I would like to share information on a little known, rare infection that all too often is overlooked or misdiagnosed, by the medical profession. It is an infection that shows no mercy to its victims and is deadly in 67 to 90% of the cases, depending upon the severity of the infection. It is called Candida Glabrata (C.Glabrata), and I, like thousands of other victims, have had to learn the harsh realities of what this infection is capable of. I have also learned that it is an infection that our medical profession knows little about and our scientific community knows even less about how to beat it. In 2007, it was listed as the fourth leading cause of bloodstream infection in United States hospitals. The fact that the medical professionals know so little about how one contracts C. Glabrata, who gets it and when to look for it, persuaded me to speak out about this, so others do not suffer as I am.
What is C. Glabrata?
First C. Glabrata is a fungus from the Candidias family, which is the same family of candidias albican (the yeast infection that most people are familiar with), however, there are several other forms in the Candidias family. These other forms are actually known as non-albicans and they are much more serious types of fungi. There are approximately five different species in this category with Glabrata being the most serious form.
What makes Glabrata so serious is the fact that it is only one of a few fungi that do not have hyphae, which are like the tenticles. Without hyphae, it is very difficult to culture, biopsy or see under a microscope. Due to the fact that it cannot be easily diagnosed, it is usually is not discovered in a person until they are very sick and by then it is a race against time to save the individual. The other problem with fungi without hyphae is that they are able to morph and adapt for survival. This means they have the ability to live in both alkaline and acidic environments. This is the part that makes them so deadly, because we only know how to kill fungus by changing the PH balance of the environment to basically make the living conditions unconducive to their life cycle. So, when you have a fungus like C. Glabrata that cannot be easily detected, diagnosed and then treated, you have what is known by the CDC as a deadly fungal infection.
The History of Glabrata
The fortunate thing about Glabrata is that it is a very rare form of fungus that is almost never seen in the general population. It was discovered during the 80’s when the AIDs population came to awareness. Prior to that, it had never been found in humans. Once the HIV population became infected, the fungi were impregnated in hospitals all over the country. Through the 90’s, the only people identified with this infection were the critically ill and immune compromised population, end stage HIV or end stage cancer patients in ICU units. With compromised immune systems these patients had no resistance to the fungus, and unfortunately, the mortality rate was 100%.
By the early 2000’s a new population of people were beginning to show up with C. Glabrata, only now it had moved beyond the immune comprised HIV and end-stage cancer patients. A study in 2010, found that 73% of C. Glabrata cases occurred in patients previously given fluoroquinolones. This new, previously healthy group of people falling ill to Glabrata had all been treated with a broad spectrum fluoroquinolone antibiotic often in conjunction with a steroid. Steroid treatment alone is a risk factor for the C. Glabrata infection. According to my current physicians, when fluoroquinolones are combined with steroids, the risk for contracting C. Glabrata increases significantly.
Research shows that the fluoroquinolones wipe out all gut flora (good and bad). When combined with immunosuppressive steroids, the patient’s ability to fight bad bacteria and fungus is compromised. When all the gut flora are killed, the first flora to grow back are those that are the strongest and most resilient. Much like weeds in your garden, fungus and bad bacteria grow at a faster rate and are stronger mutants than the good bacteria. If the patient was also prescribed steroids, their own immune system can no longer come in to fight off the bad gut flora. This leaves the gut vulnerable to serious infections especially fungal ones like Glabrata. Fluoroquinolones are one of the most potent gut flora destroyers on the market. There is no other class of antibiotics that so totally annihilate gut flora to the level that the fluoroquinolones do. Combining fluoroquinolones with steroids is a recipe for disaster.
In sum, there are only four ways to develop a C. Glabrata infection, end stage HIV, end stage cancer, patients with neutropenia – a genetic or chemo-induced condition that limits white blood cells needed to protect the body from fungal invasion – or by using a broad spectrum antibiotic, like the fluoroquinolones combined with a steroid.
Diagnosing Glabrata – Why So Many Victims of Glabrata Die
Glabrata is very difficult to diagnose, leaving the infection to take hold before it is recognized. The Glabrata fungus does not have hyphae and does not present like all other forms of candidias. This fungus does not produce a white cheesy like curd discharge from the gut / stool, vagina or penis. Instead, it produces a milky white to grayish thin discharge, often seen with bacterial infections. It also produces minor to severe swelling of the tissues and erythema (redness). The infection causes horrific burning (often described as grinding glass into the tissues and then pouring acid on them) with very little itching.
In the early stages, before a doctor thinks to look for C. Glabrata, the infection is frequently misdiagnosed as a bacterial infection. The patient is put on antibiotics; often the same antibiotics that created the susceptibility to the infection to begin with. When these fail again and again, the doctors are often at a loss as to what is going on, especially if the person was a young, healthy individual prior to being given antibiotics with steroids. Since most physicians have been trained to only look for Glabrata with HIV or seriously ill cancer patients, they never think to look for it. It usually takes until the person becomes critically ill with the infection before they realize that it is a fungal infection, at which point the doctor will order specific tests looking for a non albican fungus. In more than half of all cases of Glabrata it is not realized until autopsy. These are not like other fungal tests because they have to be grown in special agar (petry dishes) and then stained with special stains and then looked at under high powered microscopes. The final drawback is that this fungus needs 6 to 8 weeks to grow out, which costs precious time that most patients do not have.
Treating Glabrata
Once Glabrata is diagnosed the next hurdle is how to treat. Currently, there are only a few drugs that have any potential to kill it: Diflucan (fluconazole), Caspofungen and Amphotericin B. Each is problematic. Diflucan has to be used at ten times the normal level for months on end, to kill C. Glabrata. Most people are unable to tolerate this course of treatment and in 99% of cases it fails and in many cases, the fluconazole induces resistance to it and other azole fungicides. Caspofungen or microfungen, are additional options. They can cause serious liver and kidney problems, leading to failure of one or both organs. These drugs work in about 70% of all cases, but again must be used for months on end and many patients are unable to tolerate the treatment.
The last drug known to kill C. Glabrata is Amphotericin B. This drug is only used when the person is on their death bed because it is so toxic that it causes acidosis within minutes of being administered. Over 90% of patients go into multi-organ failure and die within three hours of infusion (discussions with my doctors). This drug too must be used for months on end to kill it. Amphotericin B has a 90% success rate if the patient can survive the drug itself.
In very serious and resistant cases, Flucytosine is combined with the Amphotericin B. Flucytosine is thought to open the cell walls and lets the Amphotericin B in to kill. Flucytosine is an old chemo drug that is quite potent drug. When combined Amphotericin B, the results can be deadly. These are the only drugs known to treat this fungus.
Glabrata Becomes Resistant
As if Glabrata isn’t difficult enough to diagnose and treat, the fungus is very adaptive. If the patient survives the drugs, the fungus can, and often does, become resistant to the drug that it is being treated with, leaving the person with no options to kill it. This means that you get ONE shot with a medicine because it will become resistant the second time around. Glabrata has to be killed totally. If not and it returns, there is no treatment.
But as a fungus, Glabrata does not die on contact with the medicine. Let me explain this in an easier way. Look at it like this a bacteria is like a spider or bug, when you spray it with Raid it stops dead in its tracks and dies right there where you sprayed it. With fungus it is like a weed in your yard, when you spray it with weed killer the first day it begins to droop the next day it turns brown and by the third day it falls to the ground. If you then then pull the weed up and if you did not get the roots too within a week you will have a new weed back again. Fungi work in the same way, which is why it must be treated for months on end. Fungal infections are notoriously hard to treat and some of the most deadly infections to have. This is why Glabrata is fatal in 90% of all cases.
I Have a Glabrata Infection
I have a Glabrata infection and am fighting for my life. How did I contract this deadly fungal infection? I was prescribed Cipro plus a steroid for a misdiagnosed and assumed GI infection. I had a stomach bug, likely the flu, but since I have a diagnosis of IBS and the doctor was unable to see me for four days, she suspected I had a small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). I was prescribed an antibiotic, Cipro, plus steroids. That is, I was prescribed these meds on the assumption that I had a bacterial infection. I did not.
Three days after starting Cipro, I fell ill to Cipro toxicity. My gut flora were wiped out, I just didn’t know it yet and neither did my doctors. A week later, I found out that I never had an infection and didn’t need Cipro to begin with, but it was already too late for me. In the coming months, the GI bleeds began and other GI issues that would be misdiagnosed as Crohn’s Disease and bacterial infections ensued. It was not until last month that my doctors determined that all my problems were due to a deep seeded or disseminated infection with Glabrata.
We tried the Diflucan, which failed miserably. My WBC count and neutraphil count rose and I was now in serious trouble. We put a central line in and started the microfungen. After the first seven days, my counts dropped drastically, but by day nine, I began to step backwards. The fungus was morphing to survive and was becoming resistant to the drug. We are now looking at Amphotericin B. We will give it two more weeks and then make that call but it is not looking good right now. My symptoms have begun to ramp up again. I know the odds are against me with less than a 10% cure rate, I am fighting an uphill battle but I need to win this one for my life!
Why I Am Telling My Story
Patients must understand the dangers of this class of drugs especially when combined with steroids, because many doctors do not! Fluoroquinolones are the most commonly prescribed antibiotic in the US and combining them with steroids seems to happen frequently.
Also know that 78% of the time Glabrata starts in the gut. Other times it starts in PIC and central lines. In either case, one initiated, it infiltrates the prostrate for men and the vagina for women. It has been known to seed itself any organ throughout the body. If you are suffering with an infection in any of these areas that does not respond to antibiotics and you are also suffering with GI issues, you need to ask your doctor about checking you for a fungal infection, especially if you have used a fluoroquinolone antibiotic with a steroid prior to the onset.
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Featured image: GMS stained skin punch biopsy demonstrating fungal spores of C. glabrata, eScholarship, University of California.
This story was published originally in December 2013.
Hi Debra,
I’m writing to you from Australia on behalf of my wife, Brooke, who has been struggling quite severely with a vaginal glabrata infection for the past two years.
Brooke has tried multiple interventions, including following strict diet changes and using standard last line of defence available in Australia, boric acid. The severity of the burning fluctuates in intensity and seems to respond to interventions initially but reverts back to severe levels of pain. She remains on a strict diet.
The other issue we likely have is that I myself may also have the glabrata infection but experience incredibly mild symptoms. I had a urine test with the doctor and it came back negative for glabrata but I understand this is not the correct method for testing. We are concerned that I may reinfect her if Brooke can ever find a solution to cure her infection. Do you know the correct testing method for males?
I have read some articles, including within this thread, on the effectiveness of amphotericin B/ Flucytosine gel, but I don’t think we can get this compounded in Australia. I will print off the three journal articles you have attached previously and present them to Brooke’s doctor.
We are desperate as Brooke’s condition has baffled her doctors, leaving us with few options. Brooke has always struggled with health problems generally, initially with her heart (two cardiac arrests when she was younger) and has had issues with thrush and UTIs where we feel she was overprescribed with antibiotics.
I’m not sure if you know anyone who could help in Australia. We would definitely consider making a trip to the USA if we felt something could help the situation.
We would both be incredibly grateful for any advice or contact details you may be able to provide in Australia or the USA.
Kindest regards,
Thomas and Brooke Cooper.
Has anyone been able to get the amphotericin B/Flycytosine gel capsules compounded in Australia?
Failing that, has anyone got a doctors contact in LA that could help? We would be willing to make a trip, especially if needed. LA is cheaper and more accessable. Failing that we would travel anywhere, that would help as we are desperate. I would be grateful to receive an email (thomasgcooper@hotmail.com) with any information.
I am so sorry you guys are going through this. I have only been struggling with this for three months but it’s been terrible. I did the amphotericen b and flucytosine gel here in the U.S. and it unfortunately did not work for me. It helped with the pain but it came right back. I made an appointment with an infectious disease Dr. Jack Sobel that Debra recommends in the comments. My appointment is in a month. I hope he can help. I can keep you guys posted on what he recommends and see if it helps for me. What is your email?
Hi Emily,
Thanks for your reply! our email is thomasgcooper@hotmail or brooke.cooper@live.com.au. We were able to get amphotericin B/Flycytosine. It seemed to work but Brooke is no burning again. She has a general doctors appointment tomorrow to hopefully find out what the cause of the burning is. We used a latex free condom since treatment that seemed to cause burning after.
Hello. I am wondering if you can share how you made an appointment with that doctor? If you can email me more info pcalderonv15@gmail.com
I have been fighting C. glabrata for a year and I would just like to know if there is anyone who got an amphotericin B / flucytosine gel prescription in Europe. Here, the treatment is even less known than in the US because I don’t think we can actually even get those in a gel form. Ampho B and flucytosine are available on in an IV form at hospitals for very immuno-compromised patients. What might be my hope to treat this infection in Slovakia, Austria, or the Czech republic? Would any OBGYN or doctor even be willing to discuss these options with me here?
I would be very grateful if anyone with any experience of glabrata treatment in Europe got in touch with me. Thank you 🙁
Hi, I’m currently dealing with this infection and I’m really scared. Could you please email me on farah_09602@hotmail.com
Or if anyone can provide me with Debra’s contact details please contact me.
Did you get Debra’s info?
hi, my wife is currently dealing with this infection as well can anyone give me Debra’s info please ,thank you
Hi! Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful information with people battling Glabrata; this provides us hope and encouragement/support during this struggling time so we appreciate you!
They are writing the compound for me finally (so grateful) just want to make sure I have everything correct : Amphotericin 100g + flucytosine 1g in Aquagel, take 8 grams nightly for 14 days, dispense 112 grams. This is my first attempt to rid the glabrata the right way. Do I use the flucytosine the first time around or only add into compound if I have a strain resistant to the Amphotericin?
A couple questions…here is mentioned Aquagel but I was reading some of your replies and saw “surgilube”….are either options fine in the gel? Didn’t know if one is better than the other.
I’ve been researching this a bit and saw that in recent years, they have started using an ingredient known as Caspofungin instead/in place of Amphotericin B, Studies showing that it is just as effective but is a safer alternative? I just wanted to check with you to see if you have read any of those studies and if you think that I should definitely ask for the Amphotericin B in the compound or if Caspofungin is what I should use in place of?
Also, you have mentioned to several people in previous comments that you could email them the studies to take to doctors and also a few known doctors in the US that support /study /know glabrata. as I’m starting this journey I’m Learning that a lot of doctors in my area (Asheville, NC) are not educated with glabrata. Can you please send me info on these doctors so if I need to reach out to them, I can? thata the overwhelming part to…I have these questions /concerns that I try to discuss with them and they just don’t know much about it at all to help. Trying to find a doctor that does is extremely overwhelming.
Thank you so much for guiding us. And your time. -Courtney
Hello Courtney
What did you decide to use? I would love more information on the caspofungin topical if you have it and how your physician wrote the compound script and what pharmacy you had it filled.
Thank you
Hello, I am a cancer patient, who has undergone 21 courses of chemo with a whole host of the usual complications. Candida albicans came and went (IV fluconazole), but at some point I got Candida glabrata and IV fluconazole proved ineffective. My docs tried itraconazole, which didn’t do the job either, and the doctors just threw up their hands. I did some research on my own and tried a very simple treatment – wild oregano oil capsules taken orally. The label on the bottle said to take one capsule a day, so I thought “what the hell, I might as well take four” (this dosage might be a bit harsh on the stomach, but that’s how much I took). Guess what. My glabrata infection was gone within 4 days. My mouth and throat healed and looked normal again. Also, I was not even aware that glabrata had infected my sinuses. How did I realize that? On the third day of treatment I took a deep breath and it felt like a tornado hit the inside of my head. It felt like previously I had been breathing through a straw. Now the blockage in my sinuses was gone. Wild oregano oil contains thymol and carvacrol – that’s what did the job. I would recommend wild oregano oil to anyone struggling with a glabrata infection.
Hi, can you please share the brand of the capsules you used. Congratulations on beating this infection. Wishing you a happy and healthy life.
Hi, I’m on year 5 of a Glabrata infection. Mine is in my esophagus and mouth. I have tried fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole with no luck. I go next week to get a PICC line and will be starting Micafungin IV for 9 weeks. I see an infectious disease specialist for my glabrata infection. I feel like I’m running out of options. Anyone with similar experience?
