Your vagina is supposed to be acidic. It contains bacteria that keep your pH precisely balanced between 3.8 and 4.5. The acidity kills off anything that doesn’t belong, and keeps you healthy.

As you age you produce less of that bacteria, so you become more alkaline — especially around menopause. Antibiotics, your period, semen, douching, and hormonal birth control all push you alkaline too.

As you become more alkaline, harmful bacteria like Gardnerella vaginalis, Prevotella, and Atopobium vaginae move in and take over. They release chemicals when they breathe, when they poop, and when they die — that’s what causes the fishy smell, the discharge, the burning during sex.

So yes — some of what you’re smelling is from the bacteria dying inside you.

Yeast infections happen when the natural balance of your vaginal microbiome gets disrupted. Stress, sex, antibiotics, hormonal changes, your period, tight clothing, high sugar intake, or even certain soaps can throw it off.

When protective bacteria drop, yeast overgrows — leading to itching, burning, irritation, redness, and thick discharge.

UTIs happen when unwanted bacteria get into the urinary tract and multiply — after sex, from wiping, sweat, tight clothing, dehydration, or microbiome changes.

Once bacteria reach the urethra or bladder, they trigger that familiar burning, urgency, and constant need to pee.