Diagnosed with Thrush and Scared

[mncjl]

Hi Everyone!

I'm new to "Sjogrens World" - but not new to Sjogrens. I've had the experience of 30 years dealing with this autoimmune disorder. And, it has been quite a battle.  It started with Interstitial Cystitis and grew from there.   I have dry eyes, mouth, nose, erythromelaglia, raynauds, migraines, trigeminal neuralgia, fibromyalgia...well you know the whole gammat of Sjogrens.

I'm so glad that I found this forum.  It has brought more light to my disease as I see so many suffer from the same things that I do.

Today, I was diagnosed with my worst fear....MOUTH THRUSH!  I had taken an antibiotic at the beginning of the month for a sinus infection and this happened.  I first thought it had reared the burning mouth syndrome (idiopathic in nature) that I've had for 5 years.  But, as the days progressed, my tongue which is pasty white has become very white and scary.

So, we went to the ER on this lovely Thanksgiving day to get the diagnosis and Diflucan.

I have read so many horror stories on the internet and such about how hard it is to eradicate.  As well as on this forum.  I know many people don't post their success stories about this - but I really need to some reassurance that th 14 day Diflucan and my religious oral hygeine utilizing all Biotene products (which by the way have been a godsend!) and eating healthy as I do, that this TOO SHALL PASS.

Comforting words and reassurance is what I need from Sjogrens World.

Thanks so much for listening.

I hope someone responds.

MNCJL

[irish]

I am sorry that you have thrush and on the holiday too. Thrush is so common in these autoimmune diseases. I have some chronic thrush because I have low t-cells and because I take antibiotics so much. Maybe 7-8 times a year on antibiotics.

The best thing you can do is to eat yogurt (a little each day---not a pint) to help balance the bacteria in your body. Also, cut down on the sugar, etc and carbs. Make sure to rinse your mouth after eating to keep the bacteria from fungus from feasting on the food in your mouth.

Yeast can be miserable but with common sense and treatment it should be able to at least calm it down. If you look in your mouth and see some hemmorrhagic or reddish areas on the top of your mouth and the back of your throat off and on, this is most likely a chronic thrush that is just sitting there enjoying the scenery.

Thrust does not have to be your worst fear, cause it is something that can be treated---often we get it over and over again---though not in the acute form. The main thing is to be aware of it and keep ahead of it. My DIL is a nurse and had one patient who had yogurt nasal rinses ordered for sinus yeast. I would assume that the sugar free greek yeasts would be the ones that would work the best, and I would want to have an ENT or doc tell me how, why and where to do this. It sounds promising to me though. IRish

[cargillwitch]

I will start off by stating I have never to my knowledge had oral thrush , But I work with a population who have it often!
I am a nurse co-ordinating pre and postnatal programs and babies get oral thrush frequently.
What seems to have happened to antibiotics over the years has occurred with anti-fungal as well. Over time the nasties learn to thrive d and mutate to survive the onslaught of pharmaceuticals! What has worked really well for moms and babies for  some time now is a very OLD treatment that you can get over the counter at drug stores or at most health food stores. It is called gentian violet and like the name suggests is a beautiful indigo colour( careful it STAINS!) wash that can be applied to any areas thrush is invading. You will appear very blue in the lips ( yes people will inquire about apnea!) but it seems to knock the nastiest virulent strains of yeast flat.
Sorry  you are dealing with this- hope you get relief soon!

[Joe S.]

My mother, wife and daughters swear by gentian violet. We have also used tones to treat fungus in other locations.
Thrush: http://www.chakraforce.com/Tonations.html#16.
Candidia: http://www.chakraforce.com/Tonations.html#324.
You did the right thing to seek medical help.

[Corella]

Thrush and I are good friends, good old 'Candida' invaded my body 20 years ago after 4 years of steroids and it seems to be lying low level in my body and flares up.

I have had a GP tell me it is 'Psycho Sexual' - how patronising!

Anyway, now I have been diagnosed with Sjogrens, it all makes sense to me, in fact I might change my name to 'Candida' - some doctor suggested boric acid pessaries for 'down below', do any of you girls know anything about that?

[anita]

There is a new medicine for oral thrush called Oravig. It is a tablet that you put between your cheek and gum and it stays there for the day slowly dissolving.  I think the course is 7 days.  It is actually the same medicine used for vaginal yeast infections (monostat).  It works great....with one exception.  With the dry mouth it takes much longer for the tablet to dissolve.  But it still works.  Definitely worth asking about.

[4Kids]

I have had some severe thrush and I was up the creek for a while. The dr gave me diflucan but my saliva was so low I didn't have enough saliva for it to work. Liquid diflucan solved the oroblem but it would build up again.

