Oh, great. Thanks for reminding me to lock this thread. It keeps attracting visitors from Google, and since in general, the smarter ones are able to tell from the summary that this site isn't really a health site, the ones that end up here seem... a little slow.

Why didn't my Wordpress comments migrate over, Disqus? I'll have to run that import process again, I guess.

Oh, well. Let me explain to you what I'm pretty sure I explained in the old thread.

A $15 test CANNOT tell you whether you need to go to the doctor. The instructions tell you to consult one anyway. If you've had a yeast infection before, you KNOW when you've got one again, so why the fuck do you need the test? If you've never had one, you need to go see a doctor regardless, because it could be something else. Basically, all the test does is determine what kind of worried you're going to be in the waiting room. (And if you're skipping the doctor, and relying on the test for your medical advice, DAMN, I hope you're not unlucky and it really is a yeast infection.) (If you're skipping the doctor, and relying on the test, you're doubly dumb for ignoring that bit in my post about those $1.50 pH strips your pharmacist can give you.)

I've been without insurance before, and may be again in the near future. I have never paid more than $100, even at an emergency clinic, so I don't know where you're going, but you're being ripped off.

Now, I'll be locking this again to keep my blog safe from the stupid once again.

Gee how nice you have health insurance unlike the 46.3 million people in American reported last year who didn't. That $20 copay turns into a $200 + office visit. If a $15 test can tell you whether to grab the monistat or figure out where you're going to find the money to go to a friggin doctor then bring it on.

Well, I am right, after all, so... meh. The rest of what you have to say is therefore irrelevant, but I'm at work, and I'm bored...

What are you so pissed about, *kid*? If you don't like my attitude, screw off. Why waste your time here? What are you trying to accomplish? You don't state any opinion on the original post itself, and you're not about to "beat [me] at [my] own game" on my own website (especially if my "game" is arguing, since you give no evidence for any of your (mainly ad hominem) remarks, and again, do not even address the OP). From your IP address location, it seems unlikely that you know me, so you're probably not a pre-existing enemy of mine (I didn't check my logs to see how you got here -- I'm not THAT bored). I'm left to assume that you're just a bitter piece of nothing who is intentionally aspiring to be adversarial yadda yadda yadda.

P.S. Based on the language above, I don't think I would go around calling people unrefined if I were you. Not as an insult, in any case (I gather from the context that you meant it that way).

...didn't I close comments on this MONTHS AGO? Bah. Re-closing imminent.

As the name insinuates, the veridical topic of this website is "Is Candice A Cunt?" Am I the only one who finds the idea of this little girl googling a couple "big" words all too likely and amusing? Now, don't get me wrong, I am a female. But, it's loud-mouthed, unrefined little shits such as Candice that make me wish women never gained equal rights. Conflictively, were that not to have been accomplished, I suppose I would never feel the gratifying moment of beating her at her own game. It's not that she is over-opinionated that is the issue here (although, I would never endeavor to argue the fact,) but more or less what she is all but "saying" in her article and retaliations.
"I'm an outspoken bitch, and I'm right. There can't possibly be any other right way and I am obviously more intelligent than anyone in disagreement with me. My opinion is simply status quo."
Candice, you seem like a bitter piece of nothing, that can't win an argument in the real world, so you need to try and do so ont he internet. You would get more out of life if you weren't intentionally aspiring to be adversarial towards everyone.


bluntly put kid, u suck at life. u should quit.

Why not just go pay 2 dollars for some ph test strips, simple as where do you expect to find it written in black and white the vaginal issue you have? The test would come with the little convienite chart listing the color to the issue. (It may be wrong, but still)
Its easy, everyone wants an easier way, a faster way.

I'm not going to touch on, well just go to your doctor. Because to each their own on that, they all got their reasons.

You know, for someone who's had to shell out $20'000 for "female anatomy complications", you seem surprisingly blasé about the chance of other women who might have a serious mishap as a result from not or wrongly treating an infection or worse.

In case it wasn't clear from the start, the Vagisil screening kit doesn't seem to be doing much more than a $2 PH testing kit, and you should still really see a doctor when something is wrong. So why insist on wasting $15 in order to know absolutely nothing more than you did before you did the test? Considering the price of a false negative (or the unwarranted worrying resulting from a false positive), you might as well save yourself the trouble and just go to the doctor anyway.

