hello, i'm new here and i hope to find an answer to my strange problem
i'm 29 years old virgin, i think i am circumcised but not sure exactly of the method, if i have a clitoris it is under the skin and cannot be touched directly or at least i assume so. i'm not sure if i have labia, only the outer skin that grows hair on it, and i never touch there or looked in the mirror.
the problem is: the first time this happened was about six months ago, there is swelling in the general genital area and a slight burn where the irritated skin touched (i hadn't looked so i don't know of any redness) but there wasn't any discharge or odor, so i assumed it was a urinary tract infection after some search and didnt think about it when it went away.
now this month it is back and it got worse, there was swelling so much that i can notice the difference in feel if i sit down, it doesn't itch but it burns where the skin touches and it makes peeing very hard the stream doesn't just start until i sit for a while, and when it does it's all over the place (sometimes it feels like it gathers inside!) i wash with water every time i go to the bathroom my whole life, I don't use any soaps or creams or anything down there, i don't even take baths as i find them waste of water so i just shower. the only thing that ever touched the skin beyond the shaving razor is tap water. the only thing that changed was the type of pads i use, the first time i used a different brand, the second time it was the same brand, different line that got updated. plus the fact that we visited a rural area in both times. my mother and sisters were with me and didn't complain of anything, so i doubt it is in the water. just to be safe i washed my underwear with mild soap meant for babies and hope it's not the detergent.
it has gone down noticably now, i took some parasitamol for it (not sure if it works, as long as the swelling went down) and got my period when it finally went away. this period is lighter and shorter with more clumps, now i'm worried about the general situation in the area as the swelling was severe.
i am not sure what happened and there's still a bit of redness which i'm not sure if only left behind or if it's another episode starting, but it feels different now when i sit down to take care of business, like air will gather in the folds and will not leave until i stand up, it feels like a small bubble that does not go inside but it is very uncomfortable, i don't like it when anything is different down there. the seats we use are like the chinese toilets where you crouch down, not a seat like a chair. i notice the bowel movement is very runny as well, i assumed it was something bad i ate but it gets worse with the episode and burns sometimes even though i don't eat anything spicy.
my main worry is: is it possible that the labias have been stuck together since i was a baby and only now ripped apart? or is it possible for the hymen to rupture from swelling? does it feel different to go from virgin to not after actual penetration? the clumps of blood in my period feel like they squeeze out when they leave and i'm not sure if it's painful or if i'm just too worried and notice too much, and on the second day they gather and only leave when i urinate or lay on my stomach, i don't know why they don't go downwards, they used to do that no problem but now they only leave with the stream or when i wash with water)
i was very careful to notice any changes as virginity is very important in my culture, i have never touched myself there or had any encounters with males, not even hand holding (i've actually not been aware the openings are located so low until i saw pictures while i searched) there wasn't any blood or hanging parts or discharge or odor of any kind, i'm too scared to look in a mirror as i don't think i'll look like the pictures in all the websites, and if i see something i'm not sure of or openings even for urnie i will worry about it till the end of time even though i'm 100% sure i've not been touched. i've never looked at myself down there and now seems like a bad time to start as i don't have an idea of what it looked like before.
i asked my mother about this and she told me not to worry, i try not to, but with the redness and swelling coming up it makes me worry every time i go to the bathroom. i don't want to go to a doctor unless it is absolutely necessary and even then i'm afraid i'll be too fidgety and anxious to allow her a proper exam. i don't know how to talk about my problems without having a minor anxiety attack, any problem really not just physical. but i'm mostly afraid she will tell me the swelling had done away with some or all of my virginity even though i'm one for all intents and purposes.
TL;DR: redness, swelling ranging from severe to mild, no itching or odor or discharge, the anus feels like it burns sometimes, seems to get worse if i wipe or pat so i will not do that, and gets better if i wash with cool pure bottled water. i'm done wearing sanitary pads for the month but it doesn't seem to irritate when i do. period blood does not leave immediately, and sometimes the whole area feels like it is closed save for a small passage for urine. what is this? and does swelling affect the hymen or tear it?
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i am the original poster, now a month or so in the future.
we came back from the same rural area two weeks ago and this time i was prepared, it seems i have an allergic reaction to the water (or maybe it's not as clean as we're made to believe it is) and just as expected, there was irritation and a mild urinary tract infection.
and i know now that it is something in that place (mainly the water) because this time i knew what i was looking for. the detergent was changed, i did not use any pads as my period hadnt started yet, i did not wear any restraining or nylon fabrics, i did not shave before going there or while staying, i kept the checklist short so all that's left was the water, air, and piping that delivered the water to the bathroom.
the symptoms that matched what i had said i had an infection caused by a catheter even if i've never had one. i don't know why but it could be worth mentioning to your doctor even if you hadn't had a catheter before. it could be in the water or the water tank in your house and nobody will notice it unless someone has a certain sensitivity to it, i suspect people with reoccurring UTIs have the cause right there it in the water but they don't realize it because doctors only ask if the patient had a catheter before.
i took paracetamol once every six hours for it and in a few days the burn when i urinate subsided noticeably, it also coincided with my period so wearing pads could have helped reduce moisture and heat from the area. just to fight any possibility of a vaginal infection i ate a lot of baking soda and yogurt, not sure how helpful that was but i'd rather be safe than sorry.
what i realized from this whole ordeal is that i may have a case of adult labial adhesion, as much as i searched for it i never managed to find a page or article that talks about it in adults. all the pages talk about infant cases that got resolved on their own when hormones start kicking in or cortisone is applied, but not in an adult woman whose hormones are balanced. (just to recap, i am a healthy 29 woman, virgin, the infections mentioned here are the only ones i had, but the adhesion seems to have been present before any of them happened.)
i don't have much to offer on the subject as i'm not a doctor, but i notice sometimes the adhesion resolves itself and other times it comes back. i don't look or touch, so there isn't anything visual i can add. i read somewhere that trauma to the area could cause adhesion, does circumcision count as trauma? if so, how come it's not a more discussed topic in areas where the practice is prevalent?
it might sound disgusting but i find it loosens up the adhesion in the clitoral area (which is the most uncomfortable when stuck) if i lean forward when i pee, I'm not sure if there's a substance in urine that unsticks the skin or if the repetitive moisturizing of it allows it to unstick on it's own. heck maybe it goes undone all by itself when my hormones change levels during the course of my menstruation, i don't know. leaning forward also helps the stream to not dribble down into a pocket of stuck labial like what happened last time.
if this happened to you, wash with clean water after every visit to the bathroom (use bottled water if you have to, it's better than ending up with a pelvic floor infection) and make sure you shave with a clean trusted razor or shaving machine, i remembered after i posted the original post that i've used a disposable brand of razors which could have caused the swelling, and washing the already irritated skin with unclean water just introduced irritants and bacteria to open scratches on the skin.
i know nobody has answered this question or care for it (wall of text anyone?) but adding this information to the thread could help someone who googles it for research or is having the same problem.
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