No matter how you slice it, visiting the gyno is awkward. Not only do you have to expose yourself in the most unflattering way to your doctor (and the nurse who is required to be in there), but you gotta do it while he or she makes small talk from between your legs.

“How’s your day?”
“How are classes going?”
“How many sexual partners have you had?”

[Cue the look of disappointment and the lecture on safe sex.]

I don’t know about you, but whenever I walk into my gyno’s office I always feel the need to prepare her for what she’s about to see. “Uh, just so you know, it’s winter so, uhhhh, yeah, I haven’t really done much, uhhhh, maintenance down there in, erm, a few months.” She promises me she’s not looking and that she’s seen it all before and then she comes at me with some metal tools, one of which looks eerily similar to that thing you use to clean the toilet. And then it’s done. You put on your pants, she bids you adieu and you’re on your way….with a little less pep in your step than on your way in.

But sometimes things get even weirder (how could they not when you’re spread eagle with your junk in someone’s face?), like my most recent appointment involving a doctor who left me to grab a phone call mid-exam. (Let’s just say it was windy down there.) It was traumatizing, but upon telling my friends the story (who all thought it was just HILARIOUS), I learned that everyone’s had a particularly uncomfortable trip to the gyno. And I wanted to hear them. So this week I asked the CollegeCandy writers to share their most awkward and traumatizing gyno experiences. Hard to believe, but reading these hurts me more than an actual appointment. Read More »

Back when Matt and I were first dating, I had only known him for about three weeks when he got food poisoning. His roommate took him to the ER for treatment, but he had to go back the next day for dehydration. He asked me to see if his friend who lived across the hall from me would take him, but I told him to stop being so proud and that I would take him. He later told me that that was one of the nicest things I’d ever done, especially for not knowing him for very long.

Flash forward to now, and I still want to take care of him. Everything from helping him with his laundry to more serious stuff like going to therapy. Matt and I have been through a lot of tough times, and I’m glad to say that we’re still together and still going strong. We have our weak moments just like everyone else, but one of the true signs of a real relationship is staying with each other through the bad times, not just the good. Anybody can go with you to the party, but a man who really loves you will hold your hair while you’re puking.

Relationships have to be built on trust and love, and if that’s not there, then someone in the relationship is bound to be unhappy. You should want to be each other’s strengths when the other seems to be running out. You should want to lean on the other person when you can’t go it alone. And there’s nothing better than knowing you’ve got all of that if you ever need it. Read More »

Got a health question? Don’t trust those “Doctors” at the University Health Center? Are you scared of Web M.D. because it always tells you you’re gonna die? Ask a real doctor, our friend Dr. Lissa Rankin. She’s here every Thursday to answer whatever you throw at her – like how to know if your guy is clean – so ask away. Leave your question in the comments or send it over to us. Don’t be shy; she’s waiting for ya!

Q: Between finals, graduating and other personal stress, I can’t fall asleep at night. And then when I do, I can’t stay asleep. I’m always tired and grumpy and it’s only making everything even more stressful. Do you have any ideas for getting sleep? I heard sex might help, but I’m not sure if that’s true or if my boyfriend is just telling me that for his own selfish reasons. I really need to be alert and focused for exams and this is killing me. Help?

A: I hear you, sweetie. Insomnia can kill you (trust me, I’ve been there), especially when you’re in school, with tests, projects, and grades looming over you. The question is why can’t you sleep? Is it stress? Is it hormones, like your thyroid? Is it caffeine, alcohol, or other drugs/medications that are disrupting your sleep? Is it poor nutrition?  Is it the crazy sorority girl next door who keeps banging you up with her rocking orgasm? How to treat your insomnia depends on what’s causing it. Here are some causes: Read More »

FML.

You roll out from underneath your covers to turn off your alarm clock. You’ve got a very busy day ahead of you: three classes, a group meeting and a date with your roommates to catch up on Glee from the past three weeks. Everything has been so busy lately you haven’t had time to eat a meal, let alone get your weekly dose of Finn. If you’re not sleeping, you’re in class, and if you’re not there you’re in the library, oftentimes well past midnight.

And it’s finally catching up to you.

As you try to rouse yourself out of bed, you feel it. Your head hurts, you can’t swallow and your whole body just feels achy. You walk to the bathroom to wash up, hoping it’s just one of those “I slept with my mouth open” deals; it will go away in a few minutes.

