The Misery of Yeast Infection

The most common symptom of a yeast infection is itching in the vagina. Other symptoms of a yeast infection include burning, soreness, painful sex and vaginal discharge. The discharge is odorless and has a whitish, thick and slimy appearance. Some women are prone to yeast infections and experience pain and a sharp burning sensation when passing urine. Besides the pain, there is also the added worry that she might have contracted a sexually transmitted disease from a past boyfriend and is infected.

Recurrent yeast infections are not uncommon and may be related to an underlying illness and may require more aggressive treatment than over-the-counter remedies. Consulting a doctor first is the best thing. Diagnosis, however, is not always easy and medication is prescribed. When the medication does not work, the patient ends up back at the doctor’s office. Why? Because antibiotics do not only kill the bad germs; they kill everything, including the lining of her private parts. Your doctor may take a specimen scraped from the affected area for microscopic analysis to make a firm diagnosis and to rule out any other causes.

Yeast Infection Facts

Antibiotics mess up the ecosystem in your body and it baffles this author how quickly a doctor will prescribe an antibiotic for a common cold or flu. Antibiotics can only kill bacteria; it can't kill a virus. If you feel better after taking an antibiotic, it is just the natural course of the virus leaving your body. Doctors should know this. If they don't and prescribe medication without knowing your medical history they are doing guess work and it is not in your best interests.

A doctor needs to have your medical history and act upon the information. You could find yourself prone to yeast infections simply because of the antibiotics taken. Is it a quick fix that you need? Will Monistat do the trick? You have to know for sure which it is.  Maybe it is time to consult a different practitioner. Vaginal itching or burning is not a joke and if left untreated, will get worse. Always determine first if there are natural cures in plain yogurts and other foods as doctor visits can be costly. Also take a look at your lifestyle. Are your pants too tight? Do you sit in a bath of water frequently? See what changes you can make to facilitate a stress-free life and bring your yeast infections under control.

My daughter’s personal hair loss story

 My daughter said she once believed that it was a natural part of life to lose some hair as you aged. Only men lost hair was the thinking; women didn’t have to worry until after menopause – and by that point losing your hair would be the norm. However, she started losing her hair by the time she was thirty at a rapid rate. She had lustrous hair, and thick, and never worried when hair would fall out due to brushing or blow drying.

One day she noticed more hair left behind in the brush. She thought it was because she was using a new shampoo. She changed the shampoo but the problem persisted and she would notice hair on her arms and shoulders. It got to a point where a strand of hair felt like the heaviest thing in the world because it was a reminder that she was losing her hair and fast. She would see bald spots at the front of her crown. When she put her hair in a pony tail the elastic band would slide out on its own because of its new sparseness. She couldn't let this go on and had to find a solution.

Getting to the Root of the Problem

She started reading every piece of information on hair loss. She went to dermatologists, family doctors, acupuncturists, naturopaths, the whole nine yards. She was given various shampoos, steroid creams and treatments which only made matters worse. Her scalp was now sore as well. Everyday felt worse than the day before until she noticed that she lost more hair after eating certain foods. She hooked onto a new soy food kick and bought a lot of foods that contained it. It was a healthy alternative to eating red meat she thought. She found that soy was one of the worst allergens.

She then read about the damage of sugar and found out that certain sugar foods were making her scalp sore and causing hair to fall out. It was so hard for her to give up these sugar foods because she lived on them and would exercise every second night just so she wouldn't feel guilty about indulging in ice-cream before bedtime She needed a good book to keep her on track, and found it. Within a week, her scalp stopped hurting, her hair stopped falling out and the skin on her forehead and face started to feel softer.

She started to use fragrant-free shampoo and soaps and toiletry products and reversed her hair loss by making proactive changes in her life. She didn't accept this hair condition because of her age and warns against miracle drugs and shampoos and advise that you look for natural solutions. Get your information from the right sources. Information is everything. Stay on the right path with the right information. Leave a comment if you have anything to add or have any questions.

Reversing Hair Loss

For those of you who do not know, a hundred new hairs sprout on your head each day and the average person loses 50 to 100 hairs daily. But what happens when you part your hair and notice more hairs on your brush, floor, and clothes? Not all hair loss stories have happy endings. My daughter, in her thirties, noticed less hair than usual falling off of her head. At first, she was pleased and thought it was great that she had such strong hair until a few months later when someone took a picture of her at a party and she noticed how thin her hair had become. She was horrified and believed in her heart that the new prescription drug her dermatologist had prescribed for her acne was causing new hair not to grow.  She had no faith in prescription drug and always looked for alternative treatment.

Factors contributing to hair loss include the following:

1                    Prescription drugs

2                    Fragrant soaps which might cause itching and lead to skin problems

3                    Sensitivity to fragrant creams, shampoos and conditioners

4                    Over the counter products that can cause health risks

5                    Sugar or foods that ferment into sugar

There can be any number of contributing factors and the wisest thing to do is to check with a doctor whether the prescription drugs you are taking is the cause of your sudden hair loss and whether you should change the food you eat. It may be that you need to see a nutritionist for a new way to eat, or to make some lifestyle changes and include some vitamins in your food plan to assist vitamin growth to undamaged hair follicles. To learn more about reversing hair loss, go online and read up on the subject, and then consult a doctor. You don’t want to take chances and lose even more hair.