A simple vaginal yeast (candida) infection is treated best and quickest through conventional medicine: antifungal medication, and that’s the end of that. Well, what if it keeps coming back? Should the patient continue using her drugs, or start prophylactic antifungal medication? Some women get very tired of this as time goes by.
Sometimes, acupuncture, naturopathic medicine, or complementary medicine may offer successful treatment alternatives.
Let’s assume that, during the gynecological exam of our fictitious patient, we find a strong tension of her pelvic floor muscles. This has various consequences for her bowels, the bladder, and the susceptibility of yeast infections. If she learns to relax these muscles, perhaps not only the yeast may disappear, but also her constipation, an anal itch, the occasional pain during intercourse, or a predisposition towards bladder infections.
Maybe we notice that the muscles of this woman are not only chronically tense in the pelvis but also in other parts of the body. In this case she may find it very difficult to relax her pelvic floor alone, and it may make more sense to work on the tensions of the whole body, e.g. through myoreflex therapy.
Or our patient has observed that the yeast infections flare up each time she has had sex. We learn that she has the habit of strongly contracting her pelvic floor muscles during sexual arousal. Many women have this habit, often without being consciously aware of it. This can cause so much friction during intercourse that it stresses the vaginal wall and makes it more vulnerable to yeast infections. In this case, our patient will benefit from sexual therapy where she can learn to keep her muscles moving during sex instead of allowing them to contract.
We could develop this example further... It illustrates what a holistic view and an interdisciplinary treatment concept might look like. It does not mean to imply, however, that you will have to face a cascade of examinations for any plain yeast infection