HELP! Girlfriend (24F) has a malodorous odor and cannot smell. How do I (25M) handle this situation?
SUMMARY:
My girlfriend has a malodorous smell coming from her vagina. If you can provide some insight I would really appreciate it. For a full summary please take a look at the following info/questions below. Most importantly, thank you for your input!
P.s. I'm new to Reddit and this is my first post.
FACTS:
- Been dating for roughly 8 months.
- My girlfriend started Nuvaring 3 months prior to the relationship.
- Took us a month and a half to have sex. (I appreciate her modestly/didn’t learn about this until later.)
- Despite having birth control my girlfriend also insists that we use condoms; we always do.
- Smell did not bother me/was barely noticeable at first but has become much stronger over time.
- Girlfriend has no sense of smell whatsoever; in addition she does not have any medical explanation for why. Regardless, she is understandably self-conscious so this whole thing remains a sensitive topic.
- Smell IS NOT fishy… just unpleasant, strong and “cheesy/yeasty.”
- I have slept with many women in college but have never come across this odor before. I have experienced the “fishy” bacterial vaginosis smell and this is totally different.
- My girlfriend has only slept with 3 men prior to me.
- I have ruled out STI’s from previous relationships as we both have been tested. We do not have sexual contact with others.
- We are both healthy; we eat right, stay fit/slim and shower regularly (which does not help.)
- Smell is always there and comes and goes in strength. Only noticeable when underwear are removed. If I am lying in bed next to her I can smell it coming from under the covers. Girlfriend insists that it is not a yeast infection as “she would know.” On the other hand there does seem to be a lot of whitish colored discharge on her underwear.
- Girlfriend also has other symptoms in relation to the birth control. These have been worsening over time and include: extreme nausea, aches and very long bouts of vomiting a day after the ring is inserted. Girlfriend likes using the birth control primarily for period regulation.
- I personally believe that she has a yeast infection and/or her birth control is giving her too much estrogen (apparently this is one mechanism of BC?) thus making her smell more potent/powerful.
THOUGHTS & OTHER CONCERNS:
- I waited way too long to address the problem and finally got around to it 5 months in when I really started getting bothered and the smell was unbearable. The relationship is fantastic otherwise and I am treated like a king… furthermore I can actually see the emotional part of our relationship going somewhere.
- Even though I did not want to hurt her feelings I did crack when then smell started to turn me off and making my erection soft. Of course this prompted a conversation and she became naturally upset. I was told that she had a general doctor’s appointment “coming up” but later found out that this really meant 2 months from now.
- Long story short I decided to simply bear it… needless to say the sex has suffered and barely involves fingering or cunnilingus.
- Between that two month period (the appointment would get delayed again) my girlfriend got a UTI. The UTI cleared up from the antibiotics but the smell did not. I was hoping that whatever was causing the smell would be resolved from the pills but evidently that did not happen.
- When the appointment came around my girlfriend failed to discuss the smell because we had not talked about in during that 2 month time frame. Her concerns we mainly with the birth control and how it was making her feel. Doctor prescribed Vitamin B6 and her symptoms are still present.
- I must admit that this is starting to take a toll on me… I am more so frustrated by the length of time she has taken to do anything about it rather than the smell. Furthermore there has already been an opportunity to talk about it with the doctor. Although I am lenient (because I understand that without her sense of smell it’s hard to have a reference) I feel like this should be taken seriously and dealt with right away.
- Since our last talk, my girlfriend has agreed to visit the doctor (appointment in 3 weeks) and will discuss everything above/go off birth control and/or discuss other BC options. It is my hypothesis that the birth control is the driving force behind the smell and other discomfort. On the other hand maybe I’m over analyzing and we are simply dealing with a stubborn yeast infection. Either way we’ll find out hopefully soon.
- P.s. I certainly don’t want to “give up” and leave her without an answer. I would feel better knowing rather than this effecting future relationships (if we were not compatible due to hormones *see below.) I guess I’m just in need of some answers… thanks again for your help.
QUESTIONS:
- Could hormonal imbalance from the Nuvaring cause this unpleasant smell?
- Is it possible that this smell is just her natural scent and I am having a bad reaction? I have read that this is possible if a potential partner’s immune is not compatible aka the same. Perhaps we have been mismatched because she could not smell and subconsciously reject me before we began a relationship?
- Would pheromones have anything to do with this?
- What happens if there is no answer and the smell persists? Is there any sort of “smell” test that exists?
- Has anyone else experienced a similar situation?
Comments
Post a Comment