Before I begin this piece on another of my Lagos episodes, let me warn you.
I’m going to be candid about my body parts. If you’re going to pretend you didn’t slide out of a goddess’ vagina, read the next post.
Are we good?
My first introduction to Vaginal Candidiasis happened one morning when I woke up to pee. Fam, I passed out a liquid fire that morning. Nobody can tell me my bladder didn’t transform into a hot plate that night; or that my urine wasn’t 100 degrees Celsius when I woke up.
My vaginal area was burning and itching badly. The urge to soak my lower half in an ice bath while scraping my vulva with a blunt blade was so strong! I’m surprised I didn’t pull my hair out.
My system had gone haywire. I didn’t know what to do. Urinating felt good. Although it was uncomfortable, it was good. It distracted me from wanting to do myself some serious harm. But it’s not possible to pee forever naw.
I won’t lie. I put ice on it as there was nothing else to do. Then I started searching online for a remedy and an understanding of what I was experiencing. But everything I found left me more confused. Googling symptoms is even a bad idea, no matter how desperate you are.
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When my online search didn’t favour me; I started calling hospitals around me in Lagos to ask if an OB/GYN was on-call. Unfortunately, there wasn’t. I called the four big hospitals around me and no one had an OB/GYN on-call. That’s when I realised I was in serious problem.
These hospitals had these doctors available. But they only come once a week for a few hours. As it turned out, my wahala coincided with their off days.
That is the main issue. Was I supposed to wait with my burning vulva for four days till they come? I’m talking about hospitals in the Ajah area here in Lagos. Would I always need to travel to a government hospital to see a doctor? Why are OB/GYNs scarce sef? Are doctors not interested in pursuing that speciality? Or is it too difficult to specialise in?
I had so many questions and nobody to answer them.
At the end of the day, I was saved by a pharmacist. I can’t even call her a pharmacist because she sells medicine at a pharmacy. But she gave me some stuff to use and that was when I started to feel normal again.
Did I eventually see a doctor? I did. You won’t believe how the visit went. I paid 20k for consultation and you won’t believe what the man told me.
I’ll gist you next week.
