Vaginal Yeast Infection

Infections
1

Happy new year people

I am seeking for advices regarding my girlfriend's problem.

She has had a vaginal yeast infection for almost 5 years and she somehow managed to live with it. But for my sake, and of course mainly for her own health she is trying to get rid of it.

The reason that she never tried to get over with the problem was that she was too embarresed over the issue and once or twice she talked to doctors and they never treated her properly and she was disapointed and gave up.

What she thinks is that the problem might be caused by both physical and mental reasons.

One of the doctors suggested to do some stretchings to help the problem go away if it is cause by a contracted muscle. She also wants to start a diet soon but I was thinking to share the problem here and ask if anybody has a solution for it? any personal experiences, or any friends whom you might know of?

I know the info I provided is not enough but if it is needed I can ask her.

The main problem is that the intecourse is painful for her and it hast to be really careful, gentle and slow until the pain stops. The other problem is that she only can have pleasure in one position and she doesnt feel much if the position is changed and that affects her so much and I can feel her pain and how much she sufferes and is embarrased because of this.

I appreciate any kinda help.

Thanks

2

Hi Rez, 5 yrs is a long time to have to live with this wretched thing, i do know from experience how sore and painfull this can be. Has your girlfriend been on a long course of antibiotics at any time as these can leave one  with vaginal thrush, yeast infection, is she on the contraseptive pill at all? another culprit as both these mentioned attack the healthy gut, immune system and leave one more susectipal to yeat infections.  Even if she did manage to get rid of it if your having unprotected  sex then you would be catching it and giving it back to her, men can have this and not know they have it as they often dont get the symptoms like women. What are these stretchings the doctor mentioned? ive never heard of such a thing.  presume she has been given the canisten pesseries and treatment by mouth to try and eradicate this problem? How is she feeling in her selfe apart from the discomfort in that erea, any other symptoms? Mean while she needs to cut out sugery foods as these feed the yeast infection and help it thrive. there are other things she could try if what her dr. prescribed doesnt clear it but dont know if im allowed to mention them on hear. You mentioned a contracted muscle, this a seperate problem and nothing to do with yeast infection, at least i cant see the connection. Has the dr. actually taken a vaginal swab to confirm what she has? im wondering if its just a heavy none yeast discharge she has and not thrush at all and its the contracted muscle causing the discomfort. She really needs to go back to her GP and sort this, if she is embarrased then she should be able to see a lady doctor or the practice nurse. She cant go on like this, may i say she is fortunate to have such an understanding and caring boyfriend.

3

Hello Rez, are you in the UK?  As your girlfriend has made no progress with her GPs, I think the best solution, would be for you both to go to your local GUM Clinic.  You don't need to make an appointment and the doctor there, will be much more sympathetic than the GPs have been.

4

Thanks for your patience to read and comment :-)

My main problem is that she is not comfortable talking about it and she often cries and gets embarrassed if I try to understand the depth of the problem, she shares with me what she likes and I am afraid to ask something to make her more embarrassed as I did it in the early times when she first told me about this.

Last night I kinda tried to get more info from her and I realized I got her wrong, because she ironically said that: "I tried to tell you many times about the issue", when I asked her for how long has she had this problem?

She is way too embarrassed by the issue and tries to avoid talking about it even if it's for her own good.

However, the initial problem was she felt pain during intercourse for quite a long time, maybe 4 years before she had the yeast infection.

She has been on birth control pills but not on antibiotics, and I think she knows that the infection is caused by the pills she used to take, that's why she stopped taking them. After that, she never had unprotected sex, so I'm sure I don’t have it.

I am not sure if this is the first time she is having the infection, but what I am sure of, she has had the infection for almost a year.

The stretching exercises are for the initial pain which started 5 years ago, I suppose.

She doesn’t eat meat and she always eats vegetable and organic products. She avoids using so much oil, she avoids smoking, but drinks alcohol on weekends. But for Xmas she ate a lotta candy but normally she is not much into candy and sugary foods.

Two weeks ago she was to a doctor and she examined her, and she claimed she couldn’t see anything but my girl strongly believes she has the infection.

She is comfortable to google and seek for solutions online but not by sharing her personal problem. She will visit a specialist but she is not hopeful to eradicate the problem, that's why she will start a diet she found online and she will visit another doctor to tell her how is the right way of doing the exercises. All doctors she visited were women but the lack of attention toward her problem, made her to avoid going to doctors.

In the beginning I didn’t know this could be a complicated issue to get over with, but now I am worried if she ever can be cured and that's why I tried to share it and ask other women for advice.

I'd like you to share your ideas and it is up to her if she is going to consider them or not. 

I also want to know if is it ever going away?

