About 6 months ago, I had a problem with discharge, so I went to the doctor. Because there was no itching the doctor prescribed it as bacterial vaginosis and gave me some pills, but I also had some tests done.
The tests came back as Candida Albicans so he put me on a three day Canesten trial. That didn’t work. So I went back. He said I must have a reservoir in my bowels, so he put me on the cream again, and I had to take a once only pill.
That didn’t work either. I moved town, so I had to go to a new doctor, and I told her the story. She put me on a once only pill that “would most definitely” work. And another lot of Canesten. That didn’t work either.
She said if that didn’t work I should go see a gyno. She also suggested a salt water douche if it failed… but I heard that you weren’t supposed to use douches because you would get yeast infections? She also suggested… (an idea I’m a bit icked out to try, and shady on the details) that I put yoghurt up there?
But I’ve already spent over 100 bucks already, and I’m getting mighty sick of putting cream up there.
Female dopers - Any remedies that have worked for you? Method and success rates?
Doctor dopers - Advice?
Cheers.
Engine
A yogurt treatment was recommended to me once back in the '80’s. I was instructed to douche with a vinegar and water douch (pre-packaged for your convenience at local pharmacy and drugstores) and to follow that with an insertion of about 1-2 ounces of active culture (non-flavored!) yogurt.
I got this information from someone at a women’s clinic but I don’t recall if she was a nurse or what. She gave me an applicator for the yogurt.
It was effective for me at the time, but I have not used that treatment again. Last time I had a bout with yeast I used a over-the-counter preparation from the drug store. I have also used the diflucan one-time pill that worked also.
This isn’t medical advice, but if you go the yogurt route (it does work for many people) make sure to get live active cultures. Be aware that the Freshness date on jar of commercial yogurt refers to “best flavor” and wholesomeness for consumption. It doesn’t guarantee that the culture is still active, even if the label says “active culture”. Make sure to get the “freshest” jars on the shelf (latest expiration)
Personally, I don’t know why more people don’t make their own at home. It’s really rather easy, requiring little more than a clean jar, a heating pad and a thermometer.
{Putting on microbiologist hat}
It’s a good idea to eat live culture yogurt after any course (as the Brits say) of antibiotics (especially oral ones), because the antibiotics don’t kill just the ones that made you sick, but also the ones that keep you healthy. The bacteria that produce yogurt are the same ones that preferentially set up housekeeping in the intestines of breast-fed babies, and which keep them healthier than formula-fed ones (yes, this is in addition to the short-term antibody transfer that helps protect babies during their first ~3 months). This was proven nearly 25 years ago. I recall doing a literature search for my advisor when she was asked to give a lecture on microbial ecology, and there was a massive twin study done in Brazil in the mid 1970s. One twin was nursed, and the other was fed formula. The nursed twins were highly resistant to nasty intestial bugs like shigella; the formula-fed twins were not (even then, such a study could never have been done in the US). One other thing that people with babies might like to know: If you start early (around 3 weeks old) giving the baby just enough plain, live-culture yogurt to put a moustache on the end of the baby spoon (and you can stir it into a bottle of something {not juice} if you prefer) at least once daily, you should never have to worry about colic. Further, I can provide people who will attest that starting the daily yogurt routine with a colicky baby will cure it in a couple of days, max.
So long as you’re careful not to eat the yogurt too soon after (or before) the antibiotic, it’s actually helpful to eat a bit (2 ounces will do, so long as it’s live culture, and it doesn’t have to be plain) a couple hours after each dose. I’ve never used the yogurt douche, though I have known other women who did, and for whom it worked. AAMOF, I knew one woman who had to use it monthly (but it worked).
Candida Albicans is a yeast.
Are you diabetic? If you have never been tested, you should be. Recurring, or intractable yeast infections are often the first symptom in women. Talk to your doctor about it. A fasting glucose may be enough, but it would be more accurate to have a 4 hour Glucose Tolerance Test or GTT
Good luck
You say you had a discharge. What kind? What color? What consistency? What bothered you about it exactly, if it didn’t itch? The smell, the appearance, or just the existence? I can think of a number of reasons for a discharge, including the effects of the Pill, and ovulation. Neither of these will cause itching, but they will cause a discharge which can be generous.
You were tested, and it came back as ‘candida’. Well, every woman has candida in her vagina. It is part of the normal flora. What is NOT normal is when it becomes an overgrowth, complete with insane itching and a cottage-cheese-like discharge. It seems to me that if two doses of the fungistat Fluconazole (the once-only pill) and two courses of topical antifungal did nothing for the discharge, then yeast is very unlikely to be the cause of the discharge, despite its diagnosable presence. It’s true, some strains of yeast are becoming resistant to the commonly-used fungicides and I’ve even heard rumors of strains resistant to Fluconazole, but in the absence of any other symptoms, I think you might want to look for another possible cause.
