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May 22, 2025 15 mins

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We explore the five key factors beyond hormone imbalance that can cause vaginal irritation, infection, and microbiome disruptions that many women experience without clear explanations. This mini-episode provides practical detection strategies and solutions for identifying your specific triggers, with special focus on maintaining vaginal health while traveling.

• Blood sugar spikes provide food for yeast and other microbes, especially when consuming sugar without protein, fiber or fat
• Gut health imbalances and antibiotic use disturb both digestive and vaginal microbiomes
• Estrogen levels affect glycogen availability and infection susceptibility when too high or too low
• Vaginal pH can be disrupted by menstrual products, soaps, fragrances, menstrual blood, and semen
• Compromised immune function from stress or illness decreases your body's ability to maintain microbiome balance
• Choose breathable cotton underwear and appropriate menstrual products when traveling
• Plan ahead for proper sleep, hydration, and nutrition when traveling to maintain immune function
• Prepare protein and fat-forward snacks to stabilize blood sugar during trips

Future you is going to love yourself for planning ahead, and you will feel so much better throughout the day, energy-wise, plus hopefully you won't have as much irritation.


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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Hormone Mavens out there.
I'm Bridget Walton and I amyour host today here on this
episode.
Number 106, no 107 of I'mHormonal Today is a mini episode
, and this is a continuation ofthis week's earlier conversation
where we talked about what arethe things that aren't just
hormones that can influence yourvagina.

(00:22):
Now, if you're like me and Ihope that you aren't, but if you
are then this probably soundsfamiliar to you that I spent
years and years trying to figureout what the heck is going on
with my hormones.
Why am I always havingirritation?
Why does it feel like I haveyeast infections all the time,
but actually, whenever I gettested for them, I have no yeast

(00:44):
infection.
It sucks, it's frustrating,it's confusing and oftentimes
we're not really given a lot oftools to figure out what's going
on.
So that's what we're talkingabout today.
If you have a lot of irritation, then this is going to be a
helpful episode for you, just tohear again what are the factors

(01:06):
outside of just hormone balancethat can impact irritation or
infection or overgrowth, andthen also if you want to avoid
those in the future, then thiscould be really helpful for you.
I'm going to be talking throughwhat you might want to consider
while you're traveling too.
I know a lot of you guys outthere are travelers, you're on

(01:26):
flights, you're out and aboutmoving, so I will be sharing a
couple of thoughts and tips foryou, specifically in regard to
when you're on the go.
So let's dive into it, which iswhat we do on these Tuesday no
Thursday mini episodes, and letme recap what you learned on
Tuesday's episode.
So the top five factors that caninfluence irritation or

(01:51):
overgrowth or infection withyour vaginal microbiome are
these five things.
So one, blood sugar.
Two, your gut health andespecially considering if you've
used antibiotics recently,those can definitely throw your
gut health and, especiallyconsidering if you've used
antibiotics recently, those candefinitely throw your gut health
and your micro balance for aloop.
Three, looking at estrogenlevels.

(02:13):
So okay, this one obviously isa hormone and hormone balance
influences it.
But if your estrogen is reallyhigh, that can promote or that
could lead to overgrowth.
Also, if it's really low, thenthere could be some
opportunistic overgrowth.
Number four what's going on withyour vaginal pH?
Is your menstrual blood?

(02:36):
Is a soap that you're using?
Is a pad that you're usingimpacting your pH, making it
less acidic and thereforeallowing for this potential
overgrowth?
And then, fifth and finally, isyour immune function a little
bit compromised, right?
Is there something going onwith really high stress that

(02:56):
could be impeding your immunefunction?
Or maybe, again coming back toyour gut microbiome and balance,
is there something going onthere?
Because, as you may know, mostof your immune function is
really housed in your digestivesystem.
So let me come back to thestart of that list to give a
little bit more context, or howyou might know or feel that one

(03:20):
of these five things is a factorfor you.
So, coming back to blood sugarspikes, oftentimes if your blood
sugar is spiking, or if youhave high blood sugar, and this
could be from eating like normalthings that have carbs and
sugars in them, but also if youare eating those things without
a protein with it, without somesort of fiber, without some sort

(03:43):
of fat, because those threethings can help to slow the
absorption and minimize thatblood sugar spike.
Now, if you have rollercoasterblood sugar, then you might be
somebody who has really erraticenergy levels in the afternoon,
so you might find that, okay, Ineed caffeine.
Or you might be craving sugar,craving carbs, craving food,

(04:06):
getting hangry.
That's a big sign too.
So if you're somebody whoexperiences those things, start
making a note of when you havedessert or when you have your
favorite latte from your localcoffee shop that has a bunch of
sugar in it.
Does that tie to irritation atall?
Is there any correlation there?

