Latest / Libido Lounge / Is Your LUBE Secretly Harming Your Intimate Health? With Heather Florio

Transcript

Is Your LUBE Secretly Harming Your Intimate Health? With Heather Florio · Libido Lounge

0:00
And then just to preface, don't ever use a vaginal lubricant inside your There are a
0:08
variety of different types of lube out there.
0:10
The most common are gonna be your your water based, your petroleum based, and then your your
0:17
silicone based.
0:19
And the problem with what we have out on the market is is that most of it shouldn't go into
0:25
the vaginal biome.
0:27
Most women don't know that we should be looking at osmolality and this is how the fluid flows
0:33
in and out of your vaginal wall, your epithelial cell layer of your vagina.
0:37
This is your protective barrier to STIs, bacteria, fungus.
0:42
And if you start introducing ingredients that are not iso osmolar, they're either hypo or
0:49
hyper osmolar, then what happens is slowly over time, your epithelial cell layer, your vaginal
0:56
wall begins to dry out and it literally falls out.
0:59
So you've just lost your barrier of protection.
1:02
Don't, don't, don't ever.
1:04
Your your biome does not need that.
1:06
It is self cleaning.
1:08
The other case in which you can affect it, obviously, is our is one of the biggest
1:13
problems.
1:13
Coconut oil.
1:14
This is a big one.
1:15
Everybody's like, oh, I'm using natural.
1:17
It's great.
1:17
It's wonderful.
1:18
And, yes, again, very much like silicone is gonna be androgynous.
1:22
The coconut, lube that that people are using, this coconut oil, they're seeing, one, it's
1:29
messy and nasty.
1:31
And then two, we're seeing that over time, it begins to breed back bad bacteria.
1:36
There's only two I know of that are truly isolosmolar in the entire world.
1:45
Hey, everybody.
1:46
Quick break in our episode to talk to you about our sponsor, My Libido Doc.
1:51
One of the things that we truly believe is that great sex is available to everyone, but we just
1:58
have to learn how.
2:00
So head over to our site to get your free copy of our ebook, Five Steps to Mind Blowing
2:08
Orgasms and Romance.
2:10
Get the quick and easy tips to turn your sex life around, rev up your engines, and fall in
2:17
deeper love and passion with yourself and your partner.
2:21
So if you just go to mysexdoc.com, you will find that ebook there for download.
2:28
Now back to our show.
2:30
Hi, Libido Lounge listeners.
2:33
Welcome back to another episode.
2:35
I'm Doctor.
2:36
Diane, your board certified sexologist and sexpert, and I have a juicy show in store for
2:42
you today.
2:44
So one of the things that I often find that is so critical to health and when we're talking
2:50
about sexual health on the show, is what louves we're using and what types of products we're
2:56
actually putting on all of our beautiful bits, our genitals.
3:00
Right?
3:00
And so in order to talk about this, I am bringing on a expert today in this.
3:06
We're gonna talk about lubes, condom compatibility, toxins, things you can be using
3:11
to support your microbiome of your genitals, because we know that the microbiome of the
3:16
genitals has a huge impact on health of this region, on preventing things like vaginal
3:22
dryness, on preventing things like infection.
3:25
And so many people are doing things like putting products on them that are petroleum
3:29
based, for example, and we know that some of these other products can lead to problems such
3:35
as infection.
3:36
Studies have shown, for example, that we see that some of these toxins we are using can lead
3:42
to things like bacteria vaginosis, right, destroying that microbiome and so much more.
3:47
So I really wanted to bring Heather on today, who is the founder of Desert Harvest, one of my
3:54
favorite lube companies in the entire world.
3:57
And I also wanna remind you as we're getting started, remember everybody that for exclusive
4:02
content, we can always join me at the Libido Club.
4:05
You're gonna find information in the show notes today on that, as well as discounts of how to
4:10
get Desert Harvest products and more.
4:12
And remember, in the Libido Club, you get the exclusive content.
4:15
This month, we're really focusing on the topic of toxins because it's so, so, so important.
4:21
So, thank you so much for being here today with me, Heather, and I can't wait to get our
4:26
conversation started.
4:27
Thank you for having me.
4:29
I'm looking forward to it.
4:30
So, let's just open this conversation around lube in general, and where is can we kinda
4:40
start with, like, different types of you lube, and why somebody might think about one type of
4:45
lube versus another type of lube?
