Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Other Health Discussion => Topic started by: Crochet on August 21, 2024, 04:50:57 PM
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Hi I’ve posted before on the back of other posts but always felt like I was jumping on somebody else’s thread.
After 5 months of just about constant thrush it’s really dragging me down. It started as a side effect of a drug I took for heart failure. I’ve just done 3x 72 hour fluconazole and am about to take my first weekly tab and can see I still have it.
I have done this at least 3 times before, then took it for a month afterwards. Then lots of extra tabs in between. I can’t tell you how sore I am. I see a vulva specialist in 2 weeks. It’s just making me so bad with anxiety. I cry all the time. Just feel at such a loss.
I’m 57. Would love any positive stories or ideas.
Needless to say I think I have done every single thing listed to get rid of it.
Thankyou
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So stop using the Fluconazole if it isn't working.
Get 2 pots of Greek LIVE yoghurt - 1 to eat which will cleanse the digestive system from top to bottom: a large spoonful several times a day. As well as applying internally ..... which will be soothing if nowt else. Obviously keep the two pots separate ;-). Any ABs or long-term treatment can destroy any good bacteria which can cause a general feeling of malaise.
At the end of each period I would have intense itching too high up in the vagina to scratch. Normal for me . I had thrush proper after stopping The Pill ....... a pessary from the Gynae Registrar sorted it.
U may have vaginal atrophy - as oestrogen levels drop the body may become dry: inside and out; skin, between the toes, deep in the ears, nostrils, eyes, vagina ......
Let us know how you get on at the appt.. Make a list of queries to take with you and do discuss vaginal atrophy!
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How R U today?
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Have they tested at the lab to confirm it really is thrush? As above va can feel very similar. There was a post possibly a couple of months ago from someone who had a strain of thrush that didn't respond to fluconazole and she had to use something else, might be worth searching for it. Hope your appointment goes well.
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It was Midnight Shadow who had a different strain of thrush. Here is one of her informative threads.
https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,67691.0.html
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Hi I’ve took 3 x 72 hours fluconazole and then my first 1week one on Friday and it’s back again. Is this normal? All it leaves me thinking is it can’t possibly be the normal strain.
Really down and fed up ☹️
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Midnight Shadow mentions that the gabralta strain she had was detected at a GUM clinic. Could you go to your local clinic now that the thrush has come back again? Nothing ventured …….
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Hi Crochet,
This was exactly what happened to me when I started my course of Fluconazole in May. I felt better towards the end of the initial week of 72 hourly tablets, then my symptoms retuned the day before my first weekly dose!
I remember you commenting in the thread I started that your GP wouldn’t/couldn’t tell you which strain you have. I forgot to mention in my reply today that I asked the practice nurse if the lab identified which strain of Candida I have. It’s Candida parapsilosis. I don’t know if different surgeries/areas test differently but it might be worth asking again?
:hug:
Wishing you well in your upcoming appointment.
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I agree
It could be VA so many GP’s are not clued up on it at all The dermatologist should be able to confirm things for you It’s so awful be constantly uncomfortable I think thrush tends to be the go to diagnosis when there’s any type of irritation
Hope you get some relief soon
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How awful to be going through this. All,I can say is I did 3 or 4 flucozanle courses [3 x72 hours) before the thrush resolved. Even then it went slowly. After last course it was improved to extent I didn’t do another course but still niggling for a while. I got absolutely nowhere with GP which is why I took matters into my own hands.
Just to add I did also take ibuprofen alongside.
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How awful to be going through this. All,I can say is I did 3 or 4 flucozanle courses [3 x72 hours) before the thrush resolved. Even then it went slowly. After last course it was improved to extent I didn’t do another course but still niggling for a while. I got absolutely nowhere with GP which is why I took matters into my own hands.
Just to add I did also take ibuprofen alongside.
I’m sorry for hijacking but I’ve just googled Ibuprofen and Candida and I’m very interested!!! May I ask what dose of Ibuprofen did you take, how many times a day and how long for? Thank you.
