#215 Vaginal Microbiome: Crucial Key to Women's Health, HPV Prevention, and Cancer Risk Reduction

The information provided in this podcast is educational and not intended to diagnose or treat medical conditions.

Dr. Donnie Wilson struggled for decades to solve her numerous health issues and heal her body. But with focused determination, she healed herself and in doing so, she discovered the Dr. Donnie stress recovery Protocol. On this show, you're going to hear from doctors, nutritionists and Experts along with Dr. Donnie, who will give practical advice and wisdom to help heal your body. This is how humans heal.

Hi and welcome to how humans heal. I'm Dr. Donnie Wilson and I'm so glad you're here. In this episode, I'm going to be talking about the vaginal microbiome. In research, it's also referred to as the cervical vaginal microbiome or microbiota. The term microbiome is very hot and trendy lately, but it's usually referring to the gut microbiome. Now, the gut microbiome is so amazing and we learned so much about how the trillions of bacteria living in our gut have such a huge influence on our overall health. Everything from our immune system to our hormones to our digestion and our nervous system through the gut brain axis, they really have a lot to do with how we feel, how we think, how we sleep and everything about our day. So you can only imagine if the gut microbiome is that important to our health. The vaginal microbiome is also hugely important and impactful for women's health. So maybe you haven't really been thinking about your vaginal microbiome yet, but I'm going to teach you today why it's so important to really know and understand the vaginal microbiome, how to make sure it's as healthy and protecting you, because it actually has a lot to do with your susceptibility to other types of vaginal infections, including the HPV or human papilloma virus. Now, the reason I'm specifically focusing on HPV virus is because we are so commonly exposed to it. Studies are showing that most all of us, in fact 80% of us, are exposed to the high risk types of HPV. There's low risk types of which there's over 150 different kinds. And there's the high risk types of which there's, as we know now, about 13 types of high risk HPV. And what makes them high risk is that they're associated with cancer. That makes them high risk. So if they are ever shown that this virus type of HPV is associated with cancer risk, specifically cervical cancer, vaginal cancer, or could be cancer in other Parts of the body then is considered a high risk type of the virus. So let's, then we start looking as researchers, we go, well, why? What's it doing? How are these specific strains of HPV able to cause inflammation, abnormal cells, and even cancer in women? Because cervical cancer is usually reported between the second, third and fourth most kind, most common kind of cancer that women die from around the world. So this is a huge concern. Oftentimes, women are going through the process of being diagnosed with abnormal cells or cancer cells without telling many people in their lives, and maybe even going through experience with cancer and even death without telling people in their lives, because it's something that they feel ashamed of or embarrassed about. So that's why I'm here, to open up this conversation and make sure that all women and men understand the vaginal microbiome and how it's related to the risk of HPV causing cancer. Because most of this research is actually come out in the last two years, this is really new information. We started to realize that there is a vaginal microbiome, and then the research started to show that there's actually an overlap between the gut microbiome and the vaginal microbiome. Meaning the. There's about 30% the same bacteria in the gut as the vagina. Yeah. They're actually cross communication between the two. So if there's an imbalance in the gut microbiome, it can lead to an imbalance in the vaginal microbiome and vice versa. They're actually influencing each other. And so this is important to know. Right? To know. Wow. That means that if there's a gut microbiome imbalance, which is very common, that that actually could be affecting your vaginal microbiome and increasing your risk of hpv. Because what the studies are showing is that women who test positive for high risk HPV are highly likely to have an imbalanced vaginal. Cervical vaginal microbiome. Right. But the reason we say it that way is because the microbiome of the cervix and the microbiome of the vagina are almost exactly the same. So we call it the cervical vaginal microbiome for short. I might call it the CVM or just the vaginal microbiome. So what we're finding in the research is that.