(04:26):
So keep an eye on that, firstand again.
The reason why this is relevantis because when your blood
sugar is high, that glucoseitself can be a food source for
yeast or for other microbes thatmay be overgrowing.
Next, let's touch on thisconversation of gut health,
microbiome balance as well asantibiotics.
So this could be a factor foryou that you want to dig into.

(04:50):
If you have a lot of bloating,if you are not having daily
bowel movements, if you haveconstipation or diarrhea, if you
are not having daily bowelmovements, if you have
constipation or diarrheaanything any signal to you that,
like, something is up with yourdigestive system also could be
acid reflux, could be nausea,anything that's like, hmm,

(05:11):
something is bothering me.
So this is not how quoteunquote normal digestion should
be.
That could be a signal to youthat, okay, something could be
off.
There could be some kind ofimbalance in your microbiome and
that in and of itself thatovergrowth?
Well, it could be an overgrowthof yeast, and whatever is going
on in your gut microbiome is,you betcha, going to be mirrored
in your vaginal microbiome.

(05:32):
So, getting to the bottom ofwhat's going on in your gut,
supporting bringing it back intobalance and maybe that's
through changing your diet alittle bit, maybe eating less
sugars, maybe incorporating someantimicrobial herbs, some
different options like that, ofcourse, you can get really clear

(05:54):
data on this by using a gutpanel, by doing a stool test to
see exactly what the breakdownis, but you also don't always
need to do that too.
The moral of the story here,though, is that understanding
what your gut health is like,that's going to really shine
some light on your vaginalmicrobiome as well.

(06:15):
Quick note to reiterate why areantibiotics so essential?
For this conversation isbecause and by conversation I
mean for your gut health isbecause antibiotics aren't
discriminating when they arejust like blasting well bacteria
, right, you take it for aninfection, but it also can
definitely do a bamboozle onsome of the other bacteria that

(06:38):
you need and want, right,there's so many beneficial
bacteria in our bodies, and partof what they do is to help keep
things like yeast in check.
So, just like with estrogen, aswe'll talk about in a minute,
everything is about balance, andso if you have taken a lot of
antibiotics in your life, ormaybe just recently, you notice

(06:58):
that things aren't back tonormal when it comes to your
digestion, well, that could be agood place for you to start.
Next let's look at estrogen,because when estrogen is high
this comes back to the bloodsugar conversation.
When estrogen is high, that isalso going to present a picture
where there is more glycogenavailable in your blood and

(07:18):
glycogen breaks down into moreglucose.
So TLDR, more snacks, more foodfor yeast or other potential
microbes to gobble up andovergrow.
Low estrogen has this impactwhere it makes you more prone to
infection.
So that's why we want thatbalance.

(07:47):
Number four thinking about pHlevels in your vaginal
microbiome.
What can influence your vaginalpH?
That could be the menstrualproducts that you're using.
It could be the soap thatyou're using.
It could be anything withfragrance.
I would totally keep anythingwith fragrance at an arm's
length, a football field'slength, away from my vagina.
So some food for thought withyou on that.
Of course, too, menstrual bloodBlood is not the same pH as

(08:10):
your vaginal microbiome, so forsome people that may be more
sensitive or more influential onyour vaginal microbiome than
others.
And then two, if you are with apartner and semen is in the mix
, semen does not have the samepH as your vaginal microbiome
either.
So a couple notes for you, asyou were putting on your

(08:33):
detective hat and putting thepieces of this together, as you
were putting on your detectivehat and putting the pieces of
this together.
Fifth and finally, before we getto these travel-specific tips,
your immune system is definitelygoing to impact how your body
is reacting to overgrowth orpotential overgrowth.
So if you're really stressed,that's going to impact your
immune system.
Also, if you're sick or if youhave a compromised gut

(08:55):
microbiome, those things willalso influence your immune
function.
So be cognizant of thatconnection there.
And overall, how is your immunehealth?
Are you getting sick a lot?
Are you getting sick everyquarter?
Well, how can we work on that?
Work on that foundation andsupport your vaginal microbiome

(09:16):
health.
Okay, let's transition into whatyou want to think about if you
are traveling.
So the first thing that I thinkof, or for me, when I was
traveling a lot for work, I'mlike sitting on a plane all day
and then I'm, before that I'msitting in the airport terminal,
and then after that I'm drivingto my customer location, or I'm
just otherwise not getting outand about moving my body, taking