For the record, I find it hard to believe there's places (in the US that is) where you have to wait a month before you can see the doctor. I'd say a town like that is in serious need of at least a second doctor. If the first doctor's workload is that high, obviously, business isn't lacking, so it's not like you couldn't make a living there.

Especially considering things like a cold and the flu have run its course in a week or two at most. So by the time the doc can see you, you're either dead or no longer sick.

I stumbled upon all this when finding out about the kit like every woman I want to learn more about what goes on with my body. Then I found myself spending over 30min. reading all the lovely little comments from each of you. Yes, Some of you make good argument but for others....well lets just say i have heard better from my five year old but with a dirtier mouth! I have not tried the V. screening kit, and yes I see my doctor for everything! In fact I've already tacked a good 20 thousand dollars worth of bills just in a 1 hours worth of lying on a cold surgery table for some female anatomy complications (notice I didnt call it a coochie) I paid attention in medical terminology. or maybe its the simple fact of when addressing someone you dont know you treat them with respect! I dont thing that America's health care isnt the only thing we need to work on! (how 'bout manners?) I am 25 years old with 2 wonderful and beautiful girls! To which I am the luckiest to have been able to have them when I did. For all that think of us younger gals as being unknowing to health/bodies and life....I laugh at the sheer stupidity at that thought! You will never undertand life until u can see through some one elses eyes. Dont get me wrong I am not praising this product but most of us does not have the luxury of having a doctor in our home town, which is worst when you take on the ever growing gas price, co-pay, visit bill and the labratory bill. also, not all of us have superman for a doctor I have had to wait sometimes up to a month for and appointment. And like all women the want reasurance to whats happening to there bodies and if it calms the mind of spending 15 dollars for some silly little wond to know now, then so be it ladies! You have a brain/heart you do what you think is right for you and not the ramblings of some over opinionated potty mouth!

I must admit, I have a pretty strong stomach when it comes to that. As long as whatever I'm eating at the time doesn't resemble the subject matter of the pictures (or fly-on-the-wall Emergency Room documentary for example) too closely, it won't even affect my appetite.

But the last thing I need is an added fear of women's special places. Dating is hard enough as it is ...

It's best never to Google images of any sort of infection or disease -- the only images that make it online in the first place are worst-case-scenario, so they're guaranteed to be ultra disgusting.

The longer people keep replying to this topic, the more I'm tempted to google images for "yeast infection" so I'll have at least some idea what you're talking about. But I'll probably regret that afterwards ...

What Vagisil does (at least in my experience) is kills 95% of the yeasties, leaving the other 5% (the really mean guys) plenty of resources to go out of control, leaving you with one hell of a problem. If my doctor ever told me to just use the OTC shit, I'd say hellllllll no, you write me a prescription, mister!

I guess I might just be unlucky, though. I suppose one COULD just skip the pH test and try the OTC stuff, to see if it would work. Yeah, if your problem goes away, I guess that was it! But I somehow doubt that using medicine one doesn't necessarily need is a terribly good idea. If it's something else, who knows... you could kill off all your yeast (there's always some), and make room for whatever nastier thing you've got. If you've had a yeast infection before, though... it's pretty easy to tell when another one pops up.

I think everyone has a good point. Sadly it has been said that America has the worst medical care and is the most expensive than anywhere else. I have to have HMO because I cant afford the better insurance. Having HMO the copay and prescriptions are still expensive. It would be nice to have a at home test that would determine whether you did have an infection or not. Some symptoms are not severe. I mean to pay a doctor to tell you to get some ovc stuff does seem like a waste of money. But on the other hand if you are having itching/burning you most likely have an infection and could just go get some OTC stuff? Perhaps if that didnt work then you should see a doctor? Especially if you have had one before you will know if you have it again? If you are having unprotected sex then you def. want to see a doc in case its something else. Why cant men be the one to have this problem lol. I dont think I would want to spend 15.00 on a at home test though so I will check out the ph strips. I checked out Savvycheck but could not find where to buy it?

Kim said:

If you need a Magic Wand to tell you that you have a yeast infection, you don’t deserve to own a vagina.

That actually explains a lot ... :(

"Oh, my vagina is BURNING. I should go pay $15 on a simple pH test to see if there really IS something wrong with my vagina!!! OH EM GEE."

If you need a Magic Wand to tell you that you have a yeast infection, you don't deserve to own a vagina.

