Emily

Age at interview: 32

Brief Outline:

Emily had recurrent thrush in her 20s which she found to be linked to her sex life and stress levels. She sought care from her GP and sexual health clinics. Emily avoids taking medication and prefers the antifungal pessaries to oral tablets. While she now gets thrush less, she worries the recurrence may reappear.

Background:

Emily (she/her) is a straight woman currently in a relationship. She works as a social media executive. Her background is white British.

More about me...

Emily experienced recurrent thrush in her 20s. She had episodes about three times a year. Her symptoms would go away within five days of taking medication.

Emily’s symptoms included being itchy and uncomfortable and having increased discharge. She noticed that symptoms typically appeared a few days after having sex or when she was stressed.

Recurrent thrush affected Emily’s mental health as it was always on her mind. She felt more self-conscious and anxious. Looking back, she recognises that there were mental health impacts, and wishes she had psychological support during that time. Her symptoms affected her ability to focus at work, participate in sports, have sex, or wear clothes like leggings.

When first recognising symptoms, Emily worried she had an STI. She visited her GP for testing and was diagnosed with thrush, which brought relief.

For subsequent episodes of thrush, Emily visited the sexual health walk-in clinic where she was tested every time to confirm thrush. She felt that the doctors were blasé about it as they see thrush often and had an attitude of “take a pill and bye, bye”. She found this attitude to be “disconcerting” when a patient appears thinking recurrent thrush is the “worst thing ever” and this feeling is not validated.

While Emily found that the doctors treated her symptoms, they often did not look for the root cause. One exception was her long-time GP, who explained that recurrent thrush could be linked to the birth control pill. While Emily did not want to stop taking her contraception, she wished that other options had been offered.

In terms of treatment, Emily has found that the pessary works better for her than the pill, which she finds difficult to swallow after having a tracheotomy. Emily knew she could access long-term antifungal maintenance treatment, but she did not want to as she prefers not to take medication. She has recommended that her male partners get tested and treated as well.

Emily wishes there was an “off button” for the symptoms that was natural but that there is not much information about reliable alternative treatments online. She has tried lowering her sugars, taking probiotics, and wearing only cotton clothes.

Looking forward, Emily is concerned about whether recurrent thrush will reappear, especially when looking to have children. She worries about passing it on to her child and wants to discover a naturopathic treatment before then.

Emily has found support from her friends who deal with similar issues but finds that women’s health is rarely discussed in mainstream media.

This year, Emily had two episodes of thrush. Emily’s GP provided her with swabs to use and hand in to get tested without making an appointment which was “convenient” and brought “peace of mind”. Emily then picked up medication at the pharmacy.

Emily feels this experience has led her to understand her body more and be confident in seeking healthcare and asking questions. Her advice to other patients is to look for the root cause.  

Emily’s doctor allowed her to take swabs at home which brought “peace of mind”.

I got them tested each time with the GP, who handily just gave me... because I didn't have to book an appointment, she just gave me a swab to use and then hand it in to get tested, which is very convenient and easy to do and brings peace of mind as well.

Emily found that recurrent thrush influenced her exercises and clothing choices

Yeah, so wearing cotton clothing, not tight clothing, especially on the bottom half, yeah, and not tight synthetic clothing, not wearing that, and then especially if it’s warm outside, try and wear as loose clothing as possible, and if doing exercise, yeah. And also choosing your exercises accordingly, so for example not doing like HIT training on a bike because that would be pretty bad for it if you've got thrush or if you were developing it.

If I had yoga in the morning, I would go to yoga, and if it wasn't a hot yoga class, I would wear leggings for the whole day after that, and that’s not good at all, so I'd get changed more often and wear more breathable clothing, so I'd have to change my clothing choices.

Emily’s doctor suggested that the birth control pill increased the likelihood of recurrent thrush.

My doctor linked it to being on the pill, which is quite common apparently because your pH changes in the vagina when you're on the pill, and when you're starting your period, so on the off days I had it when I wasn't on the pill, which is quite common, I think. So yeah, I thought, ‘oh great,’ but stayed on the pill, stuck with it, had about two infections this year of thrush, and they were confirmed as thrush, because I got them tested each time with the GP.

Emily was “anti drug-taking” and hesitant to take longer-term medication.

I took the regular, from Boots, Canesten treatment, yeah, because I couldn’t get anything on prescription, I didn’t want to have... because they can give you a drug to take every month and I was like, ‘I don’t really want to do that,’ because I’m very anti drug-taking, I’m studying nutrition so I knew what those drugs are and I don’t really want to take them.