thrush

Submitted by kiki on July 28, 2008 - 3:58am
Body: 

hi all,

so i know i havne't been here in ages! sorry....i'm trying so hard to reduce VDU use as per Chrisitne's LS thoughts that i'm out of touch with the world...i'll find balance some day.

but, thrush. Christine said Louise you are a bit of an expert on this so i'm seeking advice!
I have chronic thrush which it turns out was a majority of my LS symptoms for this flare up. once cleared up my symptoms were a ton better which was great (though still there, but that's another story...)

but the thrush keeps coming back--about 6 weeks ago my doctor said i had terrible thrush and as 2 months before i'd been travelling and used a one off pessary that worked for 10 days and then stopped, she gave me a 2 x a day pessary for 7 days. not my ideal way to treat, but i was desperate--and it worked, though i wasn't convinced it worked 100%.

well, 6 weeks on and the odd discharge is back full
help!
i'm on no sugar except fruit, no dairy, taking acidophilis (maybe need to up it), and an herbal supplement for thrush.
they do an acidophilis pessary but i'm afraid i'll react to the oils in it...so trying just breaking open capsules of acidophlis and using that.

i don't know why i've got this! only thing is that i'm using aloe vera gel for my LS and I don't know if that encourages it to grow...

so, any thoughts would be welcomed and ways to deal with this!

thanks
Kiki

alemama

July 28, 2008 - 7:03am

thrush is awful.

I always use GSE (grapefruit seed extract) 15 drops in one ounce of orange juice- squeezed (the other has so much sugar)

you could consider gentian violet- you will be purple stained for a while but it does work well

Wash everything with GSE-20 drops or so in the washer should do it- with hot water.

I'd go with out panties too
putting a nice plain yogurt in the irritated area helps too-
consider eating more live foods-

I don't think the aloe would be a problem-

keep up the no sugar- look up the fruits you are eating and eliminate the highest sugar ones-

once you get rid of it- don't stop. Keep up the probiotic- gradually over a month or so wean off the GSE - (by the way always follow the GSE with probiotic - maybe a half hour later- the GSE kills yeast but it also kills some good bacteria too)

If you search for thrush in the search function you will find good information- Candex or something and tonz of other stuff.

louiseds

July 29, 2008 - 1:02am

Hi Kiki

Alemama has some great tips. To these I would add:-

Sugar is sugar is sugar. See if you can cut out sweet fruits, AND veges, eg those sweet little green peas, sweet carrots and other sweet root veges. Be especially vigilant while you are taking the other treatments as well. I call this 'starving the bastards'. Sorry if I offend. This means little fruit at all for as long as you can do it. Get your fibre and vitamins from elsewhere for the duration. Also, cut out all simple carbs that have no fibre, eg all refined starchy foods. This will put you basically on a diabetic diet, which will keep your blood sugar steady, rather than fluctuating. Use the diabetes guidelines. Eat little and often. I went the whole hog for a week or so, and also eliminated all fungus and yeasts, eg mushrooms, beer, wine, yeasted breads etc. and all dry foods like nuts that could potentially have moulds on them that I could not see. This made it harder. It was really boring, cos I could not eat the concentrated raw foods. I did leave home made plain yoghurt in there, but I figured it was probably helping with the good bugs, and I don't seem to have a response to a dairy free diet at the best of times.

If you are not so hard on yourself you might be able to go on it longer. But it worked, and I do not care if the diet was not a factor. I certainly felt powerful because I did not feel helpless.

The other things I did were to try a different family of anti-fungal creams, and used a product called EcoVag, which is a vaginal pessary (capsule that melts and releases its contents high in the vagina) containing the healthy vaginal bacteria, sourced and isolated from Scandinavian women. If you are from a different racial group your bugs might be different. I have no proof that it helped, but it was another missile in my arsenal.

The point I would make is that you need what is called in agriculture 'integrated pest management'; use several methods at the same time or in conjunction with each other. Each by itself will not kill the pest, but a combination of treatments will weaken the bad bugs enough to get their levels down to a point where they do not compromise the system.

Optimise your diet so you do not feed the thrush, but do feed your body and its immune system. Take a multi-vitamin while your diet is low in fruit and veges. Get plenty of compensatory fibre from whole grains.

Even out the ups and downs of blood sugar by cutting out simple sugars and carbohydrates for a period. If you have less you will probably crave them less. Weird I know, but that's what I have found, and I have continued to eat less of them.

