and also the nails can cut you. your whole point of checking yourself, as you stated, is because you are paranoid about having an infection. well.....you may actually cause yourself to have an infection by doing what you are doing.
why dont you just let nature take its course??? let your body cleanse itself (as all of our bodies do naturally)? that is why we have the discharge. our discharge varies throughout the month. sometimes there is little, and sometimes a lot. during ovulation, the discharge is different too. wear a pantiliner and then inspect your discharge ON the pantiliner if you feel you must but again, i am not sure of what you are looking for? would you know it if you saw it?
IF you had an infection (like, yeast or BV for instance) your body would tell you without digging around up there. you would itch, burn, and the discharge would already be "sitting" at the opening of your vagina. BV..you would have an unusual odor.
leave the digging around to your OBGYN. that's why they make the big bucks.
just try VERY hard to keep your nails out of there. again,i think you may have some symptoms of OCD.

[glad2bamom]

Totally disagree with AnnieBrooke.
The worst thing this woman could do is get some cotton swabs and start poking around her genitals.  You could do some real damage, precisely why the package says for "external use only".  And Betadine??? My goodness, this is going a little far.

Your vagina has natural bacteria and yeast that live in that area for a purpose.  If you upset the balance of those bacteria/yeast, you run the risk of getting an infection.  What if one of those acrylic nails pops off as you're scratching around inside?  Sounds unreasonable, but anything is possible.  
You need to leave the investigating to the doctor.  Also, because I have children, I know that a multitude of organisms live underneath the fingernails...you are introducing them into the normal flora of the vagina everytime you put your hands up there.  

If you have pain, or itching, and that is why you are searching around, please go to the doc.
Manually stimulation for pleasure is perfectly normal behavior.  Searching around inside for secretions and discharge is another thing entirely.  You need to be careful.  If you're concerned about what you may find, you need to consult a doctor.

[who_is_this]

Well, to be honest, this one leaves me a tad squeamish.  I can't stop thinking about all the women I know with acrylic fingernails, and whether or not they washed their hands recently.

So I decided to let it be.

[who_is_this]

Now I'll be looking at everyones nails, including the cafeteria lady's.  Thanks.

[PammySue]

Maybe we should give her the rubber ducky.  It would certainly be better than acrylic nails, huh!!

[AnnieBrooke]

Hi, the only reason I made that suggestion is that this poster was clearly going to be putting something up her vagina, probably still her fingernail, almost no matter what anyone said because the activity was a little compulsive.  Cleaning the lips with Betadine before inserting a swab (and I don't mean poking violently around, but it sounds like she is a pro by now and wouldn't do that anyway if she has the hand motion down enough to do it with fingernails) is preferable to the sharp and not clean fingernail.  Ideally, sure, she wouldn't put anything up there.  But if she is doing it 2x daily even though it has given her an infection in the past, just saying "don't do it" is going to be an unhelpful answer.  I was trying to help her make the whole process so burdensome that she would get bored with it after a while.  Compulsions are only do-able when they are easy.

[Mertek]

Oh no...not the duck! :)

[nowherechild]

Maybe if she wore a rubber over her finger...ok, I'm sorry, I couldn't help it.  It was the other peoples fault in the rubber thread, they made me do it.  

To the OP:  I truly hope you get help for this.  Soon.

[glad2bamom]

You're right...she does have OCD issues, sounds like it to me.
Sorry if I seemed a little quick with my response.  I just don't think she needs any other ideas of items to put inside her.

I do realize, however, that you had motive behind what you suggested, and I appreciate that.

****************************************************************

Maybe if she tried the rubber tire, she would have a little more trouble.  
(Couldn't resist)

[JJety]

If she can get a tire in there, then......whoa!

[jen76]

THANK YOU LADIES........I WILL LEAVE IT ALONE

[luv_babies]

I am ttc, so everyday in the am I check cp and cm, and then check cm throughout the day. I also have acrylic nails, however they aren't that long, and I'm not "digging". "Digging" around up there isn't a good idea, you could scratch yourself and cause an infection. I would talk to your dr about it. If you continue to check cm and stuff, MAKE SURE YOU WASH YOUR HANDS before and after of course. Good Luck!

[jacquie87]

yea I will admit I check my cm almost everyday. I make sure I soap my hands and under my nails really well beforehand.

[glad2bamom]

Can't believe you haven't chimed in on this one.

[AnnieBrooke]

Now I have to read the rubber thread (LOL).

[corykis okay]

Sticking anything in there is asking for trouble! or infection

crazy!

[jeffs wife]

I was just wondering why you would need to check your vagina everyday for cm.  I'm just curios, I have never heard of anyone doing that unless they were in labor and checking to see if the were ready to give birth.  Are you afraid you are too big?  I was just wondering.  Michelle

[lila947]

I have short nails and try to keep them clean always. But.....I do exactly what this lady does. I stick my middle finger in up there and try to gently scrape out whatever discharge might be hanging onto the vaginal walls.

I mean honestly, you stick a penis up there, and all sorts of things for pleasure - which I truly do not get - why not stick a finger up to scrape out a vaginal discharge? to check color and odor or for whatever hygienic reason.

By the way I am not sexually active and don't masturbate. But I have one daughter and had a history of VB/yeast infection which had been treated with medication. however this has recently encouraged me to stick my finger in, poke around and gently remove discharge from the vaginal walls. I don't douche.

In general my vagina has - I think - a normal smell. I am pleased with the smell because I heard of and read of some women who had really bad smells. But I have white discharge that always makes me paranoid.

So thanks to the girl who asked this question, and yeah there are other girls who do this, so please more feedback and answers please!!! thanks a lot