Recurrent mild thrush - what to do?

[ImbarbaraB]

I seem to be constantly suffering with mild thrush on and off for months now

Anytime I have my period it happens
Anytime I bath it happens (have stopped even using bubbles but it still happens?

It’s not full on ferocious but it’s generally uncomfortable

What can I do?

Quit coffee. I had thrush for literally years. It made me utterly miserable. I recently quite coffee and it disappeared, totally.

You could try completely cutting out sugar, or, if you drink orange juice, try cutting that out (there's a chemical that's being used to get the peel off which causes thrush in some people)

Have you mentioned to your GP? Recurrent vaginal thrush can also be a sign of diabetes so worth a chat.

Second speaking to GP. I had this so they tested for diabetes (didn’t have that) and set up a schedule of treatment based on my period cycles. Also get swapped and tested - I did get a lot of recurring thrush especially when pregnant but actually a very fabulous GP suggested trying a mid level steroid cream as I also had an allergic reaction that mimicked thrush symptoms. The relief! So now when I get any sign of soreness or itching I put on the topical steroid cream and 95% time it resolves it. The other 5% of time I then go on to treat for thrush. Definitely don’t persist with dealing with this on your own. Your GP will have lots of options they can discuss with you to get this sorted. It is miserable in a way that’s hard to image.

You could try oral probiotics like Optibac for women or vaginal probiotics like canesflor. I take them as part of my ivf (a biopsy showed I don't have enough good bacteria in my uterus!) but I found it interesting reading the packets as they're also used to prevent recurrent UTIs and thrush. I had mild never left thrush for many years (always showed up at smear tests etc but was very mild so I didn't always know) and what cured it eventually was having a baby! Had thrush for 12 years then no more. I feel I've jinxed myself now!

I found that it was the temp of the bath that brought it on (as well as bubbles) so have switched to showers only and must avoid anything other than water down there. Live yogurt at breakfast also helps although maybe that’s placebo effect. I get this low level for months at a time though.
It really sucks though!

If it’s recurrent, can you get to the bottom of what’s causing it? I suffered with this when I had a copper coil. I also have nickel allergies so I suspect it’s some kind of metal intolerance with me. The doctors said it wasn’t a known side effect but when I had it removed it cleared up, and when I had a new one, post baby, it came back again. Within a month of taking the second one out it was gone again.
I never had an issue with Mirena later on, so it must have been the copper.
Is there anything gynae related that could be bothering you?

Are you 100% sure it’s thrush? I thought I was getting thrush every period and in between and it turned out to be a kind of contact dermatitis.

Washable pads cotton pads and an emollient like diprobase have made a huge difference.

I don’t use any bubble bath etc and only wash down there with aqueous cream if I want to use more than water.

Do a gentle detox, no sugar, no gluten, no dairy, probiotics, evening primrose oil and use chemical free sanitary products. Chances are one of those, or more likely a combination of all of them... will help.

Definitely speak to your gp. I've had it recurring for years and now I'm on a long term treatment and haven't had one episode. I was investigated for diabetes etc but some people are just prone to it. My periods, baths, tights, over exercising all triggered it. Don't suffer in silence there are plenty of treatment options.

Best thing ever

www.boots.com/multi-gyn-actigel-50ml-10137883 (I buy in bulk from amazon)

It finally got rid of my recurring thrush. It keeps the vagina at a PH that thrush cannot survive in.

I use after baths, swimming and the morning after sex, and whenever I feel any twinge or tenderness Like the week before my period. It comes with an applicator but I use an old medicine syringe. I find 2,5ml enough (and any more gets messy)

If I have active thrush I will use it twice a day, then once a day, then decrease usage slowly over a few weeks. It comes with an applicator but I use a medicine syringe- 2,5 ml is usually enough and not Too messy.

Sorry got interrupted, didn’t mean to repeat myself

I had constant thrush that no medication could touch when I was on the combined contraceptive pill. So if you’re on BC that could be it. (GPs kept saying that couldn’t be it, no evidence, bla bla. Came off it and it disappeared. Went back on...oh yes, you guessed it, the thrush was back. Stopped immediately and have never looked back — or had thrush again.)
Poor you, whatever’s causing it. It made me so miserable and I spent so much on canestan products. My Boots Advantage Card would honestly have been more worth nicking than anything else in my wallet for a while there. Hope you get some relief faster than I did.

Hydromol ointment (the one in the tub) online is cheap and a wash that is lovely and soothing for the symptoms.

I saw a gyn about mine. She suggested i yook a thrush tablet once a week for 4 weeks. It worked. If i suffer it afain (which i have a tendency to) i have to do the same. Its the only remedy that works for me.
This is of coyrse on the caveat youve ruled out other causeslike diabetes, made sure it isnt a problem with your sanpro, (have youtried a different type yo see if it helps). Ysing donething lije the green sanex body wash in the bath and nothing else and not having the water hot and never bubbles. No tight trousers, avoiding synthetic underwear and no thongs, reducing sugar (although i was yold that doesnt help lots of people same with wheat , but worth a try)

the link between sugar consumption and thrush is not proven. Thrush can be a sign of diabetes, as is high blood sugar, but cutting sugar and gluten without supervision is not great advice because of the other problems doing so can trigger.
Unless you are eating HUGE amounts of sugar, or you have diabetes, you can probably stick with your current diet...

