I was thinking about posting in the Pit, and just ranting about this damned yeast infection, but then I thought that maybe some of you Dopers had some wisdom to share. I’d rather be the recipient of good advice than blow off steam.
About two weeks ago, I had a bladder infection, for which I took Amoxicillin. Well, as usual when I take antibiotics, I ended up with a yeast infection. The doctor gave me a scrip for the yeast, but we don’t have insurance coverage, and it costs almost $50.00. So I decided to go with the Monistat, which is $11.00. Monistat has worked pretty well for me in the past, but it didn’t work this time! Now, to boot, I have my period, which seems to make yeast infections worse, and can sometimes bring one on.
At the beginning of the year, I stopped eating simple carbs, and had hoped that this might help limit the number of yeast infections I get. Hasn’t happened.
Do any of you know good home remedies for these damn things, or should I bite the bullet and spring the bucks for the scrip?
I’ve taken every precaution there is and used every home cure there is, and nothing’s worked. I get yeast infections that will not go away, and flare up every couple weeks. I’m not willing to avoid eating foods I like just because they might lead to yeast infections.
In the end, the only thing I’ve found that works is taking acidophilus every day. They sell 100 of these pills at Walgreens for I think $5.
Are you sure it’s yeast? Or maybe even only yeast? I’d say go see your doc to rule out other infections with similar symptoms. IANAD, but I bet you could even have a yeast infection simultaneously with an unrelated bacterial infection, so maybe you’ve killed the yeast but not whatever else you may have.
I had the same problem - I had a horrible throat infection and had to be on big giant horse pills of antibiotics for 10 days that wreaked havoc on my happy intestinal bacteria and gave me a nasty yeast infection that would not go away. I could not get rid of it with any OTC remedy, including acidophilus, so I ended up getting a script from my doctor which did the trick. If I were you, I’d get the script, and get the acidophilus to prevent a recurrence.
Acidophilous works well for a lot of people. You can soak a tampon in live yoghurt and put it up there. Raw garlic on a tampon can help.
Tea tree oil is also effective. Get tea tree oil (pref Thursday Is Plantation oil) mix it into melted coconut oil and shape then freeze the pessaries. You’re aiming for a couple of drops per insert.
Diflucan rocks. It’s spendy but man it works when nothing else does!
OK gals, guy here. Quick question.
[serious]
When you go to the gyno, and you have an odor that you normally dont have, but you are afraid to tell the gyno this, will they bring it to your attention? Or is it unlikely that they will say, "geez you dont smell quite right, maybe we should run some tests to see if you have a yeast infection or something."
Say there is no itching, just an abnormal odor, will they point it out to you?[serious]
Daowajan, I certainly didn’t mean to give the impression that I gave up these foods just to avoid yeast infections. I gave them up because I’m a sugar junkie, and this seems to be the only effective way for me to lose weight (it’s working, too. 23 pounds since the first of the year!). I was hoping that a fringe benefit may be the infection thing.
OK, this is the second time I’ve heard of this trick, so I’m currently trying it. I don’t like eating yogurt with live cultures because, without sugar, it’s hard to make it palatable, but I’ll look for the adcidopilous caps.
The first time I had a yeast infection, I didn’t know what it was, and had not yet said anything to my gyno about my symptoms, but he took one look and said, “uh-oh. You have a yeast infection”. This would lead me to believe that there are visualy cues. As far as the odor is concerned, I’m not sure he would point it out to me, unless I mentioned some symptoms. Of course, if he thought the odor was strange, he might say something vague, like, “any problems? Itching, discharge?”, and if I said no, I think he’d let it drop.
I still think it’s worth going back to your gyno. Even women who have had yeast infections before mistake other things for yeast infections; several other types of infections have similar symptoms. None of these remedies are going to work if you have a different type of infection.
I’m with Eva Luna. I’ve gone through a period when I was getting yeast infections all the time. I did the acidophilis pills, added yogurt to my diet and the damned infections still wouldn’t go away. I was spending a fortune on the OTC remedies and then diflucan came out and was my salvation. But if the OTC that usually works for you now doesn’t, it may be a bacterial infection and you’ll need something different to treat it. You might be better off finding out exactly what it is first before you spend $$$ on any meds.
It’s probably not a bacterial infection; the OP just got off anti biotics, hence the yeast infection. It’s very very common for a yeast infection to spring up after a course of antibiotics because it kills lots of the good bacteria in your system as well as the bad bacteria. And she’s already seens a doctor who gave her a script for the yeast infection.
Since starting college last fall, I’ve found myself battling yeast infection after yeast infection. When I lived at home I had maybe two infections – since I’ve been in my dorm I’ve had four. Is there any way to keep the infections from spreading? My aunt suggested spraying the bathroom with Lysol, which I did, and I also scrubbed the shower down with Pine Sol. What else can I do? Are there any good websites on vaginal care? (Please, no snarky comments. I’m serious. I found a good website for penile care, but nothing on vaginas).
porky, Amoxicillin is only effective against bacteria in the streptococcus family, so what norinew is experiencing could still be a bacterial infection, just not a strep infection.
BTW, norinew, I hope you took your full course of Amoxicillin (probably a ten-day course), even if you felt better after 2-3 days. Strep – whether it’s in your throat, bladder, or inner ear – can be beaten back so far that one no longer has any symptoms. But without taking the full course of medication, strep can lie semi-dormant in the liver and rear its ugly head later.
True, Spiff. I guess I’m figuring that if her doctor gave her a script for a yeast infection, though, that’s probably what it is, since the doctor presumably examined her.
Well, I was basing my remarks on my own experience. A doc gave me meds for what she thought was a yeast infection, but when the meds didn’t help, she looked again and decided maybe it was something else (or possibly in addition). She told me it happens frequently. I was fine after the second round of meds.
I ALWAYS get yeast infections when I take antibiotics. One time I had to take two courses of a really strong antibiotic to get rid of a nasty respitory infection, and the resulting yeast infection would go away with a week of Monistat, then come back the next time I had my period. After six months of this…SIX!!!..my doc suggested that after getting rid of the current yeast infection, I start using one Monistat suppository a week as a preventive measure. I did this for over a year, and never got the yeast back. After a year, doc said to stop and see what happened. I never got another one. Hurray!!!