starting to think its not candida. what else could it be?

[Ambrosia_angel]

This may be a little graphic so if you don't want to read about vaginas then stop here!



I've can reccuring yeast for the past three years. YES. THREE YEARS. And I've had it persistent for a pretty long time now. And no treatments have helped. I've never been swabbed but I've always been pretty sure its candida (albicans?) due to it's initial onset and flare up being cased by antibiotics. Clear white strong discharge (vaginal yeast) and also white patches on my cheeks which a Dr said is oral thrush.

Here's a list of the other infections I've ruled out. Please tell me if there is still a possibility that I could have it.

-bacterial vaginosis - my yeast flares up with antibiotics
-cytolytic vaginosis - tried douching with bicarb of soda
-STI - not sexually active

My theory is that by douching I have pushed the yeast up into my cervix and possibly further to reproduce there. If it is the yeast that is. I've tried pesseraies, inserting creams (hydrocortisone&fluconazole, clotrimazole). I've even tried my kitchen. Don't laugh. We've all done it..

I feel like my bodies created a super yeast. If it is yeast. Will I have to go on strong oral antifungal? What other possible infections could I have if it isn't yeast?

 

[taniaaust1]

Here's a photo I took of my thrush (well that is what the doctor said it was) which I took a week or so ago, which is now over my torso. I think just like AIDS patients can be prone to thrush.. so are we. We need to take care or things like this happen.
...............

As you say you are not sexually active, I assume you are not on the pill (that can cause thrush issues). umm if you have sex toys, make sure you rub anti-fungal over them too in case you are constantly reinfecting yourself. (I gave it badly to my boyfriend I had at the time and I think he was only helping to reinfect me back even before the issue became very noticable on him).

I had vaginal thrush issues years too (not in my mouth thou).. it was aweful, I'd think I'd got on top of it but then days later I'd notice it was back. I used to use Canesten cream all the time (that one with the insertion tubes which help get it right up to make sure it got everywhere). I had thrush constantly during pregnancy (that really set it off bad)

It always got bad or came back with antibiotics so whenever I took one of those, I also get some prescription mediine of some kind to take orally (forget what it was called now) which helped kill fungal things like Candida as without it, I'd just end up bad with it again. I suggest you get something like that next time you have to take an antibiotic or maybe you can get your doctor to give you something like that anyway.. to use in conjunction to the topical creams.

I also at times used yogurt (plain) internally and also ate a lot of it hoping it would help (actually the last years I had thrush I used that a lot in all ways.. so maybe that did really help).

Your knickers.. make sure they are cotton.

Douching.. yeah not always a good idea and can end up iritating things.

Ive ended up after having years of problems with that issue, with years in recent times when Ive been okay.. I can even now take an antibiotic without having to take the candida precautions.
............
*sigh* I was free of this until several weeks back when suddenly Ive ended with it again.. (that happened after I ended up in hospital due to a bad crash and ended up getting pee all over the bed and got all wet from almost my neck to my toes. Not being able to sit up etc, I was given a bedpan to use after I hadnt been able to get to a toilet all night and I drink a lot.. the bedpan wont hold it all so there was a very wet me.. all my clothes were soaked.

Wiithin days of that hospital incident (maybe I carry candida in my pee?), my torso went red, went sore and it smelt too, to which Im now trying to get rid of candida using several times per day Canesten over my body. Obviously a nurse nearly right away wiping me off and changing my clothing wasnt enough (she didnt wash me). Its crazy the amount of care which is needed so we (ME) people dont end up with issues, my body is a nightmare to take care of.

Best luck with getting rid of the issue. I suggest to insist to get it swabbed just to make sure.

 

[Ambrosia_angel]

@taniaaust1 was it a one of pill?? I took the fluconazole one of pill and it didnt do anything... I'm going to have to demand a long term antifungal but how effective would that be for vaginal thrush if the one of pill did nothing.

Yes I'm not on any hormone pill. Has rubbing canasten helped your skin infection

 

[taniaaust1]

@taniaaust1 was it a one of pill?? I took the fluconazole one of pill and it didnt do anything... I'm going to have to demand a long term antifungal but how effective would that be for vaginal thrush if the one of pill did nothing.

Yes I'm not on any hormone pill. Has rubbing canasten helped your skin infection

I wish I could remember what it was.. it was a pill the doctor had me take an antifungal pill once a day. I took it the whole time I was on the antibiotics and would continue taking it till I was sure they werent going to give me candida again (sometimes I took it for up to a week after).

