Please Help - Really Bad Thrush!

[yoomoo]

Sorry ladies to barge in here on a Saturday night with such a title but I am desperate for some advice.

Had thrush for 5 days now and I’m in agony, struggling to sit and walk without pain. Going for a wee is awful to the point I’m nearly in tears even with pouring warm water down there. I know I’m not emptying my bladder properly from the stress

Spoke to the GP on Wednesday last week who prescribed me with a Canestan pessary and cream which have not done a thing. Went in to be examined on Friday and she confirmed definitely thrush and sent me to the pharmacy for a Clotrimazole pessary (same ingredient as Canestan I think) which I used on Friday evening. Well it’s now Saturday and I am still in agony, currently lying on the bed with bio live yoghurt applied and have had a bath with a few drops of tea tree oil. Maybe I’m expecting too much for these things to work faster!

Currently 10 weeks pregnant so I know the options are limited but is there a different type of pessary or cream I could try? Might call the out of hours GP tomorrow and beg for help if it’s still bad.

Thank you and sorry for the TMI!

Youre supposed to get a course of pessaries rather than just one at a time

Do you live in a city? If so on Monday I would get an appointment at your nearest sexual health drop in. Not because you have an STI but just because they are the experts (more so than GPs) and if it isn’t getting better they may be able to help. Do you think you may have a UTI as well?

I had horrific thrush last week and coconut oil helped the symptoms a little bit while the clotrimazole worked. It was a lot better in 48 hours and took six days to go completely.

Hope you feel better soon. It’s the worst!

What's your diet like? If you're having lots of sugar that will make thrush worse, if you can cut back your sugar and go low carb, high proteins/fat that should help and can be a really quick turnaround within a couple of days.

For instant relief try wetting a sanitary towel and freezing it for half an hour or so, then wearing that to cool the fire a little.

Call your out of hours or visit a pharmacist tomorrow for some more treatment options or additional pessaries too.

Thanks for the replies, I don’t know why my GP only gave me one at a time then, maybe it’s meant to do the trick unless it’s a particularly bad bout. I’ll ensure I get a whole course of them next time!

I’ve been checked for a UTI and it came back clear although they’ve sent the sample off to see if anything grows. It feels different to one of those though more like I’ve got tiny little external cuts which my wee is hitting and causing the pain.

I will try a bit of coconut oil that is one thing I’ve not tried yet!

I’ve not been eating much sugar at all due to nausea I’ve gone off anything sweet, been trying to still have fruit though which I’ll knock on the head for now.

Definitely going to call out of hours today for a different course of treatment I feel so miserable

Hello! Also struggling with thrush.

Can I ask do you warm the coconut oil up?

There is a different pessary available called gyno daktarin which I found more effective. The medication in it is the same as you are given if you get breast thrush when breastfeeding (the only thing worse than regular thrush ...)

I didn’t warm it up chrissagcat. TMI but I just washed my hands (obvs) and then applied it to my vulva and also put a bit in my vagina. It melts quite quickly so I would wear old knickers you don’t care about.

Ask for a strep B test. I had what felt like persistent thrush during pregnancy and it turned out to be caused by Strep B. Which is not the end of the world but you definitely want to know if you have that during pregnancy.

I would avoid tea tree oil - I find it far too strong and if I ever use it gives me lots of issues.

I don’t have much advice but I’d never had thrush before until i was pregnant with my first. I had it so bad for the whole pregnancy. It felt like I spent the whole time with a canestan pessary up me.

I second what @PiratePetespajamas says about Strep B, I didn’t know they were linked but testified positive for Strep B in that pregnancy.

I also haven’t had thrush since!

Tested* not testified 🤦🏻‍♀️

I know it won’t help much at this point OP, but my pregnancy thrush kept recurring until I realised that my underwear was contributing to the problem. I think that artificial fibres can make things a little sweaty and provide a better environment for yeast infections. Once I changed to 100% cotton knickers, it never came back.

I really feel for you, OP, and hope you shift this soon.

I had this a few weeks ago in early pregnancy and after initially trying cream etc which did nothing my doctor prescribed me a 7 day course of pessaries to be used each night. I think slightly lower dose of clotrimazole but it needs the chance to work over a course of days. Also second the uncomfortable underwear - if you can, go free if possible at some points during the day (not always easy if you need a pad to deal with what’s going on down there but air genuinely helps) and plain white cotton big knickers. Good luck, it’s no fun especially in this weather!

Thank you for all of the advice it’s making me feel less alone!

I will ask for that gyno daktarin sounds a bit stronger than what I’ve had so far.

I didn’t realise about group b strep I will definitely ask the doctor about that.

I think my current knickers are 100% cotton but I will check and if not get some on urgent order. I’ve also got some fairy washing powder to try in case my usual is irritating things.

Sorry others have experienced the same it’s so miserable isn’t it!

On the underwear front try washing them on a hot wash or give them a blast in the tumble drier. If the hit sunny weather makes a return hang on the line for a day. It is meant to kill off anything in the underwear themselves - no idea if it work but worth trying.

You may have antibiotic resistance to the type of pessary you tried. They can take a swab to test what bacteria do you have exactly and do antibiotic resistance test on it. I'd ask for this test and get a course of pessaries possibly followed by course of probiotics to get the good flora back in. Good luck!

Thrush is fungal not bacterial

Thanks @2CatsAndCounting I’ve got my undies and PJ bottoms on a hot wash and the weather looks good today so I’ll hang them out to dry. All 100% cotton so I think it’s just my immune system being crap due to pregnancy which is struggling to shift it The GP I saw said it was very common and won’t harm the baby.

Loose PJ bottoms all day today while I wait for a call back from the out of hours doctors, hate bothering them but I don’t want to leave it another day for more pessaries!

I too have Strep B and hadn't known this for first pregnancy but thankfully as knew I had for second I had antibiotics during labour. This is DC#3 and the thrush is already back!

Thanks for the coconut oil recommendations- my mum also swears round natural yoghurt. My husband can't get his head round this one 😆😆

@chrissagcat my DP is also utterly perplexed at the idea of me smothering my bits in natural yogurt

Thrush can be incredibly persistent in pregnancy and one peasant may not be sufficient.

I had recurrent thrush in my previous pregnancy (not GBS positive, no link AFAIK and I’m a midwife. It’s just likely that if you’re having swabs for thrush, they’ll also pick up GBS if you have it) and it was hell. This time I spoke to my GP when I first got it and she prescribed me three high dose pessaries and then one low dose pessary per week (repeat prescription) until the baby is born. I’m now 100% symptom free and can actually live my life without fear of soggy knickers/trousers constantly.

Pessary not peasant!!