So, ladies, let’s get it out in the open!
You’ve just returned from a long weekend with your husband/lover. For two nights and two days, you’ve made love, you’ve slept, you’ve made love, you’ve eaten and then you’ve repeated the cycle, over and over again.
The following morning, or maybe the day after that, you start to become aware that all is not well ‘down there’. It just doesn’t feel right.
At first, it’s just a vague sense of unease, which slowly becomes an irritation which then begins to itch. Until, before you know it, you don’t care where you are, you just want to rub or scratch at it. The only thing that brings any relief is when you point the high pressure shower head in that general direction.
If you don’t do anything about it then, before long you will notice an unpleasant smelling yellowish-white discharge in your pants.
You have developed a yeast infection, and this is the reason why:
The vagina is a very delicate eco-system and it doesn’t take much to upset it. One of the organisms that lives there naturally is candida albicans, a type of yeast which is kept in check by the presence of a strong contingent of good bacteria. Although this area is generally too acidic for the yeast to grow out of control, the vagina is sensitive to small changes and can easily become an ideal environment for yeast to flourish.
Over that small, but delightful, 48 hour window, your vagina was subjected to additional lubrication, excess friction and repeated invasion by a foreign body. Add into the equation that you will probably have been drinking a lot more than usual and eating lots of processed, sugary snacks. It’s not surprising that your nether regions are throwing a bit of a hissy fit.
Thrush, candida and yeast infections are usually considered as minor problems that are exclusive to women. But this is just not true, as men can also suffer with it. Maybe he’s experienced the white coating on his cheeks and tongue of oral thrush, a sweat rash in a fold of skin, or, more likely, a slight soreness around the tip of his penis which he’s ignored.
This last form of yeast infection can end up being passed back and forth between you and your partner. For, however many times you treat your more obvious symptoms, if he doesn’t treat his problem too, then he will just give it back to you.
Recurrent infestations of this irritating, frothy, white discharge can also be caused by repeated doses of antibiotics, but a diet that consists mainly of yeast, fungus, sugar and refined, processed produce is often also a contributory factor. Add in a stressful lifestyle and you have all the elements which can lead to a proliferation of candida.
More than anything right at this moment, you need to find something that will stop the symptoms of thrush that are now troubling you as a result of your weekend of excess. The solution needs to be something that is not one of the creams or pessaries from the pharmacist as, whilst these can be successful short-term, the composition of these has been shown to aggravate the problem in repeat users.
The most well-known natural method to help relieve the itching and irritation of thrush is ‘live’ yoghurt containing bifidus cultures. Filling a plastic tampon applicator and using this to pushing the yoghurt high into the vagina overnight can be extremely helpful… although it can be a little messy so you should protect your bedlinen accordingly.
