Help & Advice for Thrush!

[flowerzoo]

Starting a new thread as not sure if I posted correctly before, a bit of a newbie to this!Just wanted to ask if anyone has taken/tried Alcazen?? I have been suffering from recurrent thrush for a few years now :and been on a weekly dose of fluconzale for the last year. This more or less controls it but as soon as I come off it, or miss a dose, the thrush immediately returns. I came across Alcazen on the internet whilst looking for possible alternative solutions - but can't seem to find any independent reviews which makes me think it is rather dodgy! So would be great to know if anyone has tried it. Have noted down previous suggestions: low carb/sugar diet; natural yoghurt; lavender oil; iron underwear; acidophillus tablets; yeast raiders. Am thinking of dashing out of the office now to buy the whole lot in an attempt to crush the life out of this thing once and for all!! Absolutely any advice/suggestions would be very gratefully received.

Hey, never heard of Alcazen but how long have you had to put up with such an unbearable thing like thrush.

I got it really bad for months on end whilst I lived in the uk, tried every available thing going, then after a serious illness which turned out that i was type 1 diabetic as soon as I started on insulin the thrush started clearing. Not saying your diabetic but you could be sugar/sweetener intolerant because even though I'm on insulin if I have a big load of sugar like a devious yummy fresh cream donut I will get a bad bout of thrush as the sugar will have sent my blood glucose through the roof.
Worth looking into because I couldn't imagine having it day in day again, must be driving you mad.
Good luck if you find this Alcazen stuff, everything's worth trying eh. X

No suggestions but watching with interest as a fellow sufferer :-(

From the age of 14 I suffered from recurrant thrush, sometimes I've had flar ups which have lasted months at a time.
A couple of years ago aged 38 I visited my local STD clinic, I'm married and have had the same partner for 16 years but was in so much discomfort I wanted an expert to look at me.
I had fissure's like paper cuts, it was dreadfull.
They took swabs and diagnoised thrush which was treated but you know the best advise I got that day was not to wash 'down there' with soap .
I had to wait 24 years for the only advise that has worked!
In 2 years I've had thrush once and it cleared it with a light smearing of cream.

Thanks for the replies. Have to admit despite knowing the 'no soap' etc rule for down below for thrush sufferers I have yet to give it up - just don't feel properly clean otherwise. However following your experience Treadmillmom I will now try...... Having said that, currently trying to cure it with lavender oil so unable to follow the 'no perfume' rule. Also have started taking a probiotic supplement + took fluconzale yesterday too. Hopefully this will be enough ammunition to get rid of this attack, what I really want though is to prevent further attacks. Will definitely try no soap - did they suggest anything you could use instead - like shower gel or something - sorry if that sounds stupid, just wondered if it's just the soap element or if it is anything & everything that should be avoided??

sorry Brisvegasmum - didn't say thank you for the sugar tip. Have to say, that a low sugar/carbohydrate diet is something I came across a number of times yesterday when perusing the internet. I do have a rather sweet tooth - the thought of cutting sugar out totally seems horrendous - and alcohol even more! However, I will be more careful from now on and try and reduce my sugar consumption. I guess if I manage it, at least it might reduce my waistline slightly too!! :)

I have suffered endless treatment resistant thrush. It would respond to nothing, not even chemo dose anti-fungals. It would usually respond once to a treatment, but wouldn't respond to the same treatment again. I had years of this crap. Followed all advice of no soap, no bleached ST products, cotton underwear, no sweets bread etc. It made no difference

Despite not believing in it, I went to a homepath. He has cured it 3 times when chemo dose anti-fungals failed. It hasn't always responded to the same treatment, but each time it was sorted fast. Now, I use soap and eat sweets and bread!

hth

I'm a chocolic, I could literally feel the first tingle of thrush when I'd over indulged so always thought chocolate was to blame, however, since not using soap I can truly eat as much chocolate as I like and I still don't get an attack .
I was advised to use nothing but the God given water out of the tap. Until the thrush was cleared up I just washed with my hand but now in the shower I use a soft flannel and with water alone I am clean and fresh.

I second the no soap thing, though can take it a bit further - I had this problem for years & thankfully don't any more - I really feel for you its no fun at all :(

Have you tried cutting out chemical additives from both your diet & soaps/bubble baths etc - shampoo too if you use in bath or shower & it can run down below - colourants & Benzoate Preservatives are the big culprits, but artificial sweeteners cause me problems too

Ironically I discovered this when DD was tiny - she started up with the same sort of problems - poor might was an absolute mess down below & GPs didn't seem to have a clue - nappy rash, thrush etc, but nothing they gave helped at all - she had running sores :( -

I hadn't considered diet at all, because it was pre weaning & she was EBF but I'm lucky to have an old friend who works in Alt healthcare & specialises in DCs - she suggested it was what I was eating passing through breast milk - I used to get pre-menstrual cravings for cheap jelly kiddy sweets & still got these craving during BFing -

I stopped eating anything containing them for DDs sake & then realised it helped me too - & later realised the same with shower gels, soaps etc etc - DD is badly intolerant to any of this stuff & it shows up as Exzema - with me it shows up as the thrush like symptoms you describe.

I used to blame thrush coming on the run up to my periods - turns out it was my craving & the chemicals I ate then, but not at other times that was the real culprit - I only ever have odd flare ups now if I eat or drink foods, or use bath stuffs with these additives - so I avoid:)

Thank you everyone for all the advice, I shall try really hard to follow as much of it as possible!

I had horrendous problems when my contraceptive pill was was changed, I was on loestrin 20 for years and never had thrush and was changed to a higher oestrogen pill and had thrush twice a month for 6 months it was horrific. One doc denied there could be any link, another swapped the pills straight back without question and hey presto not one itch since! Def some issue with higher oestrogen dose for me I'm convinced so just worth a consideration for you if you are on the combined pill!