Yeast infection help?

I have had a very few yeast infections---each one was the direct result of anti-biotics used to treat sinus infections that just would NOT go away. The last infection was from a tooth extraction by a dentist who did not follow the standard of care (ie: NEVER remove teeth behind the eye-teeth without clear x-rays.) He butchered me and punctured my maxillary sinus. It was awful... (I usually ALWAYS take pro-biotics every day--and *extra* with the anti-biotics--but I was 'poor' during this time and had run out of the pro-biotic supplement.)

ANyway---getting back the subject. I used plain yogurt from the grocery store. It's "messy" and not as easy to use as the OTC products for yeast infections, but it was WAY cheaper and I needed immediate relief from the burning and intense itching. (I looked up alternative/natural treatment for yeast infections and thought it couldn't hurt to try this.)

I slathered it all over and it instantly began to help. Then I'd take a tampon and get it all "gooped up" with the yogurt and leave it in for awhile and then, either replace it with another like that---or just keep putting the yogurt on (and "in") and within a few days the infection was gone.

It's very important to not put your hands/fingers back into the container after you've touched yourself---best not to use it straight out of the original container at all---I put some in a seperate dish each time and then threw what was left away and washed the dish out. I had to buy the large container (I'm not sure how big it is---but it's the big one, not the eight ounce size--and make sure it's the PLAIN, not vanilla flavored. They look almost the same...)

Peace,
Anna

Hi Annma

Oh you poor darling! I have had a few very persistent ones, and persistent, unexplained vaginal irritation as well.

I first try the four day cream, then if that doesn't work I try a completely different chemical. I did find a local probiotic which was a gel capsule containing healthy vaginal bacteria, to be inserted into the vagina every day for a week. Not sure if it worked or not. I also give myself a month's course of oral probiotic.

By that time I had also gone on an extreme diet, and eliminated every bit of sugar and yeast from my diet that I could, including root vegetables, fruit, all fermented foods and foods that could contain fungus, eg mushrooms, nuts,tomato paste etc, and all wheat and dairy except Yoghurt. It was a dreadful diet, and I only followed it for a week or so, but the yeast infection disappeared as if by magic. I have kept the levels of both sugar and yeast in my diet down since then, and have not had a single sign of any trouble. I really think diet can contribute to yeast infection, and I think diet has a real role in getting rid of it. Thankfully I have never had to go on such a limited diet for a long period of time, but the difference was amazing, so I will definitely do the diet again if I have the bad fortune to have yeast cross my path again!

I have also tried natural yoghurt, but have not found it helpful, other than the fact that it is refrigerated, and the coldness of it really takes the heat out of the inflammation. It is like heaven on a tampon!

Good luck. You can do without this.

Louise

luckily, I've had only one real full blown yeast infection. I was getting it under control with plain yogurt (make sure it has live cultures and no sugar in it) applied topically, internally and also I was eating it like there was no tomorrow. I was also inserting a clove of garlic (wrapped in cheesecloth for easy removal), dosing up on vit c to keep bowels moving well, and applying tea tree oil for good measure (both vaginally and around the anus, using separate q-tips obviously!)
it was really working but not fast enough (we were about to travel to Israel, a 12 hr flight)so I caved and got the monistat3 and that knocked it out.

the next time I felt a yeast infection coming on I found a natural remedy in the store, called Yeast Guard. for the life of me, I don't remember what's in it, but its a glycerin type suppository and that got rid of it for me. there's also AZO yeast, also found in the pharmacy (its OTC) which has both acidophilous and some homeopathic remedy in it. I was taking that too, for good measure.

in any case, I hope you get rid of it soon, yeast infections are horrible.

http://www.wholewoman.com/forum/node/970

this is the link to the old thread. It has some amazing information about yeast. B

Mystery Yeast?
Submitted by AnnW on December 1, 2006 - 11:40am. Pelvic Health - that is the one.

The only time I've ever had a yeast infection was when our plumbing was being redone and I had to share a bathroom with my husband. Since then I've made him use his own bathroom, and I've never had another one. Apparently, like everything else, I can't use meds for this, and when I did, it was unbelievably painful. Could it be the tub?

Judy

Hi Annma

It wasn't really a horrible diet, just very limited, and for a limited period of time. I just wanted to starve whatever little nasties were left after the onslaught of different treatments.

In agriculture, as with human and veterinary medicine, there is widespread resistance to agricultural chemicals (read here also, eg antibiotics and animal worm treatments) because eg, each time a weed is sprayed with herbicide, some plants, resistant to the active ingredient will survive and pass on their resistant genes to the next generation. Agriculture has responded with what it calls integrated pest/weed management. It involves using several different tools, which might be cultivation methods, grazing, herbicides, crop rotations, etc to knock out resistant genes with a tool that kills or reduces the population of the pest by a different pathway.

I figure that doing integrated pest management on the human body makes sense too. The more different things you use to attack yeasties, in quick succession or concurrently, the more likely you are to get their numbers down to a point where your body's normal mechanisms will be able to keep them in check and re-establish the correct balance of microflora in the body. So the diet is not an absolute, just another means of making the yeasties uncomfortable and weak. I think the most important part of the diet is probably knocking out the simple carbohydrates, the things that taste sweet (ie have straight sugars in them) or are very refined, eg highly processed foods, pre-prepared foods and takeaway foods. Foods with a low glycaemic index (good for diabetes), ie the foods that have carbohydrates that break down slowly, are the ones to go for, so you don't flood your body with excess blood sugar (which I suspect the yeasties love).

I know that there have been anti-candida diets around for a long time, but once you understand what you are trying to do, you can decide how much you will eliminate and for how long. I didn't think I was a big sugar eater, but when I started looking at what I was eating, there was a lot I needed to cut out just for a short period of time. I have now modified my everyday diet so I just don't pig out on refined carbohydrates and sugars any more.

You can google these diets. Some are more limiting than others. It is just another tool.

Cheers

Louise