I don’t agree at all. I find it is triggered by quite small amounts of sugar . What other problems can be triggered by cutting out gluten and sugar? Absolute nonsense.

I had an allergic reaction to actigel, OMG can still remember the hideous pain. Other friends swore by it though.

Do you have a partner and are they being treated alongside you? Sometimes you can be swapping thrush merrily back and forth.

@BreakingtheIce

Excuse me but it’s not absolute nonsense and I find that very rude.

Disordered eating is the risk.

It’s not great to recommend removing / altering diets to strangers on the internet without knowing their history. Not just the OP but anyone reading the thread who suffers thrush and falls down the rabbit hole of diet restriction that is all over the internet when it comes to thrush, with bad/ spurious evidence.

I notice I this thread the repeated advice is to cut sugar, not to reduce it. Cutting sugar entirely is not a small undertaking and hugely risky when it comes to putting the body into disordered eating patterns. Our bodies need sugars. Removing them has huge knock on effects.

I just wanted to provide a counter to the repeated advice to cut sugar / gluten / other things that often accompanies this topic.

That is risky advice, and should be undertaken with supervision and support.

@Freebleweeble thank you

I actually don’t have a lot of sugar in my diet (don’t add it to tea, don’t drink juices or fizzy drinks, don’t have cereals etc)

Only way I could cut out completely would be to remove my glass of red wine I have occasionally

I went to the pharmacy but they wouldn’t sell me anything over the counter because I’m breastfeeding

I’m on the copper coil too and wondering if these two things combined aren’t helping matters

@Waterlemon

Best thing ever

www.boots.com/multi-gyn-actigel-50ml-10137883 (I buy in bulk from amazon)

It finally got rid of my recurring thrush. It keeps the vagina at a PH that thrush cannot survive in.

I use after baths, swimming and the morning after sex, and whenever I feel any twinge or tenderness Like the week before my period. It comes with an applicator but I use an old medicine syringe. I find 2,5ml enough (and any more gets messy)

If I have active thrush I will use it twice a day, then once a day, then decrease usage slowly over a few weeks. It comes with an applicator but I use a medicine syringe- 2,5 ml is usually enough and not Too messy.

@Waterlemon I’ve been looking at this to buy online but it says it’s for BV will it definitely work for thrush too?

@flossletsfloss

Definitely speak to your gp. I've had it recurring for years and now I'm on a long term treatment and haven't had one episode. I was investigated for diabetes etc but some people are just prone to it. My periods, baths, tights, over exercising all triggered it. Don't suffer in silence there are plenty of treatment options.

Funny you mention exercising, as that’s one thing I have increased massively over the past 5 months so could be a correlation

I was told that actigel was good for thrush as well.

What a load of steaming bollocks that sugar is essential for life! Ask any diabetic how we feel about that. My diet is as sugarfree as I can make it because I'd prefer that to toes being removed or worse and blindness.

[quote Freebleweeble]@BreakingtheIce

Excuse me but it’s not absolute nonsense and I find that very rude.

Disordered eating is the risk.

It’s not great to recommend removing / altering diets to strangers on the internet without knowing their history. Not just the OP but anyone reading the thread who suffers thrush and falls down the rabbit hole of diet restriction that is all over the internet when it comes to thrush, with bad/ spurious evidence.

I notice I this thread the repeated advice is to cut sugar, not to reduce it. Cutting sugar entirely is not a small undertaking and hugely risky when it comes to putting the body into disordered eating patterns. Our bodies need sugars. Removing them has huge knock on effects.

I just wanted to provide a counter to the repeated advice to cut sugar / gluten / other things that often accompanies this topic.

That is risky advice, and should be undertaken with supervision and support.[/quote]
Cutting out sugar and gluten is not disordered eating. Quite the reverse.

@BreakingtheIce

No. Sorry.

All carbohydrates break down to sugar in the body. Advising someone to ‘cut sugar’ is poor advice- either you think removing refined sugar but keeping carbs is going to somehow make a difference, or you are suggesting all sugars are removed in order to starve Candida. This is a serious undertaking as anyone on a ketogenic diet to manage seizures will attest.

You will find many places on the internet that espouse the theory that Candida needs to be starved via a no sugar diet. These diets are extremely high risk for triggering disordered eating, and eating disorders (two different but related things).

Gluten-
Once a person has avoided gluten for a while, it becomes more difficult to establish if he or she has celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, or neither. If you don't have celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity, eliminating gluten from your diet can cause nutritional deficiencies.

Do not advise people you don’t know the history of to cut Gluten from their diets.

If you have yourself had phases of removing food groups from you diet without medial reason or supervision this podcast might be really helpful:

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-real-science-of-sport-podcast/id1461719225?i=1000521340059

It goes into great detail about what constitutes disordered eating.

A healthy diet is varied and includes sugar.