The vaginal microbiome is so important, and when it's disrupted, women are at higher risk of hpv and they're at higher risk of cervical cancer and vaginal cancer. So this opens our eyes and says, wow, we need to be paying attention to this. It's not just about having HPV positive. It's about having HPV positive and an imbalanced vaginal microbiome that leads to cancer risk. So what's happening there? Okay, so one thing to know about the vaginal microbiome is the predominant type of bacteria. The main bacteria there in a healthy vaginal microbiome is called Lactobacillus species, and especially Lactobacillus crispatus. It's very protective to the vaginal area. That's because the Lactobacillus bacteria make something called lactic acid, and lactic acid actually helps protect us. It actually helps to fend off other microbes that shouldn't be there, including hpv. So this Lactobacillus can actually line the cells of the vagina as like a protective coating and fend off whoever shouldn't be there. Right. And it also helps by communicating with our immune system. Now, how do these Lactobacillus get. Get there in the first place? Well, they're being fed. They, they. The way they're fed is through amino acids from proteins that our bodies make. So we have this reciprocal relationship with Electobacillus. We're feeding them and they're protecting us. That's a good deal. So we really want to protect that. We want to be feeding our healthy Lactobacillus and we want them to be protecting us. The thing is that the studies show that when the environment shifts, when the microbiome shifts from Crispatus to a different type of Lactobacillus called Iners I N E R s, then that shift is associated with higher likelihood of testing positive for HPV and higher risk of testing positive for abnormal cells, including cancer cells. So we need to be watching out for that, right? We need to be like, how do we know if a woman has this transition from Crispatus type electric to inner's type? And that we can then address it? And how can we address it? And I'll be talking about those, the testing, and how do we address it a little bit later here in this. In this episode? So here's the thing, is that not only did we see that there was a change in that microbiome associated with higher risk of cancer, but they also found that HPV itself influences the Lactobacillus in the microbiome, that this HPV virus, when it's present, and this is more so in certain women than others, the HPV virus can essentially starve the Lactobacillus. It turns off the protein production that's necessary for the Lactobacillus to thrive. So essentially, the HPV has the ability to starve our Lactobacillus crispatus. And in doing so, then the Lactobacillus population shifts, and the HPV is able to thrive and cause the inflammation and abnormal cells that it causes. So this is really something. Not only that, but the research also is showing how HPV causes inflammation and it triggers certain cytokines in the immune system that cause inflammation in the environment, including a lot of times you might even have been told you have inflammation on your cervix. It's caused by the HPV virus. It actually causes the cytokines, which are inflammatory messengers. And certain types of cytokines are protective, and certain types of cytokines can increase risk of cancer. HPV is associated with the inflammatory changes that are more associated with cancer risk. So HPV virus itself, if it has the opportunity, it can change our microbiome, it can change the way our immune system is responding to it in a way that makes it easier for it to cause cancer. So we need to be able to identify this and interrupt the process that HPV is trying to. To accomplish, right? We need to be saying, this is your body, this is your vagina, your microbiome. You can take steps to protect yourself. And when you do, because the studies also very clearly show that when women have this healthy Lactobacillus, it can fend off the hpv. And when we have a healthy immune response, we can kick out the HPV and clear it out of our system very effectively. So if this is possible, we need to be able to identify it and help women to accomplish that. And unfortunately, this is not something that's integrated into standard medical care yet. This is very new science, but this is something that we can actually absolutely start to address right away. The thing is, when you go to the standard gynecology office, when they test for infections in the vagina, they can test for. They can take a swab and look for yeast. They can take a swab and look for bv, which is bacterial vaginosis, both of which have been associated with increased risk of HPV and cervical cancer. So they can do a quick culture and tell you if you. If they can clearly see yeast or bv, and some of you may have already been told that, and then you already know, we need to then help your vaginal microbiome protect you, because if you've had yeast or bv, you're at increased risk. So that can be done at the standard gynecology office. The standard gynecology office can also test for HPV as Well as other STIs, you know, chlamydia and others. So you can get those types of tests from the standard doctor's office, but they're not going to be able to do a very specific microbiome analysis. It's not yet integrated into the standard of care. And so. But those tests do exist, because I know they exist because I offer them through my office. It's a test that women can do at home. Actually, we can order it. You do this vaginal swab at home, you send it in and the lab will show us your DNA analysis of your vaginal biome. So we can know not just about yeast and bv, but we can know all about the lactobusilis, the, the bacillus species and other species of bacteria based on a single swab that you mail in from home. So if you're thinking, oh my gosh, I need to know what's going on with my vaginal microbiome, then you can contact my office for an appointment