Re: NOT a yeast infection-probably don't want to read if you're a guy;-)

[Guest guest]

Hi Sue,

I meant to email you last week and ask, are you sure it's a YI?

i have been suffering from reoccurant " yeast infections " for years.

every year i'd go to my appt and say i was still having problems. every year

she told me i had another strep infection and prescribe antibiotics. i'd feel

better for a couple of months and then it started all over. it got to the point

all i had to do was call her and she'd call in a prescription for me.

This went on for 7 years and i was miserable half the time.

Finally, last July i saw a specialist in hard cases. She said it did look like

strep and ran a culture and sure enough it was but she said she felt there was

something else going on too.

she prescribed two different antibiotics to take for a month. she said let's

hit this hard and see if it stays away. After the antibiotics i felt fine for a

while then it was back again.

she said she felt i needed a biopsy to see what was going on. that my skin was

being erroded away and was pitted and bleeding.

i had the biopsy and it came back that i have DIV which is an destructive

inflammitory vaginitis. She said as far as treatment it was really no different

than lichen planus. Both are bad as far as i can tell but i am so relieved i

finally have a diagnosis. i was really beginning to wonder what was wrong with

me and if i'd ever feel good again. i was to the point where i had to quit

tampons even because it was too painful.

it's treated quite a bit differently than strep or YI and i will probably have

to treat it for the rest of my life but i feel " normal " again.

She said it's another autoimmune disease which makes sense i guess since i have

3 others. Besides RA i have Diabetes T1, and Vitiligo.

I just wanted to mention this to anybody who has reoccurant problems like this.

Don't suffer for years assuming it's YI,bacterial or strep. if i doesn't want

to go away it may be something that needs a different treatment.

Sue, i hope you feel better after the antibiotics! i'm sure it will help a lot!

Lori

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> [ ] NOT a yeast infection

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> Today I called my PCP to find out the results of the culture she took

> on Monday. She said it showed NOT a yeast infection, but a strep

> infection! I didn't know you could have a strep infection down there.

> She didn't want to prescribe an antibiotic, since that could cause a

> yeast infection. So we'll wait a while and see what happens.

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> The agonizing itching pretty much finally quieted down yesterday. I

> don't know if the swabbing with baking soda water or yogurt helped or

> what. I've also been taking acidophilus pills.

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> I guess that explains why it kept raging even though I took Diflocan

> and was using Monistat and anti-fungal cream.

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> I've been reading about it, and found out that it's Strep B. Strep A

> is the kind that causes a sore throat. Apparently Strep B exists in

> some women naturally, and can pose a hazard to the child when a woman

> has it while giving birth. It usually does not cause any symptoms,

> from what I read.

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> I suppose I'll have to call the Enbrel people again and give them the

> correct information. I suppose the Strep B just got too numerous, just

> as yeast does in a yeast infection. I think that Enbrel or just my

> compromised immune system probably played a part.

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> Has anyone here heard of this before?

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> Sue

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