4:48
There are a variety of different types of lube out there.
4:50
The most common are gonna be your your water based, your petroleum based, and then your your
4:58
silicone based.
4:59
And and and then you've got kind of a a mixture of natural options as well.
5:05
And the problem with what we have out on the market is that most of it shouldn't go into the
5:12
vaginal biome.
5:14
The minute we start introducing particular types of chemical ingredients, we are not only
5:20
throwing off our pH, but we're throwing off our osmolality.
5:24
And this is something that is very much, under recognized.
5:28
There's only been one study done that was done by the World Health Organization in 2015, And
5:33
this was for country sex workers to figure out how to reduce the incidence of STIs.
5:39
It wasn't just in general for women in general here.
5:43
And so as a result, most women don't know that we should be looking at osmolality.
5:50
And this is how the fluid flows in and out of your vaginal wall, your epithelial cell layer
5:56
of your vagina.
5:56
This is your protective barrier to STIs, bacteria, fungus.
6:02
And if you start introducing ingredients that are not iso osmolar, they're either hypo or
6:09
hyper osmolar, then what happens is slowly over time, your epithelial cell layer, your vaginal
6:16
wall begins to dry out and it literally falls out.
6:19
So you've just lost your barrier of protection.
6:22
And so it's very important that as we're looking out within lubricants, this separate of
6:28
pH, which you want your pH to be acidic, you want your biome to be acidic.
6:34
And if your biome is not acidic and your tissues are unhealthy, it doesn't matter what
6:39
you put in there at that point, it's going to probably burn and be uncomfortable from micro
6:44
tears and unhealthy tissues.
6:46
And again, having that barrier kind of missing.
6:50
So as a result, it is very, very important that we not only choose an acidic right around 4.5,
6:58
for pH, but we also choose an lubricant that is also iso osmolar.
7:04
Again, the World Health Organization is the only one that's kind of set this directive in
7:09
which ideal vaginal osmolality is two ninety, and you only wanna be plus and minus 80 points
7:16
on that scale.
7:18
And as you can imagine, most of the lubricants when you walk inside a store, there's only two
7:22
I know of that are truly iso osmolar in the entire world.
7:27
And then otherwise you're looking at what you find in the health food stores, in the grocery
7:32
stores, you're gonna find 10,000, 9,000, 8,000 osmolality where your biome is two ninety.
7:40
Remember, plus or minus 80 points.
7:41
You're destroying your biome with these.
7:44
But unfortunately, this is something that is not regulated within our society of these
7:50
products.
7:51
They're required to do testing.
7:53
Now, one of the the big things that you can find out with lubricants is they if they are an
8:00
FDA controlled cleared medical device, which is what lubricants are required to be, They will
8:07
have that osmolality number because it's required as part of the testing to get the
8:13
government medical device certification.
8:16
You will however find a lot of lubricants out there kind of promoting themselves kind of
8:21
under the radar.
8:22
So you'll see things like, where you need a little extra slipperiness or or gut, but you
8:28
won't talk about them inserting it into the vagina.
8:31
You'll just hear them talking about intimacy and and having fun and play, and and you can
8:37
utilize this.
8:39
But that means that they are not an FDA cleared medical device, and they are not regulated to
8:43
go inside your vagina.
8:45
And even then, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're iso osmolar because that is not a
8:50
requirement.
8:51
You're required to have the osmolality testing.
8:53
You are not required to be iso osmolar.
8:56
This is such good information.
8:58
So so from a standpoint of consumer, in differentiating between products, Is a company
9:05
that is kind of like not with the regulation, but still promoting their products kind of in
9:11
the intimate space, are they allowed to use words like lubricants?
9:15
They are not.
9:16
Okay.
9:17
You might see this.
9:18
Unfortunately, one, we've completely gutted the FDA.
9:21
So, we're in worse shape than we were even last year.
9:25
And last year, even then, they couldn't they they they were trying to give so just to
9:31
understand, they didn't regulate medical, lubricants as medical devices until around
9:37
2015.
9:39
So as a result, you've got all of these companies needing to play catch up, and they
9:44
kinda gave a five year window in which they were gonna give people time to catch up, get
9:49
the certifications that were necessary to keep their product on the market.
9:54
Well, then the pandemic hit.
9:56
And and FDA didn't really have a lot of time to regulate that.
