· Vag Health · 3 min read
What If the Symptoms Are More Than Just Physical?
Recurring symptoms may have emotional roots. Learn how stress, suppression, and stored emotion can affect vaginal and hormonal health — and how to release gently.
Some symptoms return no matter how well they’re treated. Not because the protocol was wrong — but because the body is holding more than just biology.
There’s a deeper layer to healing that often gets overlooked. Not in lab results, but in lived experience. Not in the surface symptoms, but in what’s happening underneath — emotionally, energetically, and internally.
This isn’t about “thinking symptoms into existence.” It’s about recognising that the body stores what the heart hasn’t yet had space to release.
The body as a messenger, not a machine
When recurring symptoms like thrush, BV, irritation, or hormonal chaos continue — even after multiple rounds of treatment — it’s natural to feel confused or defeated.
But sometimes, what looks like a microbiome imbalance or hormonal disruption is also tangled up with:
- Long-standing stress or nervous system depletion
- Suppressed emotion around sexuality, safety, or shame
- Past medical dismissal or trauma
- Perfectionism and chronic internal pressure
- Unspoken fear around ageing, menopause, or identity shifts
A quick example: 1 symptom, multiple stories…
Two women, both experiencing recurring thrush.
The first has a history of antibiotic use, weight gain and fatige driven by blood sugar imbalances.
The second has all of those PLUS an unspoken fear of intimacy after having their symptoms ignored or dismissed by previous practitioners.
Same symptoms, different stories. While we will start with temporary relief for both, while working on body systems to support underlying drivers like blood sugar regulation, vaginal and hormonal health, we also need deeper support to truly shift emotional patterns.
The nervous system’s role in recurring symptoms
The vaginal and pelvic region, and hormone regulation, is highly responsive to the autonomic nervous system - the primative responses in our brains that move us from rest and digest to fight/flight/flee and back as needed.
In times of chronic stress, grief, stored tension or poor mental health, blood flow changes, tissue sensitivity increases and the body’s priorities shift. That shift is into a “protective mode”, making symptoms like irritation, pain and discomfort more likely and triggering increased PMS, heavy periods and/or irregular periods. Even without any other cause.
when we acknowledge those emotions, process and release them - not just “manage” them - the body softens. Symptoms often reduce, inflammation reduces and more importantly, the relationship with the body begins to change.
At The Vag Hormone Naturopath, we use Emotion Release Technique as part of the treatment approach. Because sometimes we don’t need to do more, we need to create space for the whole story to be heard and processed, not just the physical one.
Gentle support for deep reflection Not everything needs to be “dug up” and spoken aloud, but these questions might offer insights into symptoms that just don’t shift:
- What was happening emotionally when the symptoms first started?
- How do you refer to this part of your body? When you think about it, how does it make you feel emotionally?
- Has this part of the body ever felt safe?
There is no right answer, just curiosity.
Ready to explore the deeper layer?
The Vag Hormone Assessment includes space for both the science and the story — microbiome and hormones, yes, but also lived experience and emotional health.
This isn’t about talking through trauma or reliving the past. It’s about recognising that true healing includes all parts of the person — physical, emotional, hormonal, and energetic.
If you want to know more about this process, head to https://bit.ly/BookWithAlison and book a free confidential Vag Hormone Assessment. Lets see what’s holding you back
