Fucking thrush- someone save me please!

[EmilyBennetWitch]

I’ve got thrush. Never had it before, it’s fucking awful. To start with, it was just so itchy I wanted to cry. Now I’m using canisten and it burns. I literally had a panic attack tonight and had to wash it off. Is it supposed to hurt when I put the gel on? How do I get rid of the thrush if the cure feels like putting salt in a wound. Do I just need to man up and get on with it? Or does this sound like somethings not right? I called the doctor when it started because I’ve never had thrush so wasn’t sure this is what it is. But they won’t see me. Said to use over the counter medication, but what if it’s not thrush? How long do I wait, with my fanny burning off? Argh!

This isn't an immediate solution - previous posters have given lots of good advice - but this might help you (and anyone else who suffers) not to get it again.

I suffered on and off for years with thrush and about 5 years ago I started to get BV as well, first one and then the other, over and over. I kept being prescribed Canestan and other things and it would go away for a while and then be back again.

And then I read on here that you need to stop using soap / shower gel / any other product down there. My otherwise awesome female GP had never told me this. So I stopped and have used only water ever since (I use soap everywhere else, that's not a problem!) and I have never ever had either thrush or BV since then. No other lifestyle changes that could account for it. The water is enough - it doesn't get smelly if you shower regularly!

When I got a new GP a couple of years ago I asked her and she seemed surprised that I hadn't known previously - it seems this is quite well known now, especially by younger GPs. It's kind of upsetting that I had such an awful time with it for so long and no-one told me that such a simple change would eradicate it completely.

So I hope this might be helpful to someone. I wish I could personally thank the person who put that advice on a thread on here that I read all that time ago, it was a total game changer!

Ok here is my thrush management regime:
Treatment - 1 drop lavender and 1 drop tea tree oil on tip of a tampon. Insert and leave overnight. Do this for 3-4 nights until symptoms ease. May sting at first but should settle quickly. Use no more than 1 drop of each. Use natural yogurt on a sanitary pad to cool the skin. No sex or irritation of any kind during this time of course, and avoid all soap products in the area, wash with warm water or a bath with 1-2 drops lavender oil & tea tree oil added.
Going forward, it’s worth maintaining the acidophilus as a daily supplement, avoiding soap and adding the lavender and tea tree bath once a week to keep the flora balance in the area comfortable.

• avoid sugar (and yeast, bread, beer) as much as possible and generally keep sugar to a minimum.
• Get yourself some superstrong acidophilus food supplement (I use Biokult). Max dose yourself for as long as current bout lasts and then add on a bit. Then maintain 1 daily from then on.
• avoid sex, and anything in the area that isn’t 100% cotton and let the fan-fan ‘breathe’ (wear a skirt, no knicks) when you’re just around the house. So no tights, tight jeans etc.
• for the future, if having het sex (regularly, or like, ever) then use the ‘sensitive skin’ condoms or if in a monogamous long term relationship it has to be a clean cock, freshly bathed, and thrush-free. If you’re in a relationship you can work to that goal by having your partner take a course of the acidophilus and use the canestan cream topically for a month or so just to help clear any possibility of thrush in their genital area that could be reinfecting you. Strict hygeine on their part is vital to your comfort (and correlates to your desire/ability to have sex ). Don’t have sex on a full bladder, do empty before sex and asap after sex and at the same time have a quick douche.

It’s a bit of a maintenance regime, but worth it as hopefully it will lessen your predisposition to it. In my own case I would take the diflucan if I had a bad dose of it, but once I started doing the essential oil on tampon method I didn’t need to (conincided with post uni maturity and longer term stable relationships, leading to marriage so no new partners helped).

A company called Nessa organics make a wonderful product called Vagina Victory Oil, it’s so soothing whilst you wait for the thrush treatment to work.

My thrush started about three months ago - canisten and emoillient cream prescribed by the GP can make it worse if I use for too long - the Canesten pessary is good.
I didn't have any issues with GP running tests.

Now trying to use ovestin cream as a long term solution, but a side effect of that is itching and thrush. That's eased a bit now that I've got through the initial stages and only need to use it twice weekly.

One thing I found that helps (in addition to alternating Ovestin and Canesten cream) were long long baths with E45 bath oil (also baths with baking soda, is there anything that baking soda doesn't do?).

My GP also reccomended metanium nappy cream (reccomended unoficially, it's not authorised for adults/thrush) and that does work well.

& be very very careful with pads, panty liners and tampons.
It should be illegal for manufacturers not to state whether they contain thrush inducing "fresh scents" or not.

When I don't bath, I use plain water or Oilatum Daily Wash for Dry skin

Pessary + oral tablet. Used to get thrush all the time when I was taking the birth control pill.

I had this. Contact gp (yes I know how difficult it is to get through!) Our nurse practitioner was fab. A very important part of my treatment- alongside pessary etc was treating my husband.. it worked a treat and it is no more...... he was passing it back and forth to me..I had it originally but treating him was what worked. Its so annoying ! Good luck 👍

I have recurrent thrush and agree it’s an absolute b*tch. I’ve found while waiting on pessaries or oral tablets to do their thing, I could relieve the symptoms somewhat by wrapping an ice pack a few times in a T-shirt - just enough that it feels cooling but not dangerously so on delicate bits - and press it between my legs, outside of my pants.