10:02
And then now we've got a gutted FDA.
10:05
So they're not regulating the way that they need to be right now with lubricants.
10:10
I expect that to come in the future, and and that will be a thing.
10:14
But right now, you're gonna find a lot of stuff on the market that could say lubricant, could
10:18
say other thing.
10:19
It just may not say, hey, put this in your vagina.
10:22
But yeah.
10:24
Yeah.
10:25
And it's always important to remind everybody, like, what we put on our vagina, what we put on
10:29
our skin in any sort of way, like, our skin's so porous.
10:34
And so, if it's one of these things where it's like, Wow, this is like not safe to be in the
10:38
body, we don't want it anywhere near us.
10:40
We don't want it in our vagina, we don't want it our penis, we don't want it in, you know, on
10:43
our skin, any of these areas.
10:45
So, okay, so then, in a consumer standpoint, so now we know the FDA component.
10:51
Now, what about, can you can you redefine exactly the osmolarity?
10:55
Because you said that it is required then from the FDA to put the specific number, correct, on
11:02
the product.
11:03
So It is not required to put the number on the product.
11:07
It is required for them to do the testing.
11:10
So all of them have their number.
11:13
So if they're not advertising their number, there's also a good point to question.
11:18
And there's nothing wrong with reaching out to the company and being like, hey, what's your
11:22
osmolality number?
11:23
Because if they are FDA compliant, they had they know that number.
11:28
Okay.
11:29
And then ideally, for the support of the pH of the vagina, can you say that number again, what
11:34
we're looking for?
11:35
So 4.5 for pH, two ninety for osmolality, only plus or minus 80 points, and you'll only wanna
11:43
be plus or minus a couple of points on the pH scale for an, a lubricant as well.
11:50
And then just to preface, don't ever use a vaginal lubricant inside your anus.
11:57
Because the anus is gonna be completely different.
12:00
That is a alkaline biome, and it is sensitive to osmolality, but it is more sensitive to pH
12:07
in the anal biome.
12:09
So if you used an acidic lubricant in your anal biome, it instantaneously falls out your
12:15
epithelial cell layer.
12:17
So it's even more sensitive in the anal biome to the pH than it is even to the osmolality.
12:23
Okay.
12:24
That's really helpful.
12:25
So then, so I understand this too.
12:26
So are you saying that the osmolality can then influence the pH?
12:31
No, these are two completely separate mechanisms.
12:35
So with the pH, this is all about acidity, maintaining the acidity of the biome.
12:41
The osmolality is about fluid and fluidity.
12:45
Letting the fluid be able now what blocks that is the chemicals.
12:50
So the chemicals block the fluidity of fluid because essentially you talk about it being
12:56
porous.
12:56
Imagine it like a sponge.
12:58
It's it's soaking up.
13:00
It's pushing moisture up to the top when you're getting wet.
13:03
It's it's it's creating that moisture, but it's also moisturizing those tissues all the way
13:09
down, all the way down through the layers of the tissue.
13:12
So as a result, if you can't make that fluid flow back and what happens?
13:17
It dries out, and then it falls out.
13:21
So in many ways, we're saying with the osmolality that there is a that's helping with
13:25
the fluid and kind of, in many ways, like the natural lubrication, encouraging the natural
13:30
lubrication of the vaginal tract.
13:33
And then the pH is really helping the microbiome and all the benefits from the
13:36
microbiome.
13:37
Correct?
13:37
Correct.
13:38
Correct.
13:39
If your pH is off, that microbiome becomes unhealthy.
13:42
Instead of breeding healthy bacterias, you start to breed unhealthy bacterias.
13:48
Now are there any other things that you know about?
13:50
So that kind of helps us with lube.
13:51
Are there any other things just kind of like health and lifestyle that you've come across in
13:55
your research that really can influence the pH or the osmolality?
14:00
Yeah.
14:00
So definitely many, many things, affect our vaginal biome, whether it's how we're utilizing
14:06
soaps when we're washing down there.
14:08
Obviously, nothing needs to go inside your vagina to wash your vagina.
14:12
When we're talking about vaginal steaming, you know, douching, things like that, don't, don't,
14:17
don't ever your your biome does not need that.
14:21
It is self cleaning, but we have been programmed as a society to feel that need to
14:25
feel clean and fresh.
