Yeast infections are caused by the overgrowth of bacteria already found in the body and can cause tremendous itching and discharge. Other infections, just as bacterial vaginosis, usually happen from an upset in vaginal pH balance, which often leads to an overgrowth of bad bacteria–too much for the good bacteria to fight. Traditional medical treatment for both infections are antibiotics or over-the-counter medications. But if you’re not to keen on either option, you might want to try the natural remedy option. TMI time: I’m suffering from a yeast infection now, so I thought it might be a good time to test the effectiveness of natural remedies before I run out and buy Monostat. I noticed that my the systems indicating infection happened right around my period. This is common, and tampons can be a culprit in altering the pH balance and leave you open to infection. My pal Tracey Croughwell Saenz, VP of  marketing, reminded me that SoftCup won’t contribute to pH upsets, and is therefore a better option. In my case, the infection wasn’t caused by tampons, because I use SoftCup religiously. It’s most likely due to stress and a compromised immune system.

Tearing a page from the “Healing Remedies Sourcebook,” by C. Norman Shealy, MD, PhD, I’m going to follow the instructions on how to treat oral thrush, which is the identical infection that occurs in the vagina. Here’s some of the book’s recommendations:

Yogurt

Eat fresh live yogurt, and dab some on to infected areas. (I’m not too keen on this one, because dabbing fresh yogurt on my va-jay-jay will require me wearing a maxi pad when it’s not period time, but what the hayell–I’ll give it a go.)

Olive Oil

According to the book, olive oil prevent yeast becoming a fungus in the body and should be drunk and/or used for cooking whenever possible.

Aloe Vera

The book recommends an aloe vera mouthwash, which has an anti-fungal affect. I’m going to tweak this a bit and do a southern-region “rinse.”

Garlic

Ugh! Garlic is a natural anti-bacterial agent. The Russians used garlic to prevent infection during World War II. The book recommends rubbing raw garlic on the affected area, but again, they are addressing oral thrush. I do not recommend using garlic…down there. It will sting. Best to take the stuff internally through cooking.

Vitamins and Minerals

Take acidophilus and eat ripe bananas to encourage growth of health bacteria in the body and to crowd out and starve the bad bacteria.

Hygiene

Yeast infections can often occur from an upset in the pH balance, often occurring from the use of hard chemical in soaps. It might be high time I seriously examine my choice of cleansers. There’s a new line of feminine cleansers called healthy hoohoo® – that’s pH balanced and free of parabens. The company claims the line “helps bring balance to the mucosal membranes by maintaining the proper pH environment for lactobacilli strains which act as barrier to harmful bacterium.” I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks promising. I’ll let you know.