Thanks

5

Sorry that I forgot to mention, we live in Denmark. Her GP needs to send her to either another doctor or a clinic, so she always has to go to her GP.

6

Has the doctor done blood tests, to rule out diabetes etc.?  And, are you sure your girlfriend has a yeast infection?  Could she, perhaps, be allergic to something in one or more, of the products she uses?  Like whatever she uses to wash her clothes in, or shower gel etc etc..

Google Clotrimazole HC, it is an anti fungal cream with hydrocortisone.  I once had vaginal thrush [Candidiasis] and the doctor prescribed this.  It worked!  You can buy it over the counter or online.  Canesten is the brand name but you need the one with HC after it - ie hydrocortisone.

She could try that and if it makes no difference, then she will have to try her GP again but, ask her if she has changed any products that she uses.  The manufacturers also change ingredients.

It is a difficult problem to treat and, assuming it is candidiasis, she may have to take a course of an oral capsule, called Fluconazole.  And, again, you can buy this drug over the counter but it really needs to be taken for 2 weeks in order to clear the problem.  [50mg per day]  I am sure a Pharmacist will advise you.

Good luck Rez

 

7

Just a thought Rez though unlikely but you say she never has unprotected sex, could it be a condom allergy or irritation? Also tell her she needs not to feel embarrased by this, you open your mouth to go to the dentist, the dr. looks in our ears, our mouth,Men have anal examinations to detect prostate problems, to a doctor its all just another part of our body to diagnose our problems like a mechanic tests all parts of a car to detect problems, each one is a specialist in their own field.

8

That's a good idea Susan,  I didn't think of an allergy.  A problem will never clear up until you remove its source.

9

I have always found Canasten combi pack works for me, especially the pessary inserted at night. Plus I have found that if I have a pessary up inside me and my husband makes love to me it also corrects matters for him too. He may not feel he has what I have but by doing this, it prevents him giving it back to me.

The other good thing is Natural Bio Yogurt. Now I both eat it in great quantities (a tub a day) the full fat type not the wishy washy low fat type as that tends to have more carbs anyway, and at the same time I also spread it around my undercarriage both inside and outside before going to bed at night and wear a pad to stop it getting on the sheets. You must use the natural bio yogurt for this for obvious reasons or you will be fishing strawberries, peach or cherries etc out of there the next day. Could be kinda kinky fun I guess, but much better to use the natural bio yogurt. My favourite is Yeo Valley or Okten varieties. These work fabulously if anyone has been on antibiotics and then one does not need the Canestan at all. Sometimes if the vagina is very sore anyway, the Canasten can burn, so nice cool bio (must be live bio) yogurt is absolute bliss. I do hope she gets it sorted soon. 5 years is a long time. One other thing is she allergic to condoms? I am. I have to buy the non latex type from online usually. I am also allergic to KY gel, so out comes the yogurt everytime!!

10

There's no need to be embarrassed about seeing a doctor. He sees things every day.Like the guy at the chip shop serving chips, it becomes mudane, every day run of the mill.  I am never fazed by whatever I need to show my doctor. One day he asked if I would be a guinea pig for a new contreceptive he had designed. I agreed. It was a rubber ring that fits over the cervix.

There I was naked from waist down, legs in stirrups and he says 'you just twist it into a figure 8 like this insert it at the vagina entrance and let it go.' It was supposed to ping up inside me. It didn't. It hit my leg, and bounced all around the room. He was mortified. I was in peals of laughter. No shame. 'Do not even try to put that filthy thing inside me now.' I said. He started to laugh too. 'Okay' he said you can get dressed now, I think you get the idea just take a new clean and sterilised one and try it at home. It was the funniest experience at the doctors I have ever had, and we both remember it fondly and laugh everytime we speak of it.

I was telling this story to someone online once and she happened to be drinking coca cola at the time of reading it. She found it so hilerious she choked on the coke and spat it all over the computer which in turn blew up. She wrote me 3 months later when she had saved for a new pc and told me it was the funniest thing she had ever read. I was a bit more graphic in the telling of it that time. The moral of this is try to tell your girlfriend not to be embarrassed, doctors are there to help us and we are there to make them laugh their heads off with amusing remarks and when things  do not go as planned.

11

She said that she has been examined by doctors and therefore she is sure of having the infection.

She is taking Fluconazole, and what she told me that she takes it when her infection is getting more or else she wont take it. She is hopeful that the diet helps her to get rid of the infection and if so, then if we ever had unprotexted sex, i can take some of the capsules to be sure that she will not get it back from me.

But right now she is trying to get rid of the pain which she assumes it is from a muscle issue and she is doing exercises, and for infection she wants to go on an extreme diet in which she has to avoid eating so many things.

