Persistant thrush - any advice please...

[mumblecrumble]

AM going mad with thrush. Has been on and of, mainly on, for about 9 months now. Itch like anything, I have very sore bits and not had sex for weeks

Treated with tablet, pessary and cream but still persistant. Seen GP, had diabetes tests, infection tests and thrush test. Day I went to GP was a rare day I didn;t have thrush [took 2 weeks to get theappointment...]

Tis very sore and am missing intimacy. Also very uncomfortable and painful.

ANy advice or ideas?

FWIW, I also ended up seeing a consultant privately as the GP/gynae clinic tests kept coming back as negative. The consultant did a straightforward swab, which clearly showed thrush... yes, a swab cost me £182. Why they can't do this at the GP - or at our GP's at any rate - goodness only knows.

TheCallerWithheldTheirNum... yes that can happen especially if the doc doesnt do a HIGH vaginal swab and from recent experience some labs are not brilliant either.

Ah... you see thats the problem. Had no thrush when had swabs bu riddled with cottage cheese now....

I'm 28.

Sex not painful, just the cuts around the edge of my bits.
Had some thrush when DH and I go together [my fist sexual partner] but stopped using condoms and tampons and didn;t come back. Came back the week after I finished breast feeding.

Ah... you see thats the problem. Had no thrush when had swabs bu riddled with cottage cheese now....

I'm 28.

Sex not painful, just the cuts around the edge of my bits.
Had some thrush when DH and I go together [my fist sexual partner] but stopped using condoms and tampons and didn;t come back. Came back the week after I finished breast feeding.

Very sore this morning

You poor thing. Sore bits are no joke.

cottage cheese normally indicate candida albicans..does it smell.

if you have cuts around your lady bits...it could be the start of this atrophic vaginitis which is caused by dryness...again associated with hormones

Absolutey no smell [no 'normal' smell either]eeling bit better this morning after smothering bits with epiderm at advice of doctor to heal skin.

....sigh..... I suppose there are worse things. I think its thar you can;t walk around itching your bits...

When you say dryness, do you mena the skin or the vagina? I seem to have plenty of natural juices. [sorry if tmi]

simple question- could it be your washing liquid/soap powder? do you use bio? do you use fabric softener? panty liners? secented PL?

Try washing your pants in water only- as hot as possible.

Diet and thrush are linked. Many doctors told me that this was not so, and failed to cure my thrush.

sorry TMI mumblecrumble just trying to help....you can have alot of juices but in some people they can be thin rather than slighly sticky or viscous and sometimes if they are thin ,having sex can make you sore as your natural juices dont act like a lubricant.IYGWIM

Humphrey, seriously i have never come across diet affecting thrush accept for people with diabetes. But i find that really interesting tho< will be thumbing through medical books this sunday>

Hi, I've been doing by knickers with the nappy wash - no fabric softer, very little soap and hot.

alypaly, no need for you to sorry! Really appreciate advice... now I think about it we have had to use lubricant since having dd... will mention this to doctor.

So what is atrophic vaginitis?

Alypaly - I believe the diet thing is relatively new (or within the last 10-15 years at least). Lots of doctors still don't know about it, but many have been converted after having success with dietary measures in patients where nothing else works. It really does seem to have an effect.

Another thing I found that helps is not to use tampons or normal towels. Switch to a mooncup, or, if that is too painful, to washable sanitary pads. You can also get washable panty liners if you really can't do without them during the rest of the month, and they are very breathable. If you wash them on a cooler setting, you need to iron them before you wear them to kill any bacteria (but don't melt the plastic snaps or stick them to the carpet like I did).

I also used live unsweetened yoghurt to sooth the itching.

You can have systemic thriush- that means our guts are in a mess and the symptoms show in your vagina.
The answer is diet- and to starve the thrush out- by avoiding all sugars,fungus-y foods like mushrooms, refined carbs etc etc.
You can also take Nystatin by mouth which kills the fungus in your gut- you'd need to see your GP though for the meds.

if you have gut fungal infections it normally shows in your back passage a your vag isnt really connected to your gut. You tend to get a sore red ring round you bum. Sorting out gut flora is a definite job for a good GP or specialist as it can become a serious problem. It can be caused by too many differnt anti biotics over a short period ,knocking out the gut flora.

Nystatin does work for some with upper gut problems but it can be hard to eradicate.

For about 15 years I would get thrush about every six weeks. Tried giving up sugar, eating yogurt, switching soaps, etc. Nothing worked.

About 18 months ago I started taking (about a tablespoon) of apple cider vinegar with water twice a day. I haven't had even one bout of thrush since.

No doctor suggested this - I had to go to the internet and search. Even then, most people said that this would only work for intestinal yeast, not vaginal. Those folks were wrong, in my case.

BTW, I use the health food store ACV (with the mother), not the stuff from the supermarket (for coloring Easter Eggs). It's still a very, very inexpensive solution.

HTH...thrush is a sort of Hell on Earth.

Thanks guys,

Am not menstruating due to implant but used mooncup bfore and that improved situation.

Apple cider vinegar...? Any reasons why?

the ph of your vagina is normally alkaline and maybe by tking cider vinegar...which has acetic ACID in it...it may well alter the ph of the vagina enough to make the vaginal flora happier
there used to be a product caled Aci-jel available which was an acetic acid gel for doing the same thing....it is still available on line but i think the product has been discontinued in this country for some reason.Havent dispensed it for years.

alypaly vaginas are normally acidic.

That is why some people with thrush buy something called Acijel.

In older women the alkaline balance can mean vaginal infections take hold so they need to keep things acidic.

mumblecrumble - Apple cider vinegar helps keep your Ph balanced. There are other reasons why this is important, but all I really cared about was getting rid of those ungodly yeast infections.

The good news is that you can get a small bottle of apple cider vinegar to try for very little money. It needs to be unfiltered and unpasteurized ACV to work.

I only take it twice daily, after breakfast and supper. I don't even measure it - just shake up the bottle and put a small amount in a juice glass full of water.

Wow - way more than you asked, huh?

PP sorry you are right..my mistake...must be getting old....the vagina is acidic as you rightly say and the acijel is to stop it going towards the alkaline atate.

Basic training gone out of window......been doing too much land survey work instead....the cold must be addling my brain

The best book I can recommend for this is The V Book. It is a great book, it really helped me when I was suffering from vestibulitis after recurrent bouts of thrush. I read this, went to my GP with it and got to see a specialist after years of painful sex, soreness and itching.
I cannot recommend this book enough!

I used to dip a tampon into live yoghurt and insert 4 times a day and it worked for me. Also stops the itch and soreness.

eeewwww