and I can guide you through how to do this test and other tests that are going to give you so much more information about what's happening in your body that's making you susceptible to hpv. When we get those test results back, and I find that they're very unique for each person, then we can see exactly do you have a healthy vaginal microbiome or has it been disrupted? And then I can walk you through how to help it out. Did you recently get an abnormal Pap smear result and test positive for hpv? Then I'm glad to connect with you. I'm a naturopathic doctor and midwife and I specialize in helping women to address abnormal Pap smears and get HPV to negative. And I would love to invite you to join me for a free online workshop. It's going to be a one day, two and a half hour workshop. I'd love for you to come. And this way I can teach you what your Pap results mean and what are the steps you can take to help heal your cervix and get rid of HPV instead of just wait and see if it gets worse. So I look forward to seeing you at the workshop. Let me just touch on what disrupts the vaginal microbiome because there's a lot of things, if you think about it, there's so many things that can disrupt our vaginal microbiome. As I mentioned, it's connected to gut health. So it can be related to dietary factors. If you have a higher sugar diet, then that's disrupting the bacteria and yeast in your gut and it's likely to disrupt the vaginal biome as well. So it could be dietary factors, it could be digestive factors. If you're not digesting well, or you have bacterial overgrowth or yeast overgrowth, if you have leaky gut, if you have colitis, if you have other digestive issues happening, that's going to influence your vaginal microbiome. So we need to also be addressing your gut health. Absolutely. And I have other videos teaching you about how I can help you to address your gut health. I absolutely see that helps women protect themselves from hpv. Also, of course, anything that we come into contact with vaginally, which, when you start to think about it, there's a lot of things we, over, over the years, we may contact, come in contact with vaginally, even from sexual intercourse, of course, then we're getting in contact with another person's microbiome. So that can shift our microbiome. Or if you're using any kind of lubricants, spermicides, douches, anything that you might be inserting vaginally could affect your vaginal microbiome, especially if they are chemical substances that potentially can disrupt your vaginal microbiome and. Or if you've ever had to use antibiotics, if you ever had to take oral antibiotics or used vaginal antibiotics or antifungals, because then the antifungals disrupt the microbiome as well. So if you had to take any medications, other types of medications also can affect, including the birth control pill or hormonal iud, because what we see in the research is that when estrogen levels fluctuate, or if you go from natural estrogen from your ovaries to a synthetic estrogen in a birth control pill or hormonal iud, this can affect your vaginal microbiome because the estrogen and the microbiome are communicating with each other. So we see when there's changes in estrogen, there are changes in the microbiome. And that includes when women go from through pregnancy, postpartum and perimenopause and postmenopause, all of those estrogen and progesterone fluctuations affect the vaginal microbiome. In fact, there's even slight changes in the microbiome throughout the menstrual cycle. But when we go through a larger shift of, of the hormones, there's going to be a Bigger shift in the microbiome. In fact, they show, like with postmenopause, when estrogen levels are low, it also makes it harder for the lactobacillus to thrive. So if you're postmenopausal without any vaginal estrogen, that could be a risk factor for hpv. So you start to get a sense of like, wow, there's so many things that could be disrupting your vaginal microbiome. And I didn't even get to cover everything on the list, Right. So no wonder that so many women do have a disrupted vaginal microbiome and they don't realize it. Because the test of the gynecologist is not specific enough. It doesn't do the detailed review of your entire vaginal microbiome. We need the specific DNA analysis in order to get that. Once we identify that, then even if some practitioners do offer that test, a lot of times the treatment that they use is more, more antibiotics. So the antibiotics to treat the imbalance end up causing more of an imbalance. So to me, the best treatment, I mean, there's certain cases where antibiotics are necessary, and then we need to do recovery from that treatment. But whenever possible, I attempt. When I, whatever I find on those results, my, my hope and my goal is to address it without having to be exposed to more antibiotics, because I would rather help your microbiome heal and recover naturally with natural substances. And there's so much. So let's go into some of the treatment options just so you have a sense of it. There's so much we can do, and a lot of this needs to be individualized. So I work with women one on one. I also work with women in group settings. So we can work together by video from anywhere in the world. I can be helping you. Again, these are tests you can do at home. We can review the results and I can teach you what to do. So we, I teach you as a practitioner, as a naturopathic doctor and midwife. I can teach you as how to get access to the things you need to heal your vaginal microbiome. We can make the diet changes, right? If diet changes make us susceptible, we're going to make diet changes that support our vaginal microbiome. And to do it, we're going to be supporting your gut microbiome, healing your gut microbiome at the same time. In fact, sometimes we also need to do a gut microbiome test, which is a stool DNA analysis of your gut microbiome. If, especially if you have a history of digestive