I must say, right on to you, girl! I'm a fellow "overly opinionated" woman in my mid twenties. Isn't it obnoxious when older women point out that because we're young, we're not supposed to have opinions?

Now, I have to defend a TINY. Not a lot of people have health insurance these days. Actually, up until my enlistment to the Navy is complete, I'm one of them!

HOWEVER.

I agree with you. It is sheer idiocy to buy a $15 test that is so obviously a PH testing stick. Why not buy the real things, actually TOUCH yourself, and get the same results? If you can't afford the money to go to a doctor about a possible yeast infection, then why are you wasting $15 on a stupid test anyhow? Instead of wasting your money, save up enough cash to go to an actual doctor.

Honestly. Don't some of these ladies recall elementary school science class? They gave us plenty of pH testing sticks, and we tested everything from orange juice to coca-cola.

Also, in my experience, Vagisil, as well as other over the counter treatments, don't do jack for a yeast infection. If you REALLY want to get rid of that obnoxious burning sensation, get a pill from your OB/GYN, take it like the box says, and you're all better.

If anything, there is a national service called Crisis Pregnancy Center. Go see them, they do STD testing for roughly $25, and the doctor there can give you a script of you have a yeast infection or vaginitis. Alternately, look into affordable STD testing in your area. A qualified doctor always administers the test, and if they find something wrong, they give you a script. For $10 more than this idiotic farce of a home test, you can get an actual doctor's opinion, plus you can find out if you recently slept with a shady person!

Is it really so difficult to make a rational decision these days?

So what I'm wondering is:
This girl knows she won't be able to go to the doctor until at least some time this week, so what's the point of the screening kit? Apart from spending about 10 times what a simple PH test is worth, and having the knowledge you have a yeast infection three days before the doctor confirms this and prescribes you something to take care of it.

Well, that or wrongly assuming it's "just" a yeast infection and carrying on with a bad case of something far worse.

Again, I don't see the point.

Granted, I shouldn't really expect random visitors to my site from search engines (this entry currently gets the most hits of anything on the site, not counting my webcam, of course) to understand the philosophy of this site immediately (that philosophy hasn't changed since 1998, bitches!)

At my worst, my thoughts probably still seem as though I'd cling to them if my very life depended upon my letting them go. It's just the way I write. I shrug. I'm fond of precise language, despite being crazily loose with it at times, and despite never bothering to edit or even re-read. In reality, once the words leave my mind, and hit paper or screen, I reject ownership of them. They're just so much ephemera, really. That and I'm often playing the devil's advocate for fun and profit.

My argument is a great one! The bit that applies to you at this moment: would you spend $15-$20 for this BS test? Sucker! The kit isn't ENTIRELY useless (just MOSTLY useless). It does what it claims to do -- not much, but not nothing. Can I understand using it in a case where you can't get to the doctor right away -- probably. BUT it does exactly the same thing as a $2 bottle of pH test strips, except that you might need to touch your girl parts, and look up the results on the interwebs, wah wah wah. So... it's garbage! The markup on this thing is ginormous! Go with the budget option. Frequently the best option (oh, how I abhor wasted money). And then DO see your doctor on Monday. BTW, a yeast infection probably isn't terribly ambiguous. You seem fairly intelligent. If you suspect it's a yeast infection, even after having done web research -- you're probably right. Unless you're in denial about some shady sex.

I don't ignore the realities of heath care in the US -- it's actually one thing I'm particularly interested in (having a husband who is currently seen by every provider we've applied to recently as uninsurable, and having moved here from Canada, where things are a bit screwy, but still manage to suck a MILLION times less). But my website never has been and never will be about going in-depth on controversial, political, or any sort of, well... anything. I could write a well-formed essay avec cheese and/or references telling you why most of (but not all) of your points and everyone else's points above about health care are wrong, but frankly, I'm not interested, because it's BORING, so I would rather just inform you of the fact that you're wrong! And seeing as it's my site, what I say goes, I win, nyah nyah. Go to the doctor! You are a moron! Okay, so you're just MOSTLY full of shit. Still doesn't change the fact that this product is basically exploitative of ignorance (actually, that's not something I couldn't be persuaded to condone, if it earned me some cheese -- Vagisil is SO win in this situation).

