Women often complain about their difficult lifeshare: and "critical days", and pregnancy, and childbirth, and women's "ailments". And there is some truth in these lamentations - there are not so few diseases that lie in wait for a woman. And one of such common diseases is thrush. Medical statistics say that at least once in their life, more than 97% of all women have suffered from thrush. What is thrush in girls? Doctors call this disease candidiasis. Its development is provoked by yeast fungi Candida. This fungus is on the skin of any healthy person, however, in very small quantities. Their number is controlled by the immune system and the favorable microflora that lives in the human body. However, if favorable conditions for the fungus develop, it will begin to actively multiply, penetrate the vagina and cause this very thrush.
Causes of thrush development
As mentioned above, it is too early to have thrushalmost every woman faces it late. In some cases, thrush develops without any apparent reason. However, most often there are certain factors that provoke its occurrence. We will dwell on these factors in more detail:
- Treatment with antibiotics
Most often, the development of thrush is caused byantibacterial therapy. Antibiotics are becoming more and more a part of modern people's lives. Unfortunately, antibacterial therapy is used even for mild bronchitis. But the main danger of antibiotics is that they destroy not only pathogenic microflora, but also beneficial microflora. It is because of the destruction of beneficial microflora that dysbacteriosis develops - almost everyone knows this fact. But in addition to dysbacteriosis, severe thrush can occur, since the growth of yeast fungi is not restrained by anything.
- Chemotherapy
Thrush is an almost inevitable companion of those women who have undergone chemotherapy or taken steroids.
- Diabetes
Diabetes mellitus is a complicated disease in itself. In addition, it is accompanied by a number of concomitant diseases. Including vaginal candidiasis, and quite severe.
- Pregnancy
During pregnancy, a lot happensweakened immunity. This is simply necessary for the normal development of the baby and the course of pregnancy. However, a side effect of decreased immunity is the development of thrush.
- Use of oral contraceptives
Contraceptive pills are a favorite contraceptive for many women. However, very often these pills become the cause of thrush.
Symptoms of thrush
Thrush in all cases manifests itself extremely acutely, so it is almost impossible not to notice its appearance. The main symptoms of thrush include:
- Discomfort in the genital area
During the first day of illness, women complain ofsevere unbearable itching in the area of the external genitalia. And on the second or third day, burning joins the itching. All this causes the sick woman extreme discomfort.
- Discharge from the vagina
Almost immediately, vaginal discharge is noted. This discharge is quite specific - it has a cottage cheese consistency and a sour smell.
- Pain during urination
It is not surprising that due to the large numbervaginal discharge, severe irritation of the external genitalia develops. And when urinating, due to drops of urine getting in, the woman experiences pain and burning.
- Pain in intercourse
Unfortunately, thrush in women leads todevelopment of an inflammatory process not only of the external genitalia, but also of the vaginal mucosa. As a result, painful sensations arise during sexual intercourse, sometimes quite intense.
- Swelling of the genital organs
If you don’t start treating thrush in a timely manner,a rather strong swelling of the labia majora may occur, and in some particularly severe cases, the anus. Some women experience all the symptoms at once, while others experience only some of them. In any case, when the first symptoms appear, you should consult a gynecologist. It is almost impossible to diagnose the disease on your own. Especially since many sexually transmitted diseases have similar symptoms.
Forms of the disease course
Doctors distinguish two forms of candidiasis:
- Acute form of the disease
The acute form of the disease occurs once, under the influence of certain provoking factors. After treatment, thrush in women disappears without a trace, leaving behind only memories.
- Chronic form of the disease
If acute thrush is not treatedproperly, it will take a chronic form. Frequent exacerbations are typical for this form of the disease, and practically without any apparent reason. In most cases, women with chronic thrush have other gynecological diseases, as well as such a disorder of the gastrointestinal tract as dysbacteriosis. In no case should vaginal candidiasis be allowed to take a chronic form. Firstly, it will be much more difficult to get rid of it. And secondly, such harmless at first glance thrush can lead to the development of a variety of complications, for example, to inflammatory processes of all pelvic organs without exception, adhesions and even secondary infertility.
