menopause and the vaginal microbiome

[Laurelayn]

Hello,


I am peri menopausal and having a few issues with spotting and some pain.
I have had a "period" every 4 to 8 months for the last 3 years.
I know that I have fairly severe uterine fibroid tumors and scarring from 2 c-sections.
I have no access to medical care due to financial issues, and most times I think that is a good thing.
I have had very positive results with the coffee and probiotic enemas and this am. it occurred to me that there is a vaginal microbiome too and maybe I could improve my symptoms by influencing it for the positive.
What I have found so far is lots of mapping studies and research is going on, even a human vaginal microbiome consortium, but, the only suggestions I have seen is for oral probiotics.
L. reuteri and L. caseii and several of the other lacto crowd suggested for probiotic enemas show up and that got me thinking about a probiotic douche. I haven't found any info about this possibility out there. Has anyone here had any experience with this? or could you point me to any info about it?
Any input is appreciated.
Thank you,
Laurie

 

[theos]

Hi Laurelayn,

I've been looking around for more information on fibroids but can't find any scientific studies (of course) on natural treatments. However, fibroids are linked to iodine deficiency and there are a lot of anectodal reports of women shrinking their fibroids by taking iodine orally, painting iodine on their abdominal area above the uterus or douching with lugol's solution, but no exact protocol that I could find.

I found this Google doc with iodine testimonies with some information about fibroids as well.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KQ8tCLrOoQQJ8h_gSRM1aZ1Ya-YqaN4B3i8NMXOm8TY/edit#

Before experimenting, I would highly recommend reading the iodine thread here on the forum. It's super long but packed with info. There's also the book by Dr. Brownstein called Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can’t Live Without It. Basically, research as much as you can before experimenting.

As for the probiotics, I've only had experience using plain yogurt suppositories (frozen into suppository shape then inserted) to cure a couple of vaginal yeast infections and a bacterial vaginal infection. But this was back when my diet was crap (gluten, dairy, sugar, loads of carbs) so vaginal infections are a thing of the past. I don't see much of a need for a probiotic vaginal douche if there are no symptoms of infection, however.

How's your diet? A diet free of all the crappy things I listed above can go a long way in easing your symptoms.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[Gaby]

As for the probiotics, I've only had experience using plain yogurt suppositories (frozen into suppository shape then inserted) to cure a couple of vaginal yeast infections and a bacterial vaginal infection. But this was back when my diet was crap (gluten, dairy, sugar, loads of carbs) so vaginal infections are a thing of the past.

Me too. I only had experience using probiotic suppositories and it was a great relief back then. I had a very bad infection after taking clyndamicin for a tooth infection. That antibiotic wiped out all the good bacteria and it took me months to recover it. It didn't helped that I had pizza and other evil stuff. The probiotic suppositories worked like a charm.