Ive heard that oral antifungals alone (even the one they have out for vaginal thrush) often arent enough or vaginal thrush (a pharmasist told me that).. so I suggest you need to do both.

The canesten has helped some I think on my skin (I've lost the tube of it since yesterday so its getting worst again). I got to find that tube! The patch of skin thou its lost that bright red colour now but its certainly still infected as its quite discoloured still (it is no longer weeping but started to give off an odour again today since I lost my cream).

My doctor warned me that even in this place, it can be hard to get rid of even using this 3 times a day on it and to go and get a different stronger cream if this one doesnt work (she may of given me a prescription for another in case.. I cant remember.. I dont know where I put my stuf from that appointment). Anyway, I will continue with this one once I find that tube, till its run out (I only brought a small one) and at that point probably will end up having to buy the stronger antifungal cream.

 

[justy]

Hi Ambrosia, I battled with awful oesophageal thrush and also in my mouth and occasional outbreaks down below for a few years - I sympathise!

What finally got rid of it for me was a longer course of Fluconazole (its relatively safe, they give it to breastfeeding mums and premature babies) for about a week and at the same time it is absolutely vital to do a long term - 6 months at least - anti candida diet and natural antifungals.

This is what I did and it was the only thing that worked when repeated courses of antifungals would not:

Diet - absolutely no sugar of any kind, including honey, maple syrup, etc only xylitol is ok (can get in health food shop, very expensive)
No yeasted products - so no bread, pizzas etc
no cheese except cottage cheese
I think no dairy apart from cottage cheese above and live natural yoghurt
no fermented foods like soy sauce
organic eggs only 9all other eggs have antibiotics from the chickens
same goes for meat - but I don't eat it anyway so is ok
no fruit for the first 3 weeks and then after that no dried fruit
be careful with nuts, they can contain molds
be careful with black tea can contain molds
no caffeine

After two weeks on diet add in natural candida killers- caprylic acid is great (from coconuts) you need to gradually bring the dose up
Vitamin C - as much as you tolerate, but more than 1 gram a day
Garlic capsules - these gave me horrible die off, so be careful.

Add in probiotics
they must be either the type you keep in the fridge OR even better home made kefi - if you want to know how ask me or others on here.

This worked really well for me - at the time I couldn't eat even aa half a biscuit without terrible flare upos of symptoms.

What have you tried so far?

 

[Ambrosia_angel]

I've tried the candida diet strictly with no improvement. I'm doing a high vegan diet which has helped my energy but I haven't had any improvement in the candida. Good points is that my candida hasn't flared up since I've been eating this way but that isn't enough. Tried the natural candida treatments and rotated them. I think if my candida was gastrointestinal then those natural treatments may have helped but they literally did nothing for me.

I don't think fluconazole pills will help me at all though and I know my Dr will want to prescribe it to me. Did fluconazole cream help you? It doesn't help me at all :|. I might just buy this and take two a day (or reccommened daily dose) if the Dr can't come up with anything. I feel like I have to demand him to do something but I need to figure out what I want him to prescribe first?

 

[peggy-sue]

I'v e been having bouts of oral thrush.
I have been told by my dentist and gp, that this occurs because of my being "run down" or "deficient" in something, it's the alterating of the conditions in the mouth that allows the overgrowth.
And the same thing for vaginal thrush too. It's not so much an infection, but an overgrowth because of conditions not being right.

My gp even did some blood tests, and told me I was deficient in folate, and that I should supplement with it.
He even made weird noises about "gluten intolerance".
It appears he believes in that, if not in ME.
Note, I was not prescribed any folate - just told to go and buy it for myself.

However supplementing with folate did not help. Replacing my sublingual B12, which I had been forgetting, helped.
The folate brought it back.

I bought some methylfolate, and that's helping.

However, I haven't a clue about methylation stuff or any of the ins and outs of that and fungal stuff.

 

[justy]

Your doctor can prescribe you a course of Fluconazole - you may need it for a week or more. I understand how frustrating it is with the diet etc, especially if you have tried it and it didn't work.

For me I had to do ALL of what I said - including two weeks of fluconazole tablets as well as the diet, the herbals etc etc I did it for at least a year.

