(no subject)

[roboslobin.livejournal.com]

Okay. I have my first yeast infection. My gyno gave me a script but I was hoping to try some natural/herbal remedies first. Does anyone have any that they like. Thanks so much!

Comments

Natural Yeastie Cures

[nuwanda-1998.livejournal.com]

I'm too impatient to do the natural yeast cure thing.. I used to get yeast infections chronically (and then all of a sudden I didn't anymore.. weird) and I just wanted them GONE, so I always went for the 3-day cure, and once it came out I went for the 1-day treatment (both of which could be purchased OTC at Kmart)

I see they have a pill now though.. is that what your prescrip is for?

[peacheasy.livejournal.com]

I bet All of us Highly Educated LJ users know more than your GYN who went to what, 6 - 8 years of schooling to know exactly what will work best for you....... Jesus.

[4hour-ramona.livejournal.com]

dood - don't be a jackass.

[peacheasy.livejournal.com]

That is simply the most eloquent banter I have ever received, Kudos!

[bizetsy.livejournal.com]

Your comment is neither constructive, helpful, nor educational. This community is an active support system. As a community, we have over 200 vagina-bearing experts who have had decades of experience in dealing with our bodies. Sometimes, doctors are not readily available or expensive, or do not have enough time for in-depth. Further, often Western-trained ob/gyn do not offer alternatives to antibiotics; and prescriptions, if used too often, cause bacteria to become immune to those meds, and then women are left with stronger infections. Sometimes, personal, anecdotal discussion can be very theraputic.

I suggest positivity for women. An outline for our community discussion is listed here (http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=vaginapagina). People who do not follow this will be banned.


Biz--co-admin

[peacheasy.livejournal.com]

I do not concur. A GYN has extensive medical training to know what does and does not work. They know the blood chemesty of their patient, they have a record of the patient's medical history. They can read in plain black and white what has and has not worked for the patient. And it is a myth that if you use 'too much' of a perscription that the bacteria will become immune, infact the exact opposit. It is people who are told to take a perscription for 3 weeks, who after 8 days the problem goes away and they stop taking the perscription, but not always is the bacteria all the way gone, that bacteria will come back to haunt the person and is now resistant to that medication. Those who take the perscription as told will effectivly kill the bacteria, therefore it does not come back. A new bacteria, or even a variation of the previous can come back, but not with the resistance the same bacteria would have had, had it come back before it was killed. Further, it is built into federal law that "Bystandards" have no obligation to assist a person in need, no "Duty of due care" - because, for obvious reasons, if a person isn't trained to assist with specific situations, they very often do more harm than good. Which is mostly the point I was making - Her doctor, weather busy or not busy, has access to her medical history, none of us do, her doctor can see what she is and is not illergic to none of us do, her doctor prescribes various medications to hundreds of patients a month, and unless someone in this community has their MD degree handy, none of us have the expertise to give medical advise. Her doctor gave her advise, she should follow that advise. Period.

Any of us saying "Hey, such and such worked real well for me" is no more effective than saying "Hey, I really like a warm glass of merlot after a hot bath", well it's very likely that the person in question a) never takes baths, and b) is illergic to alcohol.

[firinel.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm under the impression that there are several of us who are midwives - who incidently have also been trained to deal with various problems relating to vaginas, and other women's health issues - aas well as herbalists and homopaths..all who hav eyears of expierence and knowledge.

People are becomming less willing to blindly believe traditional westren white men's medicine.

Incidently, it is true that strains can reoccur and be more resilient to the medicine, not to mention that just because you complely finish and take the medicine as prescribed, does not mean that that same infection cannot remain in your body and reoccur. It does not have to be a different strain.

Please don't be so insulting and so narrow-mindedly blind in the future if you intend on continuing to post here.

[bizetsy.livejournal.com]

Clearly, you have never been to the gynocologist. (heh)

Ideally, women would be able to see someone on a regular basis who would know their patients well. However, in reality, most young women do not have access to long-term, well-paid, understanding physicians. A lot of us have had experiences where a gyn doc. did not have enough time to assess us--someone who spent 10 minutes or less with us total. That is not long enough for a solid analysis, often, especially considering that the reproductive organs are one of the most varied, unique, and under-studied systems of the body.

As for prescriptions--you are correct, for what you said about taking the full round of a prescription. But I was not arguing that point. I was saying that women who are given a prescription too many times often become immune to that cure. So, natural remedies can be great alternatives. Ever taken Vitamin C, echinacea, zinc to help clear up a cold? Other things besides antibiotics can help. No gyn I have ever seen--whether at a clinic or through my current fancy insurance--none--has ever suggested remedies other than classic antibiotics. We are offering some alternatives, and some safe space to talk about a part of our bodies that are often kept in secrets and silence.