Oh natural yogurt is the best! So cooling. I remember lying on the bed legs apart with yogurt slapped on. It was sooooo coool and fresh.

I'm a recurring thrush sufferer and I've tried literally everything out there.

The only thing that stops thrush in its tracks is lactulose, which is a prebiotic (which acts as food for good bacteria).

You can buy it from the pharmacy and mix about 8ml with warm, filtered water. Syringe 10-20ml into your vagina and leave it in all night. You'll need to wear a pad.

I do that one day, and the next day put a woman's probiotic into the vagina overnight (it should contain lactobacillus crispatus and lactobacillus reuteri.) Research shows these two strains are present in healthy womens' vaginas.

The lactulose helps the healthy bacteria to grow in your vagina.

This is a protocol my naturopath gave me and it has been a godsend for me as a short term solution, after years of recurring thrush.

In the end I also had to cut out all added sugars, as a long term solution.

Also, tampons give me thrush. I don't know why. I use the unbleached, natural ones too.

Another thing that has stopped my thrush coming back, I now take super strong probiotics.

You want a probiotic that contains 50 billion + . Most of them only contain a few billion which is not enough if you're getting thrush. I use Innovix Labs probiotics, and get it from i herb.

Get the tablet, try to use the pessary at night if you can and use yoghurt as others have said (on your bits and orally!). Also keep a bottle for tepid water and rinse yourself down after using the loo, then a very gentle pat dry with a towel and reapply yoghurt if you can. Wear loose clothes and cotton underwear (nothing synthetic). No hot baths and no soaps, bubble baths or shower creams for a while.

The Nessa oil has Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil(Organic Sunflower Oil), Cocos Nucifera Oil(Organic Coconut Oil), Mangifera Indica Seed Butter(Mango Seed Butter), Ricinus Communis Seed Oil*(Organic Castor Oil), Punica Granatum Seed extract(Pomegranate Oil), Tocopherol(Vitamin E),.. so you could use any combination of these oils you have at home. Check on a small patch first that it doesn't sting your already inflamed tissue. Rosehip oil is good for protecting damaged skin.

And yes yes yes to everyone who said cut out sugar, yeast and alcohol. I would add gluten and dairy to that list.

Yes to probiotics internally in the vagina but also through the stomach.

And as Holly McNish said on the topic... rather than working out how to have PIV sex safely, work out how to have sex without PIV for a while..

Olive oil is very soothing for external itching and soreness.

The external cream only soothes the symptoms, you need a tablet or peasant to cure it.

*pessary

I've made little pessaries out of coconut oil (wrapped in clingfilm and stuck in the freezer to solidify) and used them when the canesten pessary didn't work. Found it effective and soothing, but messy. I use a pantyliner and put it in right before I go to sleep.

@WordInYourShellLike

This isn't an immediate solution - previous posters have given lots of good advice - but this might help you (and anyone else who suffers) not to get it again.

I suffered on and off for years with thrush and about 5 years ago I started to get BV as well, first one and then the other, over and over. I kept being prescribed Canestan and other things and it would go away for a while and then be back again.

And then I read on here that you need to stop using soap / shower gel / any other product down there. My otherwise awesome female GP had never told me this. So I stopped and have used only water ever since (I use soap everywhere else, that's not a problem!) and I have never ever had either thrush or BV since then. No other lifestyle changes that could account for it. The water is enough - it doesn't get smelly if you shower regularly!

When I got a new GP a couple of years ago I asked her and she seemed surprised that I hadn't known previously - it seems this is quite well known now, especially by younger GPs. It's kind of upsetting that I had such an awful time with it for so long and no-one told me that such a simple change would eradicate it completely.

So I hope this might be helpful to someone. I wish I could personally thank the person who put that advice on a thread on here that I read all that time ago, it was a total game changer!

This is spot on. I don't know whether it was BV or thrush or neither I had but this advice meant it rarely comes back

Apply coconut oil topically. It’s an anti-fungal.

Apply coconut oil directly

I just wanted to add alongside everyone else's advice is if you have a partner get them to take the oral tablet too, I was in a LTR and kept getting it, so I dosed us both and it went away.
So strange I always get thrush at the start of a new relationship it's like my PH has to get used to their PH. Always get thrush and UTI. What a honeymoon phase haha!
TL;DR - both of you take the oral tablet.

Yep, pessary and oral tablet together. Don't muck about. Kill it dead.

If I have it and feel sorry for myself I just always remind myself it's a darn sight better than cystitis

@AngelinaJoliestoplip

Apply coconut oil topically. It’s an anti-fungal.

It's also an anti-bacterial so it may kill the good bacteria, too.

I clicked on this thinking it would be about the song thrush keeping you awake. :o Its song rivals the nightingale's for me.

Very rare now in Melbourne: too dry.