When Canesten asked me to take party in their The Naked Truth campaign my initial reaction was that I couldn’t possibly take part and discuss something so “embarrassing” on my blog. And then I realised that, actually, I’m a grown adult, with five children, and discussing women’s intimate health is far from embarrassing and is actually just a fact of life. As a Mum I want to bring my children up to know that they can always talk to me about intimate health conditions, and so that’s how I came to be sat here, increasing awareness around intimate health conditions for both men and women, and a reminder to all of you that this is far from embarrassing.

It’s interesting that when I mentioned I was writing this blog post to my girlfriends, their first reaction was, “So you’re basically writing a blog post about thrush?”. And whilst that is indeed one of the intimate health conditions which 75% of women will experience in their lifetime, there are actually many other intimate health conditions, commonly diagnosed, and yet spoken about far less.

And I guess this is why we need to familiarise ourselves with the symptoms of these conditions in order to ensure we are receiving the correct treatment for the right condition. Many women mistake other infections for thrush and yet the two are treated very differently which can actually lead to worsening symptoms when the incorrect treatment is given.

The Canesten site has produced a wide variety of information concerning intimate health concerns and I am sharing with you three of the most common so we can normalise these discussions, raise awareness of signs and symptoms, and hopefully lead to more of us receiving the correct treatments.

Bacterial Vaginosis

Bacterial Vaginosis is actually the most common cause of vaginal infection in women of childbearing age and yet I’ll be honest, I knew very little about it. Fortunately I have never suffered with it and yet, despite the scary name, it is actually very common and easily treated.

Fortunately there are ways you can avoid Bacterial Vaginosis, such as –

• Avoid using deodorants and perfumed products in and around your intimate area• Avoid over-washing
• Avoid using strong detergent to wash your underwear
• Change your tampons or pads frequently
• Ensure you wipe from front to back after going to the toilet
• Dry your vaginal area after washing, swimming and working out
• Change your underwear after swimming and working out

For further information on symptoms and treatment of bacterial vaginosis you can visit the Canesten website.

Thrush