And did you read the disclaimer? We say *see your doctor, we are not a replacement for them.* We merely offer second-opinions in the meantime.

However, this whole discussion is tinged with more bravado than actual information. This isn't a place for snotty cock-walking, it's for helping people understand their vaginas.

[gezellig-girl.livejournal.com]

Um. This is at least the second time this jackass has jumped on someone's ass like this.

Why do we still let him in here?

[crackmonkey.livejournal.com]

For someone with such a strong opinion, I'd suggest you read a bit more to get your facts straight.

It's a medically proven fact that over-medication of diseases will eventually cause bacteria to mutate, and then share the mutated gene nodule with all it's buddies. Read "The Coming Plague" by Laura Garrett (name maybe wrong). To be blunt, any kid with a high school biology class knows this one.

As to doctors having "extensive medical training" and knowing "What does and does not work", go get a copy of the Physicians Desk Reference. Nearly every (if not all, I didn't have time to look at each one) has a very large disclaimer, to the effect of "We don't really know why this works, we just happen to have tried it and it seems to work".

I don't know what you mean when you say that we can't tell what we're allergic to, only a doctor. Am I reading that right? So, when I eat strawberries and break out in hives, I might as well just say, "HEY! This is weird! Better check with my doctor to see if I'm allergic!"

You seem to have a very high opinion of doctors. While I can respect your opinion, I also respectfully disagree with your statement about despensing advice. Our society has been self-treating and coping with disease with doctors for years. Amazingly enough, people survived without western medicine in many cultures, centuries before we knew what culture was.

Since these are the kinds of guarantees we get from our medical community (a male dominated one at that), I'm all for women (or men :) ) trying to find their own ways to take care of themselves. Women have been taking care of their vaginas alot longer than men have been trying to tell them what to do with them.

And please, at least educate yourself before lambasting people, in a forum DESIGNED for this sort of talk. Maybe if you'd read a bit more, you wouldn't have bothered to post such negativity to begin with.

[crackmonkey.livejournal.com]

Sorry if this is a bit, er, asshole-ish. It's early and forced ignorance is highly bothersome.

[rockstarbob.livejournal.com]

no way! that was perfect. don't apologize. i especially liked this line: Women have been taking care of their vaginas alot longer than men have been trying to tell them what to do with them.

i mean, come on. if i wanted to hear some guy i don't even know dispense patronizing "advice" about what i should or shouldn't do with my vagina, i'd go ask one. his comments are misinformed, unsolicited, and go against our community's safe space policy. i don't even understand why he posted that in the first place, except to antagonize. lame. that kind of crap won't be tolerated here. i think the technical term is trolling.

i'm glad to see one of our men tell him how it is. right on! you rule. there should be more of your kind. how can i contact your manufacturer?

[crackmonkey.livejournal.com]

Heh, thank you :)

Umm, my mom says she's not having any more children, so apparently I'm one of a kind. :)

I was pretty impressed by the other responses on here as well, it's pretty durn cool to see people so informed about themselves and the world. I just wish the troll was the same way.

Guess that's why he's a troll. I dunno, after so many thousands of years, people (sadly, mainly men) still feel the urge to talk about something they know nothing about and which they obviously care little of.

Is he gone? Or what?

[jaclyn.livejournal.com]

I am so in love with you.


are you single?

[crackmonkey.livejournal.com]

Sorry :/ I'm dating this absolutely fabulous woman. She has something to do with this, but I don't know if you'd know her or not. Anyway, I'm hers.

So yeah, if she dies or something, you have dibs, but yeah... ;)

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

yeast is not a bacteria. there's point one. it's a single celled organism naturally occurring in the body. the overgrowth is CAUSED by use of antibiotics that kill off friendly competitive bacteria in the blood and digestive tract. Candida overgrowth is a cause of many ailments and can be very serious. it's a systemic issue, not just a vaginal issue. a yeast infection can be alleviated by lightly altering the chemical environment with baths of dilute vinegar (to encourage the growth of healthy bacteria) and by resupplying the body with healthy bacteria like acidophilus. (http://www.infosky.net/~alexmi/candida.htm#2.1)

while doctors do go to school, they are taught on an old, rigid curriculum that does not encourage them to investigate alternatives to modern pharmaceuticals. consider the amount of funding supplied to hospitals and universities by pharmaceutical corporations. word of mouth and anecdotal information is the only source of alternative therapy for those not blessed with progressive doctors.

if you have concerns about antibiotic misuse, i suggest that your zeal be better directed towards the agricultural industry. perhaps you missed the fact that major anthrax drugs are becoming obsolete because corporations refuse to stop using their sibling drugs on livestock. i would never suggest that someone stop a course of antibiotics in midstride, but i would suggest that, especially in minor cases, they never start. also, you might want to start campaigning to remove antibiotic soaps from the market. those are doing nearly as much damage to the effectiveness of modern drugs as the unfettered use of those drugs in livestock.