I don't have a black and white view of the world. I have complex, well-considered opinions on just about everything. Believe me or don't! Because here's the thing. I don't care if random nobodies (or random somebodies, for that matter) from the internet know about them, understand them, agree with them, care about them, identify with them, whatever... Hell, I don't care if anybody reads this site, period. And I don't care if they do. It's mainly for myself, and consists of unedited, spur-of-the-moment ramblings and rantings that I frequently disagree with five minutes after I post them. I don't claim to be consistent, accurate, reliable, nice, thoughtful, compassionate, concise, or uh... anything but the BOSS around here. I take a stab at all of the above now and again, but if I'm not in the mood -- meh! What do I lose or care? Nuffin.

I do stand by at least two things, however. The Vagisil kit is junk, and there is no god.

In any case. GIGGLEPUSS!?

So it's Saturday night and my cooch is on fire, and not in a good way. My university's health clinic, as well as my gyno's office, will not be open until Monday morning, IF I can score an appointment. Am I considering using a Vagisil Screening Kit? You bet your ass I am, which is how I discovered this blog. The kit sounds potentially lame, but I am trying to keep an open mind, and seek out the pros and cons, from medical professionals, which makes this blog posting especially useless (my fault for reading it). You present a weak argument against the kit, largely focusing on the cost, and the inevitableness (in your view) of visiting a clinician in the end anyway, while the medical shortcomings, as opposed to economic downsides, are not really addressed.

On top of this, I was very off-put by the manner in which you ignore the realities of healthcare in the US, choosing to instead chastise people for a supposed ignorant resistance to visiting the doctor. In a humane and just world, everyone would have access to healthcare, even on the weekends, but the United States is far from that ideal. People lack access to healthcare for many reasons, but especially due to geographical and economic conditions that put visits to the doctor out of reach. I am one of the privileged, as I imagine you are too, for whom medical attention IS a $20 copay (which I can afford) and short drive away. But for so many, this is not the case, and the reasons are complex and diverse.

I feel that to make universal statements such as those made in this post is to dangerously simplify an important and controversial issue in the US today, and is rude to those who do not fit into your black-and-white, go-to-the-doctor-or-you-are-a-moron, view of the world. Open your eyes and be compassionate!

I was searching for information on the "self diagnosing" test strip. Your review and subsequent comments are helpful, to me at least. I hate going to the doctor myself, but sometimes it's necessary, at least for women. There really is NO excuse for not getting regular pap smears. There are plenty of free or low-cost health clinics for those who do not have insurance, are self employed or qualify as low-income. I agree with Candice. Get your ass and all your other body parts to a clinic and get a REAL test if you REALLY want to know what ails you.

Death is bound to be lurking around the corner as one of the consequences. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Sadly enough.

Consequences of idiocy include the perpetuation of credulousness through the generations, BTW. Not quite as bad as death, but still troublesome.

Oh, don't worry. I'm just about as anti-homeopathy as it's possible to be. Your rant is perfectly welcome. The frustrating part about trying to explain any of what you just said to people who believe in homeopathic remedies is that most of them don't even know what homeopathy is in the first place, except that they have some vague idea that it's "natural" and therefore better for you than any alternative. Bah. If people want to be idiots, and throw their money away, or potentially cause themselves harm, fine. It makes me flip out when I hear about people inflicting the consequences of their idiocy on their children, though.

Also, I apologise for hogging your blog for my anti-homeo rant. Back to your regularly scheduled cunt-staring.

That's the big issue I have with homeo-crap, the ol' "Well, it can't hurt, so what's the problem". (not that this is what you're saying, but it's how it often sounds).

Indeed, washing your eyes out with plain water might be helpfull, but why pay a fortune for 50 ml of water, when even Dassani isn't that expensive and just as helpful?

The harm comes from those situations where doing nothing is actually not helping but making things worse.
Homeo-quacks are careful to stick to problems that are known to cure themselves or go away after a while. Or illnesses that are chronic and cyclical (so they can claim they've cured it, and then have the patient come back for more "treatment" when the illness is flaring up again during its natural cycle).

But some of them are crazy enough to try curing serious afflictions, including cancer. People have died as a direct consequence of that, but you can't sue the homeo-quacks for malpractice because they're not really doctors to begin with.

Likewise, you probably wouldn't be able to sue the manufacturers of that vagisil screening kit if it missed a serious infection, because apart from carrying the necessary disclaimers to avoid just such a lawsuit from happening, officially they probably make a slightly but sufficiently different claim about their product compared to their advertising campagne. I.e. they are not responsible for your misinterpretation of their advertising claims.