14:27
And if you're utilizing an, most soaps on the market that you're gonna buy in the store are
14:32
going to be alkaline.
14:34
And so if you're washing your vulva, you can act, you can actually influence your vaginal
14:39
biome as well.
14:40
And, you know, show it alkaline soaps that can influence the behavior of your vaginal biome.
14:48
Same thing with sperm.
14:50
If you're having sex with a partner, you're not utilizing a condom.
14:55
You know, you're you're influencing your vaginal biome because sperm is alkaline.
15:00
So again, thinking about how do you reset that acidity when afterwards?
15:07
How do you reset that acidity after you're having sex with your partner, especially if
15:11
you're looking to conceive, other things like that.
15:14
You know, there are there are different types of spermicides.
15:18
You know, one of the ones I recommend is a brand called Good Clean Love because it doesn't
15:22
damage the biome.
15:24
And then if you're not looking to conceive the Aloe Glide, this is where you can insert that
15:31
just to keep tissues healthy.
15:32
It's actually our Desert Harvest Aloe Glide is an FDA cleared medical device as both a sexual
15:38
lubricant and a vaginal moisturizer.
15:41
So you can just insert something like that just to keep the tissues healthy, help to reset that
15:46
pH if you're exposing yourself to alkaline, substances.
15:51
The other case in which you can affect it, obviously, is our underwear, as well as during
15:57
during menstruation because we're we're we're creating a more alkaline environment during
16:03
menstruation as well.
16:05
And so how do we influence those behaviors?
16:08
And that, again, can go into the type of underwear you're using.
16:12
We've seen all over the news, everything else like that, where we're talking about, you know,
16:16
PFAS chemicals in our in our our pads, in our our tampons, and other things like that.
16:23
Desert harvest is actually getting ready to release.
16:26
We actually released next week, live.
16:29
We had a little bit of a delay.
16:32
Lunation.
16:33
And this is we created a new fabric made out of aloe.
16:37
Aloe is naturally antifungal, antimicrobial, antibacterial.
16:42
And then we created a layer of ginger to deodorize.
16:45
And then we created a layer of bamboo, which is gonna wick moisture.
16:48
And we have a waterproof organic cotton that will be kind of like a fail safe layer as a as
16:55
a protective barrier.
16:56
So those but then again, we also made them sexy.
16:59
We created natural, like, lace so that they're you know, we don't we don't have to wear granny
17:05
panties when we're when we're menstruating or urinary leakage or anything else like that.
17:10
So that's kind of why we created these.
17:14
And and it will show that no chemical has ever touched an inch of fabric in every single batch
17:21
of that that fabric that we make.
17:23
And so that gives you an idea of, like, you know, what we need to be looking for.
17:27
If we're just looking for regular underwear, organic cotton is always a good go to.
17:33
And and looking at how we're influencing our biome from just what we're wearing.
17:38
Just a quick break to let you know that eighty percent of women do not have orgasms from
17:43
vaginal intercourse alone.
17:46
So many people are not having the type of sex that is healing that brings them closer, that
17:52
brings them more connected, that is full of so much pleasure and passion, that it can build
17:57
bones, reduce stress, help serotonin, bring happiness, lower anxiety, improve sleep, and
18:03
build a better connection with your partner.
18:06
That is what hot and modern monogamy is, is modern monogamy that brings in all of that
18:13
passion, that desire, that closeness, and that healing.
18:15
And that's what you can get at the hot and modern monogamy club.
18:19
So if you're interested in that and I can help you, please go to modernmonogamyclub.com.
18:25
Now back to our show.
18:27
Amazing.
18:27
And just so everybody knows, the PFAS chemical that Heather has mentioned here, it is getting
18:32
more notoriety these days.
18:34
It's really a class of chemicals that are also known as the forever chemicals.
18:38
And it's because, they're called the forever chemicals, because these are things that we are
18:41
creating in society that don't break down in nature.
18:45
And so, other types of chemicals sometimes stay in our environment for many type, you know,
18:50
many, years, but eventually can get broken down.
18:54
And one of the biggest problems we're finding with the PFAS is that these chemicals don't
18:58
break down.
18:59
So, they get in our body, they get in our environment, and they don't naturally break
19:03
down.
19:04
And they are, they're being linked to more and more and more diseases as we learn more about
19:08
them.
