Maybe, you are looking through everywhere cautiously even before starting read this article. It is common that women in our society due to the age-old prejudice have to remain under the shade of shyness regarding womanly affairs. In general, mothers are the only mentors who learned such things from their mothers. It means that whatever women learn about menstruation and cleanliness comes from an ancient age. Such practice keeps women aloof from modern scientific and medical guidelines regarding a woman’s physiology. During menstruation periods, lack of cleanliness may lead to infection in urinary tract and vaginal passage. You may overlook the issue thinking that some medicines will take care of that. No, medicines will not do adequately.

Let’s know the consequences of not maintaining rules of cleanliness during menstruation.

What could go wrong if cleanliness is not duly maintained?

Urinary infection:

Frequent infections in urinary tract may lead to kidney damage. Before conceiving, frequency of such infections may increase the likelihood of birth of immature baby or miscarriage.

Infection in vaginal passage:

A woman with vaginal infection finds it difficult to have intercourse with her husband. This infection causes damage to the normal pH balance that causes difficulty for male sperms to fertilize female eggs. Such infections might be the cause of permanent infertility. Vaginal discharge is a likely result of failure to maintain cleanliness during menstruation.

Cervical cancer:

Cervical cancer occurs in the lower portion of the uterus. This ailment if left untreated might cause death. On the other hand, having treatment procedure means the loss of ability to conceive. If you are not ready yet to accept this as a serious complication, it is time you knew what WHO says about it. A study by WHO suggests that women affected by cervical cancer form the second largest number of cancer patients in our country. Across the globe, over five hundred thousand women are affected by it. Each year, around 17,000 women are getting affected by it in our country. The key point here is that about 97% of the affected in our country fall victim to it because of not following cleanliness during their menstruation periods.

Loosening of vagina:

Vaginal infections if occur too often lead to extra flexibility of vagina, which can be the cause of conjugal discontent.

Other harmful effects:

Due to not staying clean enough, women and girls suffer from loss of confidence which may hinder their regular attendance to study, school or workplace. Statistics says that around 40% girls in Bangladesh remain absent from school at least three days each month. While financial deficit on account of such absence is not calculated yet, it is understandable how much such absence may affect their future progress in their professions.

Five steps to stay clean during menstruation:

Use of right items:

Many women in our country still use pieces of cloth or cotton, which cannot be considered perfectly hygienic or clean in spite of efforts to wash them or bask in the sun for hours. These things cannot also absorb the discharge properly, meaning that a woman’s outfit may get stained by the leak of the discharge. So, it is recommended that women use highly absorbent, comfortable and disposable sanitary napkin. You can choose between the different types of pads like panty liner, overnight, ultra-thin and Maxi/Super.

Change of menstrual pads regularly:

It is not recommended to use one piece of napkin for longer than six hours. Flow of discharge does not always remain the same. At the beginning of the period, flow of discharge being too much may require women to change their pads frequently. However, during the last day, women should not use a pad for longer than six hours even when the flow is not that high.

Washing vagina with water regularly:

Blood and germs may get struck on the outer portion of the vagina. It is advised that this portion be washed with warm water a few times a day. When you are away from home, you may wipe the portion with baby wipes. Make sure the residue of soap you use during bath does not enter the vaginal tract. Take bath daily. All these activities will help abate tiredness and pain in the back, hands and legs.

Proper disposal of used napkin:

Before getting rid of used pads or throwing them into your home’s dustbin, you should wrap them with polythene so that germs cannot spread further because if germs can spread, it may cause you harms.

Avoiding use of more than one napkin at the same time:

Some women tend to use two napkins at the same time during the beginning of their period thinking that such practice could absorb the heavy flow of blood and discharge more efficiently. Also, they tend to have those pads for prolonged hours as they see blood is yet to come out of the pads. But, this is again a wrong idea since germs get ready for causing infection by that time. Use one napkin at a time and do not keep it for longer than six hours.

Key Takeaways

It is time you came out of the cocoons of shyness and conservative outlook. Do not get ashamed of trying to learn the rules of cleanliness. Share this article with others so that they may know the proper rules of keeping clean during menstruation.

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