Issues. We would do the vaginal microbiome test and the gut microbiome test and work on both. And I have so much experience helping people to solve them. To say to you, after helping thousands of people, it's absolutely possible to get your microbiome back on track again. We can use diet changes, we can use herbs, we can use nutrients, we can use enzymes, we can use. Sometimes we're using a probiotic. Right. When we say probiotic, we're referring to usually either an oral or vaginal treat, and using Electabisb magnificillus species, sometimes in the gut. We're also using a Bifidobacteria species. And so you can swallow these good bacteria. The thing to know is that that's only part of the puzzle, right? But sometimes, sometimes when I look at someone's gut biome, they don't actually need more Lactobacillus, right? Sometimes that's the case. Sometimes they have an overgrowth of Lactobacillus and we actually don't need more. We need to back off. I can't tell you how many people are thinking, oh, I need to support my microbiome. And they end up going to hear about fermented foods. And it's certainly true that fermented foods give us some good bacteria and eating fiber can feed our good bacteria. That's absolutely true. And I think in a standard diet, a little bit of fermented foods and a little bit of fiber is going to help our microbiome stay healthy. But what I want to warn you is that so many people end up hearing about fermented foods and fiber for their good bacteria, and they end up. Or resistant starch, they end up overdoing it. They end up having so much fermented foods or fermented beverages, and they end up overgrowing their bacteria. Now we have sibo, which is small intestinal bacteria overgrowth, large intestinal bacteria overgrowth, and vaginal bacterial overgrowth. So it's possible to have too many bacteria. So we have to guard against that too. Right. It's not about having. We don't want too little because then we're susceptible to hpv. We don't want too many either because that's going to make us susceptible to other symptoms. So we need to be able to get right to the optimal amount. And that's why it often does help to have the test results and have a practitioner who can guide you how to get to know and fine tune and individualize exactly for you how what should you be eating and sometimes it's down to even very specific foods. What should you be eating to support the right bacteria that need support and not over supporting the ones who don't need support. And then we can be using herbs, very specific herbs that are antimicrobial in a very safe and effective way. I always go with the strategy of slow and steady. Right. It doesn't make sense to come in as tempting as it is to compounds and go to high doses because what can happen is when you come in with a high dose very quickly, you're likely to cause a die off response. When the bacteria die, they let out toxins that are inflammatory and you can actually feel worse. So I warn you against doing too many fermented foods or too many probiotics or too much high dose antimicrobials. It's about going slow, steady and gentle. That's what's going to be the best strategy to win your microbiome back. Right. So that you can slowly use antimicrobial herbs that work for your body. Gradually increase the dose, look for the signs that it's working. And, and if you feel worse, back off on your treatment gradually as you feel better, then you can decrease. And the goal is to be able to achieve an optimal microbiome that you can then maintain over time. Right. We want to be able to maintain that microbiome going forward. You don't want to have to go through this process over and over again. You want to be able to get your microbiome back on track, your gut biome and your vaginal biome and then be able to use daily practices whether whatever you're being exposed to in your life, including stress. You want to be able to maintain a healthy biome. Yes, even emotional and physical stress can disrupt your gut biome and your vaginal biometric. So we need to be able to help ourselves through the stress we're exposed to so that it doesn't disrupt our biome. It's actually possible to maintain a healthy biome while living your life and eating foods that you enjoy. It doesn't have to be all about restriction, but it is important to have a practitioner who knows how to guide you with a very specific step by step protocol. So if you would like more help, I welcome you to reach out to me in my office. You can always go right on my website and you can call the office, email the office, you can go to, schedule and schedule an appointment with me. You can also. You are welcome to join me for the next Heal HPV workshop where I go into so much more detail about HPV and all the factors that influence our susceptibility to the virus and the protocol that I use to help women successfully clear hpv. To help your body to be able to do what your body already knows how to do, it's just not able to do it right now because of these susceptibilities. As I help you to heal your microbiome and so much more, then your body's going to be able to clear this virus and keep it from coming back again. By the way, one of the other strategies we use for healing the vaginal microbiome is using certain vaginal suppositories. So we can have professionally made vaginal suppositories that we can use that are using different herbs if necessary, nutrients, as well as probiotics like Lactobacillus to reestablish the healthy vaginal biome. So these are all things that I can give you access to, but it has to be through my practice or through my programs. So if that's something you're needing and wanting help with, please don't hesitate to reach out. I'm so glad that all of you are here. I look forward to your comments and questions and welcome you to subscribe so you don't miss the next episode of How Humans Heal. I'll see you there.

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