VAGINAL PH and INFECTIONS -

[Guest guest]

Hey , if you will read thru this, Dee mentions using a little bit of vinegar or betadine douche. Hope it helps you....Hugs, Chelle Our skin is meant to be acidic in order to fight off bacteria but it was interesting seeing how important it is and how it promotes improvement in the skins over all health. I know 'occasionally' I pour Vinegar into my bath water to soak to 'add' more acidity to my skin (Or get out of the tub and 'splash' a vinegar rinse on the whole body ) and NOPE, you don't smell like vinegar after it dries *chuckle* at least I don't. There are many who

believe in taking a tablespoon a day to keep our whole systems healthy, even if it's in a salad. Also I was thinking about the ol' timers who often used Vinegar as a douche (as well as the Betadine iodine which is good) because the natural healthy state of the vagina has an acidic level of approx. 4 to 4.2 Ph..... that's how a physican can tell if one has a bacterial infection very easily as the Ph levels rise with one. They 'did' know what they were doing way back then. Also I KNOW the Ph levels of the vagina 'rise' with age and can often give a false reading of 4.5 or higher suggesting a bacterial infection but it's not necessarily so it may be high because of the lack of estrogen (normally happens in menopause as we lose estrogen so using estrogen can bring it back to it's normal acidic range.) The Ph of the vagina is

also highest during our menstrual cycles, and again may be a cause of many of us with the pain during our periods. Blood itself is an Alkaline Ph @ 7.3 to 7.45 but so is Lye at 14 alkaline, so don't let that throw you. (Either end of the spectrum is very potent.) But perhaps the combination of the higher Ph of the vagina and the high blood Ph is another cause of our pain. I used to swear that something was 'wrong' with my blood that caused my irritation so severely, but I see now it was the tissue itself AND the combination of the blood but wasn't the blood per se' itself. It was normal. BUT.... being it is higher on the pH scale of course it irritates an already irritated skin. Oh and by the way so is semen in that higher range as is blood. (why that too may irritate) and... why I always rinse myself

out (light douche) with water afterwards but that's me and it's always worked for me tho I know they say no douching...(I say baloney, LOL) but I use those Summers Eve throwaways that I save with a little warm water and as I said have never had a problem, keeps me fresh, no dribbling down my leg all night and gets that higher acidic range of the semen out of me. so take that with a grain of salt but it is what I do and have all my life. If I do feel an infection coming? I just add a bit of vinegar or the Betadine to stop it. Here's a chart I have on pH I put together & maybe it will make it a little clearer.. Because it's easy to be confused with the numbers with many thinking a higher level is more acidic but it's not so and just the most minute minsicule change in degrees can be very significant. Ph STANDS FOR: 'POTENTIAL

HYDROGEN'Measured on a logartithmic scale it looks like this.(7 is Neutral.) <_________________________________> 0 7 14 Acid

AlkalineHydrogen BASESaturation _____________________________________________________CANDIDA ................ = pH LEVELS OF <4 or less *more acidic BACTERIAL VAGINOSIS = ph LEVELS OF 4.5>plus *less acidic, towards more alkaline (but may be higher because of less estrogen as well) NORMAL VAGINAL PH... = PH LEVELS OF 3.8 To 4.2 (avg. 4.)(these are approx. and you can see yeast likes the same range as normal. ) ________________________________________________________