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By
Dr. Kendra Pearsall
Infection of the vaginal tract (vaginitis) is one of the most common
reasons for women seeking medical attention. There are many types
of vaginal infections, but one of the most common is the yeast infection,
Candida albicans, which is demonstrated by a thick, curdy white,
itchy discharge and reddened, raw vaginal tissue. When the ecology
of the vagina is disturbed, the beneficial bacteria in the vagina
are destroyed, and Candida is allowed to proliferate, leading to
a yeast infection. Therefore, if you are a woman and you have a
yeast infection, you must always ask yourself what may have caused
this imbalance.
Here are some questions to consider:
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Do you eat sugar, or are you diabetic? (Candida thrives on
sugar.)
-
Are you wearing synthetic panty hose or panties without a cotton
crotch?
-
Do you wash your vagina with soap? (Soap can irritate the tissues.
In most cases only water and a washcloth are necessary.)
-
Do you have a depressed immune function due to an illness or
unhealthy lifestyle? (Eating junk food or inadequate sleep,
etc.)
-
Are you taking antibiotics (which kill healthy flora), steroids
or birth control pills (which adversely affect the pH of the
vagina)?
-
Are you pregnant?
-
Have you ruled out food, pollen, detergent or semen allergies
with a medical practitioner trained in allergies?
-
Are you sexually active? (Sexual intercourse is contraindicated
while you are infected as you may pass the Candida to your partner
and continue to pass it back and forth.)
Natural treatments for yeast infections
include:
-
You must eat a healthy, low-sugar, low-grain diet as prescribed
in Dr. Mercola’s
Total Health Program, which I co-authored.
You can get an idea of the program by checking out the nutrition
plan.
-
You will want to increase your probiotic intake with probiotic
capsules or by eating cultured
foods because these contain the good bacteria that keep
your vagina and gastrointestinal tract healthy and will replace
the Candida. This is especially important if you are taking
antibiotics.
After I met Donna Gates, author of The
Body Ecology Diet, in February, I have become a strong believer
in the importance of cultured foods and eat them with every
meal to aid in digestion. When people complain to Donna that
they don’t have time to shred vegetables, she recommends
people make it into a party and prepare it in bulk while socializing.
Cultured vegetables are amenable to mass production because
they keep for months on end without spoiling.
Other good cultured foods are plain organic yogurt and miso.
Cultured foods are eaten in every culture and ideally should
be eaten with every meal because of their amazing health benefits.
-
Other dietary considerations include avoidance of all simple
sugars, dairy (except if cultured), alcohol, cheeses, dried
fruits, melons, peanuts and all suspected food allergens as
all these will exacerbate Candida.
Natural topical treatments include:
- Inserting one Boric acid powder capsule morning and evening
for three to seven days for an acute infection, and 14 to 30 days
for a chronic infection. I have not seen Boric acid capsules widely
available in health stores or pharmacies but women can make their
own by buying a bottle of Boric acid powder and gelatin capsules
(a capsule-making machine makes the process go faster).
Studies show the effectiveness of Boric acid is very high especially
in women with chronic resistant yeast infections--one study
with 100 women showed a 98 percent success rate with this condition.
If you find that the Boric acid irritates your external genitalia
you can protect the tissue with vitamin E oil (preferred) or
Vaseline.
-
Insert a garlic clove into the vagina in the morning and an
acidophilus capsule in the evening for three to seven days.
-
Prepare a retention douche with bentonite clay, Pau D’
Arco tea, yogurt, tea tree oil and goldenseal and douche two
times a day for seven to 10 days.
-
Soak a tampon with diluted tea tree oil and keep it in the
vagina overnight.
Allopathic treatments include the following
anti-fungals:
-
Clotrimazole, Miconazole, Terconazole suppository creams available
over-the-counter or by prescription.
-
Fluconazole, a single-dose treatment.
In my experience as a physician, I have been able to treat some
of my female patients with the natural herbal remedies successfully.
On the other hand, I’ve had female patients who’ve spent
painful itchy days on end because they insisted allopathic treatments
were evil, only to go nearly insane from their agonizingly raw,
irritated vaginas.
Ultimately, a few of these women, perhaps temporarily insane from
the pain, wound up crawling to the store for the anti-fungal creams,
ripping open the box, and inserting the cream right there in the
pharmacy aisle!
The moral of this story is that you may wish to experiment with
Boric acid or herbal treatments, but if you do not see results after
five days you may wish to use an allopathic treatment, which is
relatively harmless if used infrequently.
In conclusion, the best way to prevent and treat yeast infections
is to eat a healthy, low-sugar, low-grain diet, eat cultured foods,
avoid the high-risk behaviors described above and experiment with
any of the above treatments that you are intuitively drawn to, and
I will bet that Candida albicans shall not hold your vagina hostage
ever again.
Related Articles:
Vaginal Yeast Infections
Drug Treatment of
Vaginal Infections Linked To Premature Delivery
Vaseline
May Increase Yeast Infections In Babies
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