The claims are vague, and the ingredients all have Xs after them, that's how you can tell. The X indicates which ingredients aren't actually in the product (a good thing, because I wouldn't recommend using eyedrops that actually had belladonna in them... while washing your eyes out with pure water could potentially be helpful).

It's kind of sad that these products are mixed in with everything else these days, because I think it symbolizes the fact that they're seeming more and more legitimate to regular people, not just a small group of people looking for specialty products (or that more and more people are loony new-agers).

Thank Jebus that my teachers actually made a point to teach critical thinking skills...

If you're gonna go into specifics on the yeast infection, this conversation will quickly fly over my head.

Now homeopathy OTOH I know a bit about.

Are they allowed to put "cures" on the labels? Because apart from being false advertising, that would also violate FDA regulations I think. So it should be easy to spot the not in this case, as they're the products that don't go into specifics about what exactly they're supposed to cure.

Of course, if you're in a supermarket buying OTC stuff, the shelf fillers are pretty much the people who ultimately decide what goes where. So if they should decide to put the snake oil and homeopathy and sh*t inbetween all the other medical paraphernalia, and they hide the genuine medication behind the toilet paper and the cat food, who's ever going to know?

The other reason you need to go to a doctor in this case is that the general public doesn't have access to lab testing. Not that the doctor will always find it necessary in the case of a yeast infection, because they usually have a pretty characteristic appearance and odor, which is why most women won't need to see their doctor the second time. Personally, I still prefer to go and get the hardcore prescription stuff, because the OTC solutions don't necessarily do a complete job, and THEN you're stuck with a resistant case of nasty. Boo, hiss.

Haha, homeopathy. I've had to be careful lately. They're putting that crap right next to legitimate products on the shelves, so if you don't check the labels, you could be buying astronomically overpriced H20. I liked it better when they kept that stuff in its own section, easy for me to shun.

Perhaps a little tangential, but fitting none the less.

About a year ago, I read a very nice reply from a surgeon on someone's blog. Essentially, what he said was:
I can teach anyone how to perform an apendectomy is 15 minutes. But you don't go to medical school for almost a decade to learn how to do apendectomies. You go to school that long to learn how to respond when things suddenly don't go quite like they're supposed to.

In other words, you could pretty much solve most medical issues with the help of a good medical reference book. But the reason you need to go to the doctor is to make sure there are no complications that will scar you for life or put you in a wheelchair or any of a number of nasty consequences that might result from being too cheap to pay a real doctor.

And that includes paying a quack instead to have "cheaper" homeopathy prescribed, or to get accupuncture that doesn't do squat.

Open my mind? WTF. My mind is plenty open. Just not so open that my brain is falling out.

Young girls are the ones who most need to go to the doctor in this situation! They almost certainly have far less of an idea about what is going on with their body than someone older, and with more experience.

If someone is really that shy, I doubt that they'd be buying the test for any reason other than to hopefully convince themselves that they don't need to go to the doctor. Which is just awful. It's also awful that there are girls out there who are too embarrassed to talk about things like this with their parents, who have passed on their own shameful body issues to their children, but whatever. If you're a kid, and you're reading this, go talk to your school nurse. It won't be anything new to them or to your doctor, so you don't have to be shy. It's for your own good. (Besides, would you rather have it checked out now, or after it gets 20x worse, 20x more embarrassing, and you really have no choice?)

I realize that most of you are probably getting to this site searching for glowing reviews of this piece of shit product, to convince yourselves of the same thing -- that you've found the solution to your problem, and that you're not going to have to pay a visit to the gynecologist after all... But you haven't, so SUCK IT UP.

This product does not test for yeast. It tests pH, and is a fairly poor diagnosis tool, especially in the hands of someone who has no medical background.

Again: if you're unsure enough about what's wrong with you that you'd consider buying this kit: Go. To. A. Doctor.

You should think of all the young girls who have never had experience with birth control, yeast infections, etc. Sometimes they cannot get to the Dr asap and a little $15 test may make them not only feel better, but help them realize when they should in fact go to the Dr. Also, for the younger girls who are embarrassed or shy and do not want to go to the Dr because they're 'not sure', it could give them the confidence and the push that they need to go to the Dr. Not everyone is bold like you are, some people are very private and need a little push. Open your mind, realize everyone is different.

