Recurrent vaginal thrush

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I am desperate for help.

I have recurrent thrush. It’s cyclical. I get it the week before and the first day of my period.

I’m also peri menopausal and sometimes skip periods.

My BF and I use condoms. BUT The cyclical thrush predates him. He has also been treated with cream in the last month (he’s new BF).

Also have horrific athletes foot which they say is linked.

I’ve had creams and pessary. And the tablet.

I’m currently 3 months into a 6 month course of Fluconazole. Tablet every day for 3 days and then once a week for 6 months.

And I’ve thrush. My period is just starting and the itch is horrific and I’ve scratched til I’m sore.

My athletes foot is so bad between my toes is bleeding.

What can they do if I go back to the doc? I’m desperate.

I’ve had this a couple of times. The first time the prescription of tablets worked. The second time they didn’t and it would just come back every month. In desperation I looked up what it said on the NHS website, partly because I think the prescriptions were different each time and I wanted to see what it said about treatment.

The advice on there, which no doctor had ever mentioned, was to use aqueous cream because it drives off the moisture that the thrush needs. Or something like that. It sounded so unlikely to work, especially since neither doctor had mentioned it. But it did work! To begin with I put it on every day but as time went on I could just use it the moment I got the hint of an itch, which was always in the days before my period, or once I knew I was in the second half of my cycle I’d start before any itch. Not sure how long that went on, maybe a year. Eventually I noticed it wasn’t really happening any more and now I only use it if it feels like it might be coming back which is almost never. I used E45 cream. Give it a go - nothing to lose!

Thank you! I will definitely try that.

I didn’t have athletes foot btw, not sure if it would work for that too.

If you can, try and get rid of this bout of thrishbwith other means as well as the E45 cream because I suspect it’s better for prevention than cure.

Some people will say giving up sugar works but I read quite a bit about it and wasn’t convinced by the evidence.

it’s horrible

Not sure if it's help but I was advised to try acidophilus complex when breastfeeding my baby with thrush, might be worth a try? Also you can look into the relationship between thrush and sugar.

I will literally try anything.

I don’t eat a lot of sugar, and I’m on a healthy eating kick so I don’t even have any chocolate, sweets or biscuits in the house. I know sugar is a trigger for it and I’ve tried to eliminate it as much as poss.

I’m just reading about the aqueous cream. I do also have ezcema if that’s relevant.

I didnt find flucanazole good on its own. I found i had to use the pessary every week for a month and that cleared it up. You can probably get it from your doctor but you can get clotrimizole pessaries cheap on ebay so you can use one regularly or whenever you start to feel the burn. www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clotrimazole-Pessary-2x6-Vaginal-Tablets-100mg-Antifungal-Agent-CANESTEN-EQUIV/122839856720?epid=1841556275&hash=item1c99d37650:g:mqoAAOSwevlaIoHh
I dont think athletes foot are related. Its not the same fungus.
I think lamisil gel is best otc for that

Thank you all

I’m so glad I asked now (I’m really embarrassed about it in RL)

You can try probiotics yogurt- and a feminine hygiene soap to try and correct the ph balance. Stick to cotton knickers and plenty of water

Underwear is cotton and I’m wearing loose trousers and no tights.

My doctor told me that they were not seperate cases of thrush, but more that we'd never cleared the first one up properly, and only eased symtoms which then flared up again at the drop of a hat, so we needed to regularly use clotrimazole whether i had symproms or not.
I really do feel for you. Its just the worst.

My gp gave me dakacort(?). Which is an anti fungal cream with cortisone . And I had to use it for a week after the symptoms were gone. Really worked. Also lamisil once really helped with athletes foot

Just remembered I used the E45 wash as well. I found the advice about “just using water” made it worse!

Also don’t be embarrassed. I found if I mentioned in real life it turned out loads of friends had had it like this too!

I suffered with recurring thrush after having my 2nd child. Aqueous cream worked for me! It was awful and like you started the week before my period came like clockwork. I started using the cream as a soap and putting it on after a bath/shower and within a few months I didn't get thrush again! Also avoid any shower gels or bubble bath this makes thrush worse!