Inoculate your body with good bacteria to regain the balance.

Get enough sleep and exercise and fresh air.

Enjoy yourself some.

Go without knickers for a while to keep faecal matter where it belongs, and not on your knickers where the candida in it can reinfect the vagina, particularly with prolapses. Wear loose PJ's or long nightie at night while you have it, so you don't get vaginal secretions on the sheets.

Your husband should have systemic treatment too, so as not to reinfect you. Consider condoms until your body is healthy again. Try not to aggravate your vagina at all and create new avenues for thrush to get under the surface where it can hide. If you are anything like me sex was completely off the agenda anyway. I just felt so out of sorts.

You're not still breastfeeding, are you? Little one have thrush? Passing it on to you via normal body fluid contamination. Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly, and pay careful attention to personal hygiene. Wipe backwards.

Wash all your linen regularly, ie towels and other things that touch the vulval, wash daily, and use throw away paper towels as hand towels for now. A little bit of vinegar in the rinse water will alter the pH so yeast cannot survive the laundry process. Detergents are often alkaline, so you need to counteract this in the last rinse. Line dry your linen so the sun can get to it, and knock off the nasties by nuking them.

You could go mad thinking of every possible avenue of infection and reinfection. The more the better, but keep it real.

Think positive and affirm every time you can that it is going away.

Another suggestion is to get a proper, fasting diabetes test. Persistent and chronic thrush is common with diabetes, and if you have hidden diabetes this may be a wakeup call.

Kiki, I am so sorry you are experiencing this. I hope I have given you some more weapons. Mine has not returned.

Cheers

Louise

kiki

August 2, 2008 - 11:23am

hi again,

sorry i meant to be back here much sooner but are nursing a measley child so have our hands full
but...thank you! i am planning to use these fab suggestions and tackle this very soon. we are still breastfeeding, but other than white spots in mouth don't know how you tell if they have thrush. any thoughts?
also the health shop said no GSExtract whilst nursing... need to look into that more though.
but i am thinking the thrush may be systemic, as the last few weeks i've had a funny taste in my mouth...

right now though keeping us full of vitamin A rich foods for the measles--but that's exactly what my thrush doesn't need. But one thing at a time.

on an amazing note though, i finally saw the consultant re my LS who said that whilst I have definately had LS a long time ago (total loss of architecture is the phrase she used--lovely, eh?) she saw no signs of recent LS! she thinks i've had severe thrush and that some women, ie me, develop a severe dermatitis reaction to the thrush which makes the swelling, redness, rawness, cracking, and misery--on top of the usual itching. i used the steroid for the LS which only makes thrush much much worse. s he wasn't even sure if these little LS outbreaks over the past few years were really LS or were thrush that i reacted to. no way to know, but no recent damage.

so, as long as i can keep the thrush at bay, she thinks i should be fine! it's amazing news--haven't had time to email Christine yet but i will soon when i get another break. i'm relieved, and in the last week the thrush has been improving even more and with it more swelling going, taking things back to how they were--hurray!

so anyway, thanks for this info and i will start this all up soon--with more questions i'm sure!
but if you have thoughts on nurslings and thrush would be grateful...

thanks!
Kiki

alemama

August 2, 2008 - 8:19pm

Hey no LS would be simply amazing! What a wonderful thing.
I know this is silly to say but I am so excited to hear of a case of measles. Super immunity for life with an actual case. Too cool.
but so sad for your babe to have to go through it-I think cantaloupe is high in A.
you can make a GSE wash for your vagina- put it in a peri bottle and rinse off with it after you pee instead of T.P. I highly doubt that this application will impact your breastfeeding baby.

Oh and you might take a pregnancy test- funny taste in the mouth is always an early symptom for me (like all food tastes like I am sucking on a penny).

kiki

August 3, 2008 - 5:20am

hi Alemama,
Yes, no LS owuld be amazing! definately was there, but to not have it back...wow! well, we'll tackle the thrush and see. saw my homeopath this morning and she's working on it now. definately not pregnant so funny taste is probably thrush--ah the joys! but still beats the LS returning... let's hope!

will do wash--thanks for that. but sorry, peri bottle? not sure what that is...

measles, yes--tons around us right now. it is good in the long run, just hard in the moment, but having a sick child is always hard. will be harder with the toddler i know, but i'm trusting we'll get through it. had a scary morning with our 5 year old when i worried for the first time, but he's much better now and the doctor said should be absolutely fine, no sign of secondary infections which he said are actually very rare, and i do believe it will improve his system and he's immune. hurray! i on the other hand am only vaxed, so we are just waiting to see if i get it too...that would be horrible, as it would be at the same time as the little one. ugh. fingers crossed the vax works...