A company from Germany has natural treatment for a disbalanced mycoµbiome Sanum -kehlbeck.com
They have also a formula in the case of aspergillus Niger (under suspicion to affect Thiamin-metabolism negative)
For the Diagnosis, capillary blood is investigated under darkfield-microscope (blood clotting can also be seen)
Thanks for sharing your story! I think other broad spectrum antibiotics can do this too (as is my case).
Can I ask what you know/think about a 2-week IV course of micafungin for vaginal (and possible intestinal) candida glabrata?
Also, are you aware of the best way to clear the organism from clothing to avoid reinfection? From partners?
Are you familiar with the new one-day course drug called Brexafemme (ibrexafungerp)? It’s the first antifungal released in 20 years, I believe – FDA approved and released June 2021.
Thank you so much!
Karen, has anyone replied to you regarding this? Did this treatment work for you?
Hi Naomi, I just saw your response. No, sadly. No one responded to me.
I decided against the IV for now, but I did try the Brexafemme. It unfortunately didn’t work. I just tried nystatin, which also didn’t work. My next step is the flucytosine/amphotericin combination. Hope it works!
Is there any information on just getting the flucytosine cream compounded and it working? I read an article about women using 5g cream of flucytosine intravaginally for 14 days with a 90% success rate. Wondering if I should get my OBGYN to prescribe this instead of the amphorectin B/ flucytosine mixture
I recently had a stool test done through my homeopath and it came back with C. Glabrata. I have been taking Oregano and Saccharomyces Boulardii for years, but apparently it’s not working. My diet is also pretty clean, I stopped eating gluten + dairy 4 years ago, never drink alcohol. I’m terrified and don’t know what to do. My doctor can’t/won’t help. Should I go on Nystatin and/or probiotics?
I have suffered from this for two years. Azoles do not work, as I have been on all of them, including the last eat Brexafeme. Only thing that has helped me is probiotics. Jarrow vaginal and fem-dolpholis , Renewlife women’s care vaginal and Gardenlife Raw probiotics colon care. I would take all twice a day.
But that costs 200.00 a month. And I have seen numerous doctors, none of them know anything about this disease.
Just last week I saw a disease specialist who seems to k ow all about this type of infection. He has placed me on Micafungin via IV. I am praying this works. Doctor tells me they have had good results with it so we shall see.
Hello. I really need help. I have a vaginal infection- Candida Glabrata. Treatment does not help me. I have been sick for 2 years. I don’t have children.(( I’m from Russia. I really need flucytosine vaginal cream, because I want to be healthy and mother in future. What should I do to buy it from USA?
Regards, Tatiana.
my mailing address: tanya582@mail.ru
Hello Debra, I was diagnosed with C. Glabrata 16 days ago following a hysterectomy 6 weeks before that. I e always had yeast infections but never with this strain. I just finished boric acid 2 weeks ago and now I’m having horrible burning around my vagina, cramps (even though I have no uterus), sharp pelvic pain on the right side that shoots down into my thighs, and I feel like I have a bad bladder infection even though my doctor said I didn’t have one 2 weeks ago. I took cipro with steroids in February of 2019 that an urgent care doctor prescribed me for a sinus infection. On top of all this I am also having muscle, joint, and tendon pain much like I did after I took cipro. I’m not sure if all these symptoms are the Glabrata or maybe I also have the mycoplasma infection on top of it. My gyno doesn’t believe all these symptoms could be because of the Glabrata or mycoplasma which she said she would test me for at my next appointment in two weeks to test for Glabrata again. Any ideas what may be going on with me or any advice on what to say to her at my next appointment? I’m so glad I found this website and was able to get the prescription for the suppositories I’m hoping my doctor will prescribe and I can find a compound pharmacy that will make it. You are amazing for helping so many people. I hope to hear back from you soon.
Hi Jennifer, I did email you a response, so you may want to check your email and spam folder. I hope this helps you.
I’m don’t see one from you and even checked my spam folder. Can you please resend it? I’m so sorry if I missed it.
I did resend you the letter, I hope you get it this time. Please let me know if you have gotten it. Thanks
hey Debra how do I get in contact threw mail with you I have just found out I have this infection n I’m real lost in would I need to do>
Can you please contact me because I’m also terrified.
I’m scared too
Hi, I am preparing to go on the gel, and wondering if you could tell me if this is the correct formula—this is what my doctor sent to the compounding pharmacy:
Amphotericin 100 mg + flucytosine 1 g in Aquagel, take 8 grams nightly x 14 nights, dispense 112 grams
The other option she gave me was Voriconazole — is one better than the other?
Also, is it okay to be on the gel treatment while menstruating? If I start next week there may be a day or two of overlap towards the end of treatment.
Hi Danielle, the Amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel formula listed is correct. As far as the difference between Voriconazole and The gel is that Voriconazole is an oral pill that is from the “Azole” family, which is the family as Teraconazole, Fluconazole (Diflucan), and Clortrimazole, with Voriconazole being the stronger of the ones I have listed, which also makes it much more toxic to the liver and The central nervous system. She to this most doctors don’t like to prescribe and those that do usually will not prescribe it at the correct dose of for the length of time it would need to try and work against Glabrata. ( You would need to take 500 mg. A day for no less than six weeks) this level and duration of this drug is quite intolerant for most people. This is because at this dose and duration the “normal” side effects of Voriconazole would be extreme and have known to cause permanent injury to the CNS system and liver. So, some of the common symptoms of this drug are severe headaches, blurred vision, balance and gait problems, cognitive deficits, memory issues and peripheral neuropathy through limbs. If any of these symptoms start you would need to be taken of the drug immediately. now even stopping the drug does not mean that symptoms will subside, because they can also become permanent injuries. For this reason, most doctors refrain from prescribing this drug unless it’s a last alternative. They also will not prescribe it at a high enough dose of for the duration needed to kill Glabrata,. It is also important to know that if you take this drug you will need a blood test to check your liver functions before starting ( it is used a baseline) and then you would need liver labs done every 10 days while on it and again ten days after stopping it. This is so your doctor to see if your liver is handling it.
Now on top of the toxic risks associated with Voriconazole and doctors not feeling comfortable to prescribe as necessary to treat Glabrata, it also fails quite often, especially if you have used any of the other “Azole” drugs. This is because Glabrata adapts its DNA against meds that are used to treat it, so if you have used an “Azole” already then your strain has more then likely adapted to azoles making any of them useless. If you have not used any azoles with this infection then Voriconazole has a 75% cute rate, however it still can fail 25% of the time if you picked up a strain that has already adapted to azoles ( even if you yourself have not used them in trying to treat this infection) and they can fail if your doctor does not prescribe the correct dose for the proper duration. It will also fail if you yourself are unable to tolerate the drug at that dose and for no less than 6 weeks.
So, the difference with the gel is that the gel has a 95% cute rate when made correctly and used correctly. The gel has been proven in studies to be safer then any azole drug prescription or over the counter. The reason for this is because the ingredients used to make it have too large of molecules to be absorbed through the mucosal tissues, meaning that this drug does not get absorbed systemically, so it cannot cause systemic ( body wide) side effects. The only known side effects of the gel are vaginal burning and or irritation and most women will not even experience this unless their vaginal tissues are broke down or severely inflamed from the Glabrata infection.
So, I can’t tell you which you should attempt, because that’s your decision. All I can do is give you all the information to help you discuss which is the best option for you with your doctor.
As far as using the gel when your on your period of just after ending it, it should NOT be started until you are at least five days past your last day, including any spotting. If you do not wait, your period will coat the vaginal walls preventing the gel from hitting all areas and it will be diluted down and washed out before it is able to do its job. You don’t want to take any chances in this drug not reaching and working at 100% because you could end up giving this beast the opportunity to adapt to the gel, leaving you with no options left. So, please make sure to wait that five days before starting.
Well I hope this answers your questions and I wish you the best at beating this nightmare.
Hi i have c glabrata it burns really bad it has put a hold my life my whole body burns as well in my country we dont have nystatin perries could you please help me
Hello,
I have some questions. Could you please email me at vhamilton1129@gmail.com ? Thank you.
Hey Danielle, who is the doctor that you are working with & in what state are they in? Also, good luck with your treatment !
Hey Danielle- Who was your doctor and what state are they in? My email address is abartle1@outlook.com I am looking for a doctor that has already prescribed the gel- Hope the treatment is going well
Hi Allison – I am in New York. My doctor had never prescribed this before, I asked for it after reading about it here, gave her the formula, and she prescribed it. My advice would be to ask your doctor if they are comfortable prescribing it, if they are (I believe most are), then make sure they have the correct formula. You may even want to talk to the compounding pharmacy before they make it to make sure they have the correct formula. Good luck!
Did this work for you? Is it gone?
Hi Debra,
I have had a C Glabrata vaginal infection for 8 months now, after being in the ICU from complications after a surgery. I also was prescribed Cipro and took that for two weeks, before being diagnosed with C Glabrata.
I am now having symptoms of it spreading to the throat/esophagus; difficulty swallowing, burning in throat and chest, which is similar to the vaginal burning. I am having an EGD done this week to try and confirm this. I know this is very difficult to diagnose, as it took my OB four months to diagnose. I am still testing positive for the vaginal C Glabrata.
Is there a specific culture or biopsy the GI doc can do during the EGD to accurately confirm or diagnosis if the C Glabrata is in the throat or esophagus? I am also having chills and a low grade temperature.
Thank you so much for your help and insight!! Are you able to email me?
Hi Carissa, I’m sorry you have been going through so much. Unfortunately my computer went down so I can’t sit here and type out a full response to all your questions, but I will email you with my phone number and then we can speak by phone. So, please check for my email. Thanks
Hi Debra,
I have had a C Glabrata vaginal infection for 8 months now after being in the ICU from complications after a surgery. I also was prescribed Cipro and on that for two weeks before being diagnosed with the C Glabrata.
I am having symptoms of it spreading to the throat/esophagus-hard to swallow, burning in throat and chest, very similar to the vaginal burning. I am having an EGD done this week to confirm this. I know this is very hard to diagnosis, as it took my OB four months to diagnosis. I am still testing positive for the vaginal C Glabrata.
Is there a specific culture or biopsy the GI doc can do during the EGD to accurately confirm if the C Glabrata is in the throat or esophagus? I am also having chills and a low grade temperature.
I know I am defiantly immunocompromised and am very worried about it continuing to spread. My WBC is also elevated.
Thank you for all of your insight and help!!
Hi Debra,
I have been suffering from a C Glabrata vaginal infection for 8 months now after having complications from a surgery. I have it vaginally and now I feel as if it has spread to my esophagus and throat. I have burning there and in my chest. I am having an EGD done this week to see if they can confirm this. What type of culture should I ask for? I know this type doesn’t grow hyphae so it is difficult to culture. Can they do a more specific biopsy to see if it spread to my esophagus?
Did you have an EGD done when yours spread? I also was put on Cipro for something unrelated after I was diagnosed with the C Glabrata. I also have had chills and a low grade temperature for 8 months now. Can you please email me? I want to know what I need to request when I go for my appointment for the EGD. My appetite is completely gone and it hurts to swallow.
Thank you for your insightful post and your help!! If you’re able to email me I can post my email address. Thanks again!!
Please contact me. I need some more information. I am terrified.
Could you contact me? =(
Please contact me.
I am terrified.
Hi Debra, I currently have vaginal glabrata. I had gotten a UTI at the end of June and was treated with Nitrofurantoin Mono. A week after treatment ended I still felt “something,” and went back to the doctor but the UTI test was negative. (Note: I am 41, and this is my first yeast infection, so had not even considered it could be that, and my symptoms felt like UTI symptoms still.)
A week later (July 9) I decided to go to the OB/GYN since I was still feeling something. She did a UTI test (negative) and a swab (I tested positive for Gardnerella Vaginalis and Glabrata).
She treated me with Fluconazole on July 15 (1 pill, 150 MG). I was feeling a little better but still wasn’t feeling 100% right, and went back to see her on July 24. She did another swab, and while the Gardnerella Vaginalis was gone, the Glabrata was still positive. She started me on boric acid suppositories (600 mg, 14 days) on July 30 and I’m halfway through that treatment now.
FWIW, I never had discharge or itching, just the burning sensation and sometimes a feeling that I needed to urinate more often (though sometimes nothing would come out); the latter has gotten a bit better. I did have an awful fishy smell for a long time even before the UTI and that has now gone away. I am otherwise healthy with no other medical conditions, and the aforementioned test results all noted that I had normal microflora.
For a month I have also been taking probiotics daily, and have been on the Anti-Candida Diet. (I regret not starting probiotics when I was on the UTI antibiotic, I usually do when I take antibiotics but it’s been so long that I’ve had to take any that I forgot to.) I still feel better than I did in June/early July, and I’ve even had stretches of a few days where I feel normal, but I do still have a very mild burning sensation, which is my only symptom as of now (I am really hoping the glabrata doesn’t spread and cause more issues).
I have been reading through the comments here this week and have become very scared that this will become worse and that I’ll never be able to get rid of it and/or it will get worse. I already feel like I have lost some quality of life — with the mild burning sensation, I’m constantly worried about this infection to the point where it’s affecting my daily life, I’m unable to have sex (question: is kissing ok?), and since I’m following the anti-candida diet I’m unable to drink alcohol (question: would 1 drink a month be ok?), and unable to eat most foods (I’m a pescetarian so my options are very limited). All that’s left is me in a room worrying constantly about this, with no distractions.
I also have an appt with a urologist next week for an ultrasound, but I’m not sure that will help with this. I have also asked my OB/GYN if she would consider prescribing an amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel, and I’m waiting to hear back — my question is, if she is able to do this, should I start that right away, or stop the boric acid, wait 2 weeks to get tested for glabrata again, and then start it?
If she won’t prescribe it, do you think I’ll be able to find another doctor who will… can a GP prescribe it, or another type of doctor? Is it readily available through prescriptions or difficult to get?
