Systemic Candida? Or not? (TMI w/ lady-details)

So here's the Cliff's Notes of my story:

I'm 34

This all began 19 months ago. I had just left my husband, I was living on a shoestring budget & eating garbage, I had within the past 6 months had 3 bad infections that required Antibiotics , and I admit that I spent the first month living on my own completely drunk off my ass. So, I realize it was a perfect recipe for candida overgrowth.

I came down with a vaginal yeast infection. I had had one other back in high school, so I recognized it, got the drugstore cure, and went about my business. It came back 2 weeks later. So I went to the dr who prescribed me one 150mg dose of diflucan. Took it...and it came back 2 weeks later. Went back to the dr who gave me another 150dose of diflucan.

I had started researching, and asked if I needed to treat my boyfriend, and also asked if I could do diflucan for several days, instead of the one-time dose. He said none of that was necessary.

Yes, he did swabs and STD tests, was negative for everything but yeast. He finally relented and said I could treat my boyfriend if I wanted, and my b/f was amazingly understanding and took the diflucan.

The infection never went away.

It's 19 months later and I've tried all of the following:

ACV douches
Hydrogen peroxide douches
Collodial silver douches
various herbal douches prescribed by herbalists
tampons coated with fungus-fighting essential oil blends
borax capsules
probiotic vaginal suppositories (even super expensive ones I found online)
About 5 different herbal candida cleanse kits
about 10 different mega probiotic supplement types
acupuncture
homeopathy




After 9 months, my dr sent me to an OB/GYN specialist. Because, in order to keep myself from constantly being in pain and discomfort I use borax capsules daily, I didn't have a bunch of discharge or anything. He said I didn't have an infection. I said I did. He said I should just go sit in a salt bath for 3 days and I'd be fine. I said I was 9 months into a persistent infection that would not go away, I didn't think a salt sitzbath was the answer. He said to try it and that I'd be fine.

I did try it, I was not fine.

My dr gave me a refillable prescription for diflucan, so I could take it whenever I needed it. When I'd really flare up and start getting discharge & pain despite borax and probiotics, taking 300mg of diflucan daily for a week would allow me to get things back under "control". It still never went away.

I saw a naturopath who said that it definitely indicated a systemic candida issue, even though I really didn't have any of the symptoms people talk about when they have systemic candida. He said to do 100mg diflucan daily for 8 weeks, along with taking mega probiotics, and a homeopathic remedy pulsatilla 30x. He said he had seen many long-term resistant yeast infections like mine be cleared up with this protocol.

I did the protocol for 11 weeks, including doing a run of Monistat as I found some medical research online that said combining antifungal pills with topical antifungals was particularly effective in resistant cases... and one week afterwards the yeast was back.

I now use borax capsules daily because they keep me asymptomatic. But within 48 hours of not using them, the yeast is back.

I am also now 3 weeks into the Candida Diet. Taking Caprilic Acid Plus, and 100billion count probiotics twice daily. I had also been megadosing the borax for 2 weeks.

I'll be honest, during the past 19 months I've never experienced any "die-off" despite the vast range of fungal killing protocols I've tried. Not even when I was on daily diflucan for almost 3 months. So part of me is wondering if I'm actually dealing with a systemic issue, or if it really is just a freak localized problem. Like I said, I really don't have any of the symptoms that you hear people having who have systemic yeast issues.

Yes, I have joint pain...but that is from the deformity in my knees, and the hyperflexibility in them that I've had from birth.

Yes, I have food intolerances that have seemed to have worsened over time (I now also have a soy intolerance, and now that I'm on the candida diet I'm pretty sure nuts are doing it too). But I also had a bunch of those when I was a very small child, which spontaneously went into remission long ago, though I retained a dairy intolerance.

Yes, I have PMS, but it's much better now as an adult than it was when I was a teen.

Yes, I often feel tired, but I wouldn't label it "fatigue", as I have experienced chemically-induced fatigue in the past and this is nothing like it. The tiredness seems to be a holdover from a 15 year course of antidepressants and mood stabilizers that I was misprescribed when I was a teenager. Even after I got off the drugs and detoxed thoroughly, I still feel tired after a full day. But I think that's kinda normal for a 34 y/o working a full time job and holding down a secondary income stream through online retail. My energy levels are actually WAY above what they were through my late teens and twenties.

I DON'T have brain fog or difficulty focusing, I don't have other fungal infections (nail, mouth, etc), I don't have digestive issues, etc.

So...what's going on?

I have an appointment with a different OB/GYN specialist, this time a woman, next month. I plan on keeping up what I'm currently doing to see if it makes any difference. But at this point, I simply don't know.

Now, my entire life (well, as long as I've been getting well-woman checks) doctors have always remarked that I have yeast growing around my cervix. But it never extended beyond that, and never caused any symptoms, so they said I likely just have a higher-than-average candida level naturally, but that my other bacterias are obviously keeping it in check, and so it was "normal for me". So, if my whole life I've had a higher than normal level of candida down there, how am I supposed to bring things back in line?

At this point I feel really frustrated and stymied. I'm open to hearing whatever suggestions and insights this forum may have.

Thanks!

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