Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine is a Toronto naturopathic clinic dedicated to providing safe and effective treatment of a wide variety of health conditions using natural therapies and the principles of naturopathic medicine.
Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is well treated using naturopathic medicine. It is an infection of the female reproductive organs that often occurs when sexually transmitted bacteria spreads from your vagina to your uterus and upper genital tract through unsafe sexual practices, intrauterine device (IUD) insertion, childbirth, miscarriage, abortion or endometrial biopsy. Although often asymptomatic, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) can cause scar tissue and abscess (collections of infected fluid) development in the fallopian tubes and damage your reproductive organs, resulting in infertility, ectopic pregnancy (implantation of the fertilized egg outside of the uterus) or chronic pelvic pain.
Professional healthcare should be sought out if you experience symptoms of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), or the following signs and symptoms of sexually transmitted infection:
• Genital sores or rash
• Odorous vaginal discharge
• Painful urination
• Bleeding between menstrual cycles
Seek emergency medical care if you have severe pain in your low abdomen in conjunction with:
• Vomiting
• Fever with a temperature higher than 38.3 C (101 F)
• Signs of shock (e.g., fainting)
Symptoms of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
Possible symptoms of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) include:
• Pain in your low abdomen and pelvis
• Heavy, malodorous vaginal discharge
• Irregular menstrual bleeding
• Pain during urination or sexual intercourse (dyspareunia)
• Low back pain
• Diarrhea or vomiting
• Fever or fatigue
Treatment of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) at Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, the goals of pelvic inflammatory disease treatment are to reduce intensity of pain and other symptoms, resolve infection, address factors that will eliminate recurrence and manage side effects of conventional medications.
Conventional treatment for pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is primarily antibiotics, which if used long-term may have side effects. For this reason, you may choose to try natural treatment to possibly avoid use of antibiotics, or together with antibiotics in order to decrease antibiotics dosage required to manage your pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) symptoms.
Naturopathic treatment of any chronic health concern must be recognized as a process that involves identifying specific treatment goals, a thorough understanding by your naturopathic doctor of all factors affecting your health, including physical, psychological, emotional and lifestyle factors, development of a comprehensive treatment plan and execution of that plan through periodic monitoring and adjustment.
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine a typical approach to treating pelvic inflammatory disease may be to first identify and address underlying factors in your lifestyle (e.g., unsafe sexual practices, intrauterine device (IUD) use, hygiene practices) that may be contributing to development of infection and causing recurrence, resolving infection by using botanical (herbal) medicines that support immune system activity and act as natural antibiotics and decrease intensity of pain and menstrual symptoms using hydrotherapeutic techniques and acupuncture.
Where appropriate, a number of therapeutic options are available, to be used alone, or more often in a complementary fashion, including:
• Botanical (herbal) medicines
• Nutritional supplements
• Homeopathic medicines
• Homotoxicological medicines
• Diet therapy
• Lifestyle counseling
• Acupuncture
• Bowen Therapy
References
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Pelvic Inflammatory Disease [Online]. [cited 2010 Jan 29]; Available from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pelvic-inflammatory-disease/DS00402 .