Do these symptoms sound familiar?
• Intense vaginal itchiness
• Vaginal soreness
• Vaginal redness
• Vaginal dryness
• Vaginal pain during sex
• Constant vaginal irritation and discomfort
• White cottage-cheese like vaginal secretions
• 'Cheesy' vaginal odour
If you suffer from reoccurring bouts of vaginal Candidiasis, the list above will read like a checklist of your constant vaginal state.
Treatment Options:
The Tablet
The oral anti fungal cream for yeast infection tablet for vaginal candida containing fluconazole is the easiest option - a single pill can often sort out your current bout of vaginal thrush. The pills can be rather expensive, however and do have a long list of potential side effects.
The Pessary
Vaginal anti-fungal pessaries containing clotrimazole are tablets for the vagina that you insert just before bedtime. This can also be a once-only treatment - so it is convenient.
They can be expensive, however and are somewhat messy because the pessary breaks up in your vagina overnight and tends to cake your panties with white paste over the next few days.
The Cream with Applicators
There are a number of products available from the chemist or pharmacy that involve a tube of anti fungal cream for yeast infection (usually containing miconazole or clotrimazole) with an applicator that screws onto the top of the tube.
You squeeze the tube to fill the applicator, then insert the cream into your vagina at bedtime using the applicator. The applicators are disposable to ensure hygiene between applications. The cream and applicators come in 3 day, 5 day and 7 day treatments.
These creams tend to be less expensive than the pills or pessaries, but require many more consecutive treatments. You also will have a paste building up in your panties as the cream leaves your vagina over the course of the treatment.
When the Anti-Fungal Treatments Fail
Sometimes the treatments no longer seem to work. In cases of recurrent Candidiasis, this is often the case. Why? Because your particular Candida microbes may have developed "resistance" to the anti-fungal drugs you usually use.
Some Options for Recurrent or Resistant Vaginal Thrush
1. Try mixing your anti-fungal treatment drugs - try a miconazole or fluconazole treatment if you usually use a product containing clotrimazole and vice versa. Sometimes mixing the oral pill with one of the other options will work where a single treatment has failed.
2. Try taking a herbal supplement known to reduce Candida levels in the body such as "Berberine" or "Goldenseal". Goldenseal is not recommended to be taken in high doses for more than 2 weeks at a time.
3. Eliminate sugar, bread, fruit and anything high in sugar or starch that is likely to increase your blood sugar levels - Candida loves sugar!
Relieving the Symptoms
When you are suffering from vaginal candidiasis repeatedly, the symptoms can be so intense that they are unbearable. The itching can prevent you from thinking, from enjoying life and even from sleeping.
You may want to try any or all of the following remedies to relieve the itching, burning and discomfort:
Smearing with Yoghurt - sometimes yoghurt smeared inside and around the vagina will help to relieve the symptoms of vaginal Candida. The theory is that yoghurt contains beneficial bacteria (probiotics) that can compete successfully with the thrush microbes.
Douching with tea tree oil - Tea tree essential oil is nature's own itch relieving agent. To douche with tea tree, you must ensure that you dilute it properly with luke-warm water. A few drops of tea tree oil in half a cup of water should be enough to relieve the symptoms without risking "burning" the delicate mucous membranes of your vagina. Recent studies suggest that tea tree oil may be effective in helping to combat drug resistant strains of Candida.
Smearing With a Vaginal Cream That Contains Tea Tree Oil "LadySoothe" is a ready-made, 99% natural cream for the relief of vaginal itching and irritation. LadySoothe contains tea tree oil as its main active ingredient and is applied by smearing on the affected areas using clean fingers - both inside the vagina and around the labia.
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