People Magazine has a new story with alternative medical advice from a celebrity, complete with advice from a gynecologist, that genuinely surprised me. It didn’t faze me that a celebrity was giving homegrown medical advice, that happens all the time. What I found interesting is the fact that the advice was at worst benign and at best could be helpful. I’ve heard before that you can treat a vaginal yeast infection with natural (not flavored!) yogurt, applied internally. I thought that this was one of those home remedies that you shouldn’t try and that could ultimately hurt you. Gabrielle Union said that she did this, she didn’t say whether it worked, and an actual Yale medical school gynecologist whom People consulted confirmed that it’s not a bad treatment but may be ineffective, especially compared to antifungal over the counter treatments. Well damn.
“I ended up in a situation where I had a yeast infection, and I didn’t want to go to CVS to buy Monistat,” Union told Unstyled, Refinery 29’s fashion podcast. “I called my girlfriend, who always has an answer for everything, and she was like, ‘Go get yogurt and then you’re gonna just put the yogurt up your vagina.’ ”
Union said she picked up some vanilla-flavored yogurt, then got to work applying it—with little success. “It’s not going in, it’s just slapped on the outside, which is providing a bit of relief, but I need to get it in there,” she recalled. So she called back her friend, who recommended using a straw from a local fast-food joint as a makeshift applicator.
Union didn’t say whether the yogurt worked. So we decided to ask a gynecologist if yogurt really can cure a yeast infection, or at least ease symptoms, such as itching and burning.
While an over-the-counter antifungal cream or prescription oral med are the preferred methods of treatment for a yeast infection, yogurt does seem to offer at least temporary relief, says Mary Jane Minkin, MD, clinical professor in the department of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at Yale Medical School. “A yeast infection is an overgrowth of yeast, and the good-guy bacteria in yogurt, the lactobacilli, maintain an acidic environment, which makes it hostile for yeast to grow.”
However, she cautions, the strain of bacteria that’s native to the vagina may be different from the strain in your favorite yogurt. If that’s the case, the yogurt may not help much after all. Since there’s no way to tell which brand is best suited to your body, at least make sure you’re buying a yogurt with live cultures, or you won’t get any yeast-fighting benefits, says Dr. Minkin. Opt for an unflavored variety too.
Flavored yogurts, especially fruity ones with jellies or jams, can be packed with sugar, and sugar can fuel the growth of vaginal yeast, she adds.
To keep the mess minimal, apply the yogurt internally rather than externally on the vulva. To do so, a makeshift applicator like Union’s straw isn’t a terrible idea, Dr. Minkin says, “although it might scratch you, whereas other applicators are smoother.” You can actually purchase vaginal suppository applicators online (like this 15-pack for $12 at Amazon) or at a pharmacy, she says, and simply fill the applicator with yogurt.
If an applicator isn’t available, coating your finger with yogurt before inserting it into your vagina works just fine too. You can also dab a little yogurt on a tampon and insert it that way, as Health’s medical editor Roshini Raj, MD, has previously recommended.
Your most mess-free option for yeast infection relief might be to regularly eat yogurt. Delivering those lactobacilli to your gut can help ward off future infections, Dr. Minkin says—and you’ll get some protein and calcium while you’re at it…
“If it works, great! If not, at least you haven’t hurt yourself,” Dr. Minkin says.
Kudos to People for doing the leg work on this one and getting a gynecologist’s advice. Honestly I eat too much sugar, I’m pretty addicted to the stuff because Jelly Bellies are amazing, and that leads to yeast infections. (This is why I blog anonymously you guys, I like to talk about my embarrassing health and relationship problems and dish about my friends.) It’s never occurred to me to try the age-old method of applying yogurt to my lady parts, but I’m slightly more likely to try it now that I’ve read this story. (Like ever so slightly, it’s still doubtful that I’ll give it a chance.) When you can go to the drugstore and pay $9 for a three day treatment that will surely cure it, why mess around with yogurt? However when you have the stuff in your fridge, don’t feel like driving to CVS and there’s a spare Wendy’s straw still in the wrapper in the back of your silverware drawer, why not? It’s not going to hurt you at least, which is more than you can say for using Jade instead of kegel weights.
photos credit: WENN and Getty
Actually it does work(I’ve done it), but it should be plain yogurt, without flavouring. It’s a temporary measure and it’s not meant to replace sound medical advice.
Fresh garlic works as well.
Really? I didn’t know that!! Hopefully I’ll never have to try this out again but I’ll keep it in mind. You never know.
So does coconut oil!
Well. That sounds uncomfortable. Have to admit though, I’ve done this myself, except on my boobs. Had thrush twice while breastfeeding over the summer. I took a course of prescription yeast medication, twice over a few months. After the second time I was pretty desperate to keep it from coming back. I washed with vinegar, tried to avoid sweating, used yogurt both by rubbing it on and eating it. It is supposed to help with a mild case, or with prevention. You’re totally right though, if you’re going to try yogurt, it shouldn’t be the vanilla flavored stuff with added sugar.
