What is oral thrush?
November 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment
What is oral thrush?
Oral thrush is an unpleasant condition whereby the the fungus Candida Albicans overgrows on your mouth’s lining. Oral thrush can happen to anyone …adults, children and babies….especially if they have a compromised immune system due to, say, diabetes, HIV or aids.
As a type of yeast infection, candida overgrowth is not usually a major problem for healthy children and adults. However, if a person has got a compromised immune system, the symptoms of oral thrush may be much more severe, more likely to spread and difficult to control.
What oral thrush symptoms are most common?
The first visual oral thrush symptoms will be lesions on the inner cheeks or tongue. These will be creamy white in colour and resemble cottage cheese in appearance.
Before noticing visual oral thrush symptoms you may, however,have noticed painful areas in the mouth that hurt or even bleed when brushing your teeth or being scraped by eating coarser food.
In severe cases, the symptoms of oral thrush will appear throughout the mouth, gums, tonsils and throat making the sufferer feel very miserable indeed. Where the lesions continue down into the esophagus (the tube leading from mouth to stomach) it is known as candida esophagitis. The cottage cheese appearance of the lesions is what makes sufferers of candida esophagitis experience difficulty swallowing as if something is stuck as the back of the throat.
Although oral thrush symptoms often develop suddenly, they may take a long time to clear up.
What are the symptoms of infant oral thrush?
If an infant is going to develop oral thrush symptoms it will happen during the first few weeks of life. As well as the visual symptoms of oral thrush listed above, other clues may be that your baby has become fussy or irritable when feeding. This will be because baby’s oral thrush symptoms are making swallowing uncomfortable if not painful.
Other clues may be in the breast feeding mother….as baby and mother often pass the yeast infection back and forth until they are both treated between mother’s breasts and baby’s mouth. If a breast feeding mother has a yeast infection of the nipple or breast the following symptoms of yeast infection may be experienced:
- The nipples may become unusually red or sensitive to touch.
- Previously straight forward breast feeding may sudddenly become painful and that pain may continue between feeds.
- The skin on the areola may be shiny or start to flake.
- When the yeast infection has penetrated the breast, stabbing pains deep in the breast are common.
How do I treat my oral thrush symptoms?
If you are suffering symptoms of oral thrush as described above, you will be wanting relief from your yeast infection as soon as possible. Whether it be for an adult or a new born baby, it is always preferable to clear up symptoms as naturally as possible. For this reason, Yeast Infection Helpdesk recommends a holistic approach to treating oral thrush speedily and safely. Linda Allen offers a wonderful extra over other yeast infection cures on the market in that you can contact her personally, once you have bought her book, for specialist advice to ensure that the oral thrush treatments she outlines are tailored to you needs and will work for you. I can personally recommend this excellent book having used it myself.
Symptoms of Esophageal Yeast Infection?
October 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Esophageal yeast infection (sometimes called esophageal candidiasis) affects the digestive tract between the mouth and the stomach.
Because of this the main indicators that you might have candida esophagitis are:
- difficuly swallowing food
- a sense that food is stuck in the top of the chest or at the very back of the throat
- there may be pain behind the breast bone
- nausea
If you have esophageal yeast infection it is possible that you also have oral thrush. The symptoms of this may affect your mouth and tongue in all making eating and swallowing uncomfortable.
Treatment of Esophageal Yeast infection
There are several suitable remedies for treating esophageal candidiasis:
- Lozenges and mouthwashes can be prescribed that are effective in the treatment of oral thrush.
- Diflucan and Nizoral are effective precription remedies for yeast infection of the gut.
- Over the counter natural remedies include using garlic capsules, colloidal silver and lactobacillus acidophilus supplements to re-introduce healthy bacteria to the digestive system.
- Home remedies include yogurt for eating as part of a candida beating diet (or for topical application with vaginal yeast infection symptoms) and self-help remedies.
Ultimately, the above will individually help to combat different types of candidiasis. However, it is important to address the causes as well in order to avoid recurrent yeast infection. A holistic approach is always the best approach.
What is espohapeal yeast infection?
October 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Esophageal candidiasis (also known as a “thrush” or oropharyngeal candidiasis) is a yeast infection of the digestive tract leading from the mouth to the stomach. It is often assiciated with oral thrush which can happen at the same time.
What are the possible causes of esophageal yeast infection?
A very uncomfortable and sometimes painful condition, esophageal yeast infection symptoms can be an unpleasant side effect of long-term antibiotics, chemotherapy drugs or chronic candidiasis. It is also a common early infection for people with HIV+ or Aids affecting women slightly more than men.