 

[Ambrosia_angel]

I've never heard of methylation helping thrush. I'm considering doing methylation treatment for the third or forth time now. It will be a poor mans version though lol. No NT factor.

I guess my first step is to get on a course of antifungals which I will hopefully get by Friday. Not going to douche just incase a swab is wanted. It's not going to be fun but I have no choice I guess. Hopefully after a longer course of treatment I can figure out what to do next. When I come back I'll give an update. If he wants to give a pessearie then I will refuse. Same with the one day pill. They seem to be relunctant to perscibe antifungals as apposed to antibiotics. Wonder why? I know the thing about the liver but they just seem so reluctant.

 

[Valentijn]

@Ambrosia_angel - If you're still trying to do the 80/10/10 diet, almost all of your calories are coming from sugars which can feed the candida. I don't know if meds or other treatments are as successful when that's happening.

 

[Ambrosia_angel]

@Ambrosia_angel - If you're still trying to do the 80/10/10 diet, almost all of your calories are coming from sugars which can feed the candida. I don't know if meds or other treatments are as successful when that's happening.

The high carb hasn't done anything to my candida. I've has it for 3 years and persistent for probably a year now. I've been using different treatments for 3 years too. A positive is that my candida hasn't flared up since eating high carb though.

 

[taniaaust1]

Hi Ambrosia, I battled with awful oesophageal thrush and also in my mouth and occasional outbreaks down below for a few years - I sympathise!

What finally got rid of it for me was a longer course of Fluconazole (its relatively safe, they give it to breastfeeding mums and premature babies) for about a week and at the same time it is absolutely vital to do a long term - 6 months at least - anti candida diet and natural antifungals.

This is what I did and it was the only thing that worked when repeated courses of antifungals would not:

Diet - absolutely no sugar of any kind, including honey, maple syrup, etc only xylitol is ok (can get in health food shop, very expensive)
No yeasted products - so no bread, pizzas etc
no cheese except cottage cheese
I think no dairy apart from cottage cheese above and live natural yoghurt
no fermented foods like soy sauce
organic eggs only 9all other eggs have antibiotics from the chickens
same goes for meat - but I don't eat it anyway so is ok
no fruit for the first 3 weeks and then after that no dried fruit
be careful with nuts, they can contain molds
be careful with black tea can contain molds
no caffeine

After two weeks on diet add in natural candida killers- caprylic acid is great (from coconuts) you need to gradually bring the dose up
Vitamin C - as much as you tolerate, but more than 1 gram a day
Garlic capsules - these gave me horrible die off, so be careful.

Add in probiotics
they must be either the type you keep in the fridge OR even better home made kefi - if you want to know how ask me or others on here.

This worked really well for me - at the time I couldn't eat even aa half a biscuit without terrible flare upos of symptoms.

What have you tried so far?

I forgot to say the other things I did, I did all the things justy did.. probotics, anti candida diet (if one has a bad issue it doesnt take much to feed that candida).. using anti-fungals by mouth (both a precription med, and I awas also taking antifungal herbs too) and using anti-fungal creams. I found out one may need to focus on this in all ways and it stil can take quite a long time to get to the point where one odesnt have to be dealing with it coming back all the time.

I also did a lot of olive leaf extract but I dont know if that helped with all the rst of what I was doing or not.

 

[taniaaust1]

I've never heard of methylation helping thrush. I'm considering doing methylation treatment for the third or forth time now. It will be a poor mans version though lol. No NT factor.

I guess my first step is to get on a course of antifungals which I will hopefully get by Friday. Not going to douche just incase a swab is wanted. It's not going to be fun but I have no choice I guess. Hopefully after a longer course of treatment I can figure out what to do next. When I come back I'll give an update. If he wants to give a pessearie then I will refuse. Same with the one day pill. They seem to be relunctant to perscibe antifungals as apposed to antibiotics. Wonder why? I know the thing about the liver but they just seem so reluctant.

A pharmasist told me pessearies often dont work well with this kind of thing. Yeah Ive wondered that myself about anti-fungals and why doctors can be so relunctant to prescribe anything except creams. (it took years before a doctor prescribed some oral meds for my thrush.. and that was only when I changed from male doctors to a female one. Females seem to have more compassion a over a red raw girly area.

Best luck.

 

[golden]

I had this miserable condition just after they started me on daily antibiotics for years from 12/13 years old they had a nerve telling me that antibiotics were not to blame.