19:09
So, the, you know, doing something like a menstruation underwear with the, you know, the
19:13
types of technology that Heather's talking about is a really important thing, because a
19:18
lot of people are putting these chemicals in their body, the vagina's porous, They're
19:22
getting into their bloodstream.
19:23
They can cause all sorts of problems, including disruption of our hormonal system, and keeping
19:29
them out is so important out of our vagina, out of our skincare products, out of our food, all
19:34
of the things.
19:35
I also wanna circle back to something you said when you're talking about the health and the
19:40
the pH, and you're saying, okay, don't douche, don't steam.
19:43
I wanna clarify that because Yoni steaming, I know, has gotten so It's really been talked a
19:50
lot about in the female vagina self love, self care, you know, movement, where you sit on
19:56
this, oftentimes this device that kinda looks like a toilet seat, with something below you
20:02
that is typically hot water, warm water, that oftentimes has a bunch of herbs in them.
20:09
And the concept of Yoni steaming is using different herbs, and with the, almost like
20:14
making a tea decoction, the herbs infuse into the water, and that steam then goes into the
20:20
vagina.
20:21
And so, it is promoted so much.
20:22
I know actually quite a few people who do Yoni steams regularly.
20:26
So, are you saying that that can even be dangerous to the microbiome?
20:30
Yes, it can.
20:32
So, you know, in a lot of peep a lot of situations, women are going because they think
20:36
it's just killing the bad bacteria, but it's also killing the bad the good bacteria that
20:42
your your vet vagina needs to continue to be self cleaning and self functioning and maintain
20:48
your your natural healthy biome.
20:52
And so by utilizing vaginal steaming, yoni steaming, this this can destroy all of that
21:01
good bacteria.
21:02
And so we highly do not recommend that.
21:06
And most of the clinicians we work with don't recommend that just because of the damage that
21:12
it does to the vaginal microbiome.
21:14
And none of the evidence suggests that there is enough benefit, to make it worth it.
21:21
It may might feel good afterwards.
21:24
Like, this, you might feel wonderful, but it's definitely something that, at least in the
21:28
medical community, is is is something that's talked about is not being recommended.
21:33
Okay.
21:34
I think that's really important for people to hear.
21:37
What about, I want to circle back around to kind of the toxin standpoint.
21:42
So,
21:42
we know, as, you know, as I mentioned at the beginning, as you mentioned in your intro,
21:46
petroleum's such a common thing in a lot of these different lubricants.
21:50
What is that doing?
21:52
Is that, is the problem that you see also in a similar construct around impacting the pH and
21:58
osmolality?
21:59
Are there other things you've seen with that are problematic with it?
22:02
Yeah.
22:03
So definitely, with the petrol especially with the petroleum based, those that are introducing
22:09
other types of of of preservatives, exo hefroglycerin, other types of glycerin, things
22:16
like that, that are acting as glycerin, things like that, that are acting as chemical
22:20
preservatives.
22:21
What those are doing is one, glycerines are gonna create and breed bacteria, you know,
22:27
their sugars.
22:27
So they're gonna create bacteria.
22:29
They're gonna create they're gonna help grow yeast.
22:32
And and this is of course, something we don't want in our biome.
22:36
And then with regards to the petroleum, one, we're again creating a barrier between the
22:43
fluidity.
22:44
But you think of petroleum, think about when you put Vaseline on something like that.
22:48
It's acting as a barrier.
22:50
It's not letting your fluid flow within your vaginal wall.
22:54
And so this is this is one of the biggest problems.
22:57
Now interestingly enough, silicone is is actually has no osmolality.
23:06
And so because it does not have, so like silicone base, but then we go into the question
23:13
of we're dealing with a chemical again.
23:14
So we're still introducing a chemical to our biome.
23:17
It doesn't affect the osmolality, but, and it doesn't affect necessarily the pH.
23:23
It's kind of just very, you know, amphorous.
23:27
It's not gonna have that kind of effect with the silicone.
23:31
And so it comes, kinda becomes a multi use tool and that it can go back and But we don't know
23:37
the ultimate effects of the chemical nature of silicone, and how that and similarly, if we
23:43
wanna skip over to let's say, coconut oil.
23:46
This is a big one.
23:47
Everybody's like, oh, I'm using natural.
23:49
It's great.
23:49
It's wonderful.
23:50
And yes, again, very much like silicone is gonna be androgynous.