This may be a bit drastic but the only thing that stopped mine was going on the mini pill as it stops the hormones which were driving the cycle. I was exactly the same as you, my periods and the thrush were regular as clockwork. Because the mini pill stops my periods all together the dr suggested we try it and it allowed the treatments to work without the hormone trigger to cause it to flare up again

Can’t use the mini pill. Or hormonal contraception.

Will get a tub of aqueous cream today. Fingers crossed. And thanks again.

I feel you OP, I get thrush every time I wear trousers The only thing that works for me is applying neat Apple cider vinegar. It kills the candid a fungus and after the initial stint it provides a lot of relief. Also after going to the toilet use a sports bottle filled with water and squirt water over yourself before drying with toilet roll, as just wiping yourself spreads the yeast around further. Also read in my extensive research of thrush to change pants every time you go to the loo as again they will have fungi on them that you are spreading back to yourself. Keeping pubic hair to a minimum is also supposed to help.

Thrush is caused by a yeast, candida which usually lives harmlessly in the mouth, on the skin, in the vagina and in the gut. Athletes foot can be caused by a number of different skin living fungi.

The body is a host to a whole range of bacteria and fungi which usually live in harmony. When they get out of balance, it can take a long time to clear. Simply killing off the ones that are potential pathogens does not always correct the problem unless your body is able to balance the rest of the bacteria, which is not always possible.

Yeasts are fed by sugar, so this can indeed be a factor.

Vinegar has been shown to kill candida in a petri dish so can kill the bacteria and unpasteurised vinegar will also have beneficial bacteria which will help to repopulate the beneficial bacteria.

The whole area of the gut biome and health is relatively new in scientific terms and not always consistent. However, the knowledge about how what we eat affects our health is not new. Traditionally. our diets contained very few refined carbohydrates, lots of raw foods and most cultures have some form of fermented foods. With the discovery of pasteurisation and the advent of refrigeration (both great advancements which brought many benefits), we have lost the need to include fermented foods in our diet and therefore a healthy source of bacteria to keep the potential pathogens in balance.

So, sadly, just cutting down or even cutting out sugar is not enough and introducing probiotics on their own is also not enough. There is no one perfect formula with enough research behind it for me to say.... do this and it will be perfect. But... if you exclude processed carbs, sugar, dairy, brewers and bakers yeast, soy, deep sea fish, gluten grains, citrus fruit and eat lots of vegetables, pulses, seeds, a range of protein sources and a range of fermented foods, you have a chance to rebalance your gut and the rest of your body. Avoid 'substitutes' and eat naturally occurring food. (I mean don't go for the gluten free stuff, eat naturally gluten free instead and don't replace the refined sugar with maple syrup and loads of fruit sugar.)

You will only stop the reoccurrence if you balance your body's microboime.

Lots of great ted talks, Sheena Cruickshank and Ted Knight are good to watch.

I always remember on Embarrassing Bodies, dr Christian said “It’s always socks before jocks”. So I always make sure I’ve covered my feet before I pull my pants over them. Just thought I’d mention it incase it helps someone, I know it sounds obvious.

I always get thrush if I wear tight trousers or if we use a certain brand of condoms. I might try the aqueous cream suggestion! Great thread OP.

I have literally suffered with this since I was 18. It did ease off after I had my second child (4 years ago) but now it's back again. I didn't realise you could use aqueous for it... I always use fluconazole and clotrimazole cream..

Antibiotics are a complete git and I have to avoid them when possible! Unfortunately I have just had a wisdom tooth out and have just finished a course and I could literally scratch myself away. Trimethoprim and augmentin I'm terrible with and amoxicillin. It's a nightmare!

I was the same, I found washing all my pants on a boil wash really helped

Just coming back to this.

I have my aqueous cream ☺️ And my period has started (tmi) which means the itch will go.

I found an old thread on here that recommends non bio powder for washing so I’ll do that and also wash at 90 and iron the gusset with a steam iron so I’ll do that too.

I’ll come back and update in a week or two and let you know how I get on.

There is also info online that says you can be sensitive to the dye in coloured cotton even so just get white cotton pants so I’m going to pick up a few pairs this afternoon and see if that helps too.

Do come back with an update, it will be helpful for anyone who finds this in the future!