No amount of gentian violet or anything would budge it.

What was happening was my mouth would get so dry that at night it would flare up. The dr prescribed me nystatin truches which are sugar free and it only took a week or two of nighttime ones to get it solved. Nystatin truches work by slowly dossolving. i highly recommend them. Our city is small and we have one compounding pharmacy. They worked with the dr to compound the truches and then worked with me to make sure they were sugar free and a flavour I could stand (lol) which was mint. Liquid Nystatin doesn't seem to work at all. The truches did.

Oh and i got a sixty dollar critical care probiotic.  This was really super important because the diflucan and nystatin were wiping it all out, and I needed to replace them. Mine has 100billion strains or something. Worked like a charm.

good luck.

[Duchess]

You may want to try a probiotic such as acidophilus. It helps to balance the bacteria in the body. Antibiotics not only kill the bad bacteria, but the good ones also - causing a yeast infection.


Duchess

[soycoffee]

All I can say is Thrush, yes.

That is, yes, I've had it, four or five years ago. I went to the doctor and did what she said. It got better, and didn't come back, probably due to lack of antibiotics  afterwards, and diet high in vegetables.


I had an adviser once, a large man, who would rumble deep in his chest "You'll be fine!" It was somehow very reassuring. Now I'm rumbling a deep John Wayne sort of "You'll be fine," from the height of 5'0" standing tall.

Welcome to the forum,
Soycoffee

[mncjl]

Thank you Soy coffee!

Those are the kinds of reassuring words that I need to hear!  Over and over again!

Please send more!

Thanks for being so very kind!

MNCJL

[LizPetillo]

Today, I was diagnosed with my worst fear....MOUTH THRUSH! 

That's my worst fear as well.

18 months ago I was MISdiagnosed with it.  They gave me all the antifungals .. one after another .. to try to get rid of 'it' ... of course 'it' never went away because 'it' wasn't thrush.  But anyways, every antifungal I took was awful ... bad side effects ... PAINFUL throat and it felt like I was being strangled when I took the diflucan ... even just one pill of it.  And swallowing the nystatin made my lungs suddenly suck in and wheeze for hours ...

I'm scared to death to get thrush for real. 

I don't know what I'd do .... have a mental breakdown I guess. 

It's my greatest fear at this time .... something so 'small' as thrush ...

[mncjl]

Liz,

Your response was NOT very helpful.  In fact, it is exactly why I knew I should sign up for a forum.  I was seeing some good in this one.  But, it looks like everyone has their own opinion.  And, no one can be nice and give positive feedback for someone who is scared and searching.

Your response only put more fear into my mind.  What was she misdiagnosed with?  Could that be me?  What terrible side effects this medicine gave her.  Will it give them to me too? 

Thanks to everyone.  I will be dropping my subscription to sjogrens world.  Best of luck to all.

MNCJL

[Linda196]

MNCJL, I hope you reconsider and stay with us, as you said everyone has their own opinion, and please remember that not everyone responds in the same way to treatment...for thrush or anything else for that matter.

I'm unsure as to why anyone would treat with antifungals without a positive fungal culture, but that may only be standard practice where I live. Here, systemic antifungals are reserved for very advanced fungal infections, infections that have proven unresponsive to every other form of treatment, or when the infection focuses on vital organs like the heart or brain, and this is a rare occurrence.

Remember that you have the final say in any medical decision, and if systemic antifungals are suggested before you've had a positive culture, you have the right to ask for the culture and refuse the medication until it's need is clinically proven.

[anita]

Not sure what you expected, but you certainly got helpful input/advise from several members.   ALL responses were nice and offered positive feedback in one way or another.  Frankly, the only negative post was yours, and hopefully it will be pulled by the moderators.

[jazzlover]

Linda.. if a person has thrush, it's a fungus.

---

notes...

..The real fear is systemic yeast. I have it really bad and just this week the thrush got bad. I am so bummed. I have the Orivig and have been afraid to try it because I've had severe stomach pain this week (due to the yeast.)
Now I have hope that it won't kill my stomach??

...I never heard of Diflucan or Nystatin killing good bacteria???

...Liquid nystatin contains sugar.. so that is why it doesn't work very well.

...Get HIGH QUALITY probiotics....several strains. Good ones are the Critical Care (Ultimate Flora), Theralac, and VSL#3.

...I avoid yogurt like the plague and now I have to avoid stevia. I can't take ANY form of "sugar".

mncjl...I hope you find what works for you!! Let us know how you're doing next week!