louiseds

August 3, 2008 - 5:35am

Hi Kiki

You really are having a tough time of it, aren't you. Just a thought. Have you actually had a sample of the 'thrush' cultured. Is there actually candida there? As you have a baby with measles, is it possible that you have either caught it from baby, or have given it to baby? ie you may have it too. Measles, LS and thrush could produce similar symptoms, and there may be more than one bug present. You know, how if you are run down with one thing you are likely to get another?. It sounds as if your doctor is not too sure. I would be establishing some facts.

Also, if baby has thrush, ask the doctor or a pharmacist about a probiotic for baby as well as you.

I have had thrush when the doctor has sworn on examination that there was no thrush there. A culture confirmed it. I have also had thrush, cleared it up, had another sample cultured , which showed it had gone, but I still had a lot of irritation and discomfort. I think there is a lot we (and doctors) don't know.

Just be very careful while baby has measles. It is a very infectious and nasty disease with several very serious possible complications. Sorry this has happened.

I just saw your newest post. Yes the doctor is right. The side effects, eg blindness and brain damage are probably less common than they were in the 1960's before antibiotics were widely used. Rare maybe, but devastating if you draw the short straw. Thank goodness you are vaccinated. Doesn't mean that you cannot get it though; if you do it will probably be very mild.

Hang in there Kiki.

Louise

alemama

August 3, 2008 - 7:07am

your breastmilk will be powerful good for that babe. The baby is already getting your immunities but you might consider pumping and giving your milk to your older kiddos too.
a peri bottle is like a squirt bottle - kinda like a sports bottle - they give you one sometimes after you have a baby-

kiki

August 5, 2008 - 2:41pm

hi louise,
yes, lots going on!

re measles...our eldest is through it beautifully, which is great. phew! now waiting for the babe to get it...not looking forward, but we'll get there. we use homeopathy which has been really helpful in the older one for moving things on and dealing with illness, and he's full of vitamin A which is a huge factor in measles complications.. i definately don't have it at the moment ( i feel great!) but will see if i do get it. i am vaxed and revaxed, but even then nothing is 100%... so anyway, just taking it as it comes and sending out good thoughts for the best...

re the thrush. yes, they sampled it about 2 months ago and it came back as mega thrush. treated it, and 90% of my symptoms went away. the specialist i saw was very clear that there is no new LS, no bruising, new fusing, scarring, etc. and at the moment, no irritation. i do still have mild occasional itching, but she thought that was remnants of the thrush (and take a pill and it'll all be fine!).

my concern is what if the LS was there and i did get it to go away but didn't know as the thrush was so severe...however, interestingly when i think back to all the flare ups over the past few years, in most i've used the steroid for a few days AND treated for thrush as it seemed to be there--but i was told itching / cracking would be the LS, so i've just assumed it was both. my general doctor who is great saw no signs of LS recently, just mega thrush and dermatitis. so who knows...i guess time will tell. my job right now (after nursing my babes!) is to tackle this thrush...

hey, it's taken my mind off the prolapses...

louiseds

August 5, 2008 - 10:20pm

Hi Kiki

Sounds like you are doing great under the circumstances. Boy, oh boy, bodies are complicated when you have babies, toddlers and older kids. There seems to be so much going on in these bodies of ours. I guess you just keep doing what you are doing. I think these conditions often happen in clusters, partly because of the presence of the other ones, often in response to 'subterranean' stresses that are very hard to identify, and often difficult to change. I suspect your body will just get better slowly. I can think of better distractions from prolapses though!

I am currently reading Dr Christiane Northrup's book, Womens Bodies Womens Wisdom. She develops this idea of the body reacting to stresses and old baggage, and its ability to heal itself once the issue is addressed. Amazing book. I just wish it wasn't 3 inches thick. Very hard to read in bed.

Cheers

Louise

mom30

August 6, 2008 - 7:36am

I don't know if you've tried this or not, but every time I get some sort of itching, burning, etc. down there, I use the Head to Toe babywash instead of soap. It usually clears up whatever is bothering. I usually use the Johnson & Johnson brand, or the generic Walmart brand. It's all yellow in color/yellow bottle. It may or may not help, but at least worth a shot.