I’m not going to sugar coat it; thrush is kind of unpleasant. And by ‘kind of’ I mean ‘very’ and by ‘unpleasant’ I mean ‘hideously gross.’ I don’t know about you, but personally, it’s one of the those things that makes me roll my eyes and get cranky with my body for allowing itself to fall out of balance and contract such a condition.
Unfortunately, getting cranky doesn’t really solve the problem and while shifting the blame to your body might make you feel better momentarily, it also causes us to conveniently forget the fact that perhaps it’s something we’re doing that’s causing the imbalance to occur (sometimes repeatedly).
An outbreak of thrush and subsequent trip to the pharmacy will usually see you leaving, laden down with pessary’s and creams, usually with names like Nilstat and Canesten. These products are designed to both soothe and treat the symptoms, therefore neutralizing the problem. Unfortunately, they don’t actively work to restore the good bacteria needed to prevent another outbreak occurring and they use some pretty intensive chemical compounds to achieve their goal.
After a recent outbreak of the dreaded ‘T’, I decided I wanted to try and do things a bit different this time. I was growing mighty tired of products that seemed to put a bandaid over the problem, without ever really eradicating it entirely.
A little bit of research pointed me in the right direction and I came up with my own treatment plan. And I’m happy to say that it worked extremely effectively. I’m certainly not a trained medical professional, so what worked for me may not work for you, but if you’re keen on trying something before hitting the chemist, give one of the below a go.
Diet – I eat a very low fructose diet but for a couple of days, I cut right back on my fruit intake to try and lower the levels of natural sugars (which help feed yeast) in my body.
Supplements – Along with cutting back on fruit, I increased my probiotic dose from 1 tablet to 2 tablets to try and up the number of good bacteria floating around in my system. I also started taking garlic (a natural anti-fungal) tablets (2 a day) of a morning for a week.
Rinses and washes – I made up a rinse solution using 200ml of cooled, boiled water, 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar and ½ tbsp. of probiotic powder. I used this internally for a couple of nights in a row to treat the actual site of the outbreak. The apple cider vinegear helps restore the pH balance, while the probiotic powder sends good bacteria exactly where its needed.
Cream and lotions – I made up my own ‘cream’ using natural, organic yoghurt and probiotic powder. While the rinse kind of went in, swished around and came back out, this ‘cream’ was designed to be inserted before bed where it could stay to do it’s stuff overnight.
I followed this routine for three days straight before easing off on the rinse and cream but sticking with the supplements. Depending on the severity of your case, you may need to continue with the full routine for a few days longer to get the result you’re looking for.
by Naomi Cotterill
Naomi is a sugar free eating, green smoothie scoffing mum to one toddler and two cats. When not wearing her mummy hat, she writes and blogs about all things parenting, lifestyle and wellness for a number of print and online publications including her own site (Not) Just A Mummy (www.notjustamummy.com) If she’s not blogging, making up songs about eating avocado sandwiches or getting covered with sand at the beach, you can usually find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest
