Treatment
When I was a medical student, all we had was gentian violet for painting the vaginal walls; something you can’t do yourself. This treatment worked, but slowly: several visits for repainting were needed to be sure of a cure.
Treatment is easier today. Some very effective antifungal medications have been developed over the past 30 years. Most of these are not absorbed from the bowel, so must be used locally as pessaries or cream. Many different creams, pessaries and tablets are available. If you prefer to use pessaries or tablets in your vagina, get some cream as well to apply to your genital skin and give some to your partner for use on his penis.
Treatment for a week is prescribed most commonly, but more concentrated pessaries for one or three days can be effective in some cases. It’s very important to complete the full course of treatment, even if your symptoms disappear in а day or two.
Some of the newest antifungals are absorbed into the blood from the bow are effective against fungal infection anywhere in the body. The oral antifungals are more likely to have side-effect they can’t be used during pregnancy or breast-feeding) so they are generally used only in cases that haven’t responded to local treatment.
Why do some women gel repeated attacks?
Some women seem to be particularly prone to vaginal thrush, and will attack every time they become run down, stressed, or take antibiotics, and sometimes for no apparent reason, these women have lower resistance to the fungus and can only keep it at bay in the very best circumstances.
Recurrent thrush, like anything makes sex painful, can really disturb sexual relationships. No matter how standing and patient your partner must frequently say ‘No’ to sex your genitals are sore, tensions are bound to develop.
If you get repeated attacks your doctor should check to rule out all of all sources of reinfection (your nails, bow skin; your partner) and also to make sure that you have no other illnesses often associated with recurrent thrush, such as diabetes.
If antibiotics usually bring on an attack, it may be wise to use vaginal antifungals while you’re taking them.
Women who’ve had frequent recurrences are often advised to take a course of the new oral treatment and at the same time to begin local treatment with pessaries or cream, which is continued for three or four weeks. This should get rid of any hidden sources of vaginal reinfection.
It’s also important to reduce stress and to improve your general health as much is you can in the hope of improving your resistance to Candida.
It’s easy to become despondent about thrush that recurs, but you can beat it.
Prevention
Here are some tips for preventing vaginal thrush (and for vaginal and vulval health in general).
• Wash your external genitals daily. Plain water will do the job, but if you want to use soap, keep it simple. Don’t use harsh, antiseptic or highly perfumed soaps.
• Wear absorbent cotton underpants. Moisture encourages growth of Candida on the skin around the genitals.
• Gently dab your genitals dry after passing urine, and wipe from front to back after a bowel movement to prevent transferring bowel Candida forwards.
•Don’t soak too long in hot baths and don’t wash inside the vagina. Don’t douche unless advised to by your doctor.
• Avoid long exposure to hot, sweaty conditions such as saunas and aerobics. Change out of damp swimming costumes or sportswear as soon as possible.
• Avoid tight-fitting clothes that chafe the genitals and don’t wear synthetic fabrics next to your skin.
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