Hey there, all! Happy New Year! I'm back - did you miss me? I've been off
lactnet since before Thanksgiving, because of vacations and needing to spend
more time on family & household things. Now I'm back, but I'm going to try
to spend less time with my computer and more with my life.
I too saw the mention of oregano to treat persistent "thrush" or yeast on
the midwives' list. I'm eager to give it a try (on myself or a family member
first, *not* a baby or nursing mom). Barbara, I really appreciate your
comments about perhaps over-diagnosing fungal infection when perhaps it is
bacterial, or environmental, or viral, or who knows what. I agree 100% that
we don't really know as much as we sometimes think we do, and that we may
often do harm in our race to apply a remedy for what we "think" is wrong. If
we have what we "think" is a strep throat, and it doesn't respond to an
antibiotic, don't most of us figure that maybe it wasn't strep after all and
try other ways to treat it, rather than just repeating more and different
antibiotics till the thing either kills us or just goes away? I know that's
what I do - so why would I keep hammering away at "thrush" if it isn't
responding to "thrush treatments"?
I do use essential oils in treating yeast infections in myself & my family
members, and I have found them to be, in my own case, more effective and
with fewer side effects than the "regular" medical remedies. I can't use the
commercially available creams'vaginal suppositories, because they cause
unbearable burning in already-sensitive tissues. I treat what I diagnose (in
myself/family members) to be fungal overgrowth with tea-tree oil, essential
oils of lavender and rosemary, and a ph-changing agent (either baking soda
or vinegar), used as a sitz bath or soak. Tea-tree oil & lavender are very
strongly anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal, (I use these to clean
my toilet bowl & bathroom surfaces) so I figure that whatever's causing the
sx. will most likely respond. Rosemary is antiseptic. Interestingly, my
sources list oil of oregano as being antibiotic, antiseptic, and antiviral,
but *not* anti-fungal.
Haven't tried any of them on babies, precisely because I'm afraid to do so.
I *think* that a soak in water with the oils added (in drops) would not be
likely to cause harm, and I *know* that it soothes inflammed affected
tissues. (I'm directing my sister in treating her 7-yr. old son's fungal
anal rash this way, with good results.) When it comes to other peoples'
babies, though, I'm chicken. But with all herbal preparations, exactly as
with "medications", we need to keep in mind that exactly the same things
that make them effective agents for cure can also cause unwanted negative
effects.
Cathy Bargar, RN IBCLC Ithaca NY
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