Entries Tagged 'Secret Girls Business' ↓

I’ve had problems with PMT acne ever since …well even since I could get PMT acne. Some women, even young women, take the contraceptive pill to help clear their skin, but for those of us who don’t want to or can’t do that, here are a few natural tips that are guaranteed to work:

Thanks for watching!

Fran

I don’t have an addictive personality but I do have one very bad addiction – I’m addicted to clothes shopping. This is actually quite a bad habit to have. It’s wasteful, expensive, and completely materialistic.

But, there is some good that comes out of it. My sisters (I have three of them) look forward to my ‘cleaning out my wardrobe days’ which happen three or four times a year. They love it so much that I struggle with who to tell first because the first usually gets the best freebies.

Make a night out of it

Next time I clear out my wardrobe I’m going to make a real night out of it. I’m going to invite my sisters and girlfriends around to my place for a clothes exchange. I’m going to ask everyone to bring the clothes and jewellery they no longer need or want. Then we’ll get some great food and more importantly some great deserts, and delve through the clothing and jewellery to find anything we want to keep. Everything left over can then be taken to a charity.

It’s going to be a really great girls night in where we (hopefully) all depart with a few new additions for our wardrobes.

What has this got to do with health?

Actually, a lot. Clearing clutter and disposing of unwanted items is a great way to remove some of the stress and emotional imbalance in your life. Even the private chaos you have behind closed wardrobe doors is enough to add unwanted tension to your life. Try it, clear out your cupboards and wardrobes and I can guarantee you will notice a nice little added calmness and tranquility in your life. Also helping others out by giving away something you no longer need but they will treasure is definitely rewarding to the soul.

Have fun girls,

Frances Kerr

Boys, you might want to put on a brave face when reading this post or just skip it all together. I’m delving into a ‘female area’ that may be a little bit too graphic for you …but, this was brought to my attention today and it’s just too important not to share.

The garlic experiment

The topic of thrush came up in the lunchroom at work today. It’s surprising how many women have had similar experiences to me with the contraceptive pill and thrush. We were discussing treatments and of course natural treatments like yoghurt (which I’ve used with not much success before), and garlic which is a new one to me. Apparently a clove of garlic chopped up and inserted into the vagina is a cure, in a home remedy kind of way, for vaginal thrush.

What completely threw me was listening to a girls experience with trying this particular cure. The garlic spread throughout her entire body. She could smell it all over her skin and even taste it in her mouth! We’re talking about one tiny little garlic clove here that’s sitting up the twat not taken by mouth. So this means anything we put up there is going to leak into our entire system. Consider feminine hygiene products. How many chemicals are tampons soaked in? All these chemicals are leaking into our bodies, through our blood and our skin. This is quite a frightening thought to me.

The importance of organic tampons

I never really put too much thought into what brand of tampons I’ve used in the past. I’ve always bought 100% cotton because I assumed that was the healthiest option. Now I’m buying completely organic only. The price is a little more and they’re not as neat but this whole chemicals leaking into the body thing is enough motivation for me to spend the extra money. I urge all women to consider their options with the information I’ve provided here and think twice about what product you use in the future.

Frances Kerr

In a previous post I talked about how I once gave up sugar for a recurring case of Candidiasis. I’ve tried to block it out of my memory because it was really unpleasant but I think I suffered on and off with the condition for a period of 12-24 months. Most doctors were very unhelpful. All they did was refer me to over the counter creams at the chemist which cleared it up for a week or two but then it would come straight back. I kept mentioning the pill to doctors because that was the only different thing in my life. They all assured me there was no way the contraceptive pill could cause my problem. Bollocks.

The GP / natural therapist I finally went to that got rid of the problem completely, and note I haven’t had the problem ever again, looked at me strangely and said ‘of course the pill can cause vaginal thrush’. She put me on a strict no sugar, alcohol or yeast diet for a month, told me to stop taking the pill and referred me to more of those over the counter creams I was now so familiar with. It took a couple of weeks, but of course, it worked.

Why the pill can cause thrush

Unfortunately there’s no conclusive evidence as to why the pill can cause recurring Candidiasis. Even though I feel like my past experience is enough evidence!

There are a few theories out there which all seem to be very similar to each other. It essentially comes down to a continuous unnatural stimulation of the hormonal system which creates an imbalance in the body. These theories include:

• Taking the contraceptive pill can increase levels of the hormone oestrogen in the body, which alters the natural alkaline balance of the vagina, providing a fertile breeding ground for thrush over the ‘friendly’ bacteria.
• The progesterone component of the pill appears to encourage candida growth, which is particularly noticeable in the second half of the menstrual cycle.
• Thrush also thrives in a sugary environment, which is very common during pregnancy when there is a natural increase in the sugar content of the vagina. If too much sugar is produced without being converted into an acidic substance, the vagina loses its natural protection and provides an ideal breeding ground for thrush. The pill works by copying many of the conditions of pregnancy and thereby produces ideal conditions for thrush.

I haven’t taken the pill now for about six years, and haven’t had a single case of Candidiasis during this time. My experiences have made me a bit wary about trying the pill again, even with these new low dose pills doctors keep telling me about. That’s another thing, some doctors act shocked when I tell them I’m not on the pill. Their attitude is kind of ‘what is your problem?’. The last doctor I went to, probably a month ago, even said to me ‘the pill isn’t just about preventing babies you know.’. Well, what are women taking it for then? I personally don’t think putting unnatural hormones and chemicals into my body is worth an easy fix for acne and PMS.

Cancer and the contraceptive pill

This is an interesting question. Can the pill increase or decrease the risk of certain cancers? Consider one of the main causes of cancer – a continuous overuse of unnatural chemicals in the body from sources such as foods, medications, cosmetics and your surrounding environment.

The cancer council of Australia released a heavily referenced position statement in January 2006 outlining the cancer risks for women who take the contraceptive pill. The key messages include:

• An increased risk for developing cervical and breast cancer.
• A protection against endometrial and ovarian cancers.

They also state that further research needs to be done to assess the long term affects of taking the pill. That I find a bit scary.

Position statement, combined oral contraceptives and cancer risk
http://www.cancer.org.au/documents/Combined%20oral%20
contraceptives%20and%20cancer%20risk.pdf

It may seem like it but I’m not against the pill at all. I think it’s a great way to prevent unwanted pregnancy. I just feel that women who aren’t sexually active that are taking the pill for alternative reasons need to be wary of the possible side affects. In my experiences I wasn’t informed of any side effects nor did doctors really talk to me to find out why I would want to take the pill and what my options were. Luckily for me I found a doctor who fixed my problem and I’m grateful for that. In my case it seems obvious that the contraceptive pill was the cause of my recurring Candidiasis.