(Sorry Crochet!)
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Hi I took 2 x 200 mg ibuprofen 3 times a day - careful to take it with food. It is very interesting and I am convinced it helped.
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Hi I took 2 x 200 mg ibuprofen 3 times a day - careful to take it with food. It is very interesting and I am convinced it helped.
Thank you, I’m going to have to consider this! How many days did you take the Ibuprofen for?
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During the last 2 courses There were days when I dropped down to one 200g tablet. Good Luck!
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Hi.
It’s really interesting seeing and listening to other people’s journeys. We learn so much from them and it allows us to challenge/question the professionals. When you get to see a gp you have to be ready with everything as you can’t go back and say oh I forgot to ask.
I’m on the weekly fluconazole and it’s coming back. Today’s the day I take the weekly and I can see it’s there. I wore linen trousers yesterday and was really sore. Think I’ve probably got VA aswell. Really down about it. I know we are where we are but I got my thrush from a heart drug and it’s the thrush that’s giving me so much grief when it should be my heart.
Sorry to moan! Next week is the vulva dermatologist so let’s hope!!!!
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Hi.
I went to see a vulva dermatologist today. Was hoping she would have dynamic ideas about recurrent and continuous thrush over 6 months. The thrush started as a side effect of a heart drug. I now have really sore vulva area from so many prescribed fluconazole. 4 positive thrush swabs.
Was so disappointed. So she examined me and said as I have always said there isn’t anything to see. I have no dermatitis or exma. . No thrush discharge. She did a low vaginal swab and I asked if she would ask for culture for specific strain. I told her how it was affecting all aspects of my life. Worrying about eating sugar or yeast products, should I take probiotics,we don’t have sex, I don’t feel good ever and even though she let me talk she didn’t comment at all.
Then she said I think you have vulvadynia. Unexplained vulva pain. And offered me amitriptyline for nerve pain. I believe if I could stop the thrush then no fluconazole I would get rid of the soreness. I now have to wait for the swab results which is fine. I just got no confidence from here dealing with it before. So just as fed up☹️
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Just copied and pasting this for you.
"Various factors contribute to vulvodynia, making it a complex, multifactorial condition where the exact cause is often elusive. Sometimes, it manifests suddenly without any apparent history of discomfort. However, in many cases, there's a triggering event, such as a severe episode of thrush.8 Feb 2024"
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vulvodynia/
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Hi Crochet,
I’m so sorry to hear your consultation was disappointing. I think, like you, I would be reluctant to accept a vulvodynia diagnosis until you’d had a negative swab for thrush. Did the consultant discuss/rule out vaginal atrophy? I recall from an earlier post you had tried VA treatment but can’t remember if you’d continued with it.
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Thankyou minusminnie that’s interesting. It seems to be a very wide based cover all diagnosis.
The consultant said there was no atrophy everything was really plump. I told her I had tried estriol cream and it had really burned, I also said I had unopened vagifem that was given for when I didn’t have thrush. She said just keep it we may use it at a later date. I said I had read that ladies quite often got thrush when using it-she said she hadn’t heard that. So at the moment I’m only using olive and bee which I took with me and she had not seen that one before.
After reading about all these things from all you experienced ladies it made me lack confidence in her experience.
Im going to wait for my swab result see what happens then. I have spent all day thinking of different scenarios if it’s this I will do this or if it’s that I will do this. There’s just no point so will be patiently sore and wait.
Thankyou to all your replies it’s such a lonely problem. X
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Hi Crochet
How are things
I did jump onto this thread a few days ago The dermatologist I saw also diagnosed Vulvodynia and when she explained it it made perfect sense.. but then again we can make lots of symptoms fit a diagnosis
One thing she did advise was to use centraban after every trip to the loo It puts a barrier between skin and the urine and really helps I also use Vagisil with oatmeal it’s really soothing
I really found theses two things helped
Nothing else was ever diagnosed All the obvious things weren’t found and I was in a terrible place mentally trying to cope with the constant discomfort
Hope you get some relief soon