23:54
It's not gonna have that it's not gonna have that osmolality factor.
24:00
But unfortunately, what we have seen in in clinical research is is that the coconut lube
24:07
that that people are using, this coconut oil, they're seeing one, it's messy and nasty.
24:13
And then two, we're seeing that over time, it begins to breed back bad bacteria.
24:19
And so even though we think that this is, you know, gonna be completely androgynous, it is
24:25
not like silicone in this in this sense because the pH will ultimately in long term effect when
24:32
it comes to coconut oil, whereas we see with silicone that doesn't happen.
24:37
Yeah.
24:38
And I've researched and reached out to quite a few people about not using coconut oil.
24:43
Also, from a standpoint of we do see evidence that it is antimicrobial.
24:48
Right?
24:48
So, what you're seeing in studies around breeding bad bacteria, in my mind, is probably
24:53
coming from the utility of using it.
24:56
And since it's antibacterial, we can be killing off our good microbiome, which then naturally
25:01
sets up a, a environment where these patho, you know, pathogenic bacteria can make their home
25:07
there because our microbiome is part of what is protecting against that.
25:11
So, I think that's some of the mechanism that's happening there.
25:14
Yeah.
25:15
I wanna talk about the use of aloe in particular because it is something that I think
25:20
is particularly important with your product.
25:23
And there's research that, that I'll ask you about here.
25:26
I know it's, it's helpful for things like interstitial cystitis.
25:30
And for our listeners, interstitial cystitis, I feel, at least in my medical practice, is, I
25:36
think, a very underdiagnosed condition.
25:38
I look at what this is as kind of like a leaky gut of the bladder.
25:43
So, it's really where people are having the signal that they, this kind of the signal of
25:49
urgency that can almost feel like a bladder infection, except it typically is not gonna
25:53
like burn when you pee, And it's more this urgency because what's supposed to happen in
25:58
the bladder is when the bladder, when we get that signal to our brain to urinate, that's
26:04
coming from the bladder expanding far enough.
26:06
And when the bladder expands, it says, it triggers our nervous system to say, oh, the the
26:11
the bladder's expanded.
26:12
It's full.
26:13
The nerve sends a signal to the brain to say, hey, your bladder's full.
26:17
You got to pee.
26:18
And with interstitial cystitis, one of the things that will happen is that signal gets
26:24
disrupted due to bladder irritation.
26:27
And so, this signal when the bladder has maybe only expanded a tiny little bit, you're getting
26:32
that that signal, that urgency, I gotta go, maybe you go.
26:36
And was like, wow, there's not much there.
26:39
And this, this intense feeling, which sometimes can be interpreted even as pain, can radiate.
26:45
And it can actually radiate to the genitals, to the vulva, to the vagina, and lead to people
26:51
seeking out medical attention, not even realizing that it's ultimately coming from
26:56
their bladder, but it's, it's being interpreted as pelvic or vaginal pain.
27:01
I think it's oftentimes misdiagnosed because people don't know how to describe this, so they
27:05
get tested for a UTI, which is negative.
27:08
And then they're just like, okay, well, it's just in your head.
27:11
You're fine.
27:12
Go out into the world.
27:13
So, if you're having any sort of symptoms like that or pelvic pain, this can be a helpful, you
27:19
know, tool.
27:20
So, tell us a little bit about that around, like, the choice of aloe, around some of the
27:24
research there with cystitis, pelvic pain, and those kind of things.
27:29
Yeah.
27:29
So, that is actually how Desert Harvest started in 1993.
27:33
My aunt had the bladder disorder, interstitial cystitis, and we were looking for something
27:37
that might be able to help her.
27:39
And we stumbled across aloe vera.
27:42
She took a random bottle, she slept through the entire night.
27:45
And then we wanted to figure out how we could concentrate it, how we could make it safe for
27:51
long term use and in high doses.
27:54
Aloe vera naturally has what's called anthraquinones in them.
27:57
They're latex chemicals that long term, can be carcinogenic to the colon, cause liver damage,
28:03
kidney damage.
28:03
So what Desert Harvest makes is not what you find in the health food stores.
28:07
This isn't your juices.
28:09
This isn't one, juices will actually irritate the bladder because there's only two ways to
28:14
preserve aloe vera juice, and that is through bladder irritating preservatives like citric
28:19
acid, lemon, and other things like that.
