gynecology experience

Hello everyone! I've been back in Japan for more than a month now. I wanna talk about the time when I went to see a gynaecologist in Japan. I've been wanting to have a check up for a long time, since I became interested in sex education. However, it was kind of troublesome and difficult to visit a hospital in Canada or in the US. Because of these reasons, I made an appointment immediately when I came back to Japan.
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There were three reasons I wanted to visit a gynaecologist. First, my vagina was itchy. My vagina started getting itchy right before leaving Canada to come back to Japan. It was right after my period, so I thought my skin just got stuffy and rough. However, it continued for about a week and sometimes the skin around my vagina's temperature was higher than usual.
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Secondly, I wanted to start taking birth control. In Japan, taking birth control is not as popular as it is in North America. I only have a few friends taking it in Japan and many people don't even know what it is, or what exactly it does to your body. I was one of these people before I moved to the US. I had never thought about taking it because I thought it was unnecessary for me. One of the reasons why many people, including myself and also many Japanese girls, do not know about birth control and its effects is because we didn't learn about it in school. Zero information. After I learned that it's important to be responsible with my own body, among other reasons, I decided to try birth control.
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At last, I just wanted to have a checkup and see if I like this doctor that I was gonna go see for my future gyno appointment. I have seen this doctor before when I was teenager- way before losing my virginity. My period has been really irregular, and one time, I had a period for a month, so my mom took me to this doctor and my first impression was that I was very scared -not of the doctor, but the whole idea of gynaecology. I was nervous. So, same as before, I was nervous again for no reason to visit for the first time in a long time. I guess I was anxious that something unexpected can be told... or something. Basically, I was overthinking.
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I was wrong. All the people who work there were SO NICE (even my Japanese skills were poor after living in different countries for over three years). My doctor is female and that's one of my favorite parts. I would have definitely felt uncomfortable if I went to see a male doctor (no offence or anything, but this is my honest opinion as a 24 year-old girl). She was different from my expected image of a "doctor." The best part was she wasn't overly polite and she said things directly and clearly.
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I told her about two things: the itchy vagina and birth control. For birth control, I could start taking birth control on the day I also started having my next period, so she checked inside of my vagina and she could tell how long it'll take to have my next period (how cool is that?!) Also, she checked where and why exactly my vagina is itchy.
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I realized two things from this appointment. First, I realized that I didn't know A LOT of things about my own body and she could tell me so much. I actually enjoyed talking to her, asking her questions and listening to what she has to say. It was very interesting and I'm glad that I was curious enough to ask some questions that I don't get to ask anyone else. Second, I realized some differences from the first time I visited. Maybe this is SO wrong, but when I visited the first time, I was a virgin, so she took echoed images from outside of my vagina and around my tummy. This time, she took echoed images from inside which made me kinda jump.
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She gave me prescriptions for my itchy vagina (which was caused by stressful and exhausting feelings. Well, I guess I wasn't feeling that stressed or tired but my body answered in that way.) And I got a period so I started having birth control in the beginning of November. That was my first visit gyno story in Japan. I wanna write an article about how I'm doing with birth control as well! I'll keep you update if you're interested in that :)

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Let me know if you have any stories to share with us!
(This is all my experience and opinion - everyone can be different!)
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