Recurring Thrush

My daughter has been plagued with this recently (nearly 3 years), and is now on a weekly dose of something (I'll check the name next time I'm home!) as canestan and other OTC stuff didn't help - the weekly tablet has done the trick.

Canestan usually works. Boots sell a Fluconazole tablet, which is the same thing, but cheaper as Canestan is quite expensive. Your partner should also be treated as you might be just batting the infection back and forth between you. Vaginal thrush is usually caused by insufficient lubrication during sex, which can abrade the vaginal wall, allowing the fungus to invade. Candida (thrush) is part of normal gut flora, so always wipe from front to back after going to the toilet, so as not to wipe faecal organisms into the vagina or urethra.

Just a thought, but I found that orange squash would upset my balance, so I avoid it now, even the sugar free stuff.

Hello MariaMac welcome to HP, I am a strong believer in the Mind, Body, Spirit connection and feel that most physical ailments are the result of something emotional so when I used this route to investigate my reaccuring thrush I found it was because I was sleeping with the wrong person!

Love

Rebecca x

Hi Maria

Any reputable practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine should be able to give you some help with this problem. In that you mention that this is a recurring problem suggests that any treatments you've been using up to now are likely to be addressing the symptoms rather than the cause. TCM views thrush as related to pathogenic Damp, which may combine with Heat to form Damp-Heat, roughly equating to things like UTI's (which "burn" on passing urine, hence the Heat moniker).

Pathogenic Damp is unusual in tha it can arise from both internal and external directions. Living and working in a damp, chilly environment can allow Pathogenic Damp to invade the channels of the body, obstructing Qi flow, often leading to oedema and swellings in the lower body and legs. Damp can also arise internally as a result of a weak digestion that fails to transorm foodstuffs properly- this might be evidenced by loose stools (excessive moisture looking for a way out of the body) or a swollen tongue and heavy limbs with muscles that are easily tired. The digestion is easily affected by long term intake of cold, raw foods, icy drinks, excessive sweet and dairy foods, spicy/greasy foods and alcohol. Often this is accompanied by a tendency to overthink and worry, and a desire to snooze after lunch.

If Damp affects the lower torso it can affect appetite, giving feelings of bloating, and in women it may be a precursor to things like irregular menstrual cycles, thrush, itchy bottom, piles etc.

A good book for self care from a TCM viewpoint is Angela Hick's 77 ways to improved health, which is designed for the interested layperson.

There is an anti-candida diet too, but it's a bit too hardcore for most folk!

Best wishes
David

Hi Maria - and hi folks. Haven't been around for a while - busy! Yay!

Maria, the solution to thrush is plain live organic yoghurt - Rachels seems the most reliable at the moment. Dip a tampon in it and wear it, changing it frequently (every couple of hours). Messy but effective.

Fx

A 'canestan combo', a pessary with cream for the outside works very well and is not as artificial as taking a pill remedy. Also - no offence but thrush needs to be prevented by finding out the cause...there are many (reinfection, nylon tights, stress, antibiotics etc)
Hope that helps as I know how annoying it can be.

Hi,
I would suggest the Mind Body Spirit route too, as suggested earlier - most conditions have an emotional core to them. I had chronic Thrush for over twenty years on and tried everything from over-the-counter products which only had a temporary effect, yoghurt, removing sugar, yeast etc. from my diet (very restrictive) - the energetic healing was the only thing that worked for me. Left-field as it may be, but I found out that I had 'inherited' my condition from a past life!!

Hi,
I would suggest the Mind Body Spirit route too, as suggested earlier - most conditions have an emotional core to them. I had chronic Thrush for over twenty years on and tried everything from over-the-counter products which only had a temporary effect, yoghurt, removing sugar, yeast etc. from my diet (very restrictive) - the energetic healing was the only thing that worked for me. Left-field as it may be, but I found out that I had 'inherited' my condition from a past life!!

Hi Wendy, glad you got to the bottom of your thrush. Often when conditions don't clear up, there may well be ancestral healing to be done or karmic imprints to clear.

This is why healing is metaphysical. Glad you are clear of a past life condition.

Hi MariaMac,
At the risk of repeating myself on this subject, I'd like to suggest that the reason the thrush comes back, is because the original cause of it, isn't being addressed by the treatment, but rather it's being suppressed, masked, or 'damped down'.
If you were to consider visiting a registered homeopath, I think there's every chance that a course of treatment could result in it going-for good. Hom

vaginal thrush

Hi.
from all the research and my personal experience, vaginal thrush is caused by candida, imbalance of bacteria in the intestines. so you have to give up sugar (even natural), alcohol, yeasts.. for a long time, i also recommend grapeseed extract, sauerkraut - i think that is the best, especially if you make your own, intestinal cleansing - shanka prakshalana, laxative herbs, colonic, enemas, bentonite clay + psylium husks, you have to be patient, i find the sugar cravings sometimes unbearable..., Also yoga asanas that work on manipura chakra: pawanmuktasana, agnisara dhauti,...
you can find lots of info on candida on the internet, good luck

fermented foods will help repopulate your good flora such as water kefir.

Its these good bacteria which generate acids which keep opportunistic organisms such candida/fungus in check.

Thrush

Hi,

you might also taking a candida test which will reveal if you have an overgrowth of any harmful bacteria / yeasts to actually get to the root cause of the problem. I'd definitely stay off all kind of sugar (read the labels for hidden sugars) and drink a lot of water and herbal tea. Establishing a healthy gut flora is another good tip, considering that 80% of our immune system sits in the gut.

Good luck,
Lisa

Hi- although nutritional advice etc. can be useful in the short or medium term, unless you're having a really extreme diet or lifestyle, it still doesn't explain your individual susceptibility to the condition. i.e. why are you having these symptoms when the next person (with a similar lifestyle) isn't?
I believe that you need to get to the original energy imbalance or root cause of the issue, to address that- and then the physical symptoms have no need to be expressed at all. Homeopathy and some other complementary therapies aim to do that. Hom