Vaginal Dryness

Yoni steaming has been used in many cultures and for thousands of years, yet it’s still a medicine that isn’t widely accepted in our modern world.  It’s everyday practice in parts of Asia, Africa, and South America, and was an important element of women’s health in Mayan and Native American cultures, but if you talk about it you might be automatically considered a little weird!  The practice is used for a variety of reasons, but most popular around the world for postpartum recovery.  We have a handful of reasons we offer it at Balanced Thistle, but the popularity of using it for a few certain things overwhelms its other callings.

Bacterial vaginosis, reoccurring yeast infections, or vaginal dryness.

Vaginal dryness is caused by a myriad of concerns: sometimes it’s the unfortunate side effect of cancer treatments, symptoms of autoimmunity, and sometimes it’s hormonal disruption (low estrogen). It can be abnormal or due to a normal physiological process such as breast feeding or menopause. Estrogen is usually low both postpartum and with the onset of menopause.  Using vaginal steaming to decrease dryness doesn’t necessarily correct a hormonal imbalance (we would call on acupuncture and herbs to aid with this), it can improve circulation to the area both with the warmth of the steam and with the proper selection of herbs.  A properly trained herbalist will know to select herbs for cooling heat, moving blood, or increasing blood.  The therapeutic properties of the herbal selections are important, make sure you’re working with an herbalist that is properly trained.

After yoni steaming women often notice increased lubrication and possibly even an increase in discharge.  Discharge can be a sign of a few things: in the case of BV or yeast infection, steaming might help your body expel some stuff that needs to be expelled!  We also use steaming if a women doesn’t have much ovulatory discharge. We often see an increase with steams timed before ovulation.  But some women will say they noticed a difference in dryness, or that possibly their partner did!

If you google search yoni steaming, you might be bombarded with all the reasons not to do it.  In some ways, we semi-agree.  We never encourage our patients to do it at home.  Working with a provider that has been properly trained will both optimize your results and reduce any possible risks.   Setting the steam at the wrong temperature, steaming too long, selecting the wrong herbs, or steaming with a contraindication could definitely result in negative results. Make sure you’re working with someone who knows how to care properly for you!