Come and share with me your success stories of treating breast thrush..please

[lilymolly]

Hi currently feeding 4 week old ds and it has been very painfull from day one and he has had a really bad nappy rash from almost day 1 too.

Has had 2 swabs, both negative.
ds treated with oral antibiotics and thrush cream- no success
I have had a nipple swab and that was also negative.

Still the pain and nappy rash refuse to go away.

Pain in breast seems to be getting worse and no having some very short lived stabbing pains going up to arm pit.

GP refused to prescribe the correct dose of fluconazole, so I asked my breast feeding co ordinator from the hospital to help, and she has got a prescription from one of the OBYGYN consultants for:
10 day course of fluconazole
nystatin oral for baby
2% miconalzole cream for nipple

I get the prescription tommorrow....

Only I keep thinking that its not thrush and that the treatment will not work and its getting me down

Please anyone, do you have any happy ending stories which will give me some hope

Or any other advice

Thanks
LM

yep mine went within a few days of starting fluconazole! (creams were useless)
well done for getting a script
remember to keep treating baby too so you don't reinfect yourself.
and finish the course as it can come back with a vengeance!

did you have similar symptoms to me luvaduck

Yes fluconazole did it for me too.

Boil wash everything you possibly can though as I'm sure thrush will be the last thing living on earth eventually! Poor you, it is horrible.

plantsitter

same question to you? where your symptoms same as mine?

Lillymolly my symptoms were very similar to yours, though DD didn't have any (though come to think of it did have nappy rash in early weeks). Took two courses of fluconozole (10 days then further 7 days) and a sugar/wheat/dairy/caffeine free diet for 2 weeks but I got there in the end. Like you I continually questioned whether or not it actually was thrush but I think that it was - it was just really well established and took a long time to beat.

Best of luck beating it

Mine was a similar story to yours. I eventually got rid using all the above meds and tips, plus taking acidophilus tablets to fight the thrush and avoiding sugary things, inc. v sweet fruit as I think the thrush can thrive on sugar. Best of luck.

Sorry yes similar symptoms but no rash - though again DD did have a bit of nappy rash which went away quickly.

I had hell with thrush and it's only just gone in the past couple of weeks. My case is not normal but I thought I'd tell it anyway, if nothing else it should make you feel better in an 'always someone worse off than you' sort of way!

Great tips here from everyone- I had the same symptoms as well, plus DS eventually got white patches in his mouth. I also got a deep crack (from poor attachment) that did not heal for weeks and weeks due to the presence of thrush.

Because I was unsure it was thrush (most pain in bf is due to positioning and attachment issues) I left it FAR too late and it took absolutely forever and ever to get rid of.

Again, I must state I think I've been extremely unusual but I had three courses of the meds you have been prescribed, and during the last course I cut out sugar, (so no fruit either, just veg) white foods (pasta, rice, bread) all yeasts, alcohol, dairy except tons of live sugar free bio yoghurt, etc.

I took grapefruitseed extract tablets, acidophillus tablets, garlic tablets and used grapefruitseed extract liquid as a nipple wash and mouth swab for DS. I used my Silverette silver nipple shields (I used these to get rid of the crack in the early days) to try and create an environment in which the candida couldn't thrive.

I washed everything at high temp, changed towels, bras etc constantly. It was hellish. Eventually I went on a long holiday to visit my parents abroad and the total change in diet (tried to stay sugar free but eventually failed!), the heat, different breast pads (no plastic back or puffy-up gel stuff like most uk ones) and swimming in the sea every day finally did the trick.

My DS is 24 weeks by the way!

It was truly awful in the first weeks (I was on a long thread with other sufferers, including KiwiPanda here) and although the drugs helped a bit they didn't get rid of it.

I hope my story doesn't terrify you too much- I get vaginal thrush all the time, so am very prone to it (and had a horrific bout of vaginal thrush postnatally too) had been on antibiotics postnatally and left it way, way too long. You have caught it early, have the right treatment and fluconazole usually works for most. You do need to be persistent though. Best of luck!

Oh and I forgot to say swabs mean diddly squat, they are a rubbish way of diagnosing ductal thrush.

And that GP is an idiot.

There, I am done!

10 day course of fluconazole worked like a dream, after I suffered for three weeks just using Canisten cream.

My GP had never heard of giving a 10 day course, so went to do some research herself before writing the prescription. She said the drug company is still awaiting license to market a 10-day course of it, which is why she (and many others) don't know about it. This was a month ago - maybe she's just out of touch!

Next time I get it (but hopefully I won't, and I'll try my hardest not to have antibiotics again while bf because that's what gave me thrush in the first place), it's straight onto the 10-day course, no messing.

I do feel for you - it's unbelievably painful, like electric shocks going from my nipples into the breast tissue coupled with severe sunburn. Nothing like vaginal thrush - I was really surprised.

thanks ladies

Had a good night with matthew and feel hopefull this morning that the rx will work
[fingers crossed emoticon]

cutting out sugar and other stuff sound horrendous, its all I live on

I had to cut out sugar due to gest diabetes when pregnant and I must say that although it was a pain and I felt a bit sorry for myself, I felt physically SO MUCH BETTER - skin was clear, had loads of energy, woke up actually wanting to be awake - it was well, well, worth it. Back to eating cakes now and feel much more sluggish again.

started drugs today

sitting here, with daktarin cream on nipples airing in the front room watching the apprentice

Please keep your fingers crossed for me please that this will work

Mamacita am so glad you finally beat it and you deserve a medal for sticking to bf for that long with that pain! I thought my 7 weeks was bad enough but you are a heroine for soldiering on!

Good luck lilymolly. I had thrush and the symptoms were very similar to yours, especially the shooting pains up to the armpit. Well done for getting someone to prescribe fluconazole in the correct dose (I never did). Mine eventually cleared with the daktarin cream. I found that my ds nappy rash and white spots in the mouth responded quite quickly to the nystatin.

I still take acidophilus tablets and eat copious amounts of live yoghurt. Once you have had thrush, you never want it back!

Kiwipanda and Mamacita, am so pleased to hear you are both feeling better now.