Any new LS treatments?

Hi Deb,

No naltrexone for me...I can't even imagine how it would help, given we need our opioid receptors available for natural opioids. I don't know if I've stressed enough how this is basically an adrenal/liver disorder. Doing anything to compromise the liver (as naltrexone must) surely cannot be helpful in the long run. However, I cannot know for certain...let me know how it works for you if you try it.

I have changed my early morning workout to my WWYoga class, which is very calming and nurturing. My symptoms have improved since then, but this is a chronic condition and I continue to treat it accordingly. Right now I'm sitting with a probiotic in one side of my vagina and a dampened, organic cotton ball, soaked in DHA/flax oil, in the other. My LS and prolapse are both being treated at once. I can live well with this.

Christine

I am 54. At 17 I was diagnosis with "the worst case of endometriosis i have ever seen" and the doctors (doctors because I was such an unusual case, three came in to examine) decided that there was nothing to do but a hysterectomy. I wanted children so refused went through the next 10 years playing with fertility drugs and a in-vitro fertilization surgery that was not successful. At 28 I had a total hysterectomy, the endometriosis had grown onto other organs which caused a narrowing of my bowel. I took premarin off and on, mostly off for years but was scared of side effects and stopped. I was then diagnosed 11 years ago with LS, " the worst case I have seen in all the years of practice" and she put me on meds that did nothing. My vulva has grown together so much that she can't do an examination any more. That was over a year ago. I haven't gone back...very desperate now for relief from the burning, night itching, swelling. I have made the red clover tincture (taking it 4 times a day) the red clover salve (it turns my under ware green from the pumpkin oil is that normal?) And have been drinking 2 quarts of red clover alfalfa tea daily. I have been doing this for about a month now but no relief. My vulva is swollen and the salve burns when I put it on the past few days so I have stopped it. It is just crazy hard to keep an upper lip. What else can I do?

Hello dear,

I am so sorry to hear of your suffering. The phytoestrogens in red clover and alfalfa may help reduce your exposure to certain metabolites of estrone - the major estrogen your body is producing at this point. But they are not magic bullets by any means. You might throttle back a bit on the tea/tincture combination - especially if you aren't seeing any benefit. The salve is used primarily as a barrier around the urethra - to protect from metabolites in urine.

You might try our honey remedy - just a pea size amount of raw, local honey applied to the area. It will likely burn, but only for a couple of seconds before it brings great relief. This is because you have lost (with reproductive-age estradiol) the glycogen that feeds natural lactobacilli. These microorganisms keep the vagina and vulva on the acidic side, moist, and comfortable. You would have to be very careful, given the raw condition of your vulva, but if the honey begins to heal the area, yet you are still having itching, you might try a dilute solution of raw, apple cider vinegar as well. One of our members uses 1/3 vinegar to 2/3 water. I apply a couple of tsp of full-strength vinegar - primarily to my large labia after bathing - then apply honey vaginally. The vinegar acts against fungal organisms, which tend to get a foot hold in the more alkaline, post-menopausal membranes. The honey calls in more friendly bacteria. Because the area needs to be fed in this way, the effect only lasts 12 hours or so before you have to apply a bit more honey. The vinegar probably would be used less frequently - every three days or so until the area is normalized.

From my perspective, there is no drug that is going to help this condition. It is probably your adrenal glands you'd want to support now with a good, anti-inflammatory diet, lots of rest and stress-management.

If this helps you please let us know.

Wishing you well,

Christine

Thank you so much for getting back with me. I will get some local honey Monday and start with that and the vinegar asap. I will let you know in a week or so how that worked. I shower every day using a natural soap (Dr. Bronner) but wonder if that is a good product to use. What is you thoughts on keeping that area clean?

Can someone educate me about raw honey? Is most honey not raw? How do I tell if it is or isn't?