Only it doesn’t. In fact, bending over the sink to splash some water on your face makes you dizzy and angers the little men pounding hammers against the inside of your skull. It’s official: you’re sick.

“Oh god. Could it be Swine Flu??”

You crawl back to your room and sit down at your computer. You enter your symptoms into WebMD figure out your diagnosis/rule out any deadly diseases. You learn that you either have the flu… or meningitis. Either way, you need to take your temperature, which you cannot do since you don’t have a thermometer. Maybe you can just sleep it off?

Before getting back into bed, you send a quick email your professors/group members/roommates to let them know that you are sick. You do not mention the word “flu”; you don’t need anyone sending you to the Swine Flu quarantine, thankyouverymuch. Read More »

With all the crazy diet fads, weight loss pills and general hysteria over how to shed extra weight, it’s no surprise when another completely ridiculous tactic comes out.

And I’m not talking “only eat bacon” ridiculous.

Allow me to introduce you to Dr. Nikolas Chugay’s mesh patch. When sewn onto the tongue it becomes so painful to eat, that you just can’t. That’s right this doctor from California who has a PhD in medicine is going to make it so painful for you to eat that you won’t have any other option but to stick to a liquid diet.

Ten women have already done it and – surprise, surprise – some have lost up to 20 pounds. (Really, if you don’t eat any solid food, you’ll lose weight? Who knew!)

Now if this guy has actually found women desperate enough to inflict physical pain on themselves to lose their muffin top, I think the world of medicine is ready to radically expand. Can you imagine how much money can be made inventing other completely unreasonable ways for women to keep their stomachs empty?

I have a couple of ideas already. Read More »

Talking sex with your doctor isn’t always easy. Whether you are afraid she will judge you,  you just don’t feel comfortable sharing the intimate details of your life between the sheets, or you can’t think straight with a speculum between your legs, many people get tight lipped in the doctor’s office. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have questions.

We thought we’d help and every Thursday our friend Dr. Lissa Rankin will be answering your questions. The ones you couldn’t ask your doctor in person. Just leave your questions in the comments, or send em over to us. (We’ll keep it all anonymous for you.) Dr. Lissa will answer anything – really, anything – about sex and other lady things. Don’t be shy; she’s waiting for ya!

Q: I have had lower abdominal pain, sexual intercourse burns or hurts at times, it burns like hell when I urinate after sex and at night I get shooting pains across my lower abdomen and almost feels like I’m passing a kidney stone. (I have a huge history of these).  There is no discharge and no blood in my urine, but it is painful to urinate at times (like a knife is going through me) and I urinate frequently and feel the need to right after I void. Could this be an STD or a kidney/bladder infection?  I’m getting worried and I don’t know what to do. Read More »

"Hm. Maybe this job is better suited for a lady?"

[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. We love a strong woman, so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like the first-semester boyfriend!) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]

Ok, let’s be honest, no one likes going to the doctor. Throw in a paper gown, putting your legs in stirrups and a “spreader” and it’s no surprise that a lot of us avoid going to the gynecologist like a plague of genital warts. But the truth is that there’s no way to really be in charge of your sexual life unless you bother to stay sexually healthy, and the lady-parts doctor is a necessary part of that.

While we try to give you hand with some of those problems here at College Candy, one of the biggest obstacles between “tear-my-hair-out terrifying” and “not my favorite thing, but bearable” is finding a down-there doctor you like, trust and feel comfortable around – and not surprisingly, a big factor for a lot of ladies is their doc’s gender. Read More »

Talking sex with your doctor isn’t always easy. Whether you are afraid she will judge you,  you just don’t feel comfortable sharing the intimate details of your life between the sheets, or you can’t think straight with a speculum between your legs, many people get tight lipped in the doctor’s office. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have questions.

We thought we’d help and every Thursday our friend Dr. Lissa Rankin will be answering your questions. The ones you couldn’t ask your doctor in person. Just leave your questions in the comments, or send em over to us. (We’ll keep it all anonymous for you.) Dr. Lissa will answer anything – really, anything – about sex and other lady things. Don’t be shy; she’s waiting for ya!

Q: This is a really gross question, but I have to ask someone.