What I see, she is more willing to go on with her plan than to try to use any new medicine but she was happy hearing some people sharing their thought to help her problem.

Thanks to all of you for helping. :-)

12

I correct myself again, She got the infection from antibiotcs for her lung infection. Before that she had the pain, and after using antibiotics she got the infection and she couldnt get enough wet so the intercourse remained painful, and this is where she thinks the mental issue caused the muscled to remain contracted because she is having the infection for a period and it goes away and then it comes back, and for the period that the infection was at its lowest amount, she still had the pain.

She started having protected sex years after having the infection and I don't think that was the source.

13

She eats organic yogurt but I dont think I am able to convince her to use it for other reasons, and to mention, she is a very sensitive girl and her doctor is a woman, but still she has the embarrasement of going to doctor and sharing, and the last time she went to visit the doctor, even though doctors treated her normal, but she was crying for long.

14

REz just noticed you said she only uses the Fluconazole when she feels the need, this could also be part of her problem, she needs to take the whole course to clear it out for once and for all. its possible she is stopping to soon before the infection had properly cleared up. Also about using the bio yoghurt, that too is a good idea, she could try buying priobiotics too to settle everything down. By what else you have said, correct me if ive read this wrong  but she thinks cos the diiscomfort she had developed a vaginal muscle cramp when attempting intercourse, im not surprised after five years!  im giving this link and hope its allowed

https://www.vaginismus.com/vaginismus-causes

 

15

It's unlikely that her yeast infections are due to a contracted muscle; yeast infections result from an imbalance in the vaginal flora.  The discomfort she's experiencing during sex is a result of the infection itself -- a yeast infection will dry and irritate the vaginal tissue and can even cause light bleeding when the plagues are removed/scraped off the vaginal walls.  She should refrain from sex until she is treated (usually a full 7 days from the start of treatment) as you could inadvertently be making the issue worse; minimally, it gives her body the time it needs to heal.

Diet can contribute to yeast infections; specifically alcohol, sugars, carbs and if she's diabetic this will only make things worse.  Antibiotics as well as certain sex acts (oral sex) and her birth control pill can also be a culprit.  I never had yeast infections until I started the pill and after several years of trying to find the right one, I finally gave up and the yeast infections went away after several months of stopping.  

She needs to take Fluconazole as prescribed in order for her yeast infection to clear.  Yeast can be extremely stubborn and it will come back in full force if she stops her medicine prematurely.  If she's taking the medicine as directed and her yeast infection is returning; she needs to inform her doctor so they can adjust her medication or rule out other possible issues (ie: diabetes or secondary infections...)

Best of luck!

16

Hi Rez,  you mentioned pain and I wondered whether anyone has mentioned Pelvic Inflammatory Disease [PID]?  

There is this leaflet on Patient UK

 https://patient.info/health/pelvic-inflammatory-disease-leaflet

And regarding the Fluconazole,  I believe there is a 'one off' product available over the counter in the UK  [I know you're in Denmark] and it is a tablet containing 150mg of Fluconazole.    I think every Medical Practitioner I have spoken to, has said that the preferred dose, is 50mg daily for at least 2 weeks.  If your girlfriend is taking the one-off drug, then perhaps that is one reason why it doesn't work.

 

17

Very funny Wendy and im sure to actually witness all that happening must of been hilarious, thanks for sharing it with us. i heard a funny one from the dr. who appears on the morning problem about a lady who had wiped herself with tissue from her pocket after going to the loo before an internal examination wasnt aware she had green shield stamps on the tissue, now attacthed to her bits! green shild stamps, now thats going back a bit.

18

Oh, gosh yes that is going back a bit and a funny story too. I bet she was mortified... to have wasted the stamps that way.

19

I used to get it but I don't now because I take Grapefruit Seed Extract, and Myrrh, but either on their own will do. Plain probiotic yoghurt is good too, and can even be applied topically if it gets unbearable.

20

Rez,

 Let me just share something you may not have heard of. I know this because I have this problem and it's new. At least the last couple of years. I've never been a big milk drinker but started to crave it really bad for some reason. I started drinking one to two classes a day until the craving went away but at the same time I developed a yeast infection. It went away when I stopped drinking milk. Ever since that incident, whenever I consume dairy products, milk, cottage cheese, icecream, etc, I get a yeast infection. I researched the problem on line and it is actually common and caused by my body not being able to break down the bacteria in dairy properly. It goes away as soon as I stop the dairy. 

 Also you both should be treated when you do seek treatment. You can be passing it back and forth.

 Yeast infections are a common complaint, your girlfriend should not be embarrassed and should be checked by a gynecologist to make sure it's nothing more serious. They also have over the counter medication for that problem.

Good Luck,

Kathee