(09:41):
walks as much as I would be athome.
Now, if that is applicable toyou too, then just be thinking
of what kind of underwear am Iusing?
Or what sort of pants?
Is it really tight andrestrictive?
Now, this is important becauseif you are using underwear that
is made of a synthetic materialthat can really trap moisture

(10:05):
and limit airflow, now we'relike why does my vagina need
airflow?
Again, it's just becauseairflow, or I guess a lack
thereof, is going to supportyeast growth.
So if this is you, then makingsure that you have an option
that you like, that is,comfortable, breathable fabric,

(10:26):
probably a more natural fabriclike cotton.
That's going to be your realgo-to.
Personally, I like to use abrand called Huha H-U-H-A, so
just mini, shout out to them ifyou're looking for a
recommendation.
On the same note ofbreathability and airflow, just
be thinking about what menstrualproduct are you going to choose

(10:47):
.
If you're using a panty linerfor day after day after day,
then that extended and limitedairflow could result in a pH
shift.
Also, this combination of sweatand friction can lead to micro
tears, which then can in and ofthemselves, be a bit of a
breeding ground for bacteria andyeast.

(11:07):
So food for thought there.
The next recommendation and Iknow I'm kind of flying through
these, but stick with me thenext thing I want you to keep in
mind is that if you aretraveling, if you're on the move
and you have jet lag thatraised cortisol from the stress
of travel itself, also, maybeyou're not getting as much sleep

(11:29):
as you normally do at homethose things can all impact your
immune function.
So, planning ahead for yourhydration, planning ahead for
your sleep, making sure you knowthis is something that's really
impacting you.
Well, can you get, can you pick, flights that get to your
destination earlier or maybethat leave a little bit later,

(11:50):
so you're not having to disruptyour sleep patterns all the time
figuring out what are a littlebit later, so you're not having
to disrupt your sleep patternsall the time, figuring out what
are the ways that work for you,whether you travel for work and
you can pick your own flights,or well, it's probably easier
when you're doing your ownpersonal travel, but just being
aware that what happens withyour sleep, what happens with
your stress?
That's going to impact yourmicrobiome.

(12:13):
Just another thing to put onthe list as you're investigating
.
Okay, do I have irritation ordo I get infections after a
night of lost sleep or whateverelse it is that is on your
observation for the month?
Now, the next thing that I wantto mention, too, would be your
diet while you're traveling.

(12:33):
So, of course, we talked aboutblood sugar, but just my
recommendation to you is toreally take a couple minutes to
plan out.
What are your go-to places atthe airport, what are your go-to
foods at the lounge that youlike to eat at?
Where do you have an easyopportunity or what's an

(12:54):
accessible grocery store for youto pick up your breakfast foods
once you get to yourdestination, instead of relying
on the hotel's continentalbreakfast itself?
This is so important, thisplanning piece, planning,
planning, planning, planningahead because if you are leaving
it up to chance, if you're justlike, I'll figure out what I'm

(13:17):
gonna eat when I get there,that's, when you're not eating
this, the thing that is best foryou, you're not eating the
thing that is going to supportyour overall nourishment and
nutrition and blood sugar levels.
So I know that it is so mucheasier said than done planning
ahead.
But what I want you to do is,if you are somebody, you have a

(13:39):
trip coming up, go ahead rightnow.
Block out some time on yourcalendar, just like 15 minutes,
we don't need to get crazy.
Block out some time to reallymake a plan for what you're
going to eat.
What snacks are you going tobring ahead of time?
Ideally, right, we're focusingon protein and fat forward
snacks.
How can you minimize your addedsugar or minimize sugar overall

(14:04):
, unless it's in, maybe a wholefood, fruit form?
But spend some time to put thisplan together.
But spend some time to put thisplan together.
Future, you is going to loveyourself for it and you will
feel so much better throughoutthe day, energy-wise, but also,
hopefully, you won't have asmuch irritation as maybe you

(14:25):
have had, or you won't have itat all, if this isn't something
that you've been met with yet.
So that is it for today.
I hope that you appreciatedthis recap from Tuesday's
episode.
I know this is, for many of you, probably something totally new
, right, thinking of, oh, howdid my dessert last night impact
my vagina?
Right, we're like, ah, that'snot what I normally thought of,

(14:48):
but hopefully this is helpfulfor you to hear it again and
hear a couple of more specifictips if you are on the move.
So thanks for listening Again.
I'm Bridget Walton and I willsee you on the next one.
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