28:21
And then two, pasteurization, and which is really just expensive water at that point
28:27
because you've just killed all of the nutrients and aloe vera is 98%, 98.9% water.
28:36
And so literally, you are drinking expensive water.
28:39
And so with with, we're actually studying right now for FDA drug trials at Wake Forest
28:45
University, our super strength, our SSAV.
28:49
And what we're studying is how it interacts with the urothelial cell of the bladder.
28:55
So, you know, you talk about high rate of misdiagnosis.
28:58
And and it is misdiagnosed within the field, and then it's misdiagnosed in a lot of cases in
29:06
which women are seeking mostly women.
29:09
There are also men.
29:10
There's about twenty five percent men, seventy five percent women on average.
29:14
And it feels like a constant UTI that is not going away.
29:20
And as you mentioned, most people end up with, negative UTI results when they when they go in
29:27
for a test in their doctor's office.
29:29
And so as a result, what is happening is it's affecting the urothelial cell lining of the
29:36
bladder.
29:37
In most cases, most actual true interstitial cystitis patients have true bladder wall
29:43
impact.
29:44
So they either have lesions or they have a very large inflamed bladder that urothelial cell
29:50
layer is damaged and or completely missing.
29:52
And then as a result, imagine you eat something that's acidic or something like that and it
29:57
passes through that bladder.
29:59
It's it's like, you know, battery acid on a wound.
30:02
So that's where you get the pain.
30:03
That's where you get the burning sensation when you start to urinate.
30:07
And and you you start to deal with capacity issues where you feel that urgency feeling.
30:13
And in some cases, over time, as a result of the lack of health of the bladder, the bladder
30:18
can shrink to a very, very, very small size.
30:22
And that's why in clinic, a lot of the times doctors will stretch your bladder.
30:27
Not the most comfortable procedure in the world, but this is what will happen is called
30:32
hydrodistension, to try to get your bladder back to capacity.
30:37
But at the same time, there is no known etiology what causes interstitial cystitis.
30:45
We have no idea for treatments exactly right now, that's why Desert Harvest, we have an
30:51
eighty seven point five percent response rate with actual interstitial cystitis patients.
30:56
But what has caused the problem is is the waters have been kind of muddied by the fact
31:03
that we started in the early two thousands making it a diagnosis of exclusion.
31:09
In the rest of the world, you have to have a cystoscopy, again, highly uncomfortable, and
31:15
usually leaves you with some radiating pain for a few days.
31:18
And as a result, doctors didn't wanna continue to subject patients to continual pain.
31:24
So as a result, we started making it a diagnosis of exclusion.
31:27
You don't have this, you don't have that, you must have this.
31:30
And so as a result, it's kind of muddied the waters for interstitial cystitis and muddied
31:37
the waters for research.
31:38
The great news is is, just a couple of years ago, doctor Lenora Ackerman at UCLA, she
31:46
actually did a study on utilizing AI and machine learning.
31:52
And it was the time that we had ever been able to truly there'd always been theories of what
31:59
phenotyping out, subtyping out interstitial cystitis into different conditions.
32:04
So that then we could get to the root cause of interstitial cystitis.
32:09
But unfortunately, clinical research has never been able to do that.
32:13
So she did a study where she actually put in 600 or so respondents into filling out these
32:20
questionnaires, And they were, through machine learning, were actually able to find three
32:25
distinct categories, and that was bladder centric.
32:27
All their pain was coming directly from their bladder.
32:30
And then you had kind of a myofascial pain, eighty eight percent resolved with felt pelvic
32:37
floor physical therapy in that group.
32:39
And then the group was like a neuralgia nonspecific type of pain.
32:43
You were radiating pain from somewhere else in your body, another condition, another injury,
32:49
things like that.
32:50
And it wasn't truly the impact of your bladder, but it was causing that feeling of pressure and
32:56
urgency through the neuralgia.
32:58
So this is going to change things for interstitial cystitis hopefully, and get us to
33:03
the root cause, and so that we don't have such a high rate of misdiagnosis.
33:08
And we can truly determine because most women who have pelvic conditions need pelvic floor
33:15
physical therapy.
33:16
When you think of a condition where you're in pain, think of when you get into a car
33:20
accident, everything tenses up and you need to go get massage or chiropractor or whatever.
