After taking almost a year off of writing… whoops… I’m back(:

This past year, I stepped into the “wellness creator” scene to focus on building my community! After chatting with fellow wellness girlies I noticed a similar theme – Most people in the space had to solve their chronic health problems because they were not receiving the help they needed from medical doctors. 

You won't see this on your 'wellness aesthetic' Pinterest board

Not receiving help with chronic health problems is also why I started my health journey — sadly, many people have gone through similar experiences with Western Medicine. However, I’ve noticed is that wellness creators don’t talk about this… Yeast infections, BV, UTI's or anything vagina/vulva health-related.

You’ve probably seen beautiful, aesthetic wellness accounts with supplement tips, journal prompts, skin care tips, grocery hauls, etc. which I’m obsessed with, but vaginal wellness is typically not included in that space. I get that content creation around vaginal health has not traditionally been aesthetic and kinda cringe lol we don’t have to use pictures of fruit or flowers to talk about vaginas — vaginal wellness can fit into the Instagram aesthetic alongside ice rollers and morning matcha. 

The vibe ^^

Not the vibe lol

Introducing vaginal health as something we should care about:

So, why would I want to talk about vaginal health on Instagram? Dealing with chronic yeast infections and BV for three years is what got me into health & wellness! Now, vaginal health is a part of my everyday wellness routine like skincare or dry brushing. So, why should you care about vaginal health? Vaginas are an important part of our body and should be treated with the same esteem and respect that other parts of our bodies do.

Even in 2023, stigma and shame surround vaginal health!

Even in 2023, stigma and shame surround vaginal health. The hush-hush narrative about vaginal health, education, and infections perpetuates the stigma to the point where the word “vagina” is considered shameful or inappropriate to say. Not talking about vaginal health and not calling a vagina a vagina does us a huge disservice. Our bodies and health are at stake here. We NEED to talk about this stuff!

With 50% of the world population being female, you would THINK vaginal health and wellness would be more common knowledge and topic of discussion. However, vaginal health is often overlooked, mistaught, misunderstood, or incorrectly marketed by companies selling products you don’t need (thanks Summers Eve). This is a problem because vaginal health, hygiene, and infections impact your overall health more than you initially think. 

Vaginal infections are more serious than you might think ...   

Vaginal infections are extremely common. Three out of four women will get a yeast infection in their life, and 8% have recurring yeast infections which is four or more a year (1). Doctors treat vaginal infections with antibiotics (bacterial) or antifungals (yeast). In most cases, when you have an infection, you take medicine, and you get better.

However, in recurrent cases like mine, I was stuck in a BV, yeast infection cycle, and the medication only perpetuated the problem. I felt hopeless and suffered mentally, emotionally, and physically dealing with these chronic infections. All my doctor did was prescribe more antibiotics and antifungals as a bandaid. Once I took my health into my own hands, I figured out why my infections were not improving! 

The tea behind chronic vaginal infection cycles and antibiotics/antifungals: 

Vaginas have a microbiome that is home to yeast (candida), good bacteria, and bad bacteria (2). Let’s say you get bacterial vaginosis (BV) which is an overgrowth of certain bacteria naturally found in your vagina and you’re prescribed antibiotics.

How antibiotics work is they make it hard for bacteria to grow and replicate. As a side effect of the antibiotics, your good vaginal bacteria is also depleted (2). When your good vaginal bacteria is out of balance, bad bacteria and yeast can easily overgrow causing an infection. When yeast overgrows it can become pathogenic which leads to a yeast infection (2). To get rid of a yeast infection, you’re prescribed an antifungal medication. 

Antifungals are similar to antibiotics but restrict the growth of candida, not bacteria. However, some studies show that antifungals can affect bacterial balance as well and lead to inflammation (2). After antibiotic use it can take up to two months for the good bacteria to balance (3). During this time, your microbiome is vulnerable to recurrent infection or resistant yeast and bacteria (4). If you get another bacterial infection, you would take antibiotics again which could then lead to a yeast infection which then could lead back to BV which means… I think you get the point. 

I was in this recurrent yeast infection cycle, and it is NOT fun. Not only are you dealing with vaginal symptoms like itching, burning, discomfort, pain, discharge, etc., but your entire immune system suffers! How is that so? When you take antibiotics for a vaginal infection, not only are the good and bad bacteria in your vagina wiped out, but also in your gut (gastrointestinal tract) (5)! 

Antibiotic's effect on the gut microbiome and our overall health:

Our gut is home to trillions of microbes including yeast, good bacteria, and bad bacteria (6). From your mental health, hormones, digestion, absorption of nutrients, skin health, energy, etc. the diversity of good gut bacteria is critical to your overall health (7). In fact, 70-80% of your entire immune system is in your gut (8)! Not having enough good gut bacteria can make you more susceptible to infection, gastrointestinal disorders, chronic inflammation, etc. (7).

Therefore, getting yeast infections, BV, or any other vaginal infection affects your overall health and needs to be taken seriously like if you got strep throat or a UTI. Not getting vaginal infections taken care of can lead to complications like pelvic inflammatory disease (9). With that said, I’m not telling you to not take antibiotics or providing you with medical advice! I am saying that antibiotics and antifungals should be used only when necessary and appropriately because of the long-term effect on your microbiomes. 

The answer to why we need to talk about Vaginal infections:

Revisiting my initial question, why do we need to talk about vaginal health/infections – when we understand why they happen, we know how to prevent and heal them at the root cause. I didn’t grow up learning about vaginal health, so I was scared and ashamed when I first got BV. I trusted my doctors knew how to help me and that antibiotics would fix everything! Unfortunately, for me, that wasn’t the case. Now when friends tell me they have recurrent BV, I can shed light on what they can do holistically through lifestyle changes and diet to get their microbiome back in balance. 

I know some women don’t talk about vaginal health. They suffer in silence while their doctor keeps prescribing medication as a bandaid. It doesn't have to be like this! You don’t have to suffer alone thinking something is wrong with you because your yeast infection or BV won’t go away! You can heal from infection cycles. 

How to heal from chronic vaginal infections:

Healing starts with the root cause: fixing the microbiome imbalances by replenishing good bacteria with probiotics and fueling them with prebiotic fiber. Food and natural supplements are powerful tools to add good gut bacteria to your gut and vaginal microbiomes. You can help treat yeast and BV with powerful natural antifungals, antibacterial suppositories, and supplements. 

Making vaginal infection prevention and healing aesthetic: 

Suffering and healing myself from yeast and BV infections showed me my purpose and how I could help others. I don’t feel like I’m being true to myself and my purpose without including vaginal wellness on my social media pages. I want to bridge this gap and not make vaginal wellness weird or cringe. I’m here to share my experiences with vaginal health and infections in the hope to normalize this stuff while making it aesthetic If gut health can be cute then hopefully talking about BV can be too