Thank you,
– D
Hi Debra
I have been recently diagnosed with Candida glabarata after taking 3 rounds of antibiotics I didn’t need. In 2016 I had 2 hemroidetomies and the last one left me with an anal fissure. I had terrible swelling, itching and burning in my anus with some mucus discharge and the burning and itching extentended into my vaginal area. My colorectal surgeon thought I had an anal abscess with a possible fistula. But the pelvic MRI came back negative. And while we were waiting for the approval for the MRI I was put in antibiotics for 10 days and it looked like it cleared things up in my anal and vaginal area, but after 4 days all my symptoms came back and I was put in antibiotics again and given a single dose of fluconazole because when I peed my vaginal area was burning. Then I got an external abscess in my anus and my surgeon was able to get a culture. While we were waiting for the results I was put back on antibiotics again. The culture came back negative. But I’m sure she didn’t test for a fungal infection so that why it was negative. I had this test done before I was diagnosed with Candida glabarata. I have not had the fissure repaired yet and the surgeon wants to try Botox injections. But it sounds like this shouldn’t be tried because of this candida glabarata diagnosis. My anus swells up horribly and my gynocolgiest has perscirbed nysatin cream to use on my vulva and anus. Could you please send me the prescription for the compounded gel that cures Candida glabarata? Also does this prescription have any side effects and where can I find a list of them? Also can I use this gel in my anus if I have a fissure? Would this be toxic or dangerous for me to use because the fissure is like an open wound? Or should I just skip the Botox injections altogether and have surgery to fix the fissure before trying to cure my infection? Or would surgery spread the infection and make things worse? My gynocolgiest took 3 skin biopsies 2 in the vulva area and 1 in the anal area. That’s how I got the positive test for candida glabarata. I’m using the nysatin cream on the outside vulva area and the outside of the anal area right now. And after the biopsies are healed she wants me to use the boric acid in my vagina for 14 days. Should I have her do the mic test first and then use the prescription for the gel or just get the gel compounded and use it? I am at a loss at what to do, I think I might have it in other areas of my body, my eyes are burning and my eyelids swell up. In February of this year I had what my doctor said was a sinus infection, after 2 rounds of antibiotics I got some what better but then started getting dizzness, terrible shooting pains in my head, terrible earaches, burning ears & scalp and now burning eyes and eye pain and unexplained small red legions on different parts of my body, face and scalp. About 2 moths ago I had terrible acid reflux and was was treated for 3 weeks with Prilosec
but I kept telling my doctor that it wasn’t working I couldn’t even eat the pain was so bad, I have lost a significant amount of weight I went from108pounds in May of this year down to 92 pounds as of today. I am able to eat now but must force myself to do so and I get full very quickly so my meals are very small. After I eat I now get nauseated. I think I might have this infection in my throat and esophagus too
I have some white patches in my mouth which every doctor that looks in my mouth says it’s normal. I have white and yellowish patches in the back of my throat also but again I’m always told it looks fine and normal. But I have this kinda yellow coating all over the roof of my mouth that I never had before too, It’s always been pink. After a dozen or so trips to the Emergency room for this and now countless doctors appointments, which I have yet to see an EAR, NOSE, & THROAT doctor (September 4th is my appointment), My doctor has requested for an appointment with a gastroenterologist and a dermatologist, so I waiting for those appointments to be scheduled. Can you get this infection in your sinuses & ears? I saw an infectious disease doctor and she had me do hibiclens for my red esions on my body, which broke out my skin on my legs and buttocks terribly almost blister like, so painful. I now have leg pain that make it feel like my leg is getting the blood supply cut off and it tingles clear down to my toes. And my 2 big toes are kinda yellowish and have deep ridges vertically going across them. And my fingers nails have horizontal lines. Both of my hands are red, and the skin is scaly, itchy and some times burns and I break out with little bumps on my wrists. My hands tingle sometimes up my arm and into my fingers and it’s sometimes hard to make a fist. Can the infection spread all over my body like that? I don’t want to be treated the wrong way and make things worse. Do I need to be treated differently for each body part? And I know this is a lot but can you advise what would be the proper treatment for each if these areas? Thank you
I have been sick with symptoms of this horrible infection for over a year now. My doctors are stumped. I was stumped. It took a year for me to come across a list of symptoms for whatever this was… And the symptoms were dead on. Worst part is, my 6 and 8 yo’s now have the same symptoms as me. We all have skin problems, joint problems, eye problems, mouth problems, and vulvar problems. And same mo with me… a long course of antibiotics I didn’t need followed by steroid injections. It all started with me, and now my babies are sick because Glabrata is contagious. Can you believe that crap? Go to a GYN to get tested on November 4. How much you wanna bet it’s Glabrata? I just hope he finds it….
Hi Nikki, I am so sorry that you are going through so much and that your kids are sick as well. However, I need to explain to you that Glabrata is not contagious like you think it is. First a Glabrata infection of the vaginal area will NEVER infect any other area of your body except the surrounding skin around the vagina and that is only if the vaginal discharge is left to sit on that skin. The only other way it would spread into other internal organs would be if you had some kind of opening between the vagina and rectum, which is known as a fistula and is usually only associated with inflammatory bowel diseases like crohns. Other than that Glabrata cannot spread to any other areas of your body. It will also NEVER spread to your children unless you gave birth to a child while in the midst of an active infection and they picked it up from the vaginal tract while passing through, however they would be become life threatening ill within days if this had happened. Other than that you CANNOT spread this infection even if you do not wash your hands after wiping yourself to your kids. Now you can spread it to a spouse through unprotected sex if you are dealing with an active infection, but even that is rare and that is because the male body is designed differently than a women’s so it is constantly washing the urethra of the penis out with acidic urine which usually if not always prevents the infection from setting up a home there. Glabrata is really no different than any other vaginal infection that you would get, just like BV or even a normal candidiasis albican infection. As you know you would not spread either of those infections to your kids even if you did not wash your hands after going to the bathroom, nor would you spread it to your husband even if you had unprotected sex. The only difference between Glabrata and the other infections is that is extremely hard to treat with very little drugs available to treat it. It is NOT deadly if it is in the vagina, nor are you contagious to anyone, however, it will cause significant pain, with burning, itching, redness, soreness, discharge, and skin ulcerations if it is not dealt with as quickly as possible.
Let me also say that Glabrata does NOT cause joint pain, eye problems, mouth problems or even skin problems, unless you have a spot on your skin that got infected with it, but if that were the case you would know right away because the skin would ulcerate and break down pretty quickly in the same fashion that a child gets a diaper rash, Glabrata of the skin looks just like a diaper rash with bloody ulcerations. Glabrata is a very dangerous fungi infection if it were to get into the any internal organs like the kidneys, colon, lungs, brain, ect.. The symptoms would be devastating and send you to an ER for dire help within less than ten days of contracting it and I can tell you that NO healthy individual will contract this infection in any internal organ within there body,(other than a vaginal infection) even after taking broad spectrum antibiotics like fluoroquinolones combined with steroids. The only people who would contract a life threatening infection after taking antibiotics and steroids would be people who are very ill to begin with, people who have HIV, are on chemo for end stage cancer or diabetics who’s sugars are off the chart and they are very ill. These are the only ones who get life threatening infections, everyone just gets a vaginal infection which is NOT life threatening and cannot spread and is actually considered a topical infection. Some will get a skin rash like a diaper rash from it, but this is very rare and some will get a mouth infection with it, but again these are people who are usually very ill to begin with.
Now once Glabrata is in an internal organ it can very quickly take over the organ and destroy it within about 10 to 30 days and it can spread from there to the blood which it is then known as a septic infection and if that were to happen you would fall extremely life threatening ill within hours and you would ultimately die within about 36 hours of it entering the blood stream even with meds being given to you. Once again a blood stream infection would be the rarest of the rare, even HIV people on their death bed have less than a 1% chance of developing a blood stream infection with this fungi, so this is not something that you would get and live through.
So, with a vaginal Glabrata infection the only symptoms you will have are going to be burning first and foremost and the burning will be extreme!!!! Then there will be some mild itching and discharge that smells like dying flesh. Your vaginal area will be red, inflamed and slightly swollen and if you have had the infection for a few weeks your vaginal tissues may also begin to ulcerate and bleed. Other than this you will have no other body wide symptoms.
So, here is my thought to you, first I guarantee your children do not have Glabrata and that should be a huge relief for you because it can kill children in less than the 30 days it takes to kill an adult. It is also good because you do not want your children to have a vaginal infection with this fungi because the drugs to treat it are toxic and acoustic and your children would be in horrific pain between the infection itself and again with the treatment and that is providing you could find someone to treat them with these drugs. So, this is a really good thing! My second thought is on you and I do not believe that this is your problem either, you are talking about symptoms that do not go along with a Glabrata infection and Glabrata does not live in the gut like candidiasis albicans does, so it will not cause you body wide symptoms like candidiasis does, instead Glabrata in the gut will destroy your gut and kill within 30 to 45 days, it is not something that you can live very long with. So, I seriously do not believe that you are dealing with Glabrata, unless it is a just a vaginal infection and again that is not an internal infection, so it is not deadly, it is not contagious and it is very painful, which I am not hearing you really talk about here. So, this is a good thing too, because Glabrata is a very difficult and sometimes a drug resistant infection to treat and many women are having to learn to live with a life long very painful infection because their infection with drug resistant, which happens to often.
So, here is my final thought for you, I have been dealing with women from all over the world and educating professionals including compounding pharmacists and on how to recognize, test and treat a Glabrata infection. However, on top of this I have also had to deal with a couple of other infections that I have had to learn all about and educate doctors on, so that they could learn how to help me. The other two infections that I would suggest you look into because you very much sound like you and your family may be dealing with is Lyme disease and any number of its co-infections and mold toxicity syndrome. Now, by just the symptoms you are describing here that you and both your kids are dealing with really sends up the alarm bells for mold toxicity more so than Lyme disease. Mold toxicity is a silent but destructive disease that most people will slowly fall ill too as well as their family members and it can take months to even years before they figure out what is making them so sick. You can become very ill from mold toxicity by even the slightest amount of mildew or mold in your home, whether from a leaky faucet, prior flood, leaking roof or poor a poorly ventilated home where the home stays to damp. Mold toxicity will cause the aching joints, fatigue, headaches, mouth sores, sore throats, sinus pressure and or pain, hair falling out or thinning, pressure behind the eyes, red blood shot eyes, shortness of breath, dry cough, skin rashes of all kinds that can come and go without any treatment, itching skin patches anywhere on the body, vaginal discharge, vaginal itching, weight gain or loss, nausea, constipation or diarrhea that comes and goes along with stomach pain for no reason, you can have poor sleep, fatigue, memory issues, emotional out bursts, and the list goes on and on. Now you don’t have to have all of these, but as time goes on if you do not get treatment and fix the mold issue you can go on to develop more and more of these symptoms until they become disabling even for children. Let me also say children can develop learning disabilities as well as asthma as time goes on too. Every persons symptoms can vary from day to day and from week to week. So, I would please encourage you to look up mold toxicity and learn about this one because I really believe this is what is going on with you and your family. I would also say that this is very treatable but you have to know you have it and unfortunately there are no tests any doctor is going to give you to diagnosis this condition. it is a disease that is diagnosed by ruling out every other possibility and then finding a doctor that is educated in recognizing and treating mold toxicity. Your family is being exposed to something which is why you are feeling ill, and trust me when I say Glabrata cannot do this, is not contagious like you think and would kill both you and your kids if it were anything more than a vaginal infection in you, which again you could not spread to your kids. So. you need focus on an exposure that your whole family is being subjected to, which brings you to your home, either chemical or mold or it would be from each of you being bitten by ticks at some point and contracting Lyme disease, which also happens to families too.
So, by all means get your test down with your gyne for Glabrata but please know this is not what your kids have and it is also not what is causing all of your body wide symptoms. So, make sure to start looking at other possibilities like mold toxicity and Lyme disease. I hope this helps you going forward, good luck to you and your family!
Hello, I was considering seeing Jack Sobel if my current treatment (flucytosine/amp B) fails, but just a news article that he will be leaving the university he practices at. Will he still be able to see me/patients for this infection? Can you please provide any other names of doctors who can treat this, in case he departs from practicing medicine?
Debra can you please delete my last name or entire comment?
Hello. I have been having symptoms sine June 2018. I was also prescribed antibiotics for larengystis, then steroids and then more antibiotics for a uti. I have been given multiple treatments of Diflucan and symptoms only getting worse. I just finished a 10 day dose of 500,000 unit Nystatin oral tabs. I felt great gor the first 6 days but then the burning started to return. I feel worse then I did when I started. Primary care doc tested me for the strain and was positive Glabrata. She didn’t tell me I had this strain. I found out on my own while reviewing my medical bills. I saw an expensive test was done and checked for the results myself online. Primary care told me she didn’t know how to treat it and told me to go see my OBGYN. OBGYN’ s in house lab test shows negative for yeast but she is running a PCR test to determine the strain. She said I will probably have to go to a infectious disease doc. I’m pretty scared that I will have to try to live with this burning the rest of my life. Will I ever have sex again? I don’t think I could deal with that. Any advice or words of encouragement would be appreciated. Thanks for sharing your story.
Hi Marie, I am so sorry you are going through all this. So, a few things I want to mention here. First oral nystatin will NOT work for a vaginal infection nor will it work for any type of yeast infection that is outside of the gut. This is because oral nystatin does NOT get absorbed outside of the intestinal or colon walls, it also does not reach the esophagus or mouth. You see it is a pill that you swallow and it must be broke down in order for it to work, so because it is a pill in whole form, it by passes the mouth and throat. Once it is broke down it remains in the gut only, it has no ability to be absorbed through the GI walls to get into the blood stream where it would need to go to be dispersed to other places within the body. This why a doctor will treat you with different forms of nystatin, depending on the place the yeast infection is in your body. So, for example if it is in your mouth or throat the doctor will prescribe nystatin mouth rinse that you gargle with and swallow. If it is in your gut, they will prescribe the oral pills and if it is in your vagina they will prescribe nystatin gel or suppositories. So, by you taking the oral pills, it was of no use to you in the vagina.
Secondly, the Diflucan has no efficacy in treating non-candidias strains of fungi like Glabrata, so this was not going to help you either and in most cases it can actually make things worse. This is because the “azole” drugs like Diflucan kill off candidias strains like Albicans, but leave behind the stronger non-candidias strains like Glabrata. The problem with this is that candidias albicans is actually stronger then Glabrata, so it keeps the Glabrata under control within the vagina, however, when you wipe out the candidias albicans you then open the door for the stronger strains like Glabrata to then take over because they have no preditor to keep them under control, so this can make your infection worse.
Thirdly, going to an infectious disease doctor with a vaginal infection with Glabrata will get you know where. This is because ID doctors are NOT trained in treating vaginal infections PERIOD! So, they have no clue on how to treat this infection except to offer you more Diflucan. Unfortunately, women with non-candidias strains of fungi like Glabrata fall threw the cracks when trying to find a doctor who knows how to treat these infections. This is because Gyne’s are not taught about the rare strains of fungi at all and this is because prior to a decade ago these types of infections were never seen in healthy women. They were only seen in very ill people who basically were on their death beds, so for the most part they were already under ID care and were about to die, so it was not something that doctors really worried about treating and Gyne’s never needed to learn about them. As for ID docs they were never trained on how t treat vaginal infections in women because that was always a Gyne’s job and those that did show up positive with one of these strains already had very severe health problems and were gong to die shortly so, it was not something that was first on the list to worry about treating in these people. So, ID docs never learned about it.
Here we are now with healthy women showing up with these infections on a daily a basis and both doctors have no clue what they are doing, which is now leaving women with infections that neither doctor knows how to treat and in many cases are only making the infection worse with their failed attempts to treat it. That in turns leave a lot of women in complete agony and out there wandering around trying to find a doctor of any kind to treat them.
So, what you need to do is talk to your doctor about treating you with amphotericin B/ Flucytosine gel. This is gel is one of the only drugs known to really be effective at killing the infection, however, I will tell you as this strain of Glabrata gets stronger and infects more women it is quickly learning to adapt to even this gel, which is now starting to be seen quite regularly. So, I can no longer say that this is going to be your answer, but it is your best hope to start with. I have links on here that will take you to the medical studies that show this and give you the formula for making the gel. I would click on the links and download the studies and take them to your doctor to discuss this treatment. If all else fails including the gel then you would need to see Dr. Jack Sobel at Wayne State University in MI. He is the only known doctor who knows how to treat these types of infections.
I don’t want you to worry that you will never get rid of this infection or that the burning will never go away or that you will never have sex again, because women are finding ways to combat this infection, even ones who have failed the ampho B gel. For many it is taking a combination of boric acid / nystatin gel / and ampho B gel along with specialized diets and certain herbs and supplements to beat it. So, women are beating it but I won’t lie here it is going to be a journey and you may need to see several kinds of doctors before you finally kill it, but hang in there because it will happen.
I wish you the best of luck with this!
Debra,
I had a severe adult “diaper” rash in the late summer of 2018 which seemed to spread to my vaginal area, and I finally realized it was only getting better once I started putting anti-fungal cream on the skin. The diaper rash-only cream was not helping. Then I took Diflucan which further healed my symptoms. The rash was so bad that the entire layer of skin around the inner buttocks peeled off – I attribute it to a very hot office setting which aggravated my sensitive skin and trapped the sweat. I now use diaper rash cream, a thin layer, daily to prevent that from happening again.
Then, all seemed well, until I had my period later that month and used tampons. I used tampons instead of pads due to the pads increasing the risk of diaper rash. Upon removing the last tampon of my cycle, I noticed mild pain at first but then the pain faded and only a “sensation” remained in my pelvic area. I usually had not used tampons much in the past. Some of them came out rather dry and it was a bit painful. I thought it might just be a small tissue tear from the dry tampons.
My primary doctor did a culture which tested positive for yeast so she gave me a 2nd round of Diflucan. The “sensation” remained. I then went to an obgyn who tested for glabrata and it came back positive; she tested for everything else including mycobacteria which was negative. I completed a course of boric acid suppositories for 2 weeks (600 mg) and it helped to a degree but not completely. I completed a second round and there is still some “sensation”, like the nerve endings are “pulsing” almost. But I never had discharge or odor the whole time. I had a pelvic ultrasound also to rule out anything else that might be causing the odd sensations. The bladder also appeared normal and the urine sample was normal.
