I’m am at my wits end please please help me

[TheMoonIsWensleydale]

I have had thrush down below for over a year on and off now. It started when I started immunotherapy for cancer and I have had maybe a month or 2s relief in that time. Every time we have sex I get thrush, but also I get it randomly.

im not kidding when I say I can be walking down the street, or sat on the sofa and all of a sudden I get that itch and know I need to go to the pharmacy and buy yet more fucking canesten.

I went to my GP who agreed it was bad and gave me a tablet to take every 72 hours for 3 goes, then a tablet every single week for 6 months. I am 4 weeks into this and it’s suddenly got so much worse I needed to buy otc canesten and the cream is burning like a mother fucker.

im not diabetic and I am pretty good at eating healthy. I know it’s likely the immunotherapy but oh my gosh I am so so sick of it.

please help me

AIBU to ask you what sorted your chronic thrush?

It could be the start of vagina atrophy / VA
look it up

its to do with the lack of estrogen
Estradiol cream might sort it out
intrarosa was a game changer and got rid of all my VA symptoms and chronic uti within a few days and I’ve never had a issue since

your doctors might not want to give you estrogen / estradiol because of the previous cancer and will spout very old guidelines about estrogen/ estradiol cream causing an increase in cancer but it’s a topical cream and

new guidelines have said it’s fine to use

but if they refuse you can get it online from Oxford pharmacy

or have a private consultation with the newson menopause clinic. - expensive but absolutely worth every penny

And don’t ever use Vagisil. It’s medicated
and irritant and will make any issue much worse. The sensitive skin will soon become sensitised to anything you put on it and that includes Canesten cream. Just bland moisturiser and nothing else until you have seen someone who actually examines you. If you do pay one off to see a specialist it needs to be someone who does face to face appointments and try and find someone who specialises in vulval skin- there are dermatologists around who do this and some gynaecologists or GP women’s health specialises.

Also look into hydromol cream very cheap
buy off Amazon and very soothing

vagifem / vagifrux is a pessery to help replace lack of estrogen

also check out SLS sodium laurel sulphate is in a lot of stuff as a compound filler and can cause extreme itching / sore sensitivity and thrush like symptoms without the discharge

its often in creams and detergent washing powder hair shampoos tooth paste

Go to your local sexual health clinic - they are the real experts. They are always very nice people too.

I agree, I started getting these symptoms in my mid 40's and I thought it was thrush and it was to do with the lack of estrogen and Estradiol cream definitely sorted it out!

Boots Thrush/BV pessaries solved my 2-year-long thrush battle after pregnancy. Canesten and Flucanazole, did nothing or only provided relief for a week or two. The Boots stuff worked great. I think I got it mildly a couple more times within the year, again used the Boots stuff immediately to knock it on the head, and now I’ve been completely clear for two years.

I second this - sort out your gut flora. Work in that. You can also get probiotics treatments for vaginal thrush. I would look at that also. Good luck

OP, I have sent you a PM

Your partner needs to be treated too.

This with spades. I had a bad thrush infection many years ago when I was in my 30s. My female GP gave me the cream to treat it, and asked my DH to use it for 2 weeks on his penis. No sex until my infection had cleared.

Candida like any fungal infections can be very contagious. Most men are asymptomatic but can pass it on to their spouses thru sex, creating a vicious circle of reinfection if they don't get treated as well.

Get checked for lichen sclerosis! I had what the gp thought was thrush for years, went to an sti clinic in the end as the itch was unbearable & the nurse diagnosed me straight away with ls.

Yes my best friend had the exact same as you OP. It’s awful!

vaginal oestrogen cream, and occasionally a pessary too, has completely resolved her thrush

Cutting out sugar.

For me, also using a sensitive lube during sex. I can get a bit dry down there because of some meds I'm on, I hadn't realised it wasn't normal.

I was getting recurrent itching and discharge that was awful, I didn’t think it was thrush but had no idea what it was. When I switched away from using normal shower gel to sanex zero it stopped and never came back.

100% this! ⬆️

The well-meaning people who have recommended hormone based treatment - please do NOT, not without talking to your Oncologist for advice.

Hi, just to say if you’re trying probiotic, the one with lactobacillus rhamanous is the one that kills candida. I use bioglan brand for this, when I get flare up..

This - plus make sure husband treated too.

I suffered a lot with thrush. Eventually, I hit on a kind of treatment plan that worked, helped (but not totally solved) by my GP.

• Daily oral tablets for a month (prescription) for both me AND my partner (he was offended by this. Whatever!).

• Coconut oil (the stuff in a jar that is hard and white - cooking grade) to use as lubricant for ANY sexual activity.

• I also prebought the over the counter pill (supposedly one dose, but I'd take them for a week, one a day) and have them at home just in case so I could jump on any recurrence immediately.

• The vag pessaries - not the 1 or 3 dose ones, the one a day for a week ones.

• Plus canesten cream.

I really had to get on top of the thrush, because it had got so bad and was so systemic, I'd started getting hives all over my body from it. So bad I was referred to an immunologist about it. Neither the immunologist or my GP linked it to my constant recurring thrush! I realised myself.

Since using the combination above, I've not suffered from it badly because I can nip it in the bud before it really starts. Incidentally, my really bad bout with it came about after cancer treatment/surgery so I wonder if it was linked? Never occurred to me before.

And yes, as someone else has said, I did go on to the beginnings of vaginal atrophy, which is a whole different ballgame when you've had cancer (can't take HRT) so ask for a referral from your GP if that is the case. There is other stuff they can try.

Has your partner also been treated for thrush? I think you should both get treatment and see how you go. You can treat yourself but become decontaminated from him.

Exactly. HRT is not advised for women who have had breast cancer or any hormone based cancer.

Phone up and make an appointment at the local STD clinic, you can self-refer, and they are much more helpful and knowledgeable than your GP. I had chronic thrush till they sorted me out. Also mention this to your oncologist, as immunotherapy can cause both internal and external skin irritation (my husband is on immunotherapy currently and had a bad skin rash on his hands initially).

Also, your husband should be treated. If you are getting it after sex, he's possibly re-infecting you. Also, whenever possible, wear long floaty skirts and no knickers, helps a lot. When you do wear knickers, they should be cotton, and washed with non-bio in a HOT wash to kill any spores. I have heard of people microwaving their knickers, but that's a step too far IMO.

Good luck.

Do they ever do a swab to find out what exactly it is in the UK? My gynae dr always does it. The results come back from the lab with info what medicine is suitable to treat the infection but I am not in the UK.

I used to get it all the time. I gave up sugar in tea and coffee and it stopped.

Go back to your GP and ask for a swab to be taken.

I don't think this sounds like thrush.

Get it swabbed at the GP. It may be Herpes. About 60% of us have a dormant infection and treatment can bring it on