Fungal infection

[mil1209]

First of all, I am a male, in his mid-40s, who is relatively healthy except for a positive diagnosis of Hepatitis B (but that is not what this post is about). I have been dealing with what I believe is a fungal infection since beginning of August. I had a sexual encounter a week before that. It was with a woman I did not know very well. We had sexual intercourse with a condom, and there was no oral sex. I asked her to penetrate anally, to try something new, and she did that, while wearing some kind of latex glove. We were in her bathroom which was wet from a shower.

Anyway, about a week later, I experienced a redness and itching at my penis head and anus, which also affected my left leg and foot. The left leg and foot also itched, burned, and tingled, although there were no outward signs of any lesions. I immediately went to the doctor and had a full STD panel of tests done - Chlamydia, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Herpes, Trichomoniasis - all came back negative.

The pain in my left foot got so bad I could barely walk or stand. I bought Clotrimazole cream from the pharmacy and applied on my penis and anus, and suddenly the left foot no longer tingled or had pain. I followed the directions for a few weeks applying the cream twice a day morning and night. I also used Apple Cider Vinegar as an anti-fungal wash. By the time October came, I was symptom-free in my foot and my groin, so I put it all down to a fungal infection of some kind.

October was great, I was back to normal. Then November came, and the leg/foot pain came back with a vengeance. I had slacked off on using the Clotrimazole because of the lack of symptoms, although I was still wiping my skin with the Apple Cider Vinegar.

Now it is Nov 23, and I have been plagued with left leg and foot pain. It is not as bad as before when I could barely stand, but it is still there, and the fact that the pain is still there means I still have a fungal infection.

Recently, my doctor said I have a candida infection, and gave me Diflucan (flucanozole) to take for 10 days. I just finished it and there was no apparent effect. Now, I'm not so sure it is a fungal infection. Urine and blood analyses done back in August showed no bacteria in the blood or urine. Could it still be a bacterial infection?

I am still going through various anti-fungal topicals - Clotrimazole, Miconzole, Tonaflate, etc. and they work to some extent, but the pain doesn't completely go away like it did before. I even started taking Caprylic acid supplements.

Any ideas on what else this could be besides a fungal infection? If it is a fungal infection, what other treatments are there? Enemas? Nystatin?

Thank you.

[mkh9]

I think your problem is superficial because if it is a fungus and the only reason it seems to be is that the anti-fungal creams work for the dermatopytes. Dermatophytes don't live inside the body. They live on hair, skin and nails and are external fungi. But you could have a yeast. Until you get tested you really don't know. It can't hurt to take the caprylic acid to see what happens but it won't help internally. It has a lot of saturated fat which isn't good for you but temporarily you could try it. I don't recommend it myself but if you want to try it for a couple of weeks that is up to you. It can work on some yeast and maybe fungi as well as some bacteria. I hope it doesn't cause any problems with your normal bowel flora (bacteria).
mkh9

[mil1209]

Again, thank you for helping me out mkh9. I want to say yesterday (Sunday) has been the first day without any kind of pain. I rubbed tea tree oil on the sole of my foot and around the anal area. Today marks the second day. Do you know much about tea tree oil? Does it kill fungus?

[mkh9]

Actually, yes it does. Here is a technical article but I gave it to you to prove that it does have some antifungal properties. It works better on some strains of yeast and dermatophytes than others.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9055360

so the fact that it is helping to me means that it is probably a fungus and that the other antifungal you used was ineffective. That is good news.

mkh9

[mil1209]

That's good to know. So my regimen includes tea tree oil, but is not entirely limited to it. I also still use the Tolnaftate lotion, and I started taking Caprylic acid capsules and cranberry pills. The Caprylic acid capsules supposedly will attack the fungus inside. i do believe it helps. What do you think about it?

The anal area and my leg/foot still gets itchy and tingly after some time passes, so I have to continue with the tea tree oil/anti-fungal lotion.

[mkh9]

There seems to be some antibacterial and antifungal properties with the Caprylic acid.  I don't know how many studies have been done on it but is sounds like it also can work on this.
mkh9

[mil1209]

mhk9, I want to say your input is a great comfort to me in this rather scary period for me. Scary because I fear this may go on for years. I'm glad you're here to walk me through all this, and your educated advice is very helpful.

What is the cycle of regrowth of these dermatophytes? Today I felt pretty clear because I have been applying the tea tree oil every few hours. If I don't, the pain/itchiness will come back to my anus and left foot. Is this a regimen I will have to live with for the rest of my life? Is there nothing that can kill all these micro-organisms permanently? I'm only 7 days into the tea tree oil, so would you say 4 weeks is long enough to see if the TTO will kill all the fungi forever? Is that how long it takes?

Thank you, and sorry for all the questions.