As a gynecologist, I am all too familiar with the reality of menopause that my fellow women and patients experience at some point on their journey of womanhood. But MANOpause? What is that?  Is it even real? 

Baker’s yeast. Brewer’s yeast. Nutritional yeast. Yeast to make wine. Oooh no! There are so many different kinds.  To the bread lovers I say, “hail to the yeast!” However, when we talk about yeast that causes genital infections—there is no glory there! This type of yeast is not

Did you know that there are more women, than you may realize that suffer with chronic vulvar vaginal pain? Another term for it is, vulvodynia. In fact a study by Camille et al demonstrated that it affects 9-12% of the general population of women and 15% of women in a gynecological setting.

January is National Cervical Health Awareness.  So let’s talk about the Who – What – When-Where- and HOW of Cervical Cancer. Okay, so WHO is at risk for developing cervical cancer?  Well, since only women have a cervix (men don’t), cervical cancer affects only women. With that said, however, the virus which commonly causes cervical cancer can be transmitted from men. In fact, most men . . .

Torment! Weeping! Death! All of these words, and more, have been used to describe Hell. Unfortunately, many women have also used these same words to describe their very own periods. In fact, I’ve had some of my patients tell me that their periods are so painful, that they feel like they are “going to die.” Others have even expressed that their bleeding is. . .

In the shower—touch yourself! In the bed—touch yourself! No, really—touch yourself! Touch your . . .

Movies. TV shows. They all do a wonderful job of portraying the romantic, sensual, pleasurable side of sex. The reality however, is that many women experience the opposite. Believe it or not, 3 out of 4 women will experience painful sex at some point in their life time, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist. Sadly, even more will suffer in silence, as a result of feeling too embarrassed or ashamed to discuss it with anyone, including their doctor....

A sudden burst of heat rushes throughout her body. She is clammy!  She quickly sits up in the bed, only to find that the bed is wet!  She is sweating. Her night clothes are drenched. Her chest and back are completely saturated with beads of moisture. It is the middle of the night.  This has become her new life.  She is uncomfortable. She wants air—cold air, that is. She desires relief. She is the epitome of many women whose lives are eventually conquered by—The Hot flush!

Hot flushes. The thing which many women have used to define their entire stage of menopause. But what is it, really? Why do women get them? And what most of you really want to know is how do you beat the heat! In other words, how do you treat those annoying and disrupting hot flushes! So let’s talk about the Who, What, When, and How regarding hot flushes, or as many of you may refer to it as—the hot flash. Both words will be used interchangeably throughout this post.

As a woman…we’ve all heard the word “menopause.”  Some of us are working our way toward it!  Some of us have entered it!   And some of us have passed through to the other side of it! (smile).  Nevertheless, many women are confused by the various terms they’ve heard surrounding the word menopause.  We’ve heard things like:

“Your perimenopausal, that’s likely why your periods are irregular at this time.” 

“You’re likely in menopause, that’s why you have not had a period in 7 months.”

“You’re having postmenopausal bleeding—that’s concerning.”

So let’s have some girl talk about menopause. When a baby girl is born, she is born with approximately 1-2 million eggs in her ovaries. This is different from males, who will actually produce new sperm every day. By the time a young girl enters puberty, the amount of eggs within her ovaries has decreased to approximately 300,000 – 400,000. During the menstrual cycle, the ovaries will release an egg (to potentially be fertilized by the male sperm) and lose other eggs during the reproductive process.

Okay now. If you are a man reading this—I Caught Ya! This video is FOR LADIES ONLY! So please be nice and stop reading. If you are a woman reading this, then keep reading, my sista!

As a board certified Gynecologist and woman myself, I know all about the female complaint of having a vaginal discharge that stinks. Haunting thoughts of whether or not the bathroom smells fresh when you see someone walk in immediately behind you, embarrassing feelings regarding freshness during intercourse, stinky, sticky underwear, and personal doubts regarding your hygiene—are the reality of many women. Trust me, I not only understand, but if you keep reading, I believe I can help.

So what causes stinky vaginal discharge?