Homeopathy For Women Today

Homeopathic remedies that are useful in treating Vaginal Thrush

Homeopathy individualizes every case. Therefore, it is not a one-size-fits-all approach.  The following remedies are helpful in treating Vaginal Thrush. Read through all the remedies and select the one remedy that best fits your symptoms.

Alumina: Frequent, excessive, straw-coloured discharge which causes vulva to itch and smart. Discharge worse before and after menses.

Arsenicum Album: Discharge is very irritating and burning to the skin, offensive smelling, yellow in colour; vulval skin is thickened due to scratching; ulcers on labia; dry and itchy skin. The person may have dull aching pains in abdomen; irritable bowel syndrome. Physically she feels very weak (often disproportionate to her illness). Mentally, she is restless and anxious about her health.

Borax: Discharge is like egg white and highly irritating, scalded feeling on inner side of thighs; sensation as if warm water is flowing out of the vagina. Symptoms usually appear midway between menses. Mentally, the person is nervous and very sensitive to noise.

Calcarea carb:  Discharge is milky, burning, thick and may be yellow. Marked itching of vagina before menses. Burning is also worse before menses. Vulva is inflamed worse on becoming warm.  Worse in pregnancy. The person is overweight, feels chilly, gets tired easily after exertion. She craves sweets.

…………….. more in my next post.

……………. continued from last post 

Things you can do to aid healing

• Drink cranberry juice to flush out toxins from the body
• Take unsweetened yoghurt or lactobacillus acidophilus to replace “good” bacteria that might have been destroyed after taking antibiotics
• Cut down or stop intake of refined sugar
• Eliminate all foods containing yeast
• Cut down or stop taking alcohol
• Drink plenty of water, at least 8 glasses a day
• Eat a healthy diet of whole grains, vegetables and fruits ((some authorities advise avoiding fruits during treatment. Please check with your healthcare provider about this)
• Clean the external area with a mixture of ½ water and ½ vinegar or lemon juice
• Avoid douches (except if medically required), vaginal deodorants & bubble baths.
• After drying the area, you can apply Homeopathic Calendula cream

Prevention tips

• Wear cotton panties,“breathable” pantyhose and loose-fitting slacks to allow the moisture in the genital area to escape
• Change your bathing suit/swimwear and exercise wear (including your panties) soon after swimming or exercising.  Wash these thoroughly after EACH use, preferably separately from other’s clothes.
• When cleaning the genital area after passing stools, wipe from front to back.
• Take unsweetened yoghurt (or lactobacillus acidophilus) to replace the “good” bacteria when you are taking broad spectrum antibiotics
• Practise safe sex (including the use of condoms)

A little self-care can go a long way towards preventing an infection.

………….. in the next post, we will look at Homeopathic remedies for treating Vaginal Thrush. 

Candidiasis, commonly known as Candida or Thrush or Yeast Infection, is an unpleasant but common fungal infection that occurs when there is overgrowth of a fungus called Candida Albicans.
 
Candida Albicans is always present in the body in small amounts and is usually harmless when the immune system is strong. It multiplies quickly and causes distressing symptoms (see below) when the immune system is compromised in any way. The fungus likes warm, moist areas. When it affects the vaginal and genital area, it is known as Genital Candidiasis or Vaginal Thrush (it is one type of Vaginal infection).
 

Source of image:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/17141.htm

Symptoms may include:

• Abnormal vaginal discharge – it ranges from a watery discharge to a  thick, cottage cheese like discharge. It could be white to white-yellow in colour.
• Redness, rawness and/or swelling of the skin around the vulva
• Itching and burning in thevagina and labia (vaginal “lips”)
• Pain with sexual intercourse
• Pain with urination
   

Causes and risk factors 
Candida Albicans is always present in the body in small amounts. However, when an acid/alkaline imbalance occurs, like when the normal acidity of the vagina changes or when hormonal balance changes, Candida Albicans can multiply. It occurs predominantly in women in the reproductive age.

• Antibiotics taken for some other purpose end up suppressing the growth of protective vaginal bacteria (which prevent fungus), and make the vaginal environment favourable to fungal growth.
• Increased level of estrogen in the body e.g. from use of estrogen-containing birth control pills or pregnancy when estrogen levels increase, changes the vaginal environment making it favourable for fungal growth.
• Excessive intake of refined sugar and simple carbohydrates. Long-term nutritional imbalances
• Chronic, unabated stress
• Diabetes and Problems that affect the immune system (such as AIDS or HIV)
• Sexual contact with an infected person

…………. in the next post, we will look at what you can do to aid healing, and some prevention tips.

