Why we should endeavor to prevent vaginal yeast infections is a questions whose answers straddle the entire spectrum of a health system and its users.
For women, it is a question of avoiding a sometimes painful but often pesky and life quality lowering affliction. Even though there are a number of DIY home remedies to treat vaginal thrush naturally; For the health system, preventing vaginal thrush is about freeing up scare resources so as to effectively deploy them to serve other pressing health needs. We also have to keep in mind the bigger picture such as lost man hours lost to preventable illnesses and how that affects livelihoods. More importantly though, the need to prevent vaginal yeast infections arises from the fact that there are pretty simple, cheap and effective ways to do so.
Not surprisingly, a majority of these cheap yet effective ways of preventing vaginal candidness involve hygiene. Remember that hygiene in this case is not about just minimizing direct introduction of the disease causing fungi. It is about the creation of conditions that will encourage candida and other fungi to massively proliferate and colonize the vagina. This is especially so because the fungi that causes the various types of thrush are naturally occurring. Meaning, they reside normally on our body.
9 tips to prevent yeast infections
- Only use antibiotics when necessary. Prolonged antibiotic use may lead to elimination of consensual bacteria. The presence of these ‘good bacteria’ that occur naturally in areas such as the vagina is helpful to our health. This is because these bacteria compete and sometimes regulate these local environments thus discouraging the growth of harmful germs such as vaginal thrush.
- Avoid soaking in hot tubs or hot baths.
- Don’t spend extended periods of time in wet clothes or bathing suits.
- Wear loose-fitting cotton underwear. Yeast loves in warm, moist environments.
- Limit the amount of sugar and processed foods you consume. All kinds of thrush, vaginal or other, thrives on sugar.
- Wear cotton panties, wash and air them in the sun.
- Don’t use douches, unless advised by your doctor, and avoid vaginal deodorant sprays and scented vaginal lotions. They may alter the balance of good bacteria and yeast in your vagina.
- Practice good personal hygiene namely wipe front to back and change sanitary pads and tampons often when on the period.
- Practice good hygiene when enjoying sex. For tips on how to read my story on how a pesky yeast infection altered my sex life.
For more tips on how to prevent and treat vaginal yeast infections using locally available and all natural home remedies, follow the link to our well researched article on the same.
Last Updated on by eastview family healthcare
