Thank you! At this point, I'm only seeing MD's who are both licensed in their state AND have the current board certification. There is so much anti-science and anti-female WOO running wild. The "Garlic magic" is just the latest/oldest (?) myth out there.
I used to work in women's magazines and we were forever promoting natural yogurt as a treatment for thrush, but I could never ascertain whether you were supposed to eat it or insert it... Maybe the answer here is to go for tzatziki and then you've got your garlic and yogurt covered, plus a bit of cooling cucumber. That's gotta be a winner, right?
On a side note, I once attended a talk given by the bio-safety head of a major supermarket in which he pleaded with the media to stop telling people to put garlic cloves in oil and leave the oil somewhere warm, because it turned out a lot of people were giving themselves botulism by doing that...
I'm embarrassed to say that I have tried this after, yes, Googling for a 'natural' remedy for thrush and it burned like holy hell and did absolutely nothing but increase irritation. I can't believe people genuinely believe this works.
I couldn't help laughing when I read this one. Garlic in the vagina is older than me, and I'm pretty old! Never tried it, even though I fought chronic yeast infections for decades. I just didn't want garlic-breath. But what made me laugh is the Coca-Cola reference. In my small town where the girls exchanged advice on "girl stuff" in the school bathroom before the Pill, Coke was believed to be an uh, post-coital method of birth control. So girls who had dared to "go all the way" would shake up a bottle of coke and spritz it up their vaginas right after. No joke!
My husband was once in a garlic pealing contest at a restaurant he worked at. A day or two later the skin on his fingers also pealed off. But he didn’t have a vaginal yeast infection for years after that … 😜
It took me about 0.005 seconds to find posts on FB advocating for garlic as a remedy to yeast infections. One post helpfully suggested using a tampon to keep the garlic in, or just Kegel exercises. Oh, and then it went on to talk about how to make a garlic douche. *facepalm*
Thank you for all you do! This sentence jumped out at me: "Foreign bodies allow bacteria to grow, and can be associated with vaginal infections." So, yeah - sometime can you talk about Nuvaring and Estring as foreign bodies? I know why they are rings (ease of removal, right?) but the hole in the center just seems like a personal Petri dish to my non-doctor mind.
What about using a DHEA supplement vaginally? Dr Irwin Goldstein recommended this on the you are not broken podcast because intrarosa is cost prohibitive. Thank you 🙏
Thank you! At this point, I'm only seeing MD's who are both licensed in their state AND have the current board certification. There is so much anti-science and anti-female WOO running wild. The "Garlic magic" is just the latest/oldest (?) myth out there.
I used to work in women's magazines and we were forever promoting natural yogurt as a treatment for thrush, but I could never ascertain whether you were supposed to eat it or insert it... Maybe the answer here is to go for tzatziki and then you've got your garlic and yogurt covered, plus a bit of cooling cucumber. That's gotta be a winner, right?
On a side note, I once attended a talk given by the bio-safety head of a major supermarket in which he pleaded with the media to stop telling people to put garlic cloves in oil and leave the oil somewhere warm, because it turned out a lot of people were giving themselves botulism by doing that...
Tzatziki -- yeah, that'll do it... (; -).
I'm embarrassed to say that I have tried this after, yes, Googling for a 'natural' remedy for thrush and it burned like holy hell and did absolutely nothing but increase irritation. I can't believe people genuinely believe this works.
OHMYGODDOPEOPLEREALLYDOTHIS???
Yeah, but we all know thst Coca Cola douches after sex prevent prgnancy. Oh and men who drink lots of Mountain Dew are sterile…
Or is it Mountain Dew douches and drinking Cova Cola? Who knows….
It amazes me what they (outside of medicine) can come up with.
I couldn't help laughing when I read this one. Garlic in the vagina is older than me, and I'm pretty old! Never tried it, even though I fought chronic yeast infections for decades. I just didn't want garlic-breath. But what made me laugh is the Coca-Cola reference. In my small town where the girls exchanged advice on "girl stuff" in the school bathroom before the Pill, Coke was believed to be an uh, post-coital method of birth control. So girls who had dared to "go all the way" would shake up a bottle of coke and spritz it up their vaginas right after. No joke!
Yeah, I heard of that one in NP school. No, it wasn't recommended, but we were told that in vitro, it was better at killing sperm than Pepsi.
Hahaha!
“women deserve science, not mythology”
Yes! This is such a gem. I have been saying this a lot lately! Thank you.
I don't even like getting garlic under my fingernails. This is asinine.
Right? And if you get it in a cut...get out that hurts.
My husband was once in a garlic pealing contest at a restaurant he worked at. A day or two later the skin on his fingers also pealed off. But he didn’t have a vaginal yeast infection for years after that … 😜
Ew.
It took me about 0.005 seconds to find posts on FB advocating for garlic as a remedy to yeast infections. One post helpfully suggested using a tampon to keep the garlic in, or just Kegel exercises. Oh, and then it went on to talk about how to make a garlic douche. *facepalm*
Thank you for all you do! This sentence jumped out at me: "Foreign bodies allow bacteria to grow, and can be associated with vaginal infections." So, yeah - sometime can you talk about Nuvaring and Estring as foreign bodies? I know why they are rings (ease of removal, right?) but the hole in the center just seems like a personal Petri dish to my non-doctor mind.
They are made of material that resists bacteria (silastic), so it's far less of a concern. They have been studied and are safe.
Super interesting article Dr. Gunter. On a related, but different subject - what are your thoughts on cannabis suppositories?
Checkout The Vagina Bible. She has a whole chapter on cannabis.
I've also heard it recommended to treat GBS infections (or to try to trick the GBS swab to avoid getting antibiotics).
What about using a DHEA supplement vaginally? Dr Irwin Goldstein recommended this on the you are not broken podcast because intrarosa is cost prohibitive. Thank you 🙏
No, that is not recommended. Vaginal DHEA doesn't offer any advantage over vaginal estrogen. and so there are less expensive options.