Thrush in a pregnant woman
It is necessary to mention separately about thrush inpregnant women. As mentioned above, vaginal candidiasis is very common in pregnant women. And you should never ignore treatment. Otherwise, the following complications may develop:
- Gaps in the perineum during labor
Constant inflammatory processes of the perineum,which inevitably occur in a woman suffering from thrush, lead to a loss of tissue elasticity, which can lead to a rupture of the perineum during the passage of the child through the birth canal. Well, if a woman goes to the delivery room with an acute form of thrush, a rupture is simply unavoidable.
- Poor healing of sutures
A woman suffering from thrush will experience very poor healing of the stitches if there were tears during childbirth or an episiotomy was performed.
- Infection of the baby
If a young mother has candidiasis, there is a high probability of infection of the newborn child. As a result, the baby develops candidal stomatitis.
Treating Thrush
Any treatment for thrush - both acute andchronic form - you need to start by identifying the cause that led to the development of the disease. For example, stop taking antibiotics - of course, only with the knowledge and consent of the attending physician, change the contraceptive, improve immunity. And only after this can you begin the treatment of thrush itself. Most often, local remedies are used to treat thrush: suppositories, tablets, creams and ointments. The average course of such treatment is 5 days. However, these drugs have a number of disadvantages:
- Method of administration
These drugs are applied vaginally, which is not always convenient, especially if the medication needs to be administered on a regular basis.
- Irritation
Although quite rare, there are still cases when the use of local antifungal agents causes the development of an allergic reaction and irritation of the mucous membrane of the genitals.
- Local impact
All such drugs are effectivelocally. And the fungal foci localized in the intestines remain untouched. As a result, constant relapses of the disease are possible. And the woman will unsuccessfully guess where this misfortune comes from. That is why today doctors prefer to use systemic antifungal drugs for treatment. As a rule, they act very quickly and the woman feels relief after the first dose. The choice of such drugs is quite large, but you should still not buy this or that drug on your own, without first consulting a doctor. Even if some drug helped your friend very well, it may not help you.
Folk remedies for treatment of thrush
There are also several folk recipes,which are very effective in eliminating thrush. However, remember that these remedies should in no way be an alternative to the treatment prescribed by the doctor - only a supplement.
- Bifidumbacterin
Buy bifidumbacterin powder at the pharmacy.Dilute one ampoule of powder in one tablespoon of warm boiled water, add ½ teaspoon of Vaseline oil, mix thoroughly – you should get a homogeneous mass of creamy consistency. Place a cotton swab in this mass – it should be thoroughly soaked. This swab should be inserted into the vagina and left overnight. The duration of the course of treatment is 7 days.
- Tampons with yogurt
Another very effective remedy is tampons withkefir. Soak a cotton swab in kefir and place it in the vagina overnight. By the way, you can use yogurt instead of kefir. Of course, without any dyes or additives. In the morning, remove the swab and douche with chamomile decoction. The decoction is very easy to prepare: boil one glass of water, pour in two tablespoons of dry chamomile flowers and cook for 3 minutes. Then turn off the heat, wrap the pan in a terry towel and leave to infuse for two hours. Strain with gauze and pour into a glass container. The duration of the course of treatment is 7 days.
- Broth of the bark of oak
Oak bark has excellent bactericidal propertiesproperties that can also be very effectively used to treat thrush. First, prepare a decoction of oak bark: place two tablespoons of crushed oak bark in an enamel pan, pour in two glasses of water, bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Boil the decoction until half of the water has boiled away. After that, cool the decoction and strain it with gauze. A woman should douche with this decoction twice a day - in the morning and before bed. The duration of the course of treatment is 7 days. Now you already know what thrush is in girls, what it is fraught with and how to deal with it. Therefore, try to prevent its development. And if this does not work, begin treatment at the first symptoms. We advise you to read:
