THRUSH + Fluconazale hasn't worked!!!

[squirrel999]

Help. Getting v frustrated and fed up now. I still seem to be having thrush symptons despite taking fluconazale tablets 1 x 200 a day for 3 weeks. My lo had the fluconazale drops for a week and the doctor checked her over and said that the thrush had gone from her.... I have enough tablets for another dose of the fluconzale but it cannot be v good for me or her? I don't want to give up breast feeding. Any suggestions?

Hi there

I had very similar problems with thrush and eventually found that I had become lazy with latching on (it hurt so much anyway I stopped caring! As long as my lo was on, he could stay on and feed!!!). Anyway, what i'm trying to say is that because the thrush hurts so much, it might be worth paying extra extra attention when latching on just to make sure things don't get any worse. Fluconazole worked for me after my second course (followed the dosages advised by the breastfeeding network). I also rinsed off my nipples with a weak vinegar solution after every feed to make them as inhospitable a place for the flush as possile. In case you haven't found it already here is the link for the thrush leaflet from BFN thrush leaflet . Hope the link works!! Sorry haven't read the entire thread so sorry if I've just repeated what others have said. Good luck.

Sorry forgot to add - use Milton hand wash after every nappy change and every time you touch your nipples or change your breast pads (Milton is the only hand wash I found to claim to kill thrush). Use disposable breast pads and change them after EVERY feed. I would soak your breast pump and any feeding equipement (if you are using any) in milton too. And from what I can rememeber, thw loading dose of fluconazole is quitwe crucial, so make sure your GP prescribes this as well. All the details are on the leaflets I linked to below. HTH. Thrush is hell but you can get through it. I eventually breastfed for over 8 months after beating thrush so there is hope!!

Ninja, do you have any info about that diet, such as references, scientific literature and so on?

The reason I ask is that I battled with breast thrush for a long time (I had to wait a long time before my GP would give in and prescribe me fluconazole) and tbh never found anything in my reading to back up some of the most extreme diets like that one - although there does seem to be possibly more justification for cutting down on sugar and high-glycaemic-index foods in general. I've never quite understood the logic behind giving up things like yeast products, or found anything online so far to justify it, outside of 'anti-candida' type websites. I'm not sure why eating one kind of yeast (e.g. cooked in bread) would make a different kind of fungal organism (i.e. the thrush one) thrive, particularly. As thrush thrives on sugar, I can understand a bit more why avoiding huge peaks of sugar in one's system might help though (although to a certain extent unless someone's diabetic you'd think their blood sugar should stay reasonably in control even then?).

I'm interested in this partly because as a teen I made the mistake of picking up a book about candida in a health food shop and ended up really distressed and worried (I'm talking about for a long time - a year or more) that I had some kind of problem (easy to do when the sorts of symptoms the book listed are so vague and general!) and going on all sorts of diets, worrying myself sick, trying to get hold of special food supplements and so on. There's some dubious (non)science in that area that makes me very angry, because there wasn't a d--- thing wrong with me!

This site has some info on candida 'problems' and their proponents, including the bloke who wrote the book I unluckily picked up all those years ago (Crook):

www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/candida.html

What's hard is trying to work out where the line is between good advice supported by some kind of evidence, and the slightly more loopy anti-candida stuff (I'm not using that word against you Ninja but rather some of the websites, books etc.). I suspect going for a low-glycaemic index diet could be very worthwhile, but I'd be quite wary of some of the more extreme advice.

Squirrel - I got my 1st lot of grapefruit seed extract from www.bodykind.com - came very quickly too. 2nd lot ordered by my local independent health food shop.
Thought you might like to know - for solidarity's sake - I'm doing the diet too - knew I'd pay for all that 'eat, drink and be merry'! Plus really want to see if I can knock it on the head this time. I'm taking garlic (antifungal apparently) and echinachea (boosts immune system)too, as well as the acidophilus and grapefruit seed.
Do let me know how you are coping / getting on. The diet is a nightmare, but I find if I write down all the good / allowed things I actually really like I remember to eat them rather than getting bored with the same old things. For me, soda bread is good, love natural yoghurt, oatcakes with hummus and chopped red pepper, garlicky sauted pots, avocados, homemade dhal.... I am ignoring the bit about 'freshly shelled' with the nuts - cashews are a favourite. Oh & BTW I suggest not using the fresh alpro that comes in the chiller cabinet with ordinary milk 'cos its got sugar in it (I think) - the non-sweetened soya milk found with UHT milk in supermarkets is okay once you get used to it.
Good luck!

Ninja - was wondering same thing as fireflighty - where did you get the diet?