Know what to use if it happens again, while you are breastfeeding? your breast milk. That stuff is so powerful, it’s amazing what it does. just rub it on 🙂
My son had a blocked tear duct, and breast milk cleared it right up, along with his baby acne. and diaper rashes (he still has sensitive skin). My midwife said to use it, and it worked.
Great idea, thanks!
I tried this years and years ago with plain Greek yogurt, and it did not work for me. The yogurt burned and further irritated the area.
Maybe the yogurt you used didn’t have live culture. It won’t do any good if it’s over processed and dead.
I’ve tried this, but it didn’t work for me either. Did iodine douches and lemon water douches which seemed to help, but the infection always came back.
But boric acid suppositories saved me. One week, two a day, and I was cured.
I’ve known quite a few ladies who tried this & said it helped.
You can use a tampon applicator to get the yogurt up further in the vaginal canal.
I do that to install my NuvaRing & it works great.
I used the garlic clove when I suffered from bouts of severe renal infections when I was a teen. I was constantly on antibiotics and they really mess with your natural flora.
Plain yogurt and kefir kind of stuff were readily available but teen me just didn’t know how to make it happen. Fact is, these methods do alleviate the symptoms though. I had to wait a week to get to an appointment and natural remedies got me through the days and nights until I got proper treatment. It did burn, as did yoghurt some years down the road after an uti treatment, because my stuff was really raw, but after some time it really did relieve my symptoms.
And no flavoured yoghurt, guys, no sugar whatsoever. Yeast thrives on it.
I did the garlic thing too. It worked but I had the weirdest f****ing thing happen. It was so weird I had to look it up. I put the garlic in and within a few minutes I could distinctly taste it on my tongue. Not just aroma or anything like I legit swallowed it. I guess there’s some truth in it. But it was bizarre. Greek yogurt and chopped garlic worked well for me. You feel weird AF but hey, whatever works.
Oh, it happened to me too! and I was so scared that others would smell garlic on me because I tasted it in my mouth and felt like I sweated it out of it, but you know what, screw it, I was ready to defy gravity and crawl up a ceiling like some demon because of my yeast infection..
Lucky me then that I love onion and garlic smells and that my desire to get rid of the discomfort was bigger than my desire to not be a garlic-stinking monster in a crowd. But I swear to god, it worked. I could -sleep!-
My daughter’s pediatrician told me to do that when my daughter got an infection when she was a toddler. Not UP in there, but apply it to the outside parts. Again, the plain yogurt.
She overshares like whoa.
Between this and tossing her husbands salad…I’m like, please stop talking.
I actually applaud her openness. So many women are embarrassed or ashamed to talk about their lady parts (see, I didn’t even want to type the word “vagina”). I would love for this to be the beginning of de-stigmatizing conversations about our bodies.
I love it too. It’s such a natural thing, a thing so many women try but nobody really speaks about. And those who do speak about it are called oversharers. I for one am happy that women get to talk about these things, and also kind of glad that this famous woman here struggles and solves the same problems as the rest of us mundies.
It’s pretty cool.
I dont mind this.
The stuff she does to her husband was tmi for me though. I wasnt offended to hear it, and she has a right to, I just thought it was a bit too detailed.
When did this one get so thirsty? This and the salad tossing story… jeeesh… just shut up. I don’t need to know,
So i don’t understand how the Kristen Bell story yesterday was TMI but this isn’t?
Yep! TMI.
I was going to say the same thing. Double standards for sure. Though personally I’m not bothered by either the Kristen Bell story or this.
Exactly. I’m not bothered by either story, but the double standard makes me go “hmm”…
I think because this story is more a women’s health angle and vag health is not a thing often spoken about it unless it’s about appearance or smell.
And don’t forget how society treats men with below-the-beltline “issues” and women with below-the-beltline “issues”
Men who need viagra = well, the guy is a good guy because he wants fun.
Women discussing preventing / treating yeast infection = disgusting.
I had a really bad experience with a chronic yeast infection a few years ago and I was miserable. Going to the gynecologist didn’t really solve my issue, so I saw a nutritionist and we determined that because my dermatologist had put me long term on Mynocycline which is antibiotic for 2 years for my acne, it had messed with my system and contributed to a long term case of yeast overgrowth. I was younger at the time in high school-college and not really researching drugs and that kind of thing. I try to watch what I eat and if I eat too many sugar-y foods or too much pasta, I feel the effects down there. For the most part it’s bearable and I’ve gotten used to it but around the holidays it’s annoying because of the sugar overload with all the desserts. I don’t think I’ll try yogurt though. I’ll stick to my probiotics from Whole Foods.
It works, I swear. I’ve only had 2 yeast infections in my life (both after giving birth) but it knocked it out in less than 24 hours. Grab a tampon, go get some organic probiotic yogurt, dip it in and let sit for a couple minutes, insert tampon. I left min in for an hour or so each time but that’s up to the individual. Otherwise you can just “wipe” with a piece of toilet paper that has yogurt on it.
I’ve recommended it to my girlfriends who have had issues and they are converted.
Yep, so does buttermilk, which is less messy to apply. Just needs to have active cultures. My GYN at the time also said that boric acid powder worked so well that he didn’t know why it wasn’t used any more, and that younger doctors may not know about it.
