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"  Every time I work out super hard I get really bad menstrual pains, even if I&amp;#039;m nowhere near getting my period. I always hear that working out is supposed to prevent menstrual pain, not create it! What is it and how can I treat it? Yes, you&amp;amp;#146;re right menstrual cramps should get better with exercise, because exercise makes you produce endorphins which are natural painkillers. If you are having pain like menstrual cramps during exercise, it could be something like an ovarian cyst being aggravated by movement. As cysts grow they can twist when you move, which is very painful. You should see your gynecologist, who will do a manual exam (putting one hand in your vagina and the other on your stomach) to feel your ovaries. If they suspect a problem they may do more tests like an ultrasound to diagnose. In the mean time, don&amp;#039;t do exercises that are painful for you. Periodically I get yeast infections, and it&amp;#039;s not dandy but it&amp;#039;s fine. My question is that even when I don&amp;#039;t have one I notice a pretty pungent odor coming from my ladybits, one that I guess isn&amp;#039;t HORRIBLE, but it makes me self-conscious during intimate moments with my boyfriend. I wonder if this is an indication of a bigger problem. The symptoms of yeast infections are very similar to those of bacterial vaginosis. This is overgrowth of the normal bacteria in the vagina. Many patients have both a yeast infection and bacterial vaginosis at the same time, but yeast infection medications only treat yeast, not bacteria, so the smell persists. If there&amp;amp;#146;s a fishy odor that might mean it&amp;amp;#146;s bacterial vaginosis. Tell your gynecologist what the odor is like, and ask for a test for bacterial vaginosis. If you do have it, it&amp;amp;#146;s just a simple five night treatment. Whatever you do, don&amp;amp;#146;t douche! That alters the pH of your vagina and kills the good bacteria so it makes the odor worse. Even if you use perfumed products, you&amp;amp;#146;re not going to get rid of the smell until you treat the bacteria. How long are the labia majora supposed to be? I&amp;#039;m worried I don&amp;#039;t look normal. Mine don&amp;#039;t look like the girls in the movies or pictures. They are about 3/4 inch and pretty even, but not completely perfect. I&amp;#039;m only 18, and am thinking about a labiaplasty but I am still on my parents health plan and wouldn&amp;#039;t want them to know. I&amp;#039;ve never had complaints about my vag and labia before, but I feel like they don&amp;#039;t look normal. First, it&amp;amp;#146;s totally normal to have labia that are different sizes, types, and textures. The average labia range from \u00BE of an inch to 2 inches long. So you are right in that range! They&amp;amp;#146;re also very often asymmetrical, and that&amp;amp;#146;s normal too. Sometimes I get patients who have very long labia which can be uncomfortable during exercise, using tampons or during sex, and in that case they may ask for a referral to a labiaplasty specialist who can evaluate if surgery would be a good option for them. But you are totally normal. Dr. Iris Orbuch is the director of the Advanced Gynecologic Laparoscopy Center and the co-director of gynecologic robotic surgery at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City. Do you have a women&amp;#039;s health question for Dr. Iris? Submit it here! Photo credit: Courtesy of Iris Orbuch "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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