When a change in discharge is worth checking
The causes are treatable and they are told apart by testing, not by description.
Some discharge is normal and it changes across the cycle. What is worth having checked is a change in smell, colour or amount that is new for you, or discharge that comes with itching, soreness, pain passing urine, pain during sex, bleeding between periods, or lower abdominal pain. The common causes — thrush, bacterial vaginosis, and infections like chlamydia or trichomoniasis — are told apart by testing rather than by how they look, and their treatments are completely different. That is why guessing and self-treating so often fails and then delays the right treatment. A strong or fishy smell, particularly after sex, most often points to bacterial vaginosis rather than to hygiene, and douching or vaginal washes make it more likely rather than less. Several sexually transmitted infections cause no symptoms at all, so asking to be tested is a reasonable request and not an accusation of anything. Go the same day if there is fever, severe lower abdominal pain, or pain during sex with it, or if you are pregnant. This is a written short explanation from AskHer's editorial team, not a recording — there is no video of it yet. It was written from the full explanation linked on this page and the sources listed there, and it has not been signed off by a clinician registered in India. It is general education, not advice about your own situation.
By AskHer Editorial, AskHer's editorial team — not an individual clinician
Reviewed by the editorial desk on 7 September 2026. No clinician has signed it off yet.