I am now going to a new obgyn this coming week due to continued uncomfortable “sensations” in the vaginal/pelvic area, and my current obgyn said to start yet a 3rd round of boric acid but I don’t know that it’s the most effective treatment and I’m wondering if she doesn’t know what else to do. But I figure if 2 rounds of boric acid did not cure it, a 3rd might not either. Does this sound like glabrata? Could the glabrata growth from the culture be positive without it being an overgrowth/infection? Or no?
Thank you so much for your thoughts.
I am so sorry Julie, I missed this post, I do not know if you are still dealing with this problem or not, but if you are I have a few suggestions. First, yes this does still sound like it could be Glabrata and more rounds of boric acid are not going to help. Unfortunately, most Gyne’s have no idea on how to treat non-candidias fungi strains like Glabrata, so they all go to using Diflucan at first and then boric acid, after that they are at a loss. This unfortunately, leaves many women walking around with painful infections that they have no idea on how to treat.
So, first I would say that you need to stop anymore boric acid treatments because this will get you know where, except to further irritate the area and boric acid is toxic to the whole body and should not be used more than twice. Secondly, I would tell you that you need to go back and get another culture done to know for sure if you still really have Glabrata. I say this because there have been some women who have gotten very lucky and have been able to conquer this infection with a round of boric acid and you may be one of them, since you are not having discharge. Now, let me also say that there are also women who suffer with atrophic vaginitis ( vagina that is very dry) and if you have this for some reason then you may not have enough discharge to actually see it in your underwear or feel it. So, for this reason you really need to have another culture again. Just make sure that the culture is done ten days after you have stopped using any kind of vaginal treatment, otherwise the test has a high failure rate in picking up the yeast.
Now should the culture come back positive then you would need to be treated with amphotericin B/ Flucytosine gel, which you can download the links on here and print out the studies as well as the formula to make it and bring that into your doctor, so that you can teach them how to treat this infection. Now I will tell you that you still may fail the gel, because I am seeing this happen quite a lot lately, but if that happens then you will need to see Dr. Jack Sobel out of Wayne State University in MI. He is the only doctor within the country who has any knowledge on how to treat this infection, especially when it fails the gel.
If however, the culture comes back negative and you have tested negative for all other types of infections then you are probably dealing with one of two things or even both. First you may have been left with Vulvodynia, which is not an infection, but instead an illnesses that effects the nerves in the pelvic region. This type of an injury can often happen after some kind of trauma to the lower back or vaginal area or after a serious or long standing infection like Glabrata or even some other kind of organism. Again most Gyne’s are not trained in how to diagnosis or treat this type of a problem, so they will often miss the diagnosis, leaving women to think they have some kind of infection that is just drug resistant or not showing up on tests. So, this once again is something you will need to talk to your Gyne about should all of your cultures and testing come back negative. Your Gyne should then refer you out to a pelvic pain clinic or to a specialist who has been trained in how to treat this kind of condition. There are all kinds of ways of treating it and no one way works for all women, so it is journey to find the right combination of modalities to treat your pain and turn off those nerves.
The second thing is to find out if you have atrophic vaginitis, which is also not an infection. This is usually seen in women who are post menopausal or menopausal, but women of any age can develop this. Now sometimes it happens from the use of birth control or from just a hormonal imbalance in your body and vagina. However it can also be caused by other meds you may be taking for other conditions or for some women there seems to be no reason behind it. The good news is that in most cases it can be easily treated with some form of hormone balancing or possibly changing a med that you may be taking for another reason. Some of the more typical meds that can cause this condition are the SSRI’s, Tricyclic drugs or other psych meds as well as blood pressure meds, so you if you are on any of these you may have to talk to your doctors about either changing the med or finding a way to combat what it is doing in the vagina. This problem can also occur if you suffer from certain chronic illnesses too like, thyroid problems, eczema, chrons disease, RA and others. Again you may have to talk to your doctors about finding ways to treat the vagina while dealing with these conditions. Let me also say that if you have atrophic vaginitis, this can lead to infections like Glabrata as well as other types of organisms and it can lead to conditions like Vulvodynia and painful sex. So, this is why I say if your cultures and tests are negative for infections then you may need to be worked up for both vulvodynia and atrophic vaginitis.
Well, I hope that things are better for you and you don’t even need this information, but if not then I hope that some of what I said here helps you going forward with finding out what is wrong and gives you some other things to check into. I wish you the best
Update – I went to infection disease and they did a culture but NOTHING grew. They said no infection was present. Then my obgyn did her test again which is the NuSwab test which DID show glabrata. So I am lost as to which test is correct and why the second one came back positive when the culture did not. Can I please have your email?
Hi Julie, it is not uncommon to see one test come back positive and another one come back negative. here is the reason why, you see the culture MUST be done right or it will give a false negative. So, to do it right, first your doctor MUST request the lab to run a “rare fungal culture” or specifically a “Glabrata” culture. This is very important because if they do not specify this then the lab just runs a “regular” fungal culture which absolutely will NOT pick up an non- candidiasis species like Glabrata. You see, when they are looking for a rare yeast or more specifically Glabrata the lab will first tell your doctor to use a specific swab that is pretreated with a special chemical (most labs require the red capped swab, but your doctor can call their lab specifically and ask them to make sure which one they are using), then when the lab gets that swab they rub the swab on medium in a petri dish that is very specific, it is not one used for any other yeasts. It contains special glucose molecules and other chemicals that allow the rare strains to actually feed on and grow. Then to make sure they grow, the petri dish must be placed in an incubator for at least five days and up to 14 days total. It gets heated to the temp of your internal body temp for that period of time. During that period the yeast will then very slowly grow out within the culture. Once it has grown out the lab MUST then add a very specific dye to the culture and then place it under a UV lighted microscope, it is ONLY then that they can see the Glabrata, which will be highlighted purple to pink in color. All of these steps MUST be taken in order to even detect Glabrata and that is because it is structurally different than all other candidiasis strains and that is because it has no hyphae, which literally makes it completely invisible to the eye even under a microscope, it is also what makes it grow very slowly (why it takes so long to get a culture result back) and this reason is also why it is elusive to doctors, lab people. Having no hyphae is also the reason why it is so difficult to treat and able to adapt to all PH environments as well as drugs. So, this is more than likely why the culture was negative, somehow all these steps were not followed, even if one of them was missing then it would not grow out.
One other reason a culture can come back negative is if you used any kind of treatment at all in the vagina within two to three weeks of the swab for the test. You see, when a doctor swabs you they are literally grabbing a miniscule amount of cells, that then have to be grown out in a petri dish, but if you have used any kind of treatment, even one that has failed, you more then likely will still have some of that med in your vagina. So, when your doctor does the swab should she catch even a miniscule amount of left over med along with the few Glabrata cells, that med will keep the very few cells she did get from growing out in a petri dish, therefore giving you a false negative. So, you MUST makes sure that you are clean from using anything in the vagina at least two weeks prior to the culture being taken. Most studies suggest three weeks but you can often catch an accurate culture if it has been at least two weeks.
Now the NuSwab test is different because it is it is looking for pieces of DNA left behind from the Glabrata cell. Now as nice and quick as this test is, it too can often miss the Glabrata and that is because your doctor may not have swabbed an area that contains Glabrata DNA, otherwise known as Glabrata cells, which happens quite often. This then gives you a false negative too. You see this test does not grow out any of the cells she swabbed out of you, so if the lab tech does not catch that “one” cell on the swab or your doctor has missed an area where it was living within your vagina then it has no chance of being caught with this test. However, if this test comes back positive then it is POSITIVE! that means they did catch Glabrata cell DNA within their test, it was not missed by your doctor swabbing or the lab running the test. So, if your test was positive then you have Glabrata and need to be treated for it.
Well, I hope this helps you to understand why this can happen and why it happens so often. I will send you my email as well, so look for it too.
Sincerely,
Debra-Jolie
Hello,
Yesterday I just found out I have the Glabrata fungus and the Mayo is testing different meds to see what will kill it. My mouth is killing me. It has sores like no other and burns. My doctor did a scope last week and a good amount of fungus was seen.
Any thoughts on food to eat or the process of all this? I dont want to die.
Hey Debra,
Can I please have your email?
My husband had left total hip surgery Sept, 2015 and soon after was diagnosed with an infection. After being treated initially for a bacterial infection with no improvement, he was referred to an ortho specialist. Fungal cultures were done and he was diagnosed with candida glabrata infection. Since then he has had a total of 8 hip surgeries to clear up the infection and will be having his 9th 2/8 because the infection has returned. He has been put on Eraxis after each surgery, but it keeps returning. The longest he went without surgery is a year. His infectious disease doctor and surgeon tell us now that he may never get rid of it and that when it returns that he will have to have surgery to clean the hip out and/or another total hip with no promise it won’t return. Just wondering if anyone else has had something similar or know of any specialists that are doing research on this disesase.
Hi Debra,
Thanks for sharing all this! I feel I have hope now after months’ struggling with glabrata!
I am still confused about the Ampho B / Flucytosine formula. I want to present it to my dr and make sure we have the right doze.
You mentioned in one of your replies that “It is 100mgs. of Amphotericin B powder added to 1 gram of Flucytosine (which equals 1000 mgs of Flucytosine) and then that is added to 112 grams of a water base gel. This then gets mixed very well and placed into 4 gram tubes (which is the largest tube they can use) and they should fill and give you a total of 28 tubes.” From this, it sounds like it is 100mg of Ampho B and 1g (1000mg) of Flucytosine for the whole 14 days of doze.
However, in the article you linked in https://sti.bmj.com/content/77/3/212.full, it mentioned “Flucytosine (1 g) and amphotericin B (100 mg) formulated in lubricating jelly base in a total 8 g delivered dose, was used per vagina once daily for 14 days”. From this, it sounds like it is 100mg of Ampho B and 1g of Flucytosine EACH day.
Would you clarify which one it should be? 100mg Ampho B and 1g of Flucytosine per day or per 14 days?
Thanks so much again and if you could either reply here or email me that would be great!!
Thanks,
Lesley
Debra, I am so thankful that you wrote this article!! No one knows anything about Glabrata..not my family practice doctor or my midwife!! I was diagnosed with glabrata November 1st..first line treatment was boric acid. Which hasn’t worked. Culture isn’t in yet, but I’m positive I still have it, because I still have symptoms. I have done a lot of research so far and I would like to try this combination that you suggest. I have seen reference to the Amphotericin B being used alone either as a gel or cream for suppositories. Would that be something worth trying before the combo that you suggest? Could you please send me your pharmacy information? What is the efficacy rate for the combined product? Thank you for your time..
Sincerely,
Jessica
Hi Debra,
Thank god I come across your article. I have been diagonosed with vaginal Glabrata infection and I want to try the ampho B / Flucytosine cream. I just have some questions for you to make sure that I did it right. Would you mind emailing me please?
Thanks a lot!
Hi Lesley, I sent you an email so that you can reach me.
Debra,
I believe I just sent my comment to the wrong person. Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with Galbrata on November 1st of this year. Spent the prior two months treating what I thought was a normal yeast infection with Diflucan and Terazol 3. Trying to get this treated correctly by a doctor is a joke!! They don’t know anything about it. May I email you to discuss?? I am at my wits end, I’m scared. What do you do when the doctors you turn to when sick have no idea how to treat you have?? Thank you for your help!!
Jessica
Hi Jessica, I am sending you an email so you can reach me.
HEY JESSICA I HAVE JUST BEEN TOLD I HAVE THIS INFECT THERE N IF ANYWAY WAY U CAN HELP ME ON ON HOW UR TREAMNET WENT AN IF U GOT HEAL FROM THIS INFECTION AN IF U HAVE DEBRA EMAIL TO HELP ME GET IN CONTACT WITH HER I NEED HELP
Hello, please email me as I have Glabrata and many questions.
Hi Kristen I am sending you an email so you can contact me.
Thank you. Please email me as I have glabrata and many questions
Thank you for this indepth information. Sadly, I have glabrata. May I please email you to discuss?
Debra Anderson. I have so many questions. Please email me.
Hi Kate, I have sent you an email so you can reach out to me.
Hi Debra!
Can you please please tell me which test to ask my Doctor for? Is it a stool test? I was already diagnosed with Candida 4 months ago……(not vaginal ) via a True Health Diagnostic Lad Test and my Functional Med Doc started me on Fluconozole and then Nystatin, which I promptly stopped. It made me feel horrible. My naturopath Chiropractor tested me yesterday via Nutritional Response Testing and I reacted NOT to the albicans vial but to the Glabrata vial!!!
I immediately sent an email to my Func Med Doc requesting a NON ALBICANS YEAST TEST and they are telling me that there is a “‘stool’ test (~$200-300 depending on insurance) which can help look at digestive function as well as culture/sensitivity. “.
I do not think this is the test that I am seeking! I literally can feel the candida in my chest when they flare up….this has been ongoing for 2 years. I thought I had a heart condition before all of this and spent $$$ having an Echo and Nuclear Stress Test, all fine! Yet I was having 700 extra palpitations per day. Long story.
Can you please share the specific test? THANK YOU!. Lisa
Hi Lisa I sent you an email so you can reach me.
Oh, and something I need to add.
I’ve been diagnosed before with Candida and was given Fluconazol to treat it. Yet, my symptoms have increased because I have the feeling that it dried out my vagina even more. After the second test there was no Candida found. They also test me for chlamydia and other STD‘s since I have severe burning while peeing. Even those came back negative. Since being diagnosed with EBV 9 months ago I constantly had an UTI. But after taking Cipro for my this whole different feeling and burning was there.
Hey it’s Mary again. I am not quite sure if my last post has shown here on the website but I’m having some problems getting properly tested. Could you email me? Thank you so much ?
Hey Debra, thank you so much for your detailed and quick reply! I was at my Gyn today and she told me that they couldn’t find any Candida. I specifically asked for an Glabrata but she refused to do one because there is “no sign of a fungi, whatsoever.”
I don’t know if I should be relived or not. Is it possible to see Glabrata when you do a “normal” fungi test? She told me that she thinks that there is an bacterial infection, because it doesn’t look like a yeast infection. There is no itching and no white discharge. I don’t know what to do. Should I go to the hospital and request another Glabrata Test on my own? I don’t want this burning any longer. I have it since 3 months now after I had an UTI. I got Cipro and I still have the feeling that my symptoms have not decreased after taking the antibiotics. Yet, they couldn’t find any bacteria left in my bladder. Moreover, I still suffer from Cipro toxity and I cannot think straight. I am really scared that my symptoms will get worse since she told me now to use lactic acid bacteria treatment for my vagina.
Do you have any idea or suggestions what to do next, since my Gyn is not really working with me here?
Thank you so much in advance! ?
Hello! I have been fighting Glabrata for over a year. My Infectious Disease doc has sent in this prescription to pharmacist. I am set to start in a few days. Would love to know if you agree before starting as speaking with the pharmacist was confusing and this is what he said. AmphB 2.1 grams-varies lot to lot, can be a little less. Said 3% but closer to 2.0. Flucytosine 17% or 11.9 grams total. Glycerine at 8ml for wetting agent. emollient cream( I asked for a gel base instead after reading your info) he said can put in versabase gel? Do you think that is necessary or can I stick with cream like doctor prescribed? 14 day supply 70 grams worth of doses. Comes in 2 containers that I put into 14 applicators. Thank you so much for your time and knowledge as I am very scared to not do this right the first time!
Hi Melissa, I am not sure where your doctor got the formula for making the gel, but if he wrote it this way and sent it to the pharmacist then he does not have the correct formula. However, the pharmacist could have read the correct formula wrong and in turn would have made it incorrectly and this would not be the first time I have come across this. Although I will say that it still baffles me that a pharmacist would make a gel like this, knowing the compounds he is using and the serious risk of tissue damage and not go back and question the doctor on the formula before making it incorrectly and risking injuring the patient. I am not sure how much you paid for this gel but the way he has it written would cost in the thousands because of the amount of Flucytosine he is using. The formula you are describing above if you are describing it right will not only NOT work but it has the potential to burn and ulcerate your vaginal tissues.