All of the raw honey that I have purchased is actually labeled "Raw Honey". I have yet however to find any that is local raw honey. I am not positive but I think that local means a radius of 50 miles from where you live but that might be outdated knowledge. I think you might have success by checking your local health food store or if you have a person in your town that specializes in homeopathic and alternative supplements (we have such a person in my town). Good luck to you and best wishes.

Hi Curiousity, Yes Ms Nightigale is right - I found my raw local honey in my Health Food store. I really have not looked in my grocery store as of yet. I think Local just means local farmers in your area. Anyhow my honey did come from local farmers. I hope this helps you

www.benefits-of-honey.com/raw-honey.html

Thanks for the info. I will check out my local health food store.

I just wanted to clarify that I meant local Bee Keeping Farms. Best of Luck!!!

Yes, I would think you need honey that is at the pre-processing stage. Honeys from some species (eg white clover) crystalise very readily, and may crystalise before they are packed, especially in cold weather. I believe these honeys are heated so that they can be gotten out of the bulk containers for processing. Heating may destroy the enzymes in honey. I think I read that somewhere when I was keeping bees. We had a couple of beekeeper Members a few months ago. Are you still reading, beekeepers?

I would suggest that any of you in the northern hemisphere find an amateur beekeeper who would probably only put it in jars straight from the extractor, maybe filtering out the bees legs and feet; and other bits and pieces of wax, propolis etc, which can easily be scraped off the top, anyway. Do it while the weather is still warm. You will have to check with them beforehand to find out when they will be robbing hives. If your honey does become crystalised you can beat it up with a round ended table knife, or food processor when the crystals are established. This breaks up the crystals and incorporates air, to make creamed honey. Further crystals will grow, but in random directions, so they don't 'knit' the honey together. Creamed honey is much easier to handle than crystalised honey. You can spoon it easily, and the crystals won't scratch your lady bits!

If there are random little bits of beeswax and bee legs in honey you buy, you can bet your bottom dollar that the honey is straight from the extractor. That is excluding jars of honeycomb, which may have had nice clear processed honey poured in on top of the comb, for better visual presentation.

Louise

Hello all!

I did read the Natural Remedy for LS that you posted Christine, but I am in need of a bit more advice. I'm 23 and have never had sex, used a tampon or arable to put anything inside my vagina. I've had this disease since I was about three years old ( that's when spots began appearing on my shoulders and my parents noticed, I may have been born with it) and it now covers almost 85% of my skin. I've only recently started having the itchy, dry and bubbly skin, two small blotches on my hips, but I've watched my collagen break down in patches all over my body and currently my vagina in inaccessible. I spoke to a local herbalist who gave me red clover and alfalfa tea leaves as well as an extract of the two combined. I started taking a few droppers of this daily for the last couple weeks and the blotches on my hips are beginning to fade, but I'm still swollen and sensitive down there. I would also like to know if you had any success with the skin whose collagen was broken down or the white patches? Does this help rebuild this skin? Is there anything else you suggest? Because this is one of four chronic conditions I'm struggling with, chronic constipation (since I was an infant) is being caused by the LS and I would like to win this battle.

It sounds like every day is very painful for you, and looking different would have had an affect on your life as well.

Have you tried using honey on any of these lesions, Kilopoppy?

Have you had any medical treatment for this condition?

Louise

These lesions have only recently shown up, and a clover/alfalfa high grade extract I purchased from a local herbalist has been lessening the lesions considerably. What covers my body is the broken collagen, it's dark and looks like moss on rocks with veins, thankfully this doesn't hurt.

I have a recent development though. On top of ingesting the extract I've also mixed it with almond oil and have been applying it three times a week to my vulvar area, and my vaginal hole has turned such a pale pink it's almost white, but not the same coloration of my white patches. It's only in the last couple weeks, and everything else seems to be getting better. Does anyone know if this is a good or bad sign? I took a photo to inspect it more clearly and it looks much healthier than the darker skin around it..