[calliste.livejournal.com]

I just found this comment and felt like telling you that I've been to many gynaecologists in my life and I have found out that I myself can treat myself better than them. My mother went to many different gynaecologists in her life and had to suffer from great pain for about ten years until she found out after these ten years that the gynaecologists she had been going to simply hadn't realized that her uterus was filled with cysts. Her doctor hadn't realized this with all her six to eight years of being taught how to be a gyn.

I showed up at my gyn totally in tears, she's both a psychoanalyst and a gynaecologist and told her I needed help since I couldn't have sex with my boyfriend anymore because penetration would cause great pain. She just glared at me and told me I was a shit out of luck.

Sooo... I have plenty more of this stuff to tell about doctors.

As for doctors knowing your complete medical history.. that WAS a joke, wasn't it? They have it all written down somewhere but if you end up there for the umpteenth time with the same problem and they still give you the very same medication which you know exactly doesn't help, you start doubting that they really give a shit about your medical history.

I don't assume you've ever tried the herbal/natural way to cure yeast infections (as much as I doubt that you've ever been to a gynaecologist) so I'd advise you to just keep your offending thoughts to yourself as they are of no help to anyone at all.

[bonniebon.livejournal.com]

but all the women hear know about this stuff from experience which is very useful, of course, getting the opinion of a trained medical proffesional is important, but personally I think that minor yeast infections don't really need the attention of a gynocologist, it seems kind of like seeing your doctor because you have a cold, in fact my doctor was the one who told me that it's best to treat minor yeast infections with home remedies like natural yogurt etc.

[rockstarbob.livejournal.com]

hey, that's really cool that your doctor told you that! i've never heard a gyno suggest natural remedies like that. i'm happy to hear yours did.

[bonniebon.livejournal.com]

I think here in the UK doctors have ulterior motives, they have to find the cheapest, simplest way to treat patients so they don't go over budget, and what cheaper way than to suggest home remedies! Actually, my boyfriend had a doctor tell him to look into alternative medicine for some of his health problems (tiredness, low energy and stuff) after tests were inconclusive, the doctor basically said that there wouldn't be much she could do to help and that he'd be better off trying some herbal remdedies or homeopathy (he took her advice and now takes gingko biloba which helps him a great deal) so yeah, doctors here can be pretty cool like that.

[doulachar.livejournal.com]

Actually, I have just about as much education as the GYN, just from a different angle. Interesting that you equated having a live journal account with being uneducated in the topics we're discussing

Charlene- Doula, Student Midwife, Mom.

[bizetsy.livejournal.com]

Hey roboslobin! I really encourage you to go peer at the Community Info page (http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=vaginapagina), where we have tons of links to webpages, including several about yeast infection treatment. Also, if you go to the main vaginapagina page and look at previous entries, I think you'll find a number of great responses to this question from other women.

It seems like this is something that we all go through, at least by the number of posts! We're all in it together. heh! Happy hunting and I wish you good luck!

[rockstarbob.livejournal.com]

hi! i'd like to reiterate betsy's comment above and i'd like to direct you here (http://www.vaginapagina.com); if you scroll down through the archive list until you hit "yeast infections", you'll see some links about natural remedies as well as previous livejournal posts about this very topic.

hope this helps!

[roboslobin.livejournal.com]

Yes! Thanks! Lots of good info there!

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

Candida overgrowth is a common Western ailment. try taking acidophilus supplements (that's capsules of the bacteria that make yogurt). it's a friendly bacteria that thrives on the same substances that keep the yeast alive. also, stay away from bread and beer and yeast supplements as well as refined sugars, including soft drinks, until you're over the infection. drink a lot of water, too. you can find acidophilus at the health food store. it's best to get the kind that need refrigeration.

Yeast treatment

[doulachar.livejournal.com]

Try natural yougurt with live active cultures, mixed with warm water, it makes an effective douche. The live culture in the yogurt eats the yeasts. You'll also want to be wearing cotton panties, cutting down on your sugar intake, and not having sex! Sorry, but intercourse can break up the yeast colonies and spread the infection. And men can get yeast infections too! (ow)