So, can I ask you, did you bring in the study that I list on here that has the formula on it and if so, is this what your doctor used to write the script? Because if he is just writing the script without the formula then you may need to bring in the correct formula, so that he gets it right. With that being said I would definitely NOT use this gel, the Flucytosine amount in it is 10 times to high and will peel off the inside of your vaginal tissues! On top of this there should NEVER be Glycerin in the formula. Glycerin will cause the gel to adhere to the vaginal walls, which you NEVER do because this is just a wash not a compound that you want to stick to the walls. This is because the drugs used in this are some of the most acidic drugs ever used in the human body (which is why they work so well against strains like this). So, you need to have the gel in a water base, this way when it warms to the body temp, it begins to run out of you. If it were to attach to the walls the acidic meds would burn right through your tissues, seriously it could burn actual holes right through the walls and the burn would be so extreme, you would need emergency services. This gel MUST be made correctly for it to work correctly and so that it will not injure you in the process. If made right it has no side effects, but it MUST be made right! On this same note let me also say that it is NOT to be put in a cream base like you said your doctor wanted it prescribed, again this would do the same tissue damages because creams are designed to cling to the walls and do NOT wash out. Creams also alter the acid content of the compounds changing the way they work and making them less effective in killing the infection. It MUST be put in a water base gel!!!! He is also putting the drugs which are way to high into the wrong base which would stick to your walls and burn the crap out of them and then on top of all this, he is making the mix wayyyyy to concentrated, which would make it even more acidic, which again would burn so bad that I could not even imagine the pain and damages that would follow the first treatment! If your pharmacist needs to talk to a pharmacist that knows how to make the gel, please let me know and I can give him the name and number of the pharmacist that I work with here that knows how to make it. I have worked with my pharmacist and he has agreed to work with any compound pharmacist who is trying to make this gel, so that they make it right and he has worked with several now over the past few years.
So, let me explain the formula to you so that you know how it should be made as well. It is 100mgs. of Amphotericin B powder added to 1 gram of Flucytosine (which equals 1000 mgs of Flycytosine) and then that is added to 112 grams of a water base gel. This then gets mixed very well and placed into 4 gram tubes (which is the largest tube they can use) and they should fill and give you a total of 28 tubes. You will then use 2 tubes a night which will equal 8 grams total of the gel a night for 14 nights. NOTHING ESE SHOULD BE ADDED TO THIS FORMULA!!!! when you get the formula it must be kept cold in the fridge until you are ready to use it, and then you just take 2 tubes out a night and insert them, leaving the rest in the fridge until you are ready to use them. When they come out of the fridge they will be in a gel like state, but once put into the vagina your body heat will warm it up and turn it into a water (hence the water base gel). It will then begin to run out of you, which it is suppose to do, because it is only made to be a wash and NOT to stick to the walls, because this is an acid which would burn the walls otherwise. So, after you insert it, you MUST stay laying prone for at least six to eight hours, so that you can keep as much of it in there as possible. so, that means no getting up and turning off lights, going to the bathroom, getting a drink or turning off the tv. This also means no sitting up to read or take a drink. So, make sure you are ready to lay flat for 6 to 8 hours once you insert it,. You will also want to put an old towel under you so that when it runs out the towel soaks up as much of it as possible. This gel is a deep yellow color due to the ampho B powder and it stains anything it touches, so use an old towel, old sheets and underwear, while in treatment. In the morning get up and take a shower and wash the area with Dove Hypoallergenic soap and dry the area thoroughly. Then get dressed and use a panty liner in your underwear. Now when you feel the panty liner become wet, go and change it as soon as possible because this discharge will not only carry the meds which are acidic but also the Glabrata and some cells that may still be alive. So, if you leave the wet panty liner against your skin it can cause irritation, sores and even spread the Glabrata to areas outside of the vagina. Now you will know if the gel is made right too, by looking at it, it should be a deep bright yellow color and you should NOT see white specs within it. It should just look like a deep yellow smooth gel in the tubes and you should be given a total of 28 tubes for 14 nights worth of use. Now one last thing, as I said NOTHING ELSE goes into this formula, so that means there is NO stabilizer used in the formula, and that is because it would alter the drugs and injure your tissues. So, because there is no stabilizers in it, it has a very short shelf life. This means that it must be kept cold during shipping or bringing it home and while at home it must be stored in the fridge until used. It also means that it is only good for approx. 14 to 18 days once it is made, so that means that you need to start the gel the night you get it, so that it is effective for the 14 nights that you have to use it. If it is being shipped to you, it MUST be shipped over night because it needs to be used as soon as possible because of its short shelf life. Also it needs to be placed in individual tubes not a large tube that you fill each applicators with each night. There are many reasons for this, first, you should never be using the same tube twice, because you risk re-infection and allowing the Glabrata to adapt to the drug. Secondly, you cannot fill an individual tube twice and then get back up to put the large tube back into the fridge without loosing too much of what you inserted. Thirdly, the large tube should not be left out or warmed at all while you are trying to fill an individual tube twice at night. Fourthly, this is a water based gel which is not easy to put into a large dispensing tube especially when there is no Glycerin, cream or stabilizer. Finally, the compound itself will not hold its equal consistency in a large tube that is being squeezed out each night. So, this gel MUST be given to you in 28 individual nightly tubes.
Well I truly hope you get this message before using the gel you have described above, and hopefully before you even pick it up because the gel you described above would cost far more then the correct formula. If you need your pharmacist to talk to another pharmacist on how to make this gel please let me know and I will give you the name and phone number of a compound pharmacist here who will work with him on how to make this gel. My compound pharmacist that I work with here is actually the president of the compound pharmacists association, so chances are your compound pharmacist may even know him. I will also send you an email so that you can reach me personally, so that you can ask any other questions on the gel or the making of it or to get the info for your pharmacist or even your doctor.
Well I wish you the best, and once you get the correct treatment I am sure you will conquer this infection and be on your way.
Please email. litafcan@gmail.com
Hey Debra-Jolie, Will you please email me? I’m getting discouraged. I’ve been on nystatin oral & suppositories for the past 6 months- but I’ve been dealing with glabrata for over a year. I gave it to my lover, who doesn’t understand any of this. Having sex with him even with a condom has caused it to come back. I hate that all this has happened and I just want this nightmare to be over. I’m going to talk to my ID doctor about prescribing the gel, but I’m worried it will be made wrong. I’d like to already find a doctor who has prescribed it with success or get the info to your compound pharmacy so they can talk to mine (Everwell in Pensacola). Then I dont know what to do with my lover. The doctor said nystatin cream 2x a day for 14 days should work. But after reading everything on here, I’m not sure if I believe that. Guess I’ll just never have sex with him again. I’m so desperate I’m willing to do anything.
Hi,
First of all, I am so happy that I found this website!
I have a few questions about this condition.
Im so afraid to be diagnosed with Glabrata. I have all the symptoms described here on the website.
My symptoms:
Burning while peeing
Severe burning in vaginal area
No discharge ( sometimes yellow and creamy)
contractions in vaginal area
Could this be Glabrata? I think I have to get tested the next days… those symptoms started after taking Cipro and other antibiotics.
So, I am 19 years old and I’m so afraid of my life being completely changed after being diagnosed.
Am I able to have a healthy sex life ever again?
Do I have to change my lifestyle permatly?
Can I still geht pregnant and habe children?
Of course all those questions refer to my life after being successfully treated.
Next thing: I live in Germany and I am afraid that I won’t get all the important ingredients for the treatment. Would you recommend traveling to the U.S if it’s possible in oder to treat the condition?
I am deeply frightened that I won’t get rid of this severe burning!! And that I have to live the rest of my life with that condition. Overall it is sooo expensive to treat Glabrata. I really want to be able to continue life as it was. I was happy, outgoing and I loved dating. I am so afraid that I won’t be able to find a partner later in life if I can’t have any sexual intercourse, or only with severe pain. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to have children. I am just devastated.
Can explain the diet plan again? How long do you have to follow it? Will I never be able to wear Perfume again?
How are my chances that I could get rid of it forever and continue to live a normal life?
I feel like my life has just started but it’s been already destroyed…
Maybe you can give me some hope!
You’re awesome Debra! Your work and ambition to help others! I really admire that!
I would love you to send me an email ?
Thanks a lot
Hi Mary, I know you sound really scared right now, but let me first assure you that whatever is going on can be figured out and dealt with, so you will get better and you will have a normal life that includes sexual intimacy, so please know this.
Now, the symptoms that you are describing can be due to many different infections and or conditions. So, if you have not already started talking with your gynecologist and being tested for all types of infections, then that this is what you need to do first. Now when you see your Gyne, you will want them to test you for all types of bacterial and fungal infections as well as any STD’s. Now when they test for fungal ones, you need to ask them to specifically test for Glabrata and any other types of rare fungal infections. You want them to identify the species of fungi, if there is one. This is really important because it requires a few extra steps by the lab people and the lab will not do it unless it is specified by your Gyne.
Now once you get the results back, that should tell you what is going on. It is going to rule In or out any STD’s which can cause these symptoms you are complaining about and it will rule in or out any bacterial infections that could be causing these symptoms. It will also rule in or out any type of fungal infection that could be causing these symptoms as well. Now Glabrata as well as some of the other types of non-candidiasis fungi can live alongside bacterial infections, STD’s and even candidiasis itself. So, that is why you need to be tested for everything. Now if the test results show that you have a bacterial infection or an STD as well as a fungal infection, you will need to first start treatment by treating the bacterial infection or STD, before starting a fungal infection treatment. You do it this way because the drugs used to treat either an STD or a bacterial infection can cause a fungal infection all by themselves, so you want to treat them first, then you go back and treat the fungal infection. Now if you show up with more than one strain of fungi, like candidiasis and Glabrata do not worry because the treatment for Glabrata will also kill any other strains of fungi, but again this is the last step in treatment if there is bacteria or STD’s found also.
Now, should all of your tests come back negative including the ones for Glabrata or any other types of rare fungi then it is important to ask your doctor once again, did she or he order a fungal test for rare forms of fungi and a species identity? If they say yes then you can do two things. First, you can ask that they re-run the fungal test once more to make sure again. However, I would suspect that if they ordered the test correctly that it is probably correct, but it is always worth re-running it a second time. Secondly, you will want to ask your doctor what she or he is seeing when they look inside in the vagina, this is really important, because what they are seeing or not seeing can lead to a diagnosis of any number of other conditions that can effect the vagina. For instance, if they are seeing white plaques that are not fungi infection you could be suffering with a disease known as Lichen Planus, or if they are seeing red patches with peeling it could indicate vaginal psoriasis or even vaginal eczema. If you have GI issues it could be the early stages of vaginal crohns or UC which can effect this area in women with these types of illnesses and can in rare cases start in the vaginal area of women. Now if your doctor says they just see some minor redness and or some minor swelling with some non-specific discharge, or maybe they say they cannot see any kind of changes in the vagina, and all your STD testing is normal and all other infectious testing is normal then you could be suffering with a condition known as Vulvodynia. Now Vulvodynia is NOT an STD or an infection and we do not always know why it happens, but it is a condition that causes the nerves of the vagina and surrounding areas to become irritated, which then makes the nerves send messages to the brain that there is an infection of some sort (even though there isn’t one) and it can cause the body to then send out inflammatory cells to the area to try and fight off what it thinks is an infection. If this is the case, then you will need to see a specialist who deals with vulvar or vaginal pelvic pain. This is because this condition requires specific treatments and there are many – many different treatments that can be tried and often you will need to be tried on several different ones in order to calm those nerves and or reset them, so they stop telling your brain that there is pain there when there isn’t really a problem. Most Gyne’s are not trained in this condition and often do not think about it when women show up with symptoms like yours and have all normal testing for infections and other conditions. They also have not been trained in all the different forms of treatments that can be used to try and treat it. There are several different types of treatments because there is NOT a “one pill or treatment” that works on everyone who has this condition, so that is why it is really important to be treated by someone who specializes in treating this condition.
So, with all that being said let me try to answer some of your questions. So, “yes” if you do have Glabrata and it is successfully treated you can go on to have a healthy sex life and have healthy babies and even a normal pregnancy. Once the infection is treated successfully, it will not effect or cause any other problems or complications with sex, your health or any pregnancies and the health of any babies you may have.
If you do have Glabrata, you will need to alter your diet while in treatment and you will have to keep a healthy diet after that. Now you will be able to eat whatever you want after you have successfully treated Glabrata, but because we know once you get it you are at a high risk of getting it back again and again, which means you will need to remain eating healthy for the rest of your life. This not only will be good for your body and longevity of life but it also helps your immune system to stay strong so it can fight off other infections as well as Glabrata, so this is why you have to eat healthy. Now healthy just means eating a clean diet, one that is full of veggies, meat and fruits. You should eat foods that are low in sugars and stay away from processed foods and fast foods, except on special occasions once in a great while. So, it is really not a hard diet and really I wouldn’t call it a diet as much as I would just call it a healthy way to eat.
Now while in treatment, which is 14 days, you will need to eat NO sugar of any kind, not even natural ones like honey or Stevia. You also need to substitute pastas and white potatoes with cauliflower mashed up as potatoes and veggies like spaghetti squash or zucchini for noodles. You want to limit your intake of breads as well during this time and NO pop or fruit juices as well as fancy coffee drinks that are high in sugars. Drink water for the 14 days or plain tea and make sure to drink plenty of water, which will help to wash the area out as you pee. You can also even begin drinking more water now, which will also help to dilute your urine now so it does not burn as bad when you pee, if you are drinking things with caffeine in them now, you should stop, this too will help to lesson some of your burning even now. While in treatment you can have fruit but it has to be limited and it must be a low sugared one, like berries of any kind or green apples. So, for 14 days you will live on as much meat and veggies as you would like, with some fruits and plenty of water. NO processed foods, meaning nothing that comes out of a box or bag, make everything from scratch. Once treatment is over you can slowly add in some sugared foods, breads or pastas, but do it sparingly and try not to go back to eating a lot of it over time. Also while in treatment and for the rest of your life you will want to take a probiotic and you can even start this now. It will help with keeping your flora balanced, while in treatment you can also add in Keifer which is a probiotic drink that contains more probiotics in 4ozs then any pill you could ever swallow and all you need is 4ozs a day, so you can drink 2ozs, in the morning and another 2ozs at night. This is pretty much the diet during treatment and things you should do and continue afterwards.
As for your changing your lifestyle with and after Glabrata, it just means that you should make sure that you eat right like I said above, and you have good hygiene practices. Making sure you only wash the area with soap and water and use a soap like dove hypoallergenic, which will not change your vaginal PH, which could then lead to another infection with Glabrata or even something else. Also NEVER douche, this is not needed because our vaginal flora washes out bad bacteria on its own, that is how we were designed. When you douche you wipe out all of your good bacteria and set yourself up for all kinds of vaginal infections, if you have a bad smell or a bad discharge then you need to talk to your Gyne and look at your diet because chances are it something that can be easily fixed where as douching will not fix this long term. You should also be using lubricant that does NOT contain chemicals or sugars in it. So, you just want something like KY original gel or even aqua gel, this will not change your vaginal PH and cause another infection. You should also not be using oils, bath salts or body sprays in this area, because they all contain chemicals that will change the PH. However, you can wear perfume on your clothes or body in any other place, just not in the vaginal area or on your underwear. You should also not be putting anything in your bath water such as bubble bath, oils or salts. These things definitely change the PH and can quite often even irritate this area, so only bathe in water. Make sure to always keep the area dry after washing and wear underwear and pants that are not to tight. The area needs to breathe so you do not create an environment that allows for fungi to grow. All of this is important for good vaginal health and very important once you have had a Glabrata infection.