I discharge…a lot. And it’s not just around the time of my period. It’s random and plentiful. Ew. Anyways, I don’t know what to do about it or if it’s caused by something serious? Help. I’m afraid to be with a boy because he’ll be super grossed out.

A: This isn’t gross, sweetie. It’s your body, and discharge is a normal part of being a woman. But I wish I had more information. Is your discharge white, clear, or greenish? Does it have an odor- like fish or fresh bread- or is it odorless? Do you have any vaginal itching or burning? Is it there all the time, or just in the second half of your cycle? Have you been checked for sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) like gonorrhea and chlamydia?

Without knowing those answers, it’s hard for me to comment on your specific situation. If you haven’t seen a doctor about this issue, it’s time. Go in, let your gyno take a gander, and make sure you’re not missing something. Sometimes, an increase in vaginal discharge is the only sign we have that something’s going on down there. Read More »

I’ve always hated going to the doctor. I vividly recall being held down my 3 nurses at age five, so that they could inject me with numerous vaccinations. I kicked; I screamed; I felt like I was being personally invaded.

That’s still what I think about traditional medicine: It can be severely invasive. Are objects and chemicals meant to be stuck into our bodies? To me, it just seems a bit unnatural, not to mention painful.

Since establishing my own set of ideas about life, society and health, I’ve become immensely involved with holistic healing. I know, I sound like a total kook; but this stuff is not only interesting, it’s also effective. I swear.

Our whole lives we have been poked and prodded, whether it be due to an injury or simply because we are female. Every sickness we’ve had has been treated alone as if the body is incapable of attacking the problem itself. Truth be told, our bodies definitely need some assistance with the big bad ones, like cancer, heart disease, etc. But not in the way we’ve learned. Evidence is mounting that diet and lifestyle are the best cures for our worst afflictions.

The latest scientific studies, according to www.altmed.com, show that “simple choices that we make in our lifestyle — what we eat, how we respond to stress, whether or not we smoke cigarettes, how much exercise we get, and the quality of our relationships and social support — can be as powerful as drugs and surgery.” I think this makes so much sense. Just think how amazing you feel post-workout, when laughing with friends, or when hugging your mom … All of that is healing.

“When you eat a healthier diet, quit smoking, exercise, meditate, and have more love in your life, then your brain receives more blood and oxygen, so you can think more clearly, have more energy, and need less sleep. Your face gets more blood flow, so your skin glows more and wrinkles less. Your heart gets more blood flow, so you have more stamina and even begin to reverse heart disease,” says Deeprak Chopra, the author of more than 50 books on mind, body and spirit.

So how can you get more holistic? Yoga, acupuncture, and ayurveda. Read More »

Talking sex with your doctor isn’t always easy. Whether you are afraid she will judge you,  you just don’t feel comfortable sharing the intimate details of your life between the sheets, or you can’t think straight with a speculum between your legs, many people get tight lipped in the doctor’s office. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have questions.

We thought we’d help and every Thursday our friend Dr. Lissa Rankin will be answering your questions. The ones you couldn’t ask your doctor in person. Just leave your questions in the comments, or send em over to us. (We’ll keep it all anonymous for you.) Dr. Lissa will answer anything – really, anything – about sex and other lady things. Don’t be shy; she’s waiting for ya!

Q: I am still a virgin. It’s not because I’m religious or anything – I just haven’t met the right person. The only thing is that I’m finally ready to sleep with this guy, but I don’t know if I should tell him or not? Guys seem to get pretty freaked out about that kind of stuff. Is it possible to just do it and not tell him?

A: I hear ya, sister! It’s a lot of responsibility to be someone’s first.  But it’s also a big decision on your part. I remember when I was young and a girlfriend told me, “You’ll never forget your first. And a part of you will always love him and feel connected to him.”  She called it “getting stuck,” because the bonding experience of losing your virginity acts like glue.  In my case, she was absolutely right.  Part of me still loves the guy who took my cherry. So think twice about how you make this decision.

As for whether the guy gets freaked out, I say tell him and let him accept that responsibility. If he’s too freaked out to be your first, don’t give it away to him. You want someone who knows it’s your first time, can handle the responsibility that comes with that, and cares enough to make sure you feel nurtured, loved, and accepted when you lose your virginity. Read More »