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Vaginal discharge
I am seven months pregnant. I have always suffered with a vaginal discharge, but lately it has got worse. Why is it do I always seem to have it? Even when I come out of the bath, I have white gluey discharge, though no irritation. I've just had a course of Canesten. This cleared it up for a day, now it's back. What can I do about it?
The most important first step is to have some swabs to see if the discharge is due to infection. Thrush is no longer the commonest cause of infective vaginal discharge; a bacterial infection called Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) is now more common. BV infection can cause pregnancy complications such as premature labour, so it is important to diagnose and treat it in pregnancy.
Another important bacterial infection in pregnancy is streptococcal infection. This can cause premature labour, but can also infect the baby during delivery, causing a serious illness that can be fatal in 4% of babies who get it.
Thrush is common in pregnancy, and may need more than 1 course of treatment to clear it. Although it doesn?t cause pregnancy complications, or any problems for the baby, it can become very uncomfortable, so should be treated.
Sexually transmitted infections such as chlamydia and gonorrhoea can pass to the baby during delivery, causing eye infections. Chlamydia infection affects about 5% of pregnancies, and can also lead to chest infections in the baby or infections in the lining of the womb in the mother after delivery. So it is very important for you to have swabs to check for any infection.
Non-infective vaginal discharge is common and most women say that that they get more discharge when they are pregnant. This is due to hormonal changes during pregnancy. Providing there is no infection, an increase in the amount of discharge is nothing to worry about.
Dr Chris Brown
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