Oral Thrush

[julian999]

I have been diagnosed with oral thrush. I wont get much into the details on how i got it but it was through a sexual encounter. So It has been around 3-4 weeks and I still having symptoms. First I was taking Nystatin then my Doctor prescribed me Fluconazole. While I was taking this medications I felt like it was only preventing it from getting worse and not actually addressing the root cause. Just a couple days ago I stopped taking Fluconazole and my tongue and lips again started to get swollen.

I have also been taking pro-biotics and have been eating natural yougurt.It seems that my Doctor is pretty clueless about yeast infections.

The Fact that i had it for about a month now has me worried that there might be a worse condition behind it. OR it has been misdiagnosed and it may be something else entirely.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Please re-read my answer.  And yes, thrush is more common in people with diabetes, particularly if their glucose control is not very good.  EWH

[julian999]

I went to my Doctor. He prescribed terbinafine for 30 days. Fluconazole did help it just didnt get rid of it completely. I will go to another Doctor to get a second opinion on the matter. Is it normal to have oral thrush for this long? Right now I am pretty worried about HIV. As I have read several articles that state that Thrush is more common with people with diabetes, Cancer or HIV among others.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

While from time to time people do get thrush from sexual encounters with infected partners, it would be most unusual for the infection not to respond to either nystatin or fluconazole and the idea that you have failed both raises concerns for me that there may have been a miss-diagnosis and that you might benefit from a second opinion.  While the benefit of pro-biotic and ingestion of yogurt is unproven, it should not be harmful to you and may help (just because it has not been studied does not mean that it won't help, just that I cannot say it will based on scientific proof).  

I recommend that you get a second opinion. EWH