Dealing with Thrush - Treatment

This is part 2. Continued from part 1. See also part 3.


How do I treat thrush?
I followed Dr. Newman's protocol with both babies as soon as I realized I had thrush. For LC, it took: two rounds of gentian violet, a number of rounds of fluconazole, constant use of Dr. Newman's all-purpose nipple ointment (APNO) and stopping my iron supplement to get rid of the thrush. It took more than 10 months to fully resolve. The pain was toe-curling at time. I would put off nursing LC because it hurt so much. My husband hated watching me scream and cry and stomp my feet because it hurt so much. Another cause of the thrush was that LC opened up a large crack in my left nipple that just wouldn't heal. It wouldn't heal because there was candida present, and the candida was there because there was a crack. What you call a vicious cycle.

For Pepperette, I recognized the thrush much sooner. But she (re)opened up the same crack in my left nipple. And this time has been much worse in some ways because I have treated it so much more aggressively, and it just won't fucking go away. Here is what I've done so far:

6 weeks to 6 months:

• Gentian violet (5 rounds of 4-7 days each). It helps, then flares up within a week of stopping.
• Grapefruit seed extract (GSE) pills (2 pills, 3-4 x daily). (See Newman's protocol for specifics.)
• Strong probiotic (3 x daily)
• Grapefruit seed extract liquid (mixed with water, swabbed on nipples after nursing)
• APNO (after nursing)
• APNO with ibuprofen for pain relief (after nursing)
• Fluconazole (dosing per Newman's protocol). Took two rounds of it, the second round for 8 weeks. Helped control the thrush, never cured it.

6 months and beyond:

• Saw a naturopath. Started taking a number of homeopathics in addition to GSE pills, probiotics, GSE liquid, APNO.
• Started a very strict anti-candida diet. Purpose is to eliminate all possible sources of sugar and anything that will promote candida growth.
  

Anti-candida diet details:

• No sugar, honey, maple syrup, artificial sweetener, etc.
• Nothing fermented. No alcohol, vinegar, yeast etc.
• No white flour, white rice.
• No to cheese, milk, etc.
• No to roasted nuts
• No to canned tuna, canned meat. No to lunch meats. No to preservatives.
• No to chips, popcorn
• Yes to meat (chicken, fish, beef, etc.)
• Yes to eggs
• Yes to all veggies except corn
• Yes to limited amounts of apples, blueberries, pears. No to other fruit, especially dried fruit.
• Yes to brown rice, original ryvita crackers, oatcakes (oats, shortening and salt), rice cakes
• Yes to unsweetened yogurt, cottage cheese
• Yes to raw nuts, raw nut butter
• Yes to cooking with vegetable oils, limited amounts of butter
• Yes to seasoning with sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, Braggs all-purpose seasoning (a non-fermented soy sauce alternative), lemon juice
• After six weeks hard-core, you can add cheese and other fruits back into your diet. I have not been able to do this without causing a flareup.

Anti-candida diet for baby:

• probiotics can be given to baby. Break open a capsule, wet finger and dip in probiotic powder. Allow the baby to suck on the finger. Do this twice a day for 5-7 days.
• no sugar in diet! I had started giving Peperette snack crackers (like Baby MumMums - a sweetened rice cracker and gluten-free animal crackers*). Both of these have sugar. Her bottom started to get red and she got crankier. I eliminated these crackers, and voila, our thrush symptoms are gone.
• Pepperette eats pretty much what I eat, just in pureed form. Brown rice cereal, brown rice pasta, oatmeal, pureed chicken and turkey, pureed veggies (carrots, sweet potato, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.), pureed fruit (apple, pear, banana, etc.).

* Since Peperette is at risk of developing a wheat allergy (like I had as a child), we are not introducing wheat until she is about two.

What the hell do you eat?
Good question.

Breakfast:

• steel cut oats with unsweetened applesauce or blueberries or unsweetened almond milk
• shredded wheat cakes crumbled with unsweetened almond milk
• and that's about it
  

Snacks:

• raw apple
• raw almond butter on rice cakes or oatcakes
• humus on ryvita crackers
• humus with raw veggies (carrots, red pepper, green pepper, celery, cauliflower)
• cottage cheese with cinnamon and raw slivered almonds
• whole raw almonds
  

Lunch/dinner:

• omlette or boiled egg
• chicken, brown rice, steamed broccoli
• brown rice pasta, organic pasta sauce (sometimes add beans or ground meat to sauce)
• mini meatloafs with brown rice, eggs, onion, garlic, tomato paste, herbs
• mashed potatoes made with bit of butter and chicken stock. Can also use cooking water
• salad with vinaigrette of lemon juice and olive oil
• pan fried salmon sprinkled with lemon juice, veggies, brown rice
• stir-fry with garlic, onion, ginger, broccoli, snow peas, zucchini, mushrooms, chicken on brown rice w/Braggs
• pork medallions with applesauce, veggie
• roast pork or roast beef