To ask you to help me cure my recurrent thrush? PLEASE!!!

[TwoATee]

Hi all, I've name changed for this. And I'm also posting here for traffic (I hope you don't mind).

I constantly get thrush. It's been going on years. I have been to the GP about it being so recurrent and they just prescribe high dosages of the treatment which works and then it comes back eventually 😩

It's as if it's always there although mild and without symptoms at times. Then something like having sex or wearing tights will cause all the symptoms to begin again.

Has anyone been through this and found a way to stop it somehow?

I'm desperate and really hoping you guys can help 🙏🏼

Optibac for women is the only thing that cleared up my longstanding thrush in less than 24 hours.

Only problem is, I'm scared to stop taking it incase it comes back.

I had it in pregnancy constantly. The thing that helped was salt baths. No idea if it’s recommended for thrush but it worked for me. I also take homemade kefir daily for a probiotic and haven’t had an attack since despite being on very strong antibiotics after my baby was born.

Multigyn cleared my reoccuring thrush up. Took about 10 weeks of treatment but definitely did the trick.

Also agree with limiting sugar and eating natural yogurt too.

ditto the above:

your partner can carry it without symptoms. my nurse always prescribes for us both when i get thrush.

no soap or anything like that.

mine improved massively when i stopped using sanitary towels and swapped to mooncup.

knickerless at nighttime.

It's not uncommon for people with recurrent thrush to take diflucan (flucanazole) weekly, to prevent reinfection. It might be worth doing some research and then going back to your doctor.

Poor you. It's agony. Three years I had it - three long hard miserable years of more or less constant thrush. Eventually I did as advised on here and completely eradicated sugar from my diet. It was a hardcore eradication - no fruit, no alternative sugars (honey, agave syrup etc). Very low carb intake. It went within a week and hasn't returned - but I did stick to very low sugar/carb intake which has had other benefits too.

I had this. I was possibly the only GP referral to the local GUM clinic who wasn't there incognito, and it took a year to shift it. A. YEAR. I can't remember the misery and discomfort of that time without a cold shudder going down my back. (And every time I visited they tried to persuade me to take a pox test, too!)

It wasn't only the treatment I received that helped shift this hideous, uncomfortable condition in the end. It became obvious that I had a rampant overgrowth of candida in my system. The only thing that fixed it in the end was going on a restrictive, sugar-free, anti-candida diet for a good few months.

And +1 for the mooncup. Since discovering this amazing invention I've felt cleaner and fresher during my cycle than I ever have before. I won't irritate you, either.

Good luck OP - I feel your pain!

It might be worth taking a multi B vitamin supplement. That worked for me after years of recurrent bouts.

Correction to the above post. IT won't irritate you. Not I, me, personally. I hope not. Er, I mean I don't think so ...

Stop eating white carbs. Vinegar baths.

Cover a tampon in Natural yogurt and insert for an hour.

Do you use lube? I know this caused thrush in a friend of mine. She was constantly on Canestan and the like when I suggested lube could be the problem. It was

A good probiotic ( as in a tablet with billions of good bacteria, not actimel), vitamin D supplements and (this is tmi but) a tampon with canestan on swished around inside to remove the discharge. I've been free of it for years after trying everything else. Hope you get sorted.

Oh, poor you, OP.

I suffered desperately from Thrush when I was younger. It was absolutely horrendous. I tried everything from Canesten to Diflucan to stuffing a bulb of garlic up my fanjo. Nothing worked.

I eventually consulted my DM, who was absolutely brilliant and found out everything anyone could ever need to know about getting rid of Candida (I was a student at the time). She bought me a load of probiotics, and sent me money to buy decent food - anything that didn't contain yeast or sugar. My diet up to that point had contained both.

I was so desperate that I gave it a go. The probiotics (bifidus and acidophilus) tasted like shit. I used to walk round Tesco trying to find sugar- and yeast-free items, and came back with a lettuce and some cottage cheese. Even sodding Cheddar was out of bounds, because of the cultures involved in fermenting it.

However... I spent a weekend with D&V (withdrawal from sugar etc, apparently), but did get used to the weirdo diet. Gin was allowed, so that was something. I made my own yeast-free bread, made my own muesli, etc. And the thrush went away, THANK GOD. I gradually reintroduced sugars etc, but 20 years on, my thrush has never returned.

I haven’t had thrush since I came off the pill

Check you are not anaemic, that can be an underlying reason for it.

A friend had this and she had diabetes. No other symptoms. A blood test for diabetes would definitely be my next step. My friend eats healthy and is a healthy weight. Depends what type of diabetes it is as one type isn't linked to weight or diet.

Sorry but v low sugar diet 🙈

I have always been overly sensitive down below, to soaps, bubble baths, certain clothes, underwear and when I first met DH I was always getting thrush, it was awful. Same as you, I would treat it but it would come back again and again. Also I was always aware of myself like you say feeling I always had it but no symptoms.

Sex was becoming impossible as the pain was so bad. Eventually I developed what looked like a tiny cyst so was referred to a top gynaecologist who - after examination and talking about symptoms - diagnosed me with 'Lichen sclerosus' which is a skin condition and has similar symptoms to thrush especially the irritation and itching etc after being diagnosed and being prescribed the cream, it took less than a month to be 'cured' my symptoms completely gone.

It was like a dark cloud lifted. When I went back for my check up she said it was written all over my face how much happier I was, it was ruining my life! I still have the odd time now where my symptoms come back as there isn't actually a cure for it just creams to manage it but it is once in a blue moon now. I also still have appointments with gynae as I am at a higher risk of vulva cancer because of it, it's rare but possible so best to keep getting checked.

Anyway just wanted to mention it and maybe you could look it up and see if it sounds like it could be the case for you too? Hope you get things sorted, it's awful living with issues like this, makes you feel completely lousy

grapefruit seed extract - citricidal. works a treat. tastes foul but it really really works.

CanesFlor pessaries - easier to use than the gel. So that is a tablet of probiotics that you insert into the vagina as needed. Find them in supadrug and boots.

How much sugar do you eat? I would suggest cutting that down or completely out?

If you use condoms ,the spermicide also kills the good bacteria inside you and that could make you more prone to thrush.

1. Diabetes workup would be a good idea.

1. The Pill can worsen thrush because it changes vaginal pH. Something to consider.

1. Cotton underwear and maybe going commando at night. NO polyester or nylon underpants - they don't allow your skin to breathe.

1. Don't use ANY soaps, douches, or cleansers down there. It's self-cleaning. No perfumes either.

1. Also agree with a thorough gyne exam. This can indicate potential problems such as atrophic vaginitis, as described above.

I had recurrent thrush when I changed pill a few years ago. Nothing worked, probiotics, multigyn, high dose treatment, tablets, creams, pessaries, combinations of the above. Then I saw a different GP at my surgery (male) who seemed to have a different approach to my usual doctor (female) who just kept banging on about canesten or equivalent and seemed to think I was making a bit of a fuss. He put me on a low dose tablet treatment, the same one they usually give in high dose for a few days, but low dose for a month. His approach was different enough for the pharmacist to pull me aside and ask what I was treating and when I told him he was intrigued enough to ask me to let him know if it worked as he'd not seen that approach before. It did work! I'm now about three years on and haven't had an episode since.