I'm not embarassed to admit it...

After my wonderful trip to The Bahamas in July, I ended up with a Yeast Infection for being in the water and having my bathing suit on for many hours every day of the trip.  My GYN prescribed Diflucan, which is a pretty power Rx to heal from the inside out and supplemented it with another Rx for vaginal insertion.  The days past and I was 'cured'.  Well, that was until a month later when I got a nasty gash that resulted in 7 stitches and was given some pretty strong antibiotics to ward off infection; only to be rewarded with getting another Yeast Infection.  Needless to say, I was pretty pissed and ended up having to take yet another Rx in order to rid myself of the secondary infection. 

Sick and tired of Rx remedies and the expense of these treatments, I did some research to find more natural ways to rid a Yeast Infection.  There are many websites (too many to post), that through my research has collectively most of the same information on how to naturally treat a yeast infection and prevent recurrence.  Having ended up with one; YET AGAIN (my body hates me), I decided it was time to give it a try.

While it's my preference to treat myself naturally, I did think some of the treatment options a bit odd, but not odd enough to prevent me from trying them.  So, here's what I did.

A peeled; careful not to nick the surface clove of garlic inserted directly into the vagina.  The clove can stay in for up to 12hrs.  I did this during daytime hours (time I got up until 12hrs later). I know it sound nasty, but you don't even know it's there and now you don't smell like garlic from down under.

At night, I inserted plain yogurt (yes, it HAS to be plain) like Dannon into my vagina as a suppository.  Now, that got a little tricky as I had to find a needless syringe or small turkey baster to get the yogurt inserted. I was fortunate to have a small needless syringe used for child's medicine to do the deed.  You can also soak a tampon in yogurt, freeze it, and then insert it, but I opted out of that method.

After a few days of that combined routine, I completed my regimen with a douche made of equal parts of Tee Tree Oil and Rubbing Alcohol; 1 tsp each mixed in a sterile container.  I dumped the content of a store bought douche bottle and instead used about 5 drops of the mixture with distilled water. (The remaining mixture will sit quietly in your medicine counter in case it's needed another time.)

I checked myself a few days later and guess what????  It WORKED!  I can't tell you how happy this tried and proven remedy has made me.

Cost of traditional route vs. home remedy
TRADITIONAL
Trip to GYN 80 miles roundtrip (roughly $10 fuel) + $1.50 in tolls
$30 copay
$12 Rx
TOTAL = $52.50

HOME
16 miles roundtrip to health food store $3 fuel
$13.99  for 2oz Tee Tree Oil which has multiple uses
.50c for bottle of Alcohol, which also has multiple uses
$1.00 for two pack of generic douche (resuable bottles)
$1.09 for gallon distilled water multiple uses)
TOTAL = $19.58 in gas/products, but actual cost is hard to determine due to all products having multiple uses, but it's safe to say that's it cost more to drive to store and back because the actual mixture was less than a dollar.

So ladies, if you get a yeast infection and know for a fact it is one, feel free to try my method or you can research the this or many other natural options.  Don't be fooled by the OTC/Rx methods!

Stay healthy