And my GYN was the head of gynecological oncology at a major hospital, so not an alternative medicine practitioner. Just a sensible doctor who wasn’t in the thrall of the pharmaceutical companies.
Also be careful of the glycerin in some lubricated condoms. It feeds the yeast, which can a result in a.punishment of biblical proportions for fornication!
It could work, maybe to counter the bad effects of fluconazole or other anti fungal, anti bacterial meds. I know a gyn who prescribes probiotic supplements in conjunction with antibiotics, though orally not topically.
I’ve oscillated between yeast infections and BV since taking several rounds of antibiotics for urinary tract infections. Unfortunately it seems like treating one issue directly causes the other, for me at least. I was so sick of using expensive and prescription chemical treatments with no relief. I finally found a few products on Amazon that have naturally occurring vaginal pre-biotics like lactic acid, lysozyme, and lactoferrin in individually packaged suppositories. These have been the only product that’s ever worked for me. Many gynecologists recommend using these when things get out of balance. Hopefully Gabrielle got her situation sorted out, though. Being a woman is rough sometimes!
Antibiotics can change the ph level of the vagina and make it more “yeast-infection-friendly”. So when on antibiotics some women are more likely to catch a yeast infection. (me too, btw.). Yoghurt contains milk acid which can fight of yeast infections. Soak tampon in non-flavoured natural yoghurt and insert it. Exchange tampons regularly with a newly yoghurt-soaked tampon.
Works for me as a medical precaution. When I am on antibiotics I do no longer catch yeast infections because of that yoghurt-soaked tampon in my vayaja. 😉
I am not sure if this does actually cure yeast infections but it does a well enough job in preventing them.
I go to the store right away, and get Monistat , plain yogurt, and jars of dill pickles. My gynecologist said vinegar helps clear the infection, and I love pickles
Good to know! Hope they also pointed out if it ain’t broke don’t try to fix it! Like sticking jade eggs up there or douching… your body is amazing and does self cleaning. Inserting foreign cultures, creams, scents that shouldn’t be there will cause irritation , yeast infections etc.
I’ve done this, and it worked for me. The first time I bought the expensive stuff, and it was fast working. The last one I tried an off brand and woah, it burned and was awful.
So I guess brand makes a difference, did with me anyway.
It’s messy and gross but worked.
never any flavour, or anything but probiotic plain (organic for me)
This has cured me several times. Yogurt up there, on there, and added to diet. Bread and sugar out of the diet. Extra water.
Over the counter measures have repeatedly burned the shit out of my vagina. What a nightmare. I’m glad holistic measures work for me.
WHY would anyone tell these stories outloud?! Overshare. She needs to pull it back a bit.
Boy, this brings me back: Early 1990s, in my low twenties, at a party with a newly-minted OBGYN just a few years older than I was. IDR how the topic came up, but he told an incredibly condescending story about a patient he had seen once who was so dumb that she thought directly applying yogurt would cure a yeast infection – roaring laughing throughout the story. I was too young/gutless to ask him why it wouldn’t work (and why he was repeating stories about patients), but I often think of him and wonder if he ever got a clue or was he still consecending and rude to his patients.
Yoghurt up your vayaja is recommended by doctors when you are on (certain) antibiotics for other reasons. Antibiotics kill that stuff in your vayaja which fights off bacteria (something about antibiotics changing your vayaja’s ph level – see the package insert of your antibiotics). Yoghurt does restore the correct ph level in your vayaja. Soak a tampon in yoghurt and insert it. Exchange it regularly with a newly yoghurt-soaked tampon.
So the recommendation says that yoghurt can help prevent yeast infections which frequently occur when you are on antibiotics (because the antibiotics change your vayaja’s ph level and then the yeast infection can settle in much easier. Yoghurt can prevent that as it restores / adds the correct ph level because it contains milk acid.).
As someone who has gotten frequent YI. I do the following to keep them at bay:
eat 1-2 plain yogurts a day, I prefer Chobani Greek Yogurt non-fat
take 3 of the following capsules daily, preferably with a small meal: Super 8 high potency probiotic by flora. It needs to be refrigerated.
If I slack off on the supplement I’ll get a YI. I think eating the plain yogurt on a regular basis is very good at prevention. Adding strawberries makes it more palatable. Or I often eat it simultaneously with these crackers: Edward & Sons brown rice snaps, I like the vegetable flavor.
When I do get a YI I use Monistat 3 or 7 pre-filled ovules for least messy application.
I’ve used plain yogurt on my vulva when I’ve had yeast infections in the past–not so much for curing it as for relief from the itchiness and pain. And it works!!!!! The coolness of the yogurt feels amazing and it stops the itching immediately. It’s amazingly effective.
Tea tree oil works like magic! Just mix with some coconut oil to dilute (about 50/50). Not only does its anti-fungal abilities cure the infection, the cooling menthol sensation alleviates the itchiness and discomfort. I always get yeast infections when I go on antibiotics so I started applying as soon as I start and it prevents me from even getting one.