You talked about it being expensive and you are right, unfortunately, the Flucytosine is what costs so much, and I am not sure what you would have to pay in Germany for this gel but here in the US, it runs approximately $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 US dollars. So, it can be expensive. Now I do not know if you can access all the ingredients in Germany needed to make it that is something you will have to find out. You can start with calling any compound pharmacy in your country and asking them if they have access to amphotericin B and Flucytosine, if so then you will be fine. Now in some countries I have heard that they can only access one or the other in their countries. If this is the case in Germany, you still can attempt to use a gel made with just one or the other, (using just amphotericin B or just Flucytosine). Now using just one of these compounds by itself still has efficacy, meaning it still may work to cure it, they just do not have as high of a success rate as when they are combined. So, you may need to purchase and use the gel a few times in order to attack it. You do run a risk of making the strain resistant to it, but if you follow the diet and hygiene recommendations along with it, you do lower that risk. Also know if you are only able to access one of the compounds for the gel it will lesson the cost of the drug too. If you cannot obtain any of the ingredients you can also ask to be tried on Voriconazole which also has some efficacy in treating Glabrata, it has a 75% success rate, so it would be worth trying. They should NOT start with using Diflucan because it has a very poor success rate and can make the infection resistant to other “azole” drugs like voriconazole, leaving you with no drugs left to treat it. Also many Gyne’s make the mistake of prescribing Diflucan in too low of a dose and for not long enough to actually treat it too. So, ask for Voriconazole instead of Diflucan.
Now you asked about coming here to the US for treatment, and I would tell you to first try working with your doctors there, they should be able to treat you successfully. However, if they cannot access the compounds in the gel and you have tried treatment with Voriconazole and if you are still culturing positive for Glabrata then “yes” I would definitely suggest you making the journey here to the US and if it should come to that then please let me know and I will get you set up with a doctor here who can treat you. However, I hope it does not come to that and you will be successfully treated there. Let me also just say this too, many women who contract a Glabrata infection go on to also develop Vulvodynia after the infection is successfully treated. This unfortunately, happens because Glabrata is a wicked infection that can cause nerve damage in the tissues and sometimes unfortunately, that nerve damage does not heal after the infection is gone. This is why it is important to get retested for Glabrata if your symptoms do not seem to get better or go away fully after you have treated it with any of the drugs I listed above. Unfortunately, the symptoms of Glabrata and vulvodynia can be exactly the same and you cannot tell them apart without another Glabrata test being done. Now should you need to be retested, you MUST wait at least two to three weeks after you have stopped using any treatments, or you risk getting false negative. So, make sure you wait that long as painful as it will be. Please also know that vulvodynia causes redness, swelling of the tissues, discharge, some itching and intense burning. It can also cause the tissues to look completely normal but you can suffer with severe burning and or itching, so this is also why I cannot tell you right now whether you have Glabrata or vulvodynia or even something else, only testing can tell us that. If you want to learn more about vulvodynia, you an look for the article called “The silent pain syndrome” on Hormones Matters site. I wrote that one too and explains everything you need to know about vulvodynia and how to talk to your doctor about it
As far as being cured of Glabrata for life, I wish I could tell you that once you successfully treat it that it will never come back again, but unfortunately, that is not usually the case. Just like women who get candidiasis infections again and again, so too do the women who get glabrata. However, with that being said you can help to lesson your chances of it coming back again by following a healthy diet, taking probiotics every day, using good hygiene techniques, and exercising regularly because exercise kicks our immune systems in to help fight off all kinds of infections within our bodies including Glabrata. I would also tell you that if you ever need to take another antibiotic again, first make sure you absolutely need one, make sure they have a confirmed culture that says you need an antibiotic. Secondly, should you need one always ask if they can treat you with an antibiotic that is not a broad spectrum one, because those ones like Cipro wipe out all your good flora as well as the bad leaving you open to infections like Glabrata afterwards. I would also tell you to try treating with natural remedies first, which may mean you finding a naturopath doctor or an intergrative doctor who will usually try treating with natural remedies first before ever resorting to a pharmaceutical antibiotic. Finally, if you do have to take an antibiotic broad spectrum or not, you need to be pre-treated with either Diflucan or vaginal Nystatin for at least four days prior to starting the antibiotic, however if you cannot wait to start the antibiotic then by all means start it, but also start the Diflucan or Nystatin right along with the antibiotic. You will then need to use the Diflucan or Nystatin the entire time you are on the antibiotic and for at least ten days after finishing the antibiotic. This is because the antibiotic lasts in your system for at least ten days after stopping it. Now Diflucan and Nystatin do NOT kill or treat Glabrata but they have shown in studies to prevent it when taking it with an antibiotic. So, make sure you use this should ever need to take an antibiotic.
Well, I hope all this answers your questions and gives a place to start figuring all this out. It is also important to know that no matter if you have Glabrata or even Vulvodynia, you will get better and you will be able to resume dating and even a sexual life again. It just takes time and making a few lifestyle changes as well as having the information to sit and talk with your doctor about all the possibilities of what is causing this and the many treatments available in treating whatever it is. I hope this gives you some of that and helps you to work with your doctor going forward. There is definitely hope, so please do not be afraid of this effecting the rest of your life, because it won’t no matter what it is. This is just a bump on the road in your journey of life, I promise you that.
If you need anything else please don’t hesitate to ask. I wish you the best
I have had Glabrata for several years. I have just been to a specialist and would like your opinion on my situation. Could you please contact me at pfmiller1@aol.com Thank you so much for sharing your story.
HI, I did send you an email so that you can reach me. Thanks
Hi Debra,
Your knowledge is amazing! I live in Illinois and am going through 14 days of anz B gel. Would you be able to provide me with the name of your doctor in Illinois? Thank you so much!
Hi,
First of all, I am so happy that I found this website!
I have a few questions about this condition.
Im so afraid to be diagnosed with Glabrata. I have all the symptoms described here on the website.
My symptoms:
Burning while peeing
Severe burning in vaginal area
No discharge ( sometimes yellow and creamy)
contractions in vaginal area
Could this be Glabrata? I think I have to get tested the next days… those symptoms started after taking Cipro and other antibiotics.
So, I am 19 years old and I’m so afraid of my life being completely changed after being diagnosed.
Am I able to have a healthy sex life ever again?
Do I have to change my lifestyle permatly?
Can I still geht pregnant and habe children?
Of course all those questions refer to my life after being successfully treated.
Next thing: I live in Germany and I am afraid that I won’t get all the important ingredients for the treatment. Would you recommend traveling to the U.S if it’s possible in oder to treat the condition?
I am deeply frightened that I won’t get rid of this severe burning!! And that I have to live the rest of my life with that condition. Overall it is sooo expensive to treat Glabrata. I really want to be able to continue life as it was. I was happy, outgoing and I loved dating. I am so afraid that I won’t be able to find a partner later in life if I can’t have any sexual intercourse, or only with severe pain. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to have children. I am just devastated.
Can explain the diet plan again? How long do you have to follow it? Will I never be able to wear Perfume again?
How are my chances that I could get rid of it forever and continue to live a normal life?
I feel like my life has just started but it’s been already destroyed…
Maybe you can give me some hope!
You’re awesome Debra! Your work and ambition to help others! I really admire that!
I would love you to send me an email 🙂
Thanks a lot
Hi H Miller I just got this message, so I am very sorry, I am going to email you right now. I don’t know if you still want or need to talk to me, but if so please feel free to email me back. Thanks
Hi I am 21 and been battling a candida glabrata vaginal infection for over a year. I have tried several antifungals, both cream and oral, along with boric acid, gentian violet, and tea tree oil suppositories. These treatments were administered by three gynecologists. All who have given up on treating me. I am currently trying to get my primary to refer me to an infectious disease doctor. My last swab, one month ago came back positive only for glabrata. I have very little discharge but intense burning. I am 21, diabetic with an a1c of 6.9. my blood sugars are always below 200. This is coming from an a1c of 11.3 and sugars usually being in 300-400 while I was first diagnosed with this infection. I have cut all white breads (any bread actually) from my diet, along with candies, potato chips, and pastas. A low carb diet basically. I don’t use regular sugars, only stevia in the raw and almond milks in my coffee and tea. I also use plain Greek yogurt. I want to know if this vaginal infection can, or will, kill me and also what treatments I can use moving forward. If I may be emailed I would appreciate it as well.
Hi scarletz, I did send you an email and answered your questions as well as sent you the studies needed to take to your doctors with the formula for the amphotericin B / flucytsoine gel. I hope this all works for you. Please let me know if you need anything else, you an also email me directly now that you have my email. good luck to you
Hi I have just been diagnosed with vaginal galbrata and have a few questions could you please email me at jennaboo1@live.com
Thank you so much
Hi Jenna, I sent you an email so that you can contact me at your convenience.
Hi. Can u please send me ur email. I have few questions regarding Candida Glabrata!
Hi Alexa, I did send you an email so that you can reach me with any questions you have.. Thanks
Hi
I was wondering if you can help me as well. Did you try the gel that was recommended? I’m suffering so bad with a C. Glabrata yeast infection. The Burning is so painful.
My doctors has me on diflucan regimen which I do not know that its working . I’m also on Antibotics (Bactrim) for a uti
Hello! I have been diagnosed with it in my mouth by my dentist, after developing severe periodontitis in several top teeth (retainer ones).
I removed the retainer and started this candida diet: http://www.sterlingfamilypractice.com/assets/candida-control_diet_comprehensive_companion_guide2.pdf
Already feeling much better. I took cipro for a bad uti almost 3 years ago and had all the vaginal symptoms (burning, itching etc). Went to 4 ob gyns who were unable to detect a problem. Not prescribed anything. After 5 months of hell, a 90 billion probiotic finally relieved 80% of the vaginal issues. The itchy comes back 3 or 4 times a month but it’s very manageable.
I’m mostly concerned with my teeth! Do you have any suggestions I can bring to my functional medicine doctor? She is very willing to learn. She plans to order me some tests next week.
Hi Sad Fishy, so sorry to hear what you are going through. For the Glabrata in your mouth you can ask your doctor to prescribe you Nystatin mouth rinse, it may work, but do know that there are a lot of strains of Glabrata that do not respond to Nystatin, but it is worth a try and can be bought at any pharmacy with a prescription from your doctor. Now if this does not work or if you want to go right to this and skip the Nystatin you can ask for amphotericin B mouth wash. This is really the only way to treat Glabrata in the mouth. Most regular pharmacies have no problem making this mouth wash because it gets used a lot for cancer patients who get chronic yeast infections within the mouth. If you decide to use your retainer again then you will also need to soak it in the amphotericin B mouth wash once a day for three days prior to putting it back in your mouth. Also I would not attempt to treat the mouth yeast until you are done with all dental and hygienist work, because many of the chemicals and drugs used to work on your mouth can set off another yeast infection in the mouth and Glabrata in the mouth is not any different than getting it anywhere else in the body, which means it will adapt to the meds quite quickly, so you want to wait until you are done with everything before starting the mouth wash. You will need to rinse several times a day for no less than ten days and do not drink or eat within a half hour of using the mouth wash. You can also swallow the mouth wash too which will not hurt you but will treat the throat too.
For your vaginal area, you are more than likely still dealing with a case of Glabrata, especially if you are now dealing with it in your mouth. This means that your body is having an issue with keeping it under control when you get exposed to it. Your body right now, may be helping to keep it in check, but when your body gets compromised with your period, sex, tight clothing, cleaning products, ect.. the Glabrata grabs hold again and begins to create the itching you are experiencing. This can be a long term problem for you and at some point, more than likely the next time you have to take any antibiotics its going to get out of control and beyond what your body can control. At that point you will face a full blown infection with this beast, much like what you are dealing with in your mouth now. So, here are a few things you can do to kill this beast before it becomes a huge life altering issue for you and so that you do not spread it to your partner. You will need to also get a script for the amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel to use vaginally for 14 nights, This has to be compounded, but it is the only known cure for Glabrata in the vaginal area. You should again not use this either until you are done with any medical or dental visits and any and all drugs. You can use both at the same time too.
Next, stop doing the yeast diet, this is not going to help you! Many of these diets restrict vital nutrients and minerals as well as vitamins and this alone can hamper your immune system. This is not to mention that most of these diets do not work and are too restrictive to remain on for any length of time. Instead you should be eating clean a diet, meaning NO processed foods, NO dairy other than Keifer, no sugar while in treatment and then low sugar amounts for the rest of your life. You can eat as much meat, veggies and low sugared fruits as you would like. You can drink coffee or tea but with no sugar or creams. Drink plenty of water daily and only eat sugary foods, breads and pastas as a treat and none while doing treatment. You can find other ways to substitute noodles, potatoes, breads, ect…Continue taking high doses of probiotics along with Keifer, but do know they do not cure Glabrata, but will help fight it back and help the amphotericin B meds to work better.
Finally, since you have sound like you have it in the vaginal area as well as the mouth, I would really encourage you to have some testing done, because most healthy people do not get these kinds of infections especially with Glabrata. So, you may want to ask about getting tested for any and ALL vaginal infections, diseases and STD’s. You also need to be checked for diabetes, which you may not have any symptoms of but you could be pre-diabetic, which can lead this to this too. If you have any other symptoms throughout your body you may need to have your inflammatory markers checked to make sure you are dealing with an underlying autoimmune disease or an immune system that is not up to par. Now these are all suggestions, and you may not have any of this, you may just have gotten really unlucky with the cipro, but it is worth checking out. If you continue to get Glabrata back after these treatments or it shows up somewhere else in your body then you will need to have your partner checked for Glabrata, because men can carry it and pass it but not even know they have it like a women would. Depending on if you have oral intimacy as well as vaginal intimacy may be why you have it in both places too, but again, I would encourage you to talk to your doctor about testing you for the things I have listed here.
One last thing, if you are going to need antibiotics in the future for any reason, it will be important to always pre-treat yourself before starting them. If it is not possible to wait to start the antibiotics to pre-treat then by all means start the antibiotics but also start on pre-treatment at the same time. This would mean using Nystatin mouth rinse, now it has a low efficacy in treating and killing Glabrata in the mouth but it has a great efficacy in preventing it from coming back while on antibiotics. If you also have it in your vaginal area, then you would also need to be pre-treated with Diflucan or Nystatin gel too, so that the Glabrata does not return from antibiotic use. Unfortunately, once you get Glabrata you are always at risk of getting it back again and again, but a good diet, regular exercise (which ramps up the immune system), good sexual and hygiene habits along with pre-treating before antibiotics, you can ward this infection from coming back most of the time. Which is really important because Glabrata adapts really quickly to any and all meds used to treat it, and there are very few now a days to treat it, so you really don’t want it to come back in the future.
Well I hope this all helps you, if you need any help with amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel or mouthwash please let me know. I wish you the best.
I don’t know how to get in touch with u Mrs Anderson so I can learn more about C. g
glabrada which in fact I was diagnosed a month ago. Can u please email me @ claudiamangel82@gmail.com I will totally appreciate it. I’m so scared with this and I k ow from reading your comments you know so much please email me. Thank u
Hi Claudia, I did email you, so please check for it. Thanks
Hello, I too have a candida glabrata vaginal infection that has returned for the second time. I was given diflucan (2 pills) and of course it feels like it suppressed it but after my cycle, has returned. You seem so very knowledgeable on the subject. Is there any information you could send to me?
Hi Meg, I am so sorry to hear that you are dealing with this infection, unfortunately, you have yet to really be treated for it, so I am not surprised that you are still dealing with it. First, Diflucan is useless against non-candidias species like Glabrata. Unfortunately, the majority of doctors do not understand this specific fungi and do not understand that it has been inherently resistant to “azoles” (more specifically Diflucan) since the mid nineties. To make matters worse there are doctors not only prescribing Diflucan to try and treat Glabrata but they are prescribing it at a dosage that would be used to treat a normal candidias albican infection, which is one to two doses of Diflucan. Unfortunately, this dosage barely effects candidias Albican’s anymore and will have absolutely NO effect on a non-candidias strain like Glabrata. However, what it will do to this monster of a species is give it just enough of the med to be able to adapt to not only the Diflucan but to all the Azole drugs within that family.
