The Epidemic Silencing Women’s Intimate Health

A few weeks before the Beyond Aromatics 2025 conference in Tampa, I gave a digital presentation on women’s intimate infections and essential oils.
It wasn’t one of those feel-good wellness talks. It was raw. Clinical. Necessary.

When I showed up in person later, I didn’t expect what happened next.
Women started finding me: in hallways, between sessions, while I was trying to get tea

“I’ve had these symptoms for years.”
“I thought it was just hormonal.”
“No one ever explained this to me.”

They all looked the same way; relieved, but furious.

The sad part is that what they’d been dealing with wasn’t rare. It was ignored.

According to the CDC and WHO, more than 70% of women will experience at least one yeast infection in their lifetime.
Around 72% of bacterial-vaginosis cases go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed altogether.
And nearly half of women with recurrent yeast infections experience another episode within a year.
(CDC, WHO, Bradshaw et al., 2006)
Half will deal with recurrence within a year.

When the symptoms continue, most women are handed antidepressants or told to relax. Some are referred to therapy. Others are given the polite version of “it’s all in your head.”

Women are the most over-prescribed, over-medicated, and medically dismissed demographic, and nowhere is that clearer than when something’s wrong below the waist.

I see the aftermath every day.
Women who’ve been trained to distrust their own pain.
Women who’ve convinced themselves that burning, dryness, or low desire are just part of aging or stress.

I promise this is not about hygiene or hormones. It’s about regulation.
When your microbiome is disrupted, your nervous system pays for it.
The body holds the tension, and it stops feeling safe inside itself.

Essential oils aren’t a cure, but they can help the body recalibrate when used properly.
I use them because they work with the body’s terrain, they respect chemistry and sensitivity.

Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) supports the vaginal flora and balances pH.
Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii) helps with fungal overgrowth and tissue repair.
Tea Tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) targets microbes and fungal growth.
Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha) reduces inflammation and strengthens mucosal tissue.

Here’s one of the protocols I shared during that presentation:

Soothing Gel for Early Irritation

• 1 tsp (≈ 5 mL) aloe vera gel

• 1 drop Tea Tree

• 1 drop Geranium

• 1 drop German Chamomile
  Mix and apply externally or intravaginally once or twice a day for up to five days.
  Always use fresh, well-stored oils.

It’s simple, but it works, because it meets the body where it is instead of trying to override it.

That week in Tampa reminded me why I started doing this work in the first place.
Women don’t need to be told to calm down. They need to be taken seriously.

It also pushed me to reopen my first book, Unbroken, and rewrite it from the ground up.
The updated edition explores what happens to women after years of dismissal and disconnection, how trauma, self-trust, and the nervous system overlap, and how aromatherapy can be used as a form of repair rather than escape.

Women aren’t fragile. We’re exhausted.
We’re tired of silence being the standard.
We’re tired of pain being normalized.

And maybe we’re done asking permission to talk about it.