September 01, 2021

Vaginas 101 Part 2: Yeast Infections and How to Get Rid of Them

Welcome back to Vaginas 101. Today we talk YEAST!
 
Okay where do I begin. I have a very personal and invested relationship to yeast. It can kiss my A$$. 
So what is yeast. Not to be confused with the yeast you bake with. Yeast is a single cell fungus that need warmth, moisture, and basically everything thats perfect about your vagina in order to thrive. 
SO yeast is present in every vagina. Most women would test positive for yeast on a test. The issue here is whether or not its causing your symptoms and if its kept in check. Some women have yeast that doesnt bother them, other women SUFFER relentlessly with yeast that causes inflammation, burning, discharge, redness and itch that feels like the devil himself has invaded your Pu$$y. 

So What causes the dreaded yeast infection?
I'll talk about the big ones, because diet, allergies, and stress all affect everyone individually. Yeast is really opportunistic meaning it will take advantage of any way it can to proliferate in the body. 
You could have an aggressive yeast or a strain that is resistant to treatment, high sugar levels in the urine (diabetic women often suffer more yeast infections), a weakened immune system, stress, low iron levels. 
Interestingly though there is one thing that is often overlooked, and I can speak to this from personal experience and that is something called MICROTRAUMA. 
Microtrauma are little abrasions or scratches that can happen from sex, thinning of the vagina from menopause or low hormones from the birth control pill can cause fragile tissue that is easily traumatized and yeast takes advantage of this weakened tissue and gets in there. 

Lastly biofilm again, this allows yeast or bacteria to form a protective coating on itself. It can grow on IUD’s contraceptive rings, it allows these bugs to become resistant to antibiotics and is probably a big reason why so many vaginal infections come back over and over again. 

So let's talk treatments.

WHAT NOT TO DO: 
Please for the love of god don't do these things. I read all the time about women who try so many things to get rid of yeast and believe me Ive been there. And I've done most of them. but these do not work and actually sometimes make things worse. 

  1. Tea Tree oil: This can cause serious burning and allergic reactions and I see tea tree oil suppositories all the time online. I once put tea tree oil in my bath water and on my vulva and I'm still regretting it to this day. I cant explain to you how bad that burned. Topically anywhere this might be a different story. In the vagina...just No. 
  2. Garlic- We can just skip this one here. This can cause serious burning if your vagina is irritated. It hasn't been proven to work. Plus I don't really want to go fishing a garlic clove out of my vag.. 
  3. Vaginal Steaming, Yoni pearls and any homeopathic remedy you stick up your vagina. I like the science and the science isn't there with this crap. Yoni pearls, detoxing and vaginal steaming capitalize on vaginal shame and purity culture… reinforcing the patriarchy and i hate it. Use stuff that works. Period.  

¼ of women will get a yeast infection after a course of antibiotics. And unfortunately in most women yeast infections come back. Most women with yeast infections are prescribed anti-fungal medications like Fluconazole. I've taken this many times, often I would take one pill and then three days later I would take another pill. Something that was also recommended to me was to take a good antihistamine for the itching and also a cortisone cream for my vulva to help with the inflammation on the outside. Usually this is enough to nix most uncomplicated yeast infections. 

Boric Acid. I love Boric acid and Boric Acid is important for a few reasons. The first, it can be used for women who suffer recurrent yeast infections, especially when regular prescriptions don’t work and the infection comes back and also for recurrent BV. Usually in recurrent BV there is a biofilm issue and boric acid can get rid of biofilms. 

PROBIOTICS. For Bv, For Yeast, For Bladder Infections. In these three areas probiotics can definitely be investigated. Im not saying it's been proven, and alot of the research depends on the strains and Ive seen a lot of women spend money unnecessarily but some women swear by probiotics. Ive had a really great experience with probiotics. So I say give it 3-6 months and see if it helps. Make sure you look for a probiotic that contains Lactobaccillus Reuteri and Rhamnosus. (I think thats how you pronounce those but they're linked in the description) 

One thing I do want to address before I wrap up this video. Is the stigma surrounding vaginal infections makes me so angry. There is this huge amount of shame felt by anyone that has something wrong with their vagina. There’s this slut shaming purity culture that exists which makes things even more difficult. I dealt with so many yeast infections and honestly you think somethings wrong with you, that your body has abandoned you, that you are completely inadequate as a woman. You cant talk to anyone about it, you don't want to tell your partner whats going on. And the thing is most women get them… and it seems like chronic vaginitis is ignored because its a vagina issue and “well everyone gets infections” some of us deal with more than others but I really hope with more education and a willingness to share we can start to move past feeling embarrassed and get more help in this area. 

Thank you so much again for checking this video out. If you like this content let me know in the comments. If there is a topic that you want more information on don’t forget to subscribe and let me know what you're interested in! See you soon,