Guidelines for Homeopathic treatment:

• Remedies should be taken ½ hour before or after food/drinks/smoking
• Strong-smelling substances like onion, garlic, toothpaste, mint, eucalyptus (in some lozenges) etc. may reduce the action of these remedies. If you have used these, wait for ½ hour, rinse your mouth and then take the remedy.
• Do not touch the pills by hand, to avoid contamination. Tip the pills into the cap of the bottle, put these into your mouth quickly and suck on them till dissolved.
• Do not drink water after taking the pills.
• Do not consume any pills that have fallen out or become discoloured.
• Do not stop your conventional (allopathic) or other medication without professional advice.

Storage of Homeopathic Remedies:

• Ensure that you keep all remedy bottles tightly closed to avoid evaporation
• Do not refrigerate the remedies
• Store the remedies in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight, away from magnets, electro-magnetic fields, electrical appliances (e.g. near clock radios and alarm clocks, on top of refrigerators, near computers or monitors, handphones, etc).
• Store the remedies away from strong-smelling substances such as perfumes, spices, aroma oils, potpourris, naphthalene (moth) balls, Tiger Balm, Axe Oil, Liniments, etc.
• Store the remedies away from reach of small children.

Caution:
After taking the remedy, if you did not see any improvement after 3-4 doses, it is likely that you have not chosen the correct remedy or there may a deeper/more serious problem that needs to be treated. Please stop the remedy and consult with a qualified homeopath or other healthcare provider near you.

After taking the remedy, some people experience a slight worsening of EXISTING symptoms, which is like a healing reaction. This could last from a few hours to a few days. If you have such an aggravation and if it persists, stop the remedy completely, drink some black coffee (an antidote to homeopathic remedies) and consult with a qualified homeopath or other healthcare provider near you.

Although homeopathic remedies are safe for pregnant or breastfeeding women and diabetics, please check with a qualified homeopath or healthcare provider near you, before using these remedies.

If you’ve read my earlier posts (Homeopathy Basics) you would know that Homeopathy is a 200 year old holistic healthcare system that is highly effective, safe and natural, used by millions of people all over the world.

Many common minor illnesses are well suited to be treated at home with Homeopathic remedies. It is a system you can use at home for a fraction of the cost of conventional / allopathic approaches.

In Homeopathy, every case is individualized. Therefore, 5 patients with the same problem may be given 5 different remedies because of symptoms or other factors that are different in each case.

When you are treating yourself at home, try to find the remedy that best fits (or most closely matches) your symptoms from the list of remedies we recommend. 

Once you have identified that remedy, purchase it in 30c (or 30CH) potency in 30 or 40 size lactose pills (pellets) from a reliable Homeopathic Store near you or from an online store. A list of our recommended online stores will soon be available at www.AllswellHomeo.com/online.html.

Homeopathic dosage and frequency of dosage varies based on your age, how severe your problem is and in what potency you are taking the remedy. Assuming you bought the remedy in 30c potency, you can use the following guidelines (or refer to the manufacturer’s directions).

Size of oral dosage:
Adults & children above 12 years of age – 4 pills
Children under 12 years of age – 2 pills
Infants, babies, toddlers – 1 pill – it can be dissolved in 1/4 cup of water to prevent choking.

Frequency of dosage:

For Very acute condition:  Every 15 or 30 minutes, up to 4 doses.   Then reduce to 4 doses a day until you feel well again. Then stop.

For Acute condition: 4 doses per day (up to 2 weeks), until you feel well again. Then stop. 

For chronic condition:  We do not recommend that you treat chronic conditions at home. It is best to consult with a qualified homeopath. You can also consult us online from the comfort of your own home.

(See Part 2 of this post for further information).

Hello everyone

Allow me to apologize to you, my dear readers, for the extremely long delay since my last post.  I had been meaning to get back to writing but got tied up with a whole host of other things. 

One of the things I have been working on is developing a live workshop and a home-study course on ”Managing Stress and Mastering Emotions with Flower Remedies”. It has been an exciting experience for me to do this.  I am now working on putting it on the web soon. More about that later.

Another project I have been working on is developing a system of doing client consultations via the internet (online consultation) for those who cannot come to my clinic or those who live in other countries and would like to consult with me from the privacy and comfort of their own homes. This facility will soon be available. Please check it out when it becomes available.

I will resume writing on specific health issues women face and how they can use Homeopathic remedies at home to help themselves. Obviously, only some conditions are suited for self-treatment at home, and others will require professional diagnosis, advice and treatment. I will highlight these as we go along.

As a first step, please see my next post on “How to Use Homeopathic Remedies at Home” in which I give guidelines and detailed advice.

As always, I would love to receive your feedback and comments. Please leave a comment, a compliment (or constructive criticism !!).  No spamming, please.

Yours in health.

Vimala