Thrush during pregnancy

[TwoBlue]

Hi all

due to a UTI and being on antibiotics i have developed thrush :(

Just wondering if anyone knows of some tried and true natural remedies to relieve and clear it up....?

Thanks hope someone can help me out

[jamb]

I have had so many bouts of thrush its not funny! Not nice at all. I have tried the yoghurt, tea tree oil diluted down and boric acid (this worked for awhile but then i became resistant to it).

I have tried canestan etc from the chemist and no luck there either.

The most fantastic cream is Hydrozole, an anti fungal anti inflammatory cream (used to be by prescription only but now available if you ask). This provides immediate relief, my dr said safe during pregnancy and since using it i have not had half as many episodes. Its topical so no worry bout inserting and i usually only use it twice before it clears up.

I also take cranberry tablets to ward off UTI's as they are too painful. The tablets work heaps better than juice and are also safe during pregnancy (so my dr said).

Good luck

[lisa&boys]

I did some research for you , hope this helps and all the best!!


Getting Help
It is important to receive proper treatment for your yeast infection. Not only will leaving it alone make your life miserable, but it also won’t help the infection clear up. Additionally, if left untreated, you can experience chronic yeast infections or, more seriously, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease or an infected fallopian tube. Luckily, yeast infections can easily be treated through a variety of methods.

Medications for yeast infections include oral pills, suppositories and topical creams, which are applied directly to the vaginal area. When you are pregnant, though, it is not recommended to take oral treatments because the drugs enter your blood system. While topical creams are generally thought to be okay, there is some concern over their use during the first trimester. If you are in your first trimester, your health care provider will likely suggest a milder cream than the standard vaginal creams.

Alternatively, yogurt has long been known to help treat yeast infections. Yogurt contains acidophilus bacteria, which kills off the yeast. However, you need to use plain yogurt that contains live acidophilus bacteria with no added sugar. You can apply the yogurt directly to your vagina to treat your yeast infection. Many women have also found that simply eating yogurt can help prevent a yeast infection from occurring.

Gentian violet is also commonly used to naturally treat thrush. Although it is known as one of the oldest remedies for yeast infections, it has come under fire lately as a possible carcinogen. Additionally, gentian violet has a tendency to dye everything it touches purple, so you may want to discuss the use of this option with your health care provider first. To relieve the itchiness, apply a witch-hazel compress to the affected external area.

Prevention
Eating yogurt is not the only thing you can do to ward off a yeast infection.

Wear cotton underpants and pantyhose with a cotton crotch.
Keep the area dry. Candida albicans thrives in warm, moist areas.
Eat a diet high in grains, vegetables and protein.
Avoid eating processed foods, sugar and alcohol. You may also want to reduce the amount of simple carbohydrates in your diet.

[sopolicha]

Those Inner Health Plus tablets with all the good bacteria in them are excellent and I think they even make you feel more alert. Ask at the chemist they keep them in a fridge.

I hate thrush, there is not much worse.

[TwoBlue]

Thanks for your replies guys, i have taken all advice on board

Its turning out to be a rather nasty case :( so i have been feeling positively miserable lately....

I am seeing my Gp again on Tuesday and in the meantime i am using the Canisten 6 day treatment..... i hope it starts settling down soon or i am going to go quite insane !!

If anyone else has ideas please feel free to let me know....

[aardvark]

I had it because of Antibiotics recently, too.

I put some tea tree oil in a shallow bath and soaked the "affected area" for quite a while. It certainly gave me some relief.

I also bought a bottle of Tea Tree Oil cream, which it says is suitable for nappy rash, so suitable for "delicate areas", and applied that to the external aspects of the condition - I was starting to get it affecting the insides of my thighs as well as the obvious site. It stung a bit initially, but was also very effective.

[pippa]

Hi Guys,

whenever I am on antibiotics I always take acidophilis tablets and make sure I eat yougurt whilst taking the antibiotics too, this seems to help and I haven't had thrush for ages.

Also just so you know I was once told by my GP that often your partner can be the carrier of thrush and keep re infecting you with it so maybe your partner needs to get treated to.?????

[our little treasures]

Hi I know you asked for natural but I had a nasty case of thrush and nothing was working until I tried Monistat (sp?) once pesserie(sp) it cleared within the week and the itch went straight away. Get the one with the cream as well as this stops the itch. Cost is just under $20.00, well worth it.

[TwoBlue]

Thanks again guys
i must admit alot better today *phew*

Angelbaby8- i really wanted natural but it was the canesten in the end that did the trick, just too nasty a case !! i might try the Monistat next time (hopefully not a next time)

Pippa - i wish the yoghurt and acidophillis tabs worked for me.... no luck.... i am very prone and as soon as i went on antibiotics i do the tabs but to no avail !! :(

Thanks again everyone...fingers crossed it will settle from now and not pose a problem for me for a while :o

Cheers

[aardvark]

Be careful with the Monistat One.

I tried it once, and I swear never again. I react to it, and inserted it to find it gave me the WORST burning sensation I have ever had. I lay awake for 4 hours in tears from the pain after going to bed just after inserting it - and I couldn't manage to remove it, either. I mentioned it to a pharmacist, and he said it is not an uncommon reaction.

If the natural stuff doesn't work for me, I now stay right away from all Monistat products, and reach for the Canestan.

[nkenward]

Hi there Tracey,

I definitely know how you feel - but I used to get it from being on the pill. Since being pregnant - luckily I haven't had any reoccurrences.

Anyway I highly recommend the Inner Health Tablets - they are expensive - but worth it. But they are a thing to take before you get it - so I have them every day.

