Hello, and welcome to a very personal post. I don’t usually write about these sorts of topics, not because I’m afraid of getting personal, but because I’ll never claim to be someone who knows much about natural healing. I leave that up to Michele at Frugal Granola. She’s brilliant, well studied in these matters and even wrote an ebook to help all of us.
Of course, I do know that if I cut hot peppers without gloves on and then touch my eye, my face will appear to be on fire and I will run frantically about the house until I can get some milk splashed into my eyeball. And through trial and error, we’ve found some things to help ease our son’s eczema symptoms naturally. But in general, you won’t come to Heavenly Homemakers and learn that in order to help your pet cat who is experiencing hair loss, you need to rub together the petals of four and a half tulips, mix them with yesterday’s shredded newspaper in a large pot of tepid coffee, stir in equal measures of garlic and plucked eyebrows, then soak your cat in the mixture for 2.7 hours per day*. That’s just not where my specialty lies.
However, I do have a thing or two to say about helping a yeast infection. This information doesn’t take the place of what your doctor might say, but of course you know from reading the above cat hair remedy that this goes without saying. I’m just going to share with you what I have learned from what I have read and what I have experienced.
I don’t suffer from yeast infections often (thankfully), and I know there are different varieties of yeast issues (like thrush). But the kind I’m talking about today is the kind that effects women in a very unpleasant and personal way. Yeast is a fungus and none of us wants an over-growth of fungus down there. Not only is a yeast infection itchy, it’s extremely itchy and it burns and it also itches very badly.
Here are the best natural remedies I’ve found to make an uncomfortable yeast infection go away:
- Take a probiotic – It’s really a good idea to take a probiotic on a regular basis if you can, but especially if you have a yeast infection. I suggest talking to your chiropractor or local natural doctor to see which kind he/she recommends.
- Stop eating sugar – I mean completely stop eating sugar while you’re having a yeast infection. Sugar feeds yeast and just makes your infection worse. Try to go easy on all carbs if possible, as carbs turn to sugar. Don’t worry, there will still be brownies in the world for you to eat later after you’re all better.
- Eat cultured products like yogurt. Drink cultured products like kefir or kombucha. (Someday, I plan to share with you how to make kombucha.)
- Better yet (and this is where the very personal part of this post comes in)…apply plain, cultured products directly to the infected area.
Yes, this means that you take a little jar of plain kefir or yogurt into the bathroom with you…wash yourself gently…then put kefir or yogurt on and around and in the area that is feeling miserable.
I have found that this is a huge help. It doesn’t cure the problem instantly…but it does offer some temporary relief…as well as help with the overall healing process, as the good, living bacteria in the cultured dairy goes to work. It’s actually quite soothing.
But be sure the cultured products are PLAIN. Most commercial yogurts and kefirs have some sort of sugar in them and YOWZA you do not want to be smearing sugar in there to feed the yeast and turn it into a monster!
I recommend, if you can, to make your own homemade cultured dairy products. All the instructions are found through links on this page and they are SO easy!! There’s even a Heavenly Homemakers discount from Cultures for Health to help get you started. Look for it on the Cultured Dairy Instruction Pages.
I’m also going to put a plug in here again for always and forever avoiding regular Kotex and/or other typical store-bought brands of monthly “punctuation” products as these can cause all kinds of miserable issues. Read this post again if you don’t know what I’m talking about. I really can’t emphasize this enough.
I’d love for you to share any other natural remedies you’ve discovered to help with yeast infections. And also for cat hair loss.
*The above described remedy for Cat Hair Loss was completely fictitious information written simply to cause me to sound ridiculous. I do not recommend soaking your cat in the previously described way, ever. Not enough studies have been done to prove its effectiveness, and trying this remedy may result in a very angry cat.
