yellow thick discharge, is it normal?

[belosnezhka]

Hello, Scarleteen. I'm worried about a yellow, thick discharge that started coming out since the end of my last period (i'm about to start another period). It's odorless, and slightly itchy but I don't know if the discharge is causing the itchness since I shaved down there for the fist time just before this discharge started coming out, I don't know if it's the hair growing that causes itchiness. The itchiness is very light and not constant, and it's external. I'm a virgin so I'm not worried about STDs but maybe bacterial or yeast infection, I dont know.
I went to a doctor today and she took a look at my vagina and the discharge that was there, she said it's normal discharge and I have nothing to worry about. I asked why it turned yellow and she explained that maybe it's the birth control pill that is causing changes in color and consistency. She said there's nothing I can do to stop it.

My question is: Can a doctor really tell whether it's normal discharge or na infection just by looking at it and asking you questions? If it's normal discharge, will it stop after I get my period again? Or I will keep seeing this yellow thick discharge as long as I'm on the pill? It bothers me a lot. And, finally, if it doesn't stop, can I use some kind of vaginal cream, and try treating it assuming it's a yeast infection? I don't know if it can get worse in the case it's not yeast but some bacterial infection, or any other thing

Excuse me for my poor english skills. And thank you in advance.

[Heather]

They usually can tell, yep. More to the point, they are trained to tell when, by looking and smelling discharge, when they should run tests and when there is not likely any need.

Birth control pills do make discharge thicker and tackier as one of the three ways they work (which can also mean discharges looking more opaque or yellowish), so that may well be why you are seeing this change. Using over-the-counter vaginal creams won't change that, and since most of them are made to treat infections, using them when you don't have an infection is a bad idea anyway.

We can't say what will happen with your discharges from here, alas: these things are super-individual and can change often through life.

It sounds like you are very bothered by it, though, so if you want, we can talk about why it is bothering you, and see if we can't help you feel more relaxed about it.

[belosnezhka]

Thank you! Now I'm relieved =) Well, I'm bothered because it stains underwear and feels wet sometimes (I'm wearing pantilines every day but I don't want to wear it forever =s)...And, I have a boyfriend and just when I decided to get more intimate, I get this weird discharge...And it's gross. I hope it will stop, I didn't have it before...

[Heather]

Okay.

So, one thing I can say is that you might want to just think about the idea that any normal function of your body is gross. Semen has its own smell and color and tackiness, too, but that doesn't mean IT is gross. And per partners, if you bring the body you have without calling it gross or thinking about it that way, your partner probably will not, either.

And of course, if and when any of us ARE ready for that kind of intimacy with someone else, part of that means being ready to see, feel, taste or smell parts of their bodies or body function in all their diversity, so if a partner can't deal with things like how discharge changes, then that's not really a problem with your body, but with that partner, you know?

I would keep an eye on that itchiness, just in case. But it sounds to me like this is just a normal variation with your discharge (and know, too, that as you go through puberty discharges change a lot, winding up different when you're grown than when they were when you were younger), just like other kinds of discharge you have had.

What do you think you'd need to come to thinking about it more like that?

[belosnezhka]

The only reason I think he would find it gross is because it's yellow and for me it doesn't look normal "/ All the other bodily fluids, I don't see a problem with them, they're normal, like you said. So I guess my problem can't be solved, because it's a natural thing after all.

[Heather]

So, you get that most often "normal" vaginal discharges can be anything from clear to white, yellow to brown or even reddish or blackish, yes?

Just checking, because sometimes thinking something isn't common and typical just comes from not knowing it is!

I hear you still calling this a problem, which is a good cue: it's not that your "problem" likely can't be solved because nothing is the matter with your body so much as that your problem really isn't a problem in the first place. The way I'm seeing it, the problem is really just the way you're thinking about your body and its functions with this, and that CAN be solved, because you get to change your mind and ideas.

[belosnezhka]

Normal, I got it, thank you =)

[Heather]

You ever get pregnant, you'll be looking back fondly on this discharge: discharges tend to get super intense, profuse and funky then. In a word, through life, it is going to seem weird sometimes, but way more times than not, it will actually be perfectly normal!