Home Remedies for Yeast Infections
There are a variety of home remedies and over-the-counter medications that can be used to successfully treat yeast infections at home. Some of these remedies include dietary changes, drinking certain fruit juices, and certain cleansing solutions, all of which you can easily prepare at home with ingredients commonly found in your refrigerator.
Apple cider or white vinegar are great home remedies that many people have found very useful to treat yeast infections. With this process, you dilute a bit of vinegar with some water, and apply to your body where the yeast infection is occurring. The treatment is both effective and very, very inexpensive.
However, there are some drawbacks. It can irritate the skin, although it won’t damage it permanently. Most especially if your skin is raw, irritated or tender, though, or if the vinegar isn’t properly diluted, you could experience irritation. If you don’t want to use vinegar to treat your yeast infection, you can also use tea tree oil as another alternative.
Yogurt is another common home remedy. Many people sing the praises of eating a cup of yogurt each day to not only treat a yeast infection that’s already underway, but as a preventative measure against future infections. There is certainly no harm in this method, and whether or not it treats or prevents yeast infections, it will supply your body with important nutrients like protein and calcium.
There are a number of other natural supplements and foods that can also treat and even prevent yeast infections. Garlic is another good source of infection-stopping nutrients.
If you have a yeast infection already, or if you are prone to them, try to avoid or at least minimize your consumption of starchy foods like potatoes, pasta and bread. If you can, drink cranberry juice; this will not only help take care of the yeast infection, but it will also clean up your urinary tract so that you can help treat or avoid a urinary tract infection.
If you’re not sure that a natural home remedy is right for treating your yeast infections, over-the-counter medications like Vagisil, Gyne-Lotrimin, Femstat, Mycostatin, and Femstat are all effective and popular treatments for East infections.
There are a number of approaches that won’t cure a yeast infection, but they can provide you with some relief from the symptoms you experience. Try using a towel-wrapped icepack on the affected area. This can also help reduce any associated swelling. A soak in a baking soda bath can also provide some soothing relief.
Of course, the first and most important rule to remember when it comes to yeast infections is prevention. If you prevent yeast infections from occurring in the first place, you won’t have to treat them after the fact. Reduce your chances of getting a yeast infection by wearing clothes that are loose and that “breathe,” especially in the groin area. Also be sure to choose feminine hygiene products and toilet paper that are unscented.
When you have your period, make sure you change your tampon or pad frequently, and always, always, always wipe from front to back when you go to the bathroom. Wearing white cotton underwear that breathes is your best choice, and you should not simply “sit around” in a wet swimsuit. You may find if you have chronic vaginal yeast infections that birth control pills can help exacerbate or even cause yeast infections. You should also avoid bubble baths and try to take showers instead if you suffer from chronic yeast infections especially. Perfumed bubble bath is worst, as is sitting in a bath that is very prolonged.
If you’ve tried home or over-the-counter remedies for vaginal yeast infections for several days without improvement, call your doctor and make sure you really have a yeast infection instead of some other condition.