Feeding the Infection with Birth Control
Woman just can’t seem to get over her vaginal infection. She took antibiotics to end the invasion, but it’s still ongoing. Each time she returns to taking birth control, her symptoms flare up again. What’s causing this, and what can she do about it?
Case #: 784
Concern：
I’ve been battling this vaginal infection for weeks now. I’ve gone to see my doctor and a specialist. Both came to the same conclusion: it will go away with the antibiotics. It’s been six weeks now, and still I suffer from the same vaginal infection. I take my birth control and soon after I notice the return of the infection. What’s wrong with me?
Discussion：
The issue here is how your body is responding to the birth control. I’m sure that the antibiotics are successfully fighting off the infection; the problem is that when you return to taking birth control, your body creates the perfect environment for a bacterial invasion again and again. It’s also not great to take course after course of antibiotics; you’ll end up creating a superbug in your vagina.
Feeding the Flora and Fauna
What does birth control have to do with your continual infections? Birth control contains both progesterone and estrogen, and can highly manipulate the body’s natural levels of both of these hormones. Normally, they function in flux throughout the month, but in moderated levels. Birth control can often overload one side or the other, resulting in a number of side effects.
The reason birth control is affecting you this way has to do with how progesterone affects your body’s production of cervical mucus. I’d hazard a guess that being on birth control elevates your progesterone levels. This tells your body to produce more cervical mucus than it normally would. This mucus has to go somewhere; it eventually comes down through your vagina as an odorless, white discharge. Unfortunately, this discharge is like a bed and breakfast to outside microorganisms.
The discharge itself lowers your vagina’s naturally high acidity down to a more neutral pH, a zone more creatures can thrive in. The discharge itself is essentially just food, which is why you notice an infection each time you start your birth control again. Your birth control is turning your vagina into an open-call for outside bacteria to eat, drink, and be merry.
Lactobacillus to the Rescue!
What can you do about this problem? For one, stop taking antibiotics. Those wipe out all the bacteria, and you need the good ones! Secondly, begin eating more yogurt. Why yogurt? Yogurt contains the same bacteria that occur naturally in your vagina. If you can reestablish the correct bacteria in your vagina, their acidic output will make your vagina uninhabitable for the invaders.
If you don’t find it too disgusting, inserting a tampon soaked in plain yogurt when you notice the problem occurring will rapidly reduce your symptoms. You’re fighting fire with fire, and it’s completely natural and healthy. Don’t use any kind of flavored or sweetened yogurt! That’s just feeding the bugs.
Modulate Your Mucus
You should also try to bring your hormone levels back to normal. By nixing the excess progesterone, you’ll remove the trigger for your infections. The best way to do this, already being on birth control, is to take an herbal supplement that includes phytoestrogens. These chemicals are powerful hormonal stabilizers, and have been used to naturally balance female discharge and reproductive health for centuries.
I’m recommending that you begin a supplement designed to help women with vaginal infections. (TRY: Vaginal Infection Herbal Relief) It includes those phytoestrogens I was mentioning—in the form of Mexican Wild Yam—as well as some powerful purifiers that will help your body rebalance and renew. I hope this solves your infection issues once and for all!