Posts made in August, 2011

Wednesday Bubble: Why shouldn’t you douche? Because the vagina is like a self-cleaning oven. Guest post by Dr. Jen Gunter

Posted by Liz on Aug 3, 2011 in vaginal health | 0 comments

When I saw the talking vagina, I thought to myself, “wow,” who the heck thought up this doosie of a campaign? And, the vaginas are ‘ethnically correct.” Ethnicity aside, do I really want to buy a product from a talking vagina? In fact, I no more want to buy a product from a talking vagina then I want an anatomy lesson from talking fallopian tubes. But I digress…

Dr. Jen Gunter is a gynecologist and pain medicine specialist, and someone I follow on Twitter. When I saw her tweeting out this post, I knew I had to have it for Flashfree.

BTW, before you think about douching and ‘showing your vagina some love,’ you might want to read what Dr. Gunter has to say…

The folks at Summer’s Eve seem determined to convince women that douching is needed. This latest ad (see below) says some of the reasons are that the vagina is the cradle of life and men have fought and died for it. And of course, my favorite, douching is showing the vagina a little love. However, douching isn’t caring it’s damaging your vagina!

What this nifty commercial fails to mention that in the United States douches have to carry warning labels about the health risks, such as increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases, pelvic infection, and scaring of the fallopian tubes that can potentially lead to infertility. Warning labels just like cigarettes. In fact, that’s just how you should think of douches…cigarettes for the vagina.

Douches are damaging because the chemicals (yes, even vinegar) damages lactobacilli, an essential bacteria for vaginal health. Lactobacilli produce hydrogen peroxide, which is toxic to infections such as HIV, as well as lactic acid, which maintains the pH of the vagina and has other important bad-bacteria/virus fighting  properties. Lactobacilli also bind to the cells in the vagina forming a physical barrier to infection.

Hot flashes and Japanese herbal medicine: the lowdown on TU-025

Posted by Liz on Aug 1, 2011 in hot flash, Kampo/traditional Japanese medicine | 1 comment

Women who choose to go the alternative route for menopausal hot flashes have few evidenced-based options. Although acupuncture and standardized black cohosh have been shown to be effective in ameliorating hot flashes, others, including red clover and even soy, have been less successful. Consequently, herbal practitioners often turn to Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) herbal formulations or the lesser known (in the U.S.) Japanese multiherb medicinal formulations known as Kampo. Interestingly, the term Kampo refers to ‘the way of China” and the practice which is several thousand years old is based on TCM.

Kampo is prescribed by over 90% of Japanese gynecologists and is regulated by the Japanese Ministry of Health to insure manufacturing standards and product stability.  One of the most popular Kampo agents for perimenopausal hot flash management is an 1,800 year old formulaton known as “keishibukuryogan” or in the US, as TU-025. Comprised of a combination of cinnamon bark, peony root, peach kernal and mountain bark, it active ingredient remains unknown. Japanese data from both the government and the manufacturer demonstrate a very low incidence of side effects and no estrogenic activity, which means that theoretically, it could be safely used by women who have had breast or gynecologic cancers. Nevertheless, its utility in American women has not been known, at least until now.

In a study published in the August issue of Menopause, 178 postmenopausal women were randomly assigned placebo, 7.5 g/daily TU-025 or 12.5 g/daily TU-025 for 12 weeks. All participants reported 28 or more hot flashes a week, had been in menopause for at least a year, had stopped using hormones for at least 8 weeks if they were already using them, smoked less than 10 cigarettes a day and most were slightly overweight or obese (based on body mass index). None were using antidepressants (which studies have shown may help alleviate hot flashes), nor did they have a history of breast or uterine cancer. While the 7.5 gram daily is the dose taken most often by Japanese women, the researchers upped the dose to 12.5 gm daily to account for a larger sized American woman.