And here I thought only guys avoided the doctor unless limbs were obviously broken or wounds that won't stop bleeding might start staining the carpet.

Then again, I've heard that women's shoes are prohibitively expensive, as are handbags, or pretty much most of female wardrobe. Maybe some women are too afraid of doing some serious budget shifting in order to pay for a simple visit to the doctor, lest they would need to go to work naked.

Oh wait, no they wouldn't, as on average they already have 17 pairs of shoes and a closet full of clothes.

BTW, anyone in Chicago... you have no excuse to be so stupid as to avoid getting a proper examination. $25 pap smears, get'em while they're hot. That's cheaper than my insurance co-pay. There are probably doctors providing similar services elsewhere in the country, but I certainly can't be arsed to track them down.

The whole "going to the doctor is expensive" thing is being blown way out of proportion, though. Meh. I guess, to many people, their health just isn't worth very much to them? New shoes... doctor bill... new shoes... doctor bill...

I don't appreciate your condescension. I have excellent grammar skills, but rules, they be for breaking.

And I didn't avoid that part of the argument. I addressed it repeatedly. But here I go again: in the long run, it's probably cheaper to go to the doctor than it is to treat something yourself (over and over again, in some cases). A large number of women who treat their "yeast infections" at home have something else. In the meantime, their home remedies could be making things worse, and the real problem isn't being addressed. Get. To. A. Doctor. Ladies. Because very (very) few people have an excuse not to seek proper treatment. Scale back to basic cable for a month or two, if you have to.

(Not to mention that the person who originally said they avoid doctors "at all cost" gave a general dislike of the experience as her main reason -- that is an absolutely terrible excuse to neglect your health!)

Not that that particular argument has anything to do with my original point, which was that this product is garbage. Overpriced garbage, at that. The markup on these kits has to be huge!

Everyone's entitled to their own opinions. But I think you're still neglecting a big, well, a big part of her argument. What she'd said was that not everyone can afford and/or has access to insurance and that's why they are "avoiding the doctors at all costs" since that would likely to incur lots of bills they obviously can't afford.
Your opinionativeness is a good thing, that's part of what keep life interesting. But since you have addressed all OTHER points of her argument in several posts, does that mean you are sidestepping this particular one?
Plus, on a sidenote, just so your future insults would be more effective, it's "polluting my website with stupidity" not "stupid", grammatically, that doesn't make sense. Unless your comprehension of English takes on a REALY distinct level. ^^

Funny how people are bound to claim all doctors are untrustworthy malpracticing assholes whenever something health related is posted anywhere.
Oh yeah, and "big evil pharma" is trying to poison everyone.

I wonder if those very same people ever dare getting on an airplane. After all, those just keep falling from the sky all over the place at about the same rate people are being killed by lousy doctors.

*sigh*

candice, your fucking awesome! tell em how it is!!! yeah, thats all i had to say.

Oh, and...

Anyone who gets medical tests back that indicate a diagnosis of something as extreme as mentioned above, and doesn't get a second (and maybe a third) test and/or opinion... Also an idiot. No doctor is perfect. No test is perfect. There will always be false positives, as well as false negatives.

So yes. Mistakes are made. Um. That said, I'm not sure what your point was. We shouldn't go to the doctor because they might be wrong? Now THAT is pure genius. It's a MUCH better idea to diagnose your yeast infection yourself. It'll be so much more accurate that way.

People need to get a clue.

25-year-olds aren't supposed to have opinions? Take off, ya hoser.

And what the fuck does the majority of what you wrote have to do with anything posted above? Whatever. I'd look up your IP address to see how it was that you happened to wander in here, but I really don't care.

Setting money aside rather than spending it on insurance is an alright idea, but (even if you're young and healthy) you're still running the risk of having an accident, or contracting a disease and not being able to pay for it -- because it can definitely take a looooong time to save up tens of thousands of dollars. Basically what I'm saying is... unless you have an account sitting around with tens of thousands of dollars in it doing nothing but collecting interest that you are committed to leaving alone forever... You're pretty much an idiot for not having health insurance.

An account set aside with many thousands of dollars in it is also a legal alternative to car insurance, BTW. An account with $500 in it that you add to little by little each month, though... not the same thing, not legal, and probably all but useless if you get into a bad car accident.