How are esophageal yeast infection symptoms treated?
Treatment of symptoms is straightforward:
- lozenges and oral capsules are the most common prescription methods.
- if you have a compromised immune system and are believed to be as higher risk of candidial esophagitis, natural over the counter remedies such as lactobacillus acidophillus supplements (to replace health bacteria lost during the infection) and garlic capsules (anti-bacterial and anti-fungal) may help to keep symptoms at bay.
- As always it is best to take a holistic approach to your health and treat the causes as well as those distressing symptoms thereby reducing the risk of recurrent yeast infection.
Colloidal Silver as a Yeast Infection Treatment
September 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment
What is colliodal silver?
Colloidal silver is a liquid agent that can be ingested or applied topically. It has powerful germicidal qualities and is one of the most powerful treatments available for all manner of afflictions from treatment of sinus problems, acne and pneumonia through to treating candidiasis or yeast infection.
The greatest advantage of colloidal silver is that, whilst it attacks and kills bacteria, fungi and viruses within just a few minutes of contact, it has no effect whatsoever upon the friendly bacteria that enhance the body’s health. This is because it has zero toxicity for living tissue.
Colloidal silver….a surprising remedy….
It might seem a strange concept ingesting silver….but, in fact, o.oo1% of out bodies are made up of silver and the colloidal silver solutions that are sold evenly distributed in highly purified water on a ratio of between 5 and 15 parts per million.
Colloidal silver can undoubledly have amazing benefits of a wide range of health issues and our immune systems. It is by no means an “overnight cure” for male, female or baby yeast infection symptoms which is probably why it is not one of the more common yeast infection remedies. In the case of children, it is essential to gain medical advice before administering an over the counter remedy to an infant.
Is Yeast Infection a sign of HIV or Aids?
September 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment
In many HIV or Aids patients one of the earliest signs of infection due to a weakening immune system is candidiasis.
Yeast infection does not necessarily mean you are HIV positive or have Aids….but, if you already have HIV or Aids, you may be more susceptible to candida overgrowth….
This seems to affect women slightly more than men and most commonly shows up as esophageal candidiasis. It is important to realise, however, that esophageal yeast infection does not necessarily mean that you have contracted HIV. There is simply an increased risk of developing symptoms of chronic candidiasis is you have a weakened immune system for whatever reason or have been on antibiotics over a sustained period of time.
“How would esophageal yeast infection affect me?”
Esophageal yeast infection symptoms can be distressing to deal with as they will affect appetite and enjoyment of food as well as sometimes causing pain behind the breast bone. Having a candidial infection of the esophagus will often combine with oral thrush (but not usually visa versa) - the symptoms of which can cause discomfort and a bad taste in the mouth.
It is important if suffering symptoms of esophageal yeast infection that you consult your medical practitioner to obtain a formal diagnosis. To do this they will usually take a sample for culture growth or arrange for a barium swallow (although this latter technique will usually only detect more advanced candida esophagitis).
“How is esophageal yeast infection treated?”
The good news is that this distressing condition is relatively straightforward to treat. Because of needing to ingest the treatment (rather than it being for topical application) these remedies are prescription ones instead of being able to be bought from your pharmacist.
- Lozenges and mouthwashes are often effective in treating oral thrush but fail to make much impact upon the esophagus.
- Diflucan and Nizoral are the most common prescription remedies with diflucan having a slight lead over nizoral for success in treating HIV and Aids patients. These are both oral medications.
- If both of these approaches do not successfully clear esophageal yeast infection symptoms there are intravenous options that a more powerful and can be discussed for suitability with your medical practitioner.
There are, however, many self-help steps that you can take to improve your symptoms. Diet and use of yogurt and acidophilus can help to make your digestive system less prone to attack from candida. A holistic approach to your treatment will also reduce the likelihood of recurrent yeast infection.
Welcome to Yeast Infection Helpdesk
March 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Hello and welcome to Yeast Infection Helpdesk.
At this site you will find the definitive guide to all manner of yeast infection, the causes of yeast infections as well as reviews of tried and tested remedies for yeast infection in men, women and children.
Yeast infections (also known as candidiasis or thrush) can cause such misery especially when chronic or recurrent infections occur. Our aim is to provide a discreet source of information about why yeast infections happen, the symptons of thrush as well as reviews of over the counter treatments and natural home remedies for yeast infections.
Watch this site and you will see its database growing over the coming weeks on everything you need to know about yeast infection.