I believe you that the discharge is irritating. What I’m not so clear on is why it is assumed to indicate a medical problem? Can you give more information about it? I mean, if it has an offensive odor (compared to the normal human female odor), then that’s a clue. If it’s an odd color, that’s a clue. If you’re on the Pill, especially a new/different formulation, that’s a clue. If it’s heavier for several days around ovulation (assuming you can identify when this occurs) clear and wet like egg whites, that’s a clue. If you recently started using a new barrier method of contraception with your partner, or changed laundry soaps, that could be a clue. Do you see?
If you truly do have systemic or localised yeast, there are ways to approach it - naturopathic, homeopathic, holistic, allopathic, dietary - I’ve had to research these due to ‘thrush’, or breast yeast. I can tell you that in my case, any one single angle of treatment, be it dietary or medication, always failed. When I used a two-pronged attack, I managed to get the yeast under control. But I learned that the hard way.
Please, will you give more details? I’m no doctor and I don’t pretend to be, but at the very least I or someone else here may be able to give you some ideas to take to your doctor, and ask about.
Well, it was oddly coloured and of a thicker and sometimes chunky consistency. It’s a yellow colour often, but changes. Often, it is too thick that it sometimes leaves me unlubricated (not through lack of trying mind you). It also has a strange odour.
I was on the pill when it first started, but had been for about a year and half. I went off it. I am now on the progesterone only Implanon.
The test came back showing that I had an overgrowth from Candida.
I often was lethargic growing up, and often sleepy through out, to this day, so I have had the diabetic test 3 times, all which came back negative.
The first pill was something for bacterial vaginosis. The second one, I’m pretty sure was diflucan… (may’ve been the third) and the final one was something different all together.
I think I’ll drop by a different doctor this time, and get some tests done again. (ugh… vaginal swabs)
Hrm. Do you crave sugar and simple carbs like pasta, white rice, potatoes and bread? One thing you can do which won’t hurt, and may help, is to cut all yeast-friendly foods from your diet. There are any number of anti-candida cookbooks out there, from The Yeast Connection Cookbooks to Feast Without Yeast. Any decent sized second-hand bookstore should have at least one. The basic idea however is to cut sugars, simple carbs, and yeast-friendly foods from your diet so you can stabilize your blood sugar level (no spikes, which will feed yeast growth). Eat proteins. Eat lots of green vegetables (but not root vegetables, which tend to be full of sugars). If you must eat grains, make sure they are whole-grain (brown rice, whole wheat (read the ingredients in that loaf of bread!). In fact, what you want is a modified Atkins or Carbohydrate Addicts diet for a while. You will never get rid of ALL the yeast, because they’re part of your normal flora, and would probably only bring on an overgrowth of bacteria. But you should be able to get things to a stable level. You can expect about a 3 day period of withdrawal while your body screams for sugar. After that it gets easier. You can also add to this an anti-candida regimen from a health food store, or a course of medication from your doctor or naturopath of choice.
Still, for what it’s worth, what you describe does not sound abnormal to me - vaginal discharge will normally change during the course of the month, becoming sticky and thick at non-fertile times, and clear, wet and stringy at fertile times. Of course you being on a hormonal contraceptive throws things off in ways I don’t know much about, because all I really know about those things is that they muck with your hormones. Progesterone makes your body think it’s pregnant (thus, no ovulation == no chance of getting pregnant) and the pregnant body will have all kinds of weird discharges which are annoying but within the range of normal.
I can tell you that at certain parts of my cycle, I experience the same utter inability to get lubricated you describe. In fact, I consider it normal. Biologically, it makes sense: lubrication is useful when you’re ready to get pregnant. It’s not the least bit useful when you’re not, or when you’re pregnant. I know when I get pregnant (which will never happen again, thank god) I cannot get lubricated to save my life, and even the drug store variety of artificial lubes are pretty much useless. We had to invest in some high quality stuff off the 'net, like Liquid Silk, to make sex tolerable during my pregnancies.
You might want to talk to your doctor about having simple blood tests done (thyroid, for example, and hormone levels) when you have the swabs done.
I’ve just never heard of a vaginal yeast infection that caused neither itching nor the characteristic white discharge. I’d have agreed with you about the bacterial vaginosis, except that the treatment didn’t work. I can imagine a swab coming back with ‘overgrowth’ but this doesn’t necessarily mean anything - the level of yeast they found in that swab could have been perfectly normal for you, and not the cause of the discharge at all - merely a coincidence.