33:25
Think of that as the same thing with your pelvic floor.
33:29
When you're experiencing a chronic pain condition, you're not feeling well.
33:33
Your pelvic floor is your hammock to everything in your body.
33:36
It's root.
33:38
And as a result, takes on the impact of what you're feeling and almost becomes like a dish
33:45
rag that's super super tight.
33:47
And and you need to be able to release that pelvic floor.
33:51
And many people go to to Kegels and they're like, let me do my Kegels and and stuff.
33:57
And and that's the worst thing you could do.
34:00
You've got to be able to re release your pelvic floor and that's seeing a great pelvic floor
34:07
physical therapist before you strengthen it back up and learn the exercises to strengthen
34:12
up and figure out which part of your pelvic floor is in a weakened state.
34:17
Beautiful.
34:17
And I wanna add to that.
34:19
In my clinical experience, while the it is a confusing thing, right, and the ideology of
34:24
this is not fully clear, and diagnostics are not even fully clear, as you mentioned, because
34:30
of diagnosis of exclusion, I have seen many cases in my clinical career of, like, what
34:38
seems like interstitial cystitis, or somebody has been diagnosed by a previous doctor with
34:42
that, where getting toxins out and getting food allergies out actually make it go away.
34:48
So, one of the things that I think is great about holistic medicine, and what I've seen
34:54
clinically with this is, so many times, when we're actually cleaning up the diet, we're
34:58
getting out the toxins, we're getting out any chronic hidden infections, which is crazy
35:03
common, not just pelvic chronic hidden infections, but systemic.
35:07
And these things that actually create that, that stress, that inflammatory response on
35:12
bladder and the nervous system, things just start going away.
35:15
So, that's another thing I want to add to here from an etiology standpoint.
35:20
Not saying that there's, you know, there's tons of research behind it, but clinical evidence in
35:25
some of these scenarios is a huge component of what we have to go on.
35:29
So, I just wanna add that for
35:30
our listeners here as well.
35:32
And this has been awesome.
35:34
As I have, I love everything that we have covered today.
35:37
I think this, this conversation on osmolality is really help, you know, important and
35:41
helpful, this conversation on pH, Helping people understand that not all lube is the
35:46
same, and that using an aloe based type of product can not only provide support with this,
35:52
but also can help with healing, and that not all aloe based products are the same either.
35:57
So, I think being responsible consumers is just such an incredibly important thing.
36:03
So, is there anything else in our time together?
36:06
And again, everybody, I'm gonna have links for Desert Harvest and some discounts for you guys
36:12
in the show notes on this.
36:13
You know, definitely look at joining my libido club where we will go more into toxins,
36:20
hormones, techniques, root causes, on and on and on and on to support you, your libido, your
36:26
love life, your desire, your passion, and more.
36:28
And all that being said, Heather, is there are there any, like, final points?
36:32
Is there any final points that you wanna make sure we say today?
36:36
Yeah.
36:37
Pretty much.
36:39
I'd say just claim your pleasure, and realize that even if you have a chronic pain condition,
36:46
there are ways in which you can claim your pleasure, and mediate that with the health of
36:53
your body.
36:54
At the same time, you you talk about interstitial cystitis and the overall health of
37:01
your body.
37:02
When we say mind gut health approach, it's one hundred percent.
37:07
In a lot of cases with interstitial cystitis, there there is a mast cell activation
37:12
component.
37:12
They call it the allergic bladder.
37:14
And a lot of the times taking antihistamines, and or over the counters like quercetin, things
37:20
like that can make a massive difference for just the health of the bladder outside of
37:25
interstitial cystitis.
37:26
And so definitely following your path and your journey towards, recovering your health and
37:34
your pleasure is is part of the reason why Desert Harvest is here, the part of the reason
37:38
why doctor Mueller's here.
37:41
And and we would love to be a part of your journey, in any way possible.
37:46
So
37:47
Amazing.
37:47
Well, thank you again for being here.
37:49
Thank you all for listening, and we will see you very soon on another episode of the Libido
37:55
Lounge.
37:55
Take care.
37:56
Bye.
37:59
Awesome.
38:00
Thank
38:03
you for listening to the Libido Lounge.
38:05
Please don't keep me a secret.
38:07
Please share this with your friends.
38:08
You can find me on YouTube, on Instagram, as well as how to work with me at mylibidodoc.com.