WEARING your knickers to bed is extremely common for young women.
Around half (49%) of 18-24 year old women wear just underwear or underwear and pyjamas to bed, according to a YouGov study.
Kaela wore underwear to bed every night without thinking it could do any damage[/caption]
But she says that she ‘flossed her insides’ and developed an infecred cyst as a result[/caption]
However, one woman who will be avoiding doing so for the foreseeable is Kaela who says she was left ‘screaming in agony’ after wearing her panties to sleep.
Kaela slept in a pair of underpants that she had worn “100 times before” – only to wake up and spot they had “flossed” her, rubbing and causing a cut inside her vagina.
The 26-year-old assumed the wound would heal on its own, but over the next few days she felt an “intense burning” in the area and was experiencing feverish symptoms.
The cut formed into a “bubble” and she was in so much pain she was unable to close her legs.
Desperate to find a remedy, Kaela visited her doctor to get antibiotics.
“I took them for two days before I decided I was going to die if I didn’t go to the hospital,” Kaela, an assistant property manager from Dallas, Texas, said.
“I couldn’t sit, stand or even lay down.
“My only option was to ride to the hospital lying on my left side because it was on the right side of my vagina.”
At the hospital, doctors used an ultrasound wand to confirm a 4.8cm Bartholin cyst –a fluid-filled blockage in a Bartholin’s gland in the labia – had formed, with blood work showing she had a “raging” infection as a result.
Kaela adds: “Doctors were worried, that had I waited any longer, that I would have gone septic.
“They had me on several different IV antibiotics hoping that the cyst would burst on its own instead of having to do it surgically.
“Thankfully, the cyst did burst on its own but not without excruciating levels of pain.
“It was the second night at the hospital that I was practically screaming in pain that not even morphine could cure.
“I have even had two feet reconstructive surgeries that I thought would be the most pain I would ever experience in this lifetime – until I met an infected vaginal cyst.”
On the morning of her third day in hospital, Kaela stood up and felt a “massive burst of liquid gushing” down her legs.
She said: “If I was pregnant, I would have thought that my waters broke.
“But hallelujah – my cyst burst following an immediate rush of relief.
“Now I could sit, stand and lay normally.
“They kept me for two more days until they were happy with my white cell count indicating that I no longer had an infection.”
Kaela was left in excruciating pain as a result and rushed to hospital[/caption]
Doctors told Kaela that had she left it any longer her cyst could have become septic[/caption]
But Kaela’s turmoil didn’t end there – and she claims she was sent home with an “open wound”, which became infected and was left untreated for months.
She said: “I was constantly exhausted, frustrated, and close to losing my mind.
“I saw several OBGYN’s who fed me more antibiotics, and yeast fighting creams that you manually shoot up your vagina, and yet, the open wound got slowly but surely worse.”
Towards the end of June 2024 – three months after the underwear had cut her – she started to feel as poorly as she previously had, and went back to hospital.
There, they found the cyst was back and she was, once again, infected.
She ended up in hospital for a further five days but claims that no one knew how to treat her.
SHOULD WE WEAR UNDERWEAR TO BED?
Sun Doctor Carol Cooper says: “I’m not sure I was taught much about knickers at medical school, but I think most doctors will agree they’re unnecessary at night.
“Excess underwear, especially if it’s constricting, leads to hot, humid conditions. That makes it easier for thrush and bacteria to grow. While it may not matter to all of us, it’s very significant for people with diabetes or who get recurrent thrush.
“For most of us, it’s best to let air get to where the sun doesn’t shine. The point of pants is to protect clothing or preserve modesty. In bed, there’s surely no need for either of those.”
She added: “I really thought I would die if nothing would help me.”
Kaela moved to a new doctor’s office at the end of July and says, there, she was finally diagnosed with a fungal infection.
She said: “She had me start taking this antifungal medication that within a week I started to feel so much better.
“You never know how sick you are until you aren’t sick anymore.”
Each time I had to tell a family member, friend, or doctor that this all started because of a pair of underwear I died a little inside
Kaela
Over the next few months, the wound slowly healed and Kaela was finally cyst and infection-free.
Reflecting on the incident, she said: “It’s so silly and insane that a pair of underwear caused mass torment and pain for me for nine months.
“Each time I had to tell a family member, friend, or doctor that this all started because of a pair of underwear I died a little inside from embarrassment, but now I think it’s quite hilarious.
“It’s a great comedic relief story that people would never expect to hear.”
Now, she refuses to sleep in underwear, preferring to let the area “breathe” and suggests that others do the same.
Kaela’s cyst returned and she was only rid of it when she was diagnosed with a fungal infection[/caption]
She has resolved to stop wearing underwear in ved[/caption]