You see, if the doctors had read any studies on the treatment of Glabrata or at the very least consulted with an Infectious Disease doctor they would have learned that if they were going to try and attempt Diflucan, then they would need to prescribe between 250mgs twice a day or 500mgs a day of Diflucan everyday for no less than six weeks. They would have also learned that even at either of those dosages and duration, the failure rate with Diflucan was going to be in the 90% range. Meaning it would not be the choice of drug to use to treat this specific infection. Their best bet according to all studies would have been to start with Voriconazole (which also is in the azole family), because it is structured differently and has been used a lot less, so many strains of Glabrata have not yet adapted to it. However, the dosage for this azole is also extreme, which can lead to liver toxicity and nervous system problems. The dosage for Voriconazole is 400mgs. every twelve hours for the first day and then to be followed by 200mgs. a day for the next 14 days. With this level and duration you would need to be watched closely, meaning you would need a liver function test done prior to starting it and then one done every ten days up until you have been off of the drug for ten days. You would also have to report any nervous system problems to your doctor immediately while using it. As bad as this drug is, if you were able to finish the course it does have a success rate in the 70% range. So, with all this being said, I think you can see that you have not yet come close to even being treated for this infection and unfortunately, you have been treated with just enough Diflucan that your strain, if not already resistant to drugs within the azole family, may now have been given the ability to adapt to them.
Now, this does not mean that you are out of options, you still can try the Voriconazole, but I would not recommend it and that is because it is very toxic and there is another safer option to try. You need to talk to your doctor about prescribing amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel. This gel is VERY safe and in studies done on it, it ahs shown to be safer than all other anti-fungal treatments, such as any of the azole’s, boric acid, gentian violet, and even any of the over the counter creams like monistat. The reason for this is because its molecular make up is to large to be absorbed through the mucosal walls of the vagina. This means that it literally cannot be absorbed and cause any body wide systemic side effects like the rest of the treatments I mentioned here. So, the gel gets put in and it literally “washes” out the vagina and runs back out. Now many doctors have been taught that amphotericin B or even Flucytosine are very dangerous drugs to the human body and they are if they are taken internally, but you are using it topically in the vagina (because it cannot be absorbed) which changes its toxicity level to nothing, making it safer than any other treatment choice out there. The only known side effect in several studies is that it may cause some mild burning, but even that is rare and usually only seen in women who have ulcerations to the walls from a long standing infection with Glabrata. So, I am explaining this to you because you may have to educate your doctor about its safety profile (which I will give you a study that shows this to give to your doctor too) just in case your doctor is one who does not understand this fact about these two drugs used in the gel. So, please do not let your doctor tell you any differently! As for the gel its success rate runs near 99% in curing this infection. So, this option is not only the safest but it also has the best success rate in curing this specific infection.
So, if you can get your doctor to prescribe this gel, you will need to have it compounded by a compound pharmacist, so make sure that you call a few compound pharmacies to find out which ones are able to access both drugs and are willing to make it. I say this because not all compound pharmacies are able to access both ingredients to make it. You want to have the pharmacy information with you when you talk to your doctor about prescribing it, so they will have no issue with trying to find one for you. If you have any problems finding one, them please let me know and I will help you find one. Then once you get the script, you will need to make sure that it is made right and then you will need to make sure that you use it correctly for the full fourteen nights it is prescribed for. You cannot miss any doses or you will open a window for the Glabrata to adapt to it. You must also begin to use the night you pick it up because it has a short shelf life and must be used within 16 days of being made. It also MUST be made in a water soluble base like original KY gel, aqua lube, or surgi lube, or it will not work correctly and it can burn the vaginal walls badly. This is because all other base do NOT wash out of the vagina with your body heat, which in turn leaves the meds clinging to the vaginal walls where it can burn them. Now because it will be in a water soluble base it MUST be kept cold until you are ready to insert it each night, so make sure it is cold packed if it is shipped to you or bring a cold pack with you when picking it up at the pharmacy. Also make sure it is deep yellow color in the tubes, this will also tell you if it is made right.
So, I am giving you the web address for the studies that you can bring to your doctor, one of the studies has the formula for making the gel, so that your doctor will know how to write the script. I will also give you the study for using voriconazole in case you want to choose that method too and it will allow your doctor to know the prescribing does for this drug as well. This way you will not be given to little of a dose that will be ineffective. You will have to copy and paste the web address into your browser to open the studies and then download them to print out. They are-
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3294902/
https://sti.bmj.com/content/77/3/212.full
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22885618
So, these are the studies and I hope this helps you get the treatment you need to beat this infection. If you have any other questions or need help finding a compound pharmacy please let me know. I wish you the best!
How do they properly test for candida glabrata? I was diagnosed with candida albicans on the tonuge – after over a month of flucanoze and nystatin the yeast was still there. However, when tested again it came back negative, but the test was for non-albicans candida. when tested for vaginal yeast i came back postive for candida glabrata and it was described as “short and neon green” under a microscope. When the physician last looked at my tongue and tested for candida albicans she said it couldn’t be candida because it was “short and neon green”. Obviously she doesn’t understand the difference between strains. I clearly have yeast on my tongue as I continue to scrape it off every single morning. However, the western medical community gave me a clean bill of health and basically told me to stop bothering them. All of my symptoms are worsening and I don’t know what to do anymore.
Hi Sarah, it sounds like you are having some difficulties getting tested and possibly treated, but from what you posted here there seems to be some confusion from either what your doctors are telling you or from how you are interpreting what they are saying. So, let me try to straighten out some information for you, so that you are clear on testing and what is being seen.
So, first to test for Glabrata in any area of the body, the doctor MUST specifically request for a “non-albican” yeast test to be done or they MUST specifically request for a “Glabrata” test to be done. This is because the “non-albican” fungi require a special type of agar which is the jelly base used in the petri dish to help foster and grow out those kinds of yeasts. They also must use special stains on them prior to putting them under the microscope, other wise they will not be able to be seen and identified. Cultures are done by swabbing the area thought to be infected or they can take a small biopsy of the tissues.
Ok, so you said you were diagnosed with candidia albicans on the tongue and you were treated for over a month with Nystatin and Fluconazole. Now I do not know from what you stated here if you used the Nystatin mouth rinse or if you were given oral Nystatin to take. I also do not know if you were given Fluconazole pills or if you were given Fluconazole Trouches, which is like a chalky lozenge that you would have had to have sucked on. The types of Nystatin and fluconazole you would have used would have made a difference in the treatment outcome for candidias albican. You see both Nystatin orally and fluconazole pills taken orally have little efficacy when treating a mouth or throat infection and that is because you are swallowing them and then the drug would need to be metabolized and then sent out through your blood to reach the infections. However, when it comes to what is known as “superficial” or “topical” infections (which would be areas like the mouth, tongue, throat, skin, eyes, vaginal area) the amount of the drugs after metabolization is to low to actually effect the infection. So, in “superficial” or “topical” cases the only way to effectively treat and deliver the maximum amount of the drug would be to apply the drug right to the infection. So, in the case of your mouth or tongue you would need the Nystatin rinse or the Fluconazole trouche in order to kill the infection. Now if you used these forms of those drugs then they should have effectively killed candidias albican. This is usually not a hard one to kill with either of those drugs, especially if you used both, unless you had an underlying medical condition such as uncontrolled diabetes or were using immune suppressing drugs or had another reason for being immune compromised. Of course your diet would also have contributed to the drugs not working as well too, had you been drinking sugary drinks or sucking on hard candies or chewing gum, because you would have been over riding the drugs and feeding the fungi. One last reason the drugs may not have worked would have been too, if you had eaten or drank anything within a half hour of using the mouth rinse or trouche, because it would have wiped the medicine off of the area before it got a chance to do its job. So, this would be the reasons for drug failures with candidias Albicans, but if you were actually dealing with candidias Glabrata then both of these drugs never would have treated it anyway.
So, after you did this month of treatment and you felt no better, your doctors then tested you for “non-candidias” albicans, which was spot on and the next step in trying to treat you. However, I am thinking from what you have written here that you may be somewhat confused about the categories of fungi species, so let me explain it to you. So, you have candidias albicans, this species of fungi is the one that most people are familiar with. It is the number one cause of vaginal, skin and mouth infections and it is the number one fungal invader in the human body. It is also the one that most doctors are familiar with because it is usually the only species that infects healthy everyday people and is quite often diagnosed. This species is the one that causes the “cottage cheese” like discharge in the vaginal area as well as in stools and it creates a white “cottage cheese” like coating on the tongue and throat. For the most part like I said above it is easy to treat with drugs like Nystatin and Fluconazole as long as they are using
the right method of the drug to treat the specific area infected and as long as the person does not have underlying medical conditions. It is also the first species that a doctor will try to treat ( many times without even a culture) when you come in with a fungal infection. If the treatment fails then the next step is for the doctor to request a specific fungal test for what is known as a “NON-ALBICAN” species, which is apparently what your doctors did.
Now, non-albican species are anything other than “ALBICANS”, which would be species like Glabrata and Kruesi as well as many other species that fall into this category. Again this is a different type of culture as I explained above and has to be done differently than a “normal” fungal culture and again that is because you cannot see these specific species under the scope unless these steps are taken, nor will they grow out and colonize in a “normal” fungi culture. So, your doctors did try to see if you were infected with Glabrata or any of the other non-albican species, but apparently it came back negative. Now I will give you some other things to talk to your doctors about in a minute but first let me address the rest of your post.
So, you also wrote that your vaginal culture came back positive for Glabrata and it was described as being “short and neon green” under the microscope. However, I do not know who is giving you this information because it is completely inaccurate. I can tell you that I have actually seen Glabrata under the scope and I can tell you from reading literally hundreds of studies on it and its morphology that Glabrata NEVER looks green under the microscope. You see, like I have said Glabrata MUST be cultured on specific agar and it must be stained to even be seen under the microscope and between the agar and the stain Glabrata ALWAYS shows up pink to purple under the microscope.
So, if the lab used Sabourauds Dextrose agar, the colonies of Glabrata would show up as “small” (meaning short) glossy, convex and smooth and the coloring will be a WHITE TO CREAM color (NEVER GREEN!). However, most labs do not use this agar but instead use Hardy’s chromogenic agar, which will cause the colonies to grow in the color of pink to a mauve or purplish color with deeper colored inner circles around the nucleus. Now when they use Hardy’s agar it will grow any species of NON-ALBICAN out so they then have to add what is known as Trehalose, now if it is Glabrata the colonies will rapidly ferment the trehalose making it unique only to Glabrata. That is how they are able to specify which non-albican you have. Microscopically the cells of glabrata will appear as small sized yeast cells (2 to 3 microns in diameter) less than half the size of a red blood cell. They are often seen with single budding, and do not form hyphae or pseudohyphae. The cells are often more spherical rather than elongated as with some other Candida species. glabrata will not produce germ tubes, as seen with albicans. So, when you say they described it as “short neon green” under the scope it makes no sense. The “short” or “small” would fall in line with Glabrata but NOT the color of ” neon green” or any type of green, which means you would NOT be positive for Glabrata.
Now with that being said, candidias ALBICAN colonies under the scope ALWAYS have a green to blue coloring under the scope, due to its agar and stain. However, it is NEVER described as “short” or “small” under the scope because it produces hyphae or pseudohyphae along with germ tubes which makes this species large under the scope, this is also what creates the large white cottage cheese discharge or patches you get in and on the body. So, if they actually described it as being “neon green” under the scope then that would be definitely positive for candidias ALBICANS, because only that species creates that color, however it they also described it as “short” or “small” then that would NOT be positive for candidias ALBICANS, but instead Glabrata, but it could not be Glabrata if it was truly that color. So, in truth here I am not sure what they found because what you are describing is a piece from each of them and yet not accurate for either of them. So, I would suggest that you go back to your doctor and discuss the actual findings because something is terribly wrong and it may be that you just heard it wrong or it got misinterpreted wrong, but if the lab ACTUALLY wrote that description then you need to have another test run and by a different lab because someone then does not know what they are doing or seeing under the scope!
Also if the test was accurate (but you just confused the lab description) and you do really have Glabrata in the vaginal area, how are they treating it and what are your symptoms? This will tell me more to like if you really have Glabrata.
So, now that I have given you the correct info on the different strains as well as how to test correctly for them, let me get back to your mouth situation. So, first Glabrata does NOT cause a white “cheesy” like coating on the tongue or throat that you could scrape off each morning, only candidias albican (or other mouth diseases) does this. When you get Glabrata of the tongue (which I have had numerous times) it causes the top of the tongue to develop a greyish to white thick flat coating that is literally hooked to the tongue and not bumpy or cheesy it is almost a smooth glossy layer on top of the tongue and it cannot be scraped off. This is because Glabrata unlike albican does not live on the surface of the mucosal layer but instead roots itself into the deeper layers of the tissues and you do not have the cheesy patches to scrape off because of the fact that Glabrata does not produce hyphae or psuedohyphae which is like I said before what creates the cheesy white curds that you get with albicans and can be easily scraped off of the area it is infecting. Glabrata also will cause the tongue to begin to have ulcers that can open up and get bloody, much like a herpes sore. It will spread to the cheeks and throat very quickly if not diagnosed and successfully treated right away. Now because it grows down into the deeper layers of the tissues it causes the tongue or any tissues it is invading to become inflamed, so you will notice that your tongue is slightly thickened and it will become painful. In time the pain will be so bad that you will not be able to eat, chew or swallow and this will happen within a few weeks of not receiving a correct diagnosis or correct treatment.
So, with that being said, if your symptoms are not what I described above then chances are this is NOT Glabrata (which is a non-candidias) species in your mouth, which would also be why your culture for a non-candidias species came back negative. So, now you are probably wondering why you are still dealing with this white coating on your tongue and why you feel so crummy. So, I can give you a few suggestions to talk to your doctor about. First you probably need to go back and get another culture of your tongue done again. This time make sure they are testing for the “normal” yeast (which will be candidias albican but then also have them run another non-candidias test. If the non-candidias test comes back negative again (which I am supposing it will) then you will know for sure that you do not have Glabrata. If the “normal” fungi test comes back positive for albicans (which you may still have and would have been missed if they just did a non-candidias test) then you will need to be treated again with either Nystatin rinse or Fluconazole Trouches. If this fails again then you may be dealing with a drug resistant strain of candidias albicans which there are strains out there and they are becoming more and more common. If this is the case then your doctor will have to rule out any other underlying health conditions that would cause you to have repeated candidias albicans and then your doctors are going to have to send you to an Infectious disease doctor who can use much stronger drugs to try and treat it.
Now if both tests come back negative but you are still dealing with these symptoms then there are few things that you can do. First you can look at your diet, some people who have symptoms like yours develop that coating due to a high sugared diet or from sucking on hard candies or chronically chewing gum (even the sugar free brands) also if you are repeatedly sipping on sugared drinks all day long too. Now, this coating may actually not be any type of fungi infection it could just be an irritated coating from the build up of all the bacteria and fungi you are taking in during the day that is not getting washed off the tongue by your saliva. So, I would start with eliminating as much sugared foods as possible from your diet and that includes the “fancy” coffees and any types of sodas. You should also eliminate any dairy right now other than plain Keifer because those are also high in sugars and can leaving coatings or cause coatings on the tongue. On top of this I would suggest if you are not already on a probiotic to start one as well a using plain keifer up to 4ozs. a day. When using the keifer make sure to hold it in your mouth and swish it around for a minute or so then swallow it and do NOT drink anything for up to a half hour after you have done this. You can do this several times a day. This you can start now and it would help even if you are still dealing with a fungal infection.
The second thing to do is to make sure that you are drinking enough water because a dry mouth will also lead to a white scrapable coating over the tongue. If your mouth is dry you can check into buying the products that they sell over the counter that help your mouth make more moisture, but do not buy the lozenges or gums, buy only the sprays or rinses. Also if you smoke you will want to quit too because that dries your mouth out and if the cigarette company has changed any of the chemicals in the brand you use you could be having a reaction to it as you draw smoke into your mouth.
Now if none of this works then you want your doctor to check you for diabetes which again can cause a dry mouth, or candidias albican infections or just a white scrapable coating over the tongue.