I also recommend a diet high in yoghurt. I actually despise yoghurt - but if I don't want a bout of thrush I gobble it down quickly.

Also while you have a bout of thrush - stay away from yeast containing products - so that means breads, beer, vegemite etc, and it should clear up a lot quicker.

Good luck - hope you feel better soon.

[Ryally]

I have never had such a chronic case of thrush like I have during this pregnancy. no matter what I do I can't seem to get rid of it. I might get a reprieve for a day or so and then omg it's itchy as hell again. Canesten or however you spell it smells yucko and having to use it makes me feel gross. In the morning I smell like burnt rubber lol.

My MIL said to try eating yoghurt and applying some 'down there' as well. Oh holy **** man, I'm just not INTO food that way LOL. Just kidding. I'm just so embarrassed.

I thought it might have been a UTI at first so I drank a full two litres of cranberry juice over a week and it has made a slight difference.

I have tried to increase my water intake which seems to help as well. But what I'm worried about is I've been itchy all over for the past couple of weeks and my urine was almost red most days. It seems to be better now on it's own whether thru diet or increasing my water has fixed the problem. But I was reading today about a liver problem that some pregnant women get which increase the chance of a stillborn baby by 15%!!!!

Bub is kicking like a pro footballer so I know he's ok in there and the symptoms I described are better now, the itchiness has settled and my wee isn't always red except first thing in the morning, just not sure if I should still get it checked out. Especially since it's hard to diagnose.

anyway....I'm rambling now.....am off to try some of the remedies in this thread

[aardvark]

If your urine is red, and you haven't been on a diet high in beetroot (yes, it can colour your urine), then you need to speak to a doctor about it.

I'd be inclined to take a specimen of your morning urine with you so the matter is obvious to your doctor.

And if you are itching all over, you need to raise that as an issue as well.

[Ryally]

well I took your advice and went to hospital yesterday morning to get checked out. They took a urine sample and were not happy with the colour but said there was nothing to suspect OC in the result taken from it. I don't know what other tests they did with it. They took a blood test and told me to come back again the next morning (today) having fasted for twelve hours so they could test my bile. It takes a week for the results of this, plus I have to get an ultrasound to check on bub's growth, the placenta health plus gallstones or whatever else they need to check.

I wasn't going to worry about any of this but I looked up my symptoms on the Babycentre website and I had too many (itchiness all over, dark urine, pale stools, fatigue, insomnia) to disregard problems with the liver. What made me get dressed and high tail it to the hospital was the report that if left unchecked and untreated it causes 15% increase in stillborn deaths.

so thanks for the push to get it checked
:)H

[TwoBlue]

Hi Ryally

Let me know how you go when you get your results.
I hope all is ok with you and bubba.....

You also seem really angry with your Hubby (your signature gave that one away) i am on my second marriage due to a lying and cheating husband, if you ever wanted to talk about that just drop me a PM.

[Ryally]

will definately drop you a pm if it continues.

I started a thread in "feeling alone" about what has gone on, if you're interested. We're working things out though, slowly slowly but hopefully things will work out for the best whatever that might be. :-)

I always maintain that the first marriage is the trial run but then I would have got it right this time hey lol.

[Aprilsmum]

Glad to hear that the canestan is working for you. I just wanted to add that I suffered thrush quite a bit during my pregnancy and I used the canestan, but I would always stop using it once the symptoms disappeared. BIG MISTAKE...I should have finished the 6 day treatment. As a consequence, my bub picked it up from me as she was coming through the birth canal. I didn't realise this was possible.

All is good now, I just wanted to let you know what I didn't.

Bess

[cwsmum]

Hi
Aprilsmum, or anyone else who can answer my question...I didn't know bub could pick up thrush during birth either and I was wondering how it affects bub? Does it cause any major problems? And how is it treated in such a young bub?

[Ryally]

As far as i can see, it isn't too much of a problem.

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/refcap/485.html

[Aprilsmum]

Well...its all better now but my DD never had the white patches in her mouth that is typical of oral thrush. This is why I never knew it was thrush. She did have a little rash on her privates, but the paedatrician (?) just said to smear some canestan cream on it twice a day. He checked her mouth but said that there wasn't any there.

But....she was having alot of trouble feeding. I BF her and found that she started squirming alot and crying during feedings and after a few days of this she started to refuse her top-up bottle at night. Thinking it was an attachment problem, I had a lactation consultant come home to help me (I was in so much pain and was emotionally drained) figure what was wrong. She took one look at what my DD was doing on the breast and diagnosed it straight away. She said that it is very uncomfortable and sometimes painful for the bubs in their mouth, so that explained the symptoms. Poor little thing. It also makes your nipples very slow to heal when they get damaged.

The treatment was pretty easy. I had to use an oral gel and rub it into her mouth for 30 secs after each feed (6 x per day) and continue using this for 10 days AFTER the symptoms went away. It took about 7 days to see results. I also had to treat my nipples, so that we weren't constantly transfering to each other. After a day or two, she really liked the taste of the gel so applying it was really easy. Now all is good and feeding her is really enjoyable.

Sorry for the essay.

[sammykat]

I had a UTI a Kidney Infection and a throat & chest infection (not all at once) and had to take antibiotics with each and with each it brang the worst thrush ever.

I used canestan which worked a treat but my doctor and the chemist said not to use the applicator as you can puncture the cervix.

Also drinking tons of water and wear losse cotton clothing, or none if possible, helps.

And I was also wearing panty liners because of the discharge which I found out later dosent help, something about the plastic backing.

http://www.snugglepie.com/ezb/177913.png (http://www.snugglepie.com)

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