Woman / Her Sex and Love Life

by William J. Robinson

Chapter Twenty[ToC]

LEUCORRHEA—THE WHITES

Misconception Regarding the Meaning of the Term "Leucorrhea"—A Common Complaint—Severe Cases—Reasons for Resistance to Treatment—Proper Local Treatment of the Disorder—Sterility Due to Leucorrhea—Causes of Leucorrhea—Tonic Medicines—Local Treatment—Formulæ for Douching.

Leucorrhea means literally a "white running," and is applied by the laity to any whitish discharge coming from the vagina. This is wrong, because some white discharges may be of little importance; others may be of a serious character, and not be leucorrhea at all.

Leucorrhea is one of the banes of the modern girl and woman. It is very frequent. Probably at least twenty-five per cent, (some say fifty or seventy-five per cent.) of all women suffer with it in a greater or lesser degree. In some cases it is only an annoyance, necessitating the frequent changing of napkins, but in others it causes a great deal of weakness, backache, erosions, itching and burning. It is very resistant to treatment, particularly in girls. The reason it is so resistant to treatment is because the discharge, while coming from the vagina, does not usually originate in the vagina; it originates in the neck of the womb, and the hundreds and hundreds of injections that women take for their leucorrhea only reach the vagina; they cannot penetrate into the womb. And it is only by treating the cavity of the cervix, which can only be done by a physician, through a speculum, that the root of the trouble can be reached. And, if any erosion or ulcer is noticed, it can be directly touched up with the necessary application. And it is for this reason that in girls leucorrhea is so much more difficult to treat. For fear of having the hymen ruptured the girl objects to a thorough examination and to local treatment, and the leucorrhea is permitted to proceed until perhaps a chronic inflammation of the womb and the Fallopian tubes is established. There is no doubt that many cases of sterility or childlessness in women are due to long-neglected leucorrhea in girlhood.

What Is the Cause of Leucorrhea? We can answer simply: the cause of leucorrhea is catarrh in any part of the female genital tract. But this is no real answer. What are the causes of the catarrh? The causes of catarrh are many: the most common cause is a cold. Wetting the feet and getting chilled, particularly during the menses, may set up a catarrh in the cervix. Long standing on one's feet, lifting and carrying heavy bundles, dancing in overheated rooms and then going out scantily clad in the chill night air, prolonged ungratified sexual excitement, lack of cleanliness in the external genitals—all these are factors in setting up a catarrh of the cervix with a resultant leucorrhea. A general rundown condition, worry, overwork, too hard study, lack of fresh air, and a general scrofulous condition also favor the development of catarrh of the womb and leucorrhea. It will therefore be seen that the treatment of leucorrhea to be successful must be general and local.

General Treatment. The general treatment consists in general hygienic measures and in common sense. The patient should not be on her feet more than she can help, and she should not walk until exhausted or fatigued. It is better to take several short walks than one long one. The corset she wears, if she wears any at all, should be of the modern kind: not one that presses the womb and the other abdominal organs down, but one that supports the abdominal walls, and rather raises the abdominal organs up. The lacing or buttoning must be from below up, and not from above down. That it should not in any way interfere with the freedom of respiration goes without saying. Constipation if any, to be treated, must be treated intelligently, by mild measures (see [Constipation], in the chapter on pregnancy), and care must be taken that the bowels move at regular hours. Where the leucorrhea is due to or is aggravated by anemia and general weakness, a good iron preparation, such as one Blaud's five-grain pill three times a day, or a tonic of iron, quinine and strychnine, will do good. A daily cold bath or cold sponge, followed by a brisk dry rubbing with a rough towel, is also useful.

Local Treatment. Local measures consist of painting or swabbing the vagina and cervix with various solutions, of tampons, suppositories and douches. Local application to the vagina and uterus can be done satisfactorily by the physician or nurse only. The insertion of a suppository or douching can be easily done by the patient herself.

While it is always best and safest to consult a physician, and, while self-medication is generally inadvisable, there are occasions when a physician is not available; in some small places a woman may, for various reasons, have a strong objection to gynecological examination and treatment; and some women may be too poor to pay the doctor. In such circumstances self-treatment is justified and there can be no objection to it if the remedies are harmless and are sure to do some good; that is, to improve the condition where they do not effect a complete cure.