By all means, go have another test if the discharge is ongoing and worrisome, but if I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t stop with the swab-test, because it doesn’t sound like it will tell you anything you don’t already know.
You can also buy Acidophilus pills or liquid at any health food store. More concentrated, works faster. I suggest orally. Take for at least one week after yeasty symptoms go away. Wash undies in HOT water, and some use a disenfectant on them.
I add to this, that boiling them (if they are boilable) for 10 minutes is not overdoing it. Alternatively, adding vinegar to the rinse.
The photocopy I have here of an article from Midwifery Today for treatment of breast yeast suggests a number of unsuspected sources of reinfection, including toothbrushes, makeup applicators, and sexual partners.
Besides adding acidophilus/bifidus to your diet, there are other antifungal foods - garlic and olive oil being the two I can think of off the top of my head.
The nice thing about acidophilus, garlic and olive oil is that they won’t hurt even if they don’t help.
You might also try Susun Weed’s herbal forum. There’s a thread on Bacterial Vaginosis going on right now and it looked very promising. At worst, you could register there and ask those ladies if they have any insights you can work with, with your doctor.
Very true; acidophlius pills will do the job for the intestines, but eating the yogurt also offers something soothing for the stomach, which (in some people, at least) is often upset by antibiotics, even if taken with permissible foods. This, of course, does not apply to those with dairy allergies, or severe lactase intolerance.
And, of course, the bit about washing undies in hot water is excellent advice, as are Chotii’s advice about vinegar in the rinse water, and adding garlic and olive oil to your diet. I’m not a macrobiotic person, so the dietary alterations simply didn’t occur to me; sorry.
<shrug> “You pays your money, and you takes your cherce.”
Thanks for all the advice. I’ll go to my doctor, and give you an update on what she says.
I don’t think my room mates would be very happy if I used our pots to boil my underwear.
It sounds, however, as if she’s already tried fluconazole (the ‘single pill’ treatment) without effect. Very possibly, she’s had this twice. I don’t know of any other ‘single pill’ treatments for yeast overgrowth.
My gut feeling is that it is more likely bacterial in nature than yeast, as she describes a ‘smell’ along with a discharge that is not white/cheesy in appearance. What type of bacteria has to be decided by tests. BUT she had a swab that came back that said ‘yeast overgrowth’ which baffles me, particularly as it has responded to neither fluconazole, canasten.
There’s always the possibility that her efforts to rid herself of the problem have irritated the tissues, causing them to give off more discharge…vicious circle?
I bet a garlic-clove or boric acid pessary would do her as much and maybe more good than all the medicines taken to date (which haven’t helped her at all). Though these are of course in the realm of ‘alternative’ medicine.
I’ll be interested in hearing what the results are of this second set of swabs, plus other tests if any.
IANAGYN but I had the same thing for 2 or 3 years a little while back.
Just a constant discharge (always wet undies, even when I changed twice a day). A little odd odor, no real weird color and eventually it got bad enough so that sex was uncomfortable from being wet all the time.
I went to 3 diff GYNs during this time and had alot of tests for yeast, and was prescribed (well, told to get) acidophilous. Nothing helped.
I also had lots of itchy pussy things under my breasts, which I was told were yeast.
Finally last year I went “low carb” and all such symptoms disappeared. I’m “dry” all the time (i mean my undies, my insides are normal ) and the skind under my breasts cleared up 100%.
It wasn’t until I was well into low carbing that I read about the relationship between yeast and sugar consumption.
Oh, I have also always been lethargic. I slept through most of middle school, high school and college, and have napped most my life. Since quitting sugar, I’ve had maybe 3 naps this year.
Anyway, check out the texts that Chioti recommends. I am not going to preach at you about low carb but quitting sugar IMMENSELY helped me in these regards.
Oh, and during Christmas I went back to “high carb” for a week. I got the worst yeast infection of my life, which also resulted in large sebaceous cysts on my “girl parts” which actually put me in bed for a day. So my sugar eating in the name of science had expected results
Well, I figured that after having anything sugary, eg, soft drink, lollies, or fatty I’ve always felt tired and often just fall asleep. So I stopped eating sweets, softdrink, margarine on anything, Take-away etc etc. I also used to have bad period pain, throwing up etc. but after I gave all that shit up, not much of a problem. A lot of my lethargy also stopped. I’ve been doing this for almost 2 years.
I don’t know what else I can cut out of my diet, that would make it any better. I often have rice, but that’s because I can’t think of anything else. And celery is so expensive! I also used to eat a lot fo carrots, which I guess is a no-no.
Here’s what 
) and the skind under my breasts cleared up 100%.