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Douching and Trying To Conceive

© Lori Ramsey

You’ve seen the commercials. The promise of freshness anytime. All contained in a box you can buy at your local store - and every woman should use them - afterall, if you don’t then you are DIRTY. Well, I say DON’T believe everything a commercial tells you- especially in this area - especially if you are trying to conceive.

Douching can in fact be detrimental to the procreation act. I know, the commercial states that without their product you’ll not be quite as fresh or quite as clean. And they make it sound like you really need to use them - especially after “that” time of the month.

But the truth is - the vagina is self cleaning. Unless you have a medical condition that requires douching (and if you do - your doctor will have “prescribed” a douche for you) then you really don’t need to douche - even after “that” time of the month. In fact - simple daily bathing with soap and water is sufficient.

Douching can hurt your chances of conception by washing away all the good fertile quality cervical fluid and can dry out the vagina - making penetration much more difficult. Especially if you have a problem with not producing enough fertile quality cervical fluid. And if you like to douche after intercourse - you are washing away the sperm and that totally counteracts the act of conception.

Douching can also introduce bacteria to the vagina - thus infecting the environment - which is why douching should only be used when prescribed by a physician. Infections can hinder conception and cause uncomfortable symptoms.

Douching has been traced to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Because it alters the acidity in the vagina - making it impossible for sperm to live and setting up infections, douching is best left for doctor's prescriptions only. Scented tampons and vaginal sprays can also add to these undesirable conditions in the vagina. And these undesirable conditions make it almost impossible for conception to occur.

Another negative and scary aspect of douching is that it may cause cervical cancer. This article states that women who douche on a weekly basis are more likely to contract cervical cancer. http://my.webmd.com/content/dmk/dmk_arti... Scary, huh? All the more reason to stay away from it!

Douching has been linked to infertility. Perhaps if you have been trying to conceive for some time now - and you douche on a regular basis - you are greatly impairing your ability to conceive and adding problems. Douching has been thought to add to the ectopic pregnancy rate (a pregnancy that the embryo implants in the fallopian tube). If

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