Stephanie Williams
Bio
Quiet dreamer. Mellow adventurer. I seize opportunities, find beauty, and keep asking questions.
Stories (2/0)
Probiotics: Turns out, vaginas are complicated. And brilliant.
"The vagina is a self-cleaning oven. Just leave it alone." Sounds familiar, right? I can still hear the words of my sweet-spoken professor, dropping this pearl on our women's health class, providing a valuable, yet simple, principle with which to guide our patient care. As NP students, we were taught to respect the body's ability to keep the vaginal peace. If a problem arose, we were trained to identify the condition, treat as necessary, and then advise the patient to resume leaving her vagina the heck alone. Don't flush it, scrub it, powder or perfume it. And the whole "yogurt-a-day-keeps-the-gyno-away" thing? Science wasn't supporting this, either. Gynecology professionals and governing health organizations had traditionally stood by the idea that there was no consistent evidence supporting oral probiotic efficacy for maintaining vaginal health and balance.
By Stephanie Williams3 years ago in Viva