Concerned - bleeding after sex/masturbation & other symptoms

[TallPanda93]

Warning: graphic language used in regards to my private area and may be TMI for some people.

Please read it all as there is a lot of important context. Thank you so much for any help in advance!

I have some pretty weird stuff going on with my vagina and body. First, let me give the background info that I am a morbidly obese woman, age 25, who was diagnosed with PCOS at age 13. I've had irregular periods most of my life. Other than that though, my vaginal health seemed fine until a couple years ago when I had a few bad yeast infections from taking antibiotics. Maybe this other stuff was there to a degree before that and I didn't notice but I'm not sure.

Anyway, after clearing the yeast infections, I felt fine. The only issue was that I always had a white discharge constantly and my ex would always point out how I had this cottage cheese look around my labia and clit. We noticed some very small bumps along the labia where that was as well. I cleaned super well each time I showered and it was very hard to clear it off. That was the start of my troubles.

Those issues stayed the same and persisted for a while and then one day, seemingly out of the blue, I had extreme stomach cramps and lower back pain and the heaviest 'period' I'd ever had in my life. I was crying a lot from the pain and it was so bad that I had to wear an adult diaper for a few days. There were some really big clots and I thought that maybe I was having a miscarriage. It lasted just around 4-5 days I believe and then I was okay. Fast forward to about 8 months later, I had another event similar to that one except accompanied by a lot less pain and blood this time. It was still heavy and I had the biggest clot I've ever seen come out of me. I want to say it was about this time that I started having more constant issues with my vagina.

Since that time about 4 months ago, I started experiencing light bleeding when I masturbated or after having sex. This was never an issue before. There was typically no pain when having sex or masturbating, but afterwards I would feel and do still feel achy. I would describe how I feel after as being similar to starting your period. I feel a bit achy in my stomach and lower back, sometimes my vagina area itself is sore and achy, I feel bloated often times after, and my current boyfriend thinks it even affects my mood after I masturbate. It's very weird. The bleeding is usually pretty light. There's usually some clotting and the color of the blood seems to vary. The bleeding sometimes goes away super fast but usually it's like I'm spotting for a few days after.

I went to the gynecologist at planned parenthood a few months ago. She said I had bacterial vaginosis. She didn't seem to be concerned about it being anything else. She prescribed me flagyl which I took for only 2 or 3 days because it made me miserable... I felt like I had the worst flu ever. It didn't seem to clear up my issues any what bit I did take of it but I doubt I was on it long enough for it to make a difference anyway. I should've called them and got a different prescription at the time but I tend to have bad side effects and always hate taking new medicine because of it so since I'd just had that awful experience I think I was just over it for the moment.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. I went back to planned parenthood. I swabbed myself to check for bacterial vaginosis and they tested me for gonorrhea and chlamydia. I kind of wish I'd had him actually look at me and do a pelvic exam but I was uncomfortable with it being a guy so they let me swab myself and then talk to him after. He said I had a few clue cells show up and that he thought I just had a mild case of bacterial vaginosis. He also said he had no reason to think I had gonorrhea or chlamydia and they never called me about the results so I'm assuming that I'm clear on those.

I asked him about the bleeding and his response to that was that it's very common for women to bleed after sex because of the contractions in the uterus and said something about semen playing a role in it as well. I didn't feel very confident in my visit with him. I said to him how isn't it weird that the bleeding has become more & more often & that I never used to have this issue... he said it was pretty normal & he just thinks it's a small infection.

He prescribed me Metrogel. I didn't realize until later that Metrogel is the same as Flagyl and it's also super expensive. I called today to see if they can change out the medication for something different and cheaper. Anyway, my concern is that it's not just bacterial vaginosis. I was worried about there being an abscess or polyps but he assured me that the female gyno who gave me the exam a couple months back would have detected that. I just feel like I'm very unwell in a way. My breasts also bother me sometimes. They can be very sore and my boyfriend and my ex both have said that they've seen my nipple bleed (right breast only). Sometimes I feel like this slightly wet sensation when I'm wearing just a shirt and no bra. I doubt it's related to the vaginal stuff but I thought I'd throw it in there. Lol

Oh, and more recently, my clit has been more sore and I've experienced swelling down there after I masturbate. If I don't have sex or masturbate for a bit then it feels fine. It makes me want to just never masturbate because I know I'm just going to experience aches and bleeding and swelling. I also itch a little sometimes but it's noooothing like when I had yeast infections. It's not severe or too often. But yeah, always looks red down there and creamy discharge, the cottage cheese stuff, and the bleeding happens every single time I masturbate now.

I'm not on any medication at the moment, waiting on them to call me back with a new prescription, but I do want to take birth control possibly but my boyfriend is a bit nervous for me to take it with everything that's been going on. I'm always nervous to take something new so I'm just not sure what action to take in that regard.

If you have any ideas as to what may be going on, I'd love to hear it. Does it sound like actually just a case of bacterial vaginosis? Or do you think there's something else going on?

Thanks so much.

[Tsmtam123]

I just heard from a very good Doctor and I am 54 had a hysterectomy. Had a lot of problems down there, yes flagyl is the treatment for bv. BV is not a std, and can be caused by a flora imbalance but, so is yeast. Yeast is a imblance in flora and can be caused by antibiotics too and a yeast infection can cause bv. It's a vicious cycle when it starts. Maybe hormone related. BV can make you very sick it can turn into PID. It did to me I recently went to ER cuz of BV and yeast infection. They never checked for that at ER my symptoms sound alot like yours they did check my urine and nothing, did ct cuz they thought I had appendicitis but no I had BV and yeast. I could nit stand up straight doubled over in pain Next day I went to Ob and they did swab Yes I had both BV and yeast. So yes it can be bad. BV and yeast go hand in hand. I wouldn't take oral flagyl but do the gel even though expensive well worth it and get Over the counter yeast stuff and I tried a antibiotic called Muproprcin ointment perception of course and the yeast med rub both on your clit and outside area thats irritated. It my take several times and use all your medicine. You will feel so much better. Make sure underwear are throughly wash and rinsed so as not to reinfect from either. Not sure how old you are but sometimes birth control works because it's changes hormones. Hope it helps.