All in all i finally got rid of it in my early twenties... And it has thankfully never returned. (18 ish yrs later) I had been prescribed already endless rounds of all of the above and it did nothing at all to help. The GP did write in my notes 'appalling level of thrush' - which might have been nice if she had shared that with me at the time - instead of repeating the antibiotics prescriptions.


Around the time it permanently cleared this is what i did:

Strict anti candida diet - which is a form of torture
the standard supplements - which i feel like i had such a bad die off reaction too i nearly died myself

I had several sessions of Applied Kinesiology which i believe is worth a go - (not any other type of kinesioligy)


I moved onto food combining for a few months and finally went Vegan Macrobiotic which I always said brown rice saved my life. All my digestive troubles cleared up, candida overgrowth gone, etc. Etc.

At this juncture i cut out wheat and may have accidentally eliminated gluten too which is a major prib for me - i now feel grains are no longer good for me.


Being on the 80 10 10 (although not yet mastered it) has not caused it to return...

Also t that tim e it was cured and apologies for saying this but i abelieve it helped - i stopped wearing underwear and let as much air by wearing flowing skirts or baggy jogging trosuers to that area as possible...

I started sending love to that area as requested by the applied kinesiologist - when she told me i screwed up my face in disgust at her lol but i did it and this helped...

Also i stopped using any soap as this area is self cleaning....

Hope you find something swiftly

 

[Ambrosia_angel]

I think if I got rid of my candida then my health would improve. I'm positive candida has played a major part in my CFS. It was about 6 months before I got ME that the infection started to recur.

I just went the drs. Couldn't get the female dr so just got the dr that deals with my cfs. He gave me a prescription for gyno daktarin. I think its miconazole as I had daktarin for oral candida (which he dr doesn't think I have) and it said miconazole. I'm happy I got a different antifungal. I could have candida glabrata or another strain which is usually resistant to common antifungals. I have to make an appointment with the female dr in two weeks once the prescription ends.

Wondering if I should take out or lowrer fruits for the short term. Unsure? I'll see after one week of the prescription. I'll know if its working by then.

Thanks for all the advice i still have my old natural antifungals so I might start taking them again. They have gelatine in them though :thumbdown: My mum told me I should have got the veggie ones at the time.

 

[Ambrosia_angel]

Also t that tim e it was cured and apologies for saying this but i abelieve it helped - i stopped wearing underwear and let as much air by wearing flowing skirts or baggy jogging trosuers to that area as possible...

I started sending love to that area as requested by the applied kinesiologist - when she told me i screwed up my face in disgust at her lol but i did it and this helped...

Lol I'm not the only one then! I don't think its weird or disgusting that people don't wear underwear and how no idea why people would think it is. I don't do it everyday but have in the past. It definitely does feel free. They say moisture is what let's the yeast grow so that's the best way to avoid that issue.

 

[golden]

I think if I got rid of my candida then my health would improve. I'm positive candida has played a major part in my CFS. It was about 6 months before I got ME that the infection started to recur.

I just went the drs. Couldn't get the female dr so just got the dr that deals with my cfs. He gave me a prescription for gyno daktarin. I think its miconazole as I had daktarin for oral candida (which he dr doesn't think I have) and it said miconazole. I'm happy I got a different antifungal. I could have candida glabrata or another strain which is usually resistant to common antifungals. I have to make an appointment with the female dr in two weeks once the prescription ends.

Wondering if I should take out or lowrer fruits for the short term. Unsure? I'll see after one week of the prescription. I'll know if its working by then.

Thanks for all the advice i still have my old natural antifungals so I might start taking them again. They have gelatine in them though :thumbdown: My mum told me I should have got the veggie ones at the time.

It certainly does unburden the body when clearing this issue -

i know the anti- candida diet can be with or without fruit depending on which protocol...

The 80 10 10 is of the other elk that it is not the fruit sugars which are the problem but the fats.

Unfortunately, I havent been able to research it in deep enough detail yet to fully understand why.

 

[golden]

Lol I'm not the only one then! I don't think its weird or disgusting that people don't wear underwear and how no idea why people would think it is. I don't do it everyday but have in the past. It definitely does feel free. They say moisture is what let's the yeast grow so that's the best way to avoid that issue.

Yes, i have been surprised at how shocked and horrified some people get at being healthy and natural and doing healthy and natural things