And uh... a conspiracy? You're two steps away from woo or crackpottery. Get the fuck off of my blog before you take those steps. You come off as one of those freaks who keeps their money under their mattress (P.S. to anyone who is actually so stupid, unless that "money" is in the form of food or other necessities, you'll be fucked anyway -- no, gold bars will not help you, they would be nothing more than useless yellow rocks).

Anyway. You, too, are polluting my website with stupid. GTFO.

Wow...for what 25 or so? You are pretty opinionated. Very few people in this country can afford ins. on their own if they are self employed or if they have employers who do not provide it, and unless there happens to be major health issues in your family or the rare emergency you can go your whole life wasting money on insurance. My inlaws have paid for it for 30 years simply because you are supposed to and have not had to use it except on the rare occassion for let's say a sinus infection. So let's not judge those of us healthy individuals who have chosen not to have insurance coverage and to set the money aside in case there should be a health related emergency. On to going to the doctor to have yourself checked...they don't know everything either..heard of malpractice lawsuits? I have an older friend who was diagnosed with Hep C when she was younger, went 13 years thinking she had the disease, went to the hospital for an emergency gall bladder surgery to find out "M'am you don't have Hep C". And what about the man who lives in CA who was diagnosed with advanced HIV/AIDS and given less than 5 years to live, took meds, lost everything, just to find out he had been misdiagnosed. OOPS...SORRY....And the list goes on....it's all just a conspiracy....politicians, drug companies, most doctors...such is life in America...

If you've never had a yeast infection before, you should go to the doctor regardless for diagnosis. And if you have, it's pretty easy to recognize the symptoms and to treat it without wasting your money on this test (though, if you're having recurring yeast infections, you ought to go to the doctor anyway). If you've had a yeast infection before, and are having new symptoms, then you absolutely need to go to the doctor. Skipping going to the doctor "at all costs" is what will wind up costing you many times more in the future, and is really something you should get over. It is far easier to catch something early on or to prevent it all together than it is to deal with the repercussions that can result from delaying treatment. There have been times when I (stupidly) haven't have insurance, either. But there are definitely costs that I can reduce sufficiently enough in order to pay for a trip to the doctor, because my health is more important than my HBO subscription.

But look at it this way. You're looking at spending $15 on this test (when you could, as I mentioned above, just as easily buy 100 pH test strips for under $2), and at least another $15 (very likely more) on medication that may or may not work. That's already about 1/3 of the cost of going to the doctor (or of the cost of insurance for a month, if the only reason you don't have it is that you're into risk-taking), and there's a very good chance that it won't help you.

This product is really just a way to scam $15 out of women, the majority of whom should be seeking professional help.

And nobody likes going to the OB/GYN. It's just something you deal with, because your health is not something to take lightly.

Either way, this website is all about being judgmental, so I would also like to suggest to you that you review the differences between the homophones weather/whether and then/than, because you're polluting my website with stupid.

I would have to agree with you on the going to a doctor part...but some people don't want to have to spend over 100 dollars to have a doctor tell them that they can use some over the counter medication. Not everyone has insurance.
I think the point in this test is to find out weather you can use over the counter meds or you should skip that part and go to the doctor.
Granted it says you should go to the doctor anyways, but if you PH is below 4.5 then more then likely you only need some over the counter meds and can skip the doctor and lab work. If its higher then 5.0 the you should skip the meds and go to the doctor.
I just don't think you should be so judgmental. Some people (like me) would avoid going to the doctor at all cost. I hate going to the OBGYN. Every things all cold and uncomfortable...and expensive.
Personally if I had a choice I would use the Ph test first. Depending on what it says I would go to the doctor.

I found your website when updating a talk I give on vaginitis. I am a doctor and agree totally with what you have written about the Vagisil product. I would caution about having full faith in the Yeast DIY kit though...up to 20% of women have yeast in their vagina all the time, so the presence of yeast doesn't necessarily mean there is a problem. Also, often when people have vaginitis there is more than one cause (yeast and BV, yeast and trich), so the DIY test would miss this.

... one time this kid yelled at me and tried to insult me by saying that I use Vagisil for my ass.


True story.

Hm, I just had to edit this entry, because I had spelled colour two different ways. I don't want anyone to think that I'm becoming Americanized. Colour is the only word I sometimes leave the superfluous u out of, and it's only because markup and programming languages don't understand me if I spell it correctly...