Finally, if you have done all that and all your tests come back normal then the next step would be for you to see a dentist, oral hygienist or an oral health doctor. You can start with the dentist, who will check your mouth and gums for infections because some infections of the mouth may not cause you pain right away but they can spread to the soft tissues of the mouth causing you many of the symptoms you are complaining about. An oral hygienist will also look over your mouth including your soft tissues and note any problems and clean what they can and if they find anything suspicious they will send you off to an oral surgeon or an oral health specialist. The oral surgeon and or oral health specialist will be able to look at your mouth and run further testing that your normal doctors cannot. They can also take biopsies to check for other mouth conditions and diseases that could be causing your symptoms, things like lichen planus, glossitis, chronic halitosis, oral eczema, oral psoriasis, cancer and even other types of infections and diseases.
So, know that you are not at the end of the road yet as to finding out what is going on in your mouth, there are a lot of things that can cause the symptoms you are having and many will not be diagnosable by your family doctor, most will require the help of an oral health specialist, so don’t give up hope yet there is an answer out there.
I hope all this information helps you to understand about the different species of fungi and how to test for them as well as what they would look like under the scope. Once again, there is something wrong with the description you posted here and it would not be accurate for Glabrata or Albicans, so please go back and talk with your doctor about the lab results to make sure that you understood it right or that your lab has not only performed the test right but read it accurately. Then you can go from there as to whether you need to have the tests repeated or need to do the oral rinses or trouches for albicans or whether you need to be seen by an oral health specialist. Well, let me know what happens or if there is anything else I can help you with, I wish you the best.
Hi Debra, Thank you, this article is enlightening. Hoping you could please email me the gel (Flucytosine/amphoterican B) components. I have been battling glabrata for over 3 months now. My most recent treatment is amphoterican b alone (previously azoles before confirming glabrata and then boric acid)…I’ve taken 12 of 14 days of amph b and don’t believe it’s working. Heading back to the dr this Friday to discuss and be retested…but maybe a retest is too soon as you’ve stated above. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Hi Lindsey, I am so sorry you are going through this. The amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel has the highest success rate against this specific fungi, however, studies have shown that when amphotericin B is used alone the success rate drops dramatically. Now that does not mean that it still does not have a chance to be successful in many cases, but there is a higher amount who still fail with this treatment. In fact the most recent studies state that doctors who choose to use the gel should NOT be using it without the Flucytosine added to it. The reason for this is because like all the other forms of Glabrata treatment, are getting used at such high rates that Glabrata, the monster it is – is quickly adapting its DNA so that it can even survive this last ditch treatment. So, what they found was that by adding the flucytosine to the mix, Glabrata was unable to adapt as quickly to the gel, giving the person a few rounds of treatment before it became resistant to it. They also found that by adding the Flucytosine it enhanced the amphotericin B’s ability to kill it more effectively.
You see, Flucytosine is a very – very old drug that was used to treat cancer. It worked by going in and breaking open the nucleus wall that surrounds the DNA of the cell, therefore exposing the “brain” of the cell and its ability to replicate, however it was very toxic and did not always work to kill most types of cancer. We have since come up with a multitude of newer more effective and less toxic cancer treatments, leaving this one behind. But science wasn’t finished with this drug just yet, they knew how it worked and its abilities and found that it could be used to enhance other drugs abilities to go in and kill other organisms. Again it’s still a very toxic drug when used internally, but when used in topical applications (which include vaginal gels) it was found to cause little to no toxicity. This is because of its molecular structure which is too large to be absorbed through the mucosal walls, making it the perfect drug to enhance the amphotericin B.
So, the two drugs work synergistically, first the Flucytosine gets in there and breaks open the nucleus wall surrounding the DNA of the Glabrata cell, leaving the “brain” and replicating center exposed. Then the amphotericin B comes in and it does it job of unraveling the DNA and RNA, which in turn kills the cell and prevents it from not only replicating but also surviving, hence the infection is destroyed. This is what gives the gel the high success rate and buys us more time before Glabrata has the ability to adapt to this “last resort” form of treatment.
Now I will tell you that it is very important that the gel is made correctly and used correctly, if these two things are not done it opens a window of opportunity for Glabrata to adapt to the ampho B and the ampho b / flucytosine gel. So, when you go back to see your doctors, should your next culture be positive, please let them know that the next round of this gel MUST be made with flucytosine and it MUST be made correctly. I will give you the web address for the studies showing this which also contains the correct formula for making the gel. Then it is up to YOU, to make sure that the pharmacy compounding the gel has made it right (they have made mistakes with other women) and it is up to YOU to make sure that it is used correctly. This will give you the best chance of conquering this beast.
So, before I give you that information let me quickly address one more part of your post. You are CORRECT, that you should NOT be re-cultured for Glabrata until you have been off of the gel ( or any treatment) for at least two full weeks if not three! Even if you are having symptoms right away, it does not matter, you still cannot be re-cultured until you have been off of all treatments for at least two weeks. This is because the culture will not be reliable and has a very high false negative rate! This is because when they do the swab, they are only pulling out a small amount of the cells to put into the petri dish, but if you have been using any kind of treatment they will also be pulling out some of that medicine which is left inside clinging to the walls. So, when that also gets put into the petri dish the few cells they got will be be unable to colonize in the dish and will end up dying during the culturing process, which then leaves youw with a false negative. When that happens it leaves both you and your doctor wondering why you are still having symptoms. Unfortunately, doctors should know this but many and I mean many do not! This is why you MUST become your own advocate when working with doctors. As hard as it is to wait (and God knows I have been there!) you MUST wait that two weeks, even with the pain and symptoms that you may still be experiencing. This is the only way you can be certain that the culture is correct. One last thing here to mention, some women do develop Vulvodynia from this infection, which can lead to symptoms that act just like Glabrata. Unfortunately you cannot tell the two apart and vulvodynia does not have a test to confirm it. It is diagnosed by ruling out Glabrata and all other vaginal conditions and infections. Now vulvodynia is NOT an infection it is damaged nerves and so it will be treated in a whole different way by specialists. This is why it is very important to wait that two weeks before being re-cultured, so that you can receive the correct treatment going forward.
Ok so here is the web address for the study that also gives you the formula. You will have to copy and paste it into your browser to open it and download it, to bring into your doctors. http://sti.bmj.com/content/77/3/212.full
Now you will know if it has been made right by a few things-
1. it should be a bright yellow color
2. You should be required to keep it in the fridge
3. you should be using 8grams of it a night, which means you will use TWO full applicators a night at bedtime. The applicators should be the size of the one you would get with Monistat cream
4. it should be gel like when you take it out of the fridge and place it into the vagina, but then within ten minutes of insertion, it should become “water” like from the heat of your body, at that point you should start to feel it wanting to run out of you, like water!
5. Make sure when bringing the script into the pharmacy that you request that ONLY Original KY jelly or Aqua gel or Surgi Lube is used as the base for the gel. DO NOT let them talk you into using any other form of base gel, these are the ones that work with the meds without interrupting the meds and they are the ones that will “wash” out of you daily, so that the drugs do not adhere to the walls and burn you.
Now if all this is right, then it was made right, but now you must use it right, so here is how you use it correctly-
1. Keep it in the fridge until you are ready to insert it
2. make sure that you are ready to go to bed for the night (no getting back up for water, the bathroom, or even to turn off the tv.) no excuses you have to remain laying down for at least 6 hours, but preferred for up to 8 hours. This is because like I said it turns to water once your body heats it up, so it will run out of you quickly and you do NOT want that to happen. Now do not worry if you feel it running out of you while your laying flat because that is expected with it and it is only a small amount. However if you get up even to sit, large amounts will come out and you will lose the effectiveness of it, there by giving it a chance to adapt to the gel. SO STAY PRONE IN BED ONCE YOU HAVE INSERTED IT!
3. Make sure to place a towel under you to catch the run off and use old sheets as well as old underwear because what does come running out will stain anything bright yellow as it comes in contact with it.
5. Make sure you DO NOT miss a day of using it, because if you do it opens the window for Glabrata to adapt to it. So, make sure you use it each night for 14 nights!
6. Make sure to adjust your diet while in treatment, so no sugars (not even honey or stevia) no carbs or dairy either, other wise you just feed it!
7. no wearing tight clothing (even underwear) that is not breathable. Use cotton and loose fitting pants while in treatment, the area must get air and breathe
8. Make sure to thoroughly dry the area after bathing, you can pat it dry if it is too painful to wipe and you can use the blow dryer on the cool setting to further dry the area or if it is too painful to even pat dry. NO swimming suits that are wet should be worn during treatment, not even for a half hour
9.Only wash with Dove Hypoallergenic soap, no other types of body washes or soaps, not even the supposed PH balanced ones! Also no dyes perfumes, bath salts, body sprays or anything else. The only thing that should come in contact with that area during treatment is pure water, Dove soap and the ampho B / Flucytosine gel, as well as a clean rag and or towel that has NOT been dried in the dryer with dryer sheets and the same for your underwear. Also you will be draining the medicine out as the day goes on, so you should also be wearing a panty liner at all times and it MUST be changed as soon as you feel it get wet. This is because Glabrata will spread to the outside of your vaginal area and even up to your rectum and buttocks just by the discharge coming out, even with the gel! When that happens you will be in a world of misery and dealing with ulcerating skin. So, wear a panty liner, also make sure the panty liner is just a plain one! No scented or colored ones or any other kind of panty liner.
10. Finally, take your probiotics and drink at least 4ozs. of keifer a day, this should be your only dairy product!
If it is made right and you use it right and make all the necessary lifestyle changes you should have a high rate of success with beating this beast. However, I am running into more women recently who are still failing, so a strain that has adapted to this treatment is out there, I pray it is not the one you have, but know there is that chance. Also know you can use this gel at least three times before saying it is resistant. Should you be that one, please contact me and I can give you some other things to try if you have not tried them already as well as a doctor who specializes in resistant Glabrata infections.
Well, I wish you the best and please let me know if you need anything else.
Thank you, Debra! This is all helpful information. A few more questions for you. Can you please share names of doctors that specialize in glabrata infections? I’d love to speak to someone. Please email for location. Also, I’m attempting to follow the low sugar/carb diet. Can you tell me why stevia is included in your list? I drink a prebiotic drink every morning which has stevia and I really want to continue as it goes hand in hand with my probiotic.
Hi Lindsey, unfortunately there is only one doctor that SPECIALIZES in Glabrata in the US and his name is Dr. Jack Sobel, he is out of Wayne State University in MI. So let me explain why there isn’t any other doctors who specialize in this. First off, up until this last decade Glabrata was only seen in the sickest of the sick and even within that population it was still rare to see someone come down with it. Those that did get it were people who were very sick with HIV, end- stage cancers and those that were severely immune compromised. Now, because it was only rarely seen in this population of people several things came into play. First, when you only have a few people sick with any rare disease or infection, they are usually spread out over the country or even the world, making it nearly impossible to do any kind of studies. Secondly, because there are so few sick with it and no real studies, it is not worth teaching doctors about it, for the most part most doctors will never come across it in their entire careers. Thirdly, (and this is a sad one, but unfortunately it happens with most “rare” illnesses) because it is so rare and the people who contract it are so very ill and thought to have caught it only because they were so very ill and most with so very little time left, that it is not worth the time or money to research it. This is because these people are going to die anyway even if they could cure the infection, so between the very small population of people spread out geographically and because it was thought only to be contracted and deadly in people who were going to die anyway, it has not been taught to all doctors and there were none that had enough population to study it or specialize in it.
Now the second reason most gyne’s do not know about this infection is because they were never taught it for the reasons above, but also because if they did come across someone with it, like an HIV or end stage cancer person, the gyne would not treat it, they would send the person to an infectious disease doctor (and many were already under an ID’s doctor care), who then would attempt to treat it. So, for Gyne’s, unless they practiced in an inner city where there were large populations of HIV people or at University Hospitals where there were large populations of end-stage cancer people they would never come across a person with this. So, for the most part Gyne’s were not taught how to look out for it or to even think about it as a possible diagnosis in healthy women or even someone chronically ill and for the most part the majority of Gyne’s would never see this in their lifetime of practice. Those that did see it just referred the patient out and they were done with them.
Now ID doctors do treat patients for Glabrata, but again because it is so rare most of them will never see it in their lifetimes either and because of this many are very unfamiliar with how to treat it. Again when they do see it, it is usually in someone very ill, so curing the infection is usually not a priority. It is also important to mention here that Glabrata for the most part was not really seen in vaginal infections, but instead in organs, so treating it in the vagina was a whole new area for them to figure out how to treat and this is because IV drugs (which were the preferred treatment) usually do not treat vaginal infections and there is a whole biological reason for that – that I wont get into here, but surfice to say it has been a trial and error attempt to figure out how to treat it in the vagina.
So, let me explain how we got to here with everyday women contracting Glabrata. You see the AIDS crisis hit the world in the 80’s, but because our government for many reasons sought to ignore it for nearly a decade and because it was thought to only happen in the homosexual population, many of the illnesses they contracted due to having little to no immune system would begin to flourish and spread into populations they never thought would get it. (fungal infections were the worst and most deadly in this population) When they finally recognized AIDS and all that it encompassed, they immediately began to come up with new drugs to not only treat but prevent infections within this population of people, hence the “Azole” revolution was born. (Diflucan, Voriconazole, etc..)
By the mid 90’s they had figured out that if they put HIV people and even cancer patients, uncontrolled Diabetics and anyone severely immune compromised on a preventative maitinance dose of anti-fungals like Diflucan they could head off the infections and keep the person alive a little longer, so that is exactly what they did. What they did not realize was that by doing this regularly they were exposing this organism to a drug that eventually in time would become immune to the drugs, therefore creating a whole new “super” species that they had no way to control. Then just like AIDS this new “hybrid” species spread to other populations of people, meaning healthy people who were not as immune compromised. It would start first in hospitals where people going in for a pneumonia or other illness or injuries would accidently pick it up and then after time it would spread from those people to other healthy people within their communities.
Now at the same time (mid nineties) that we were discovering new anti-fungals to help treat the HIV population we were also discovering broad spectrum antibiotics. These too were necessary in trying to save the lives of the AIDS population and to stop the spread of the bacteria’s that were now becoming immune to the “old” forms of antibiotics. Again, science did not realize (at least that is what I want to believe) or for see the over all damages to the human flora or body from the use of these drugs. So, they began to give them out like candy as a first line of defense in infections instead of as a last line of defense. So, people began taking them regularly and wiping out their flora as well as their own bodies immunity. This now left these people very vulnerable to all kinds of opportunistic infections, including the rare ones like Glabrata. (which was now well on its way to becoming immune to our drugs and it was now spreading to healthy people outside of hospitals) Unfortunately, like most other illnesses in their infancy stages of spreading doctors knew very little about it and had been taught not to even consider it as a possible diagnosis in someone who was not severely ill. Even though Gyne’s are now seeing women come through their practices with Glabrata, many will not know to culture for it or how to treat it, because it was not something that they were taught about. This leaves these women like you and me and so many others sitting in the dark with horrific life altering symptoms. We still have yet to recognize the scope of the problem and the sheer numbers of people with it and until that happens we will not have the necessary studies or the educated doctors. So, this is why there are no real specialists on Glabrata and why it is so hard to find a doctor who knows how to effectively treat it, especially gyne’s.
So, let me explain why Dr. Sobel is the only doctor who specializes in it. First, he is one of only a few doctors who is not only a Gyne but also a register Infectious Disease Doctor. So, he is educated and specializes in both areas. He has spent his life treating cancer, HIV and severely immune compromised women’s gynecological issues, that are harder to treat because of their underlying conditions. Secondly, he has spent his life working in Detroit, MI a city that has been ravaged by Globalization and left to deteriorate. For the last two decades the majority of people that live within the inner city are the poorest of the poor. They have extremely high rates of drug abuse and HIV. This large population were coming in with the worst infections and due to their underlying conditions and or lifestyles they were very ill with things like Glabrata. He recognized early on that he had the opportunity to actually study large groups of people with this infection and he began to try and figure out how to treat it because he was watching so many of his patients die from infections that would normally have not killed them. This would become his life’s work and passion and he would go on to publish his studies world wide. He is now sought after by women from all over the world as well as doctors trying to treat their patients with this infection. I will tell you that when I went to see him it took about six months to get into him, but right now I know from other women with resistant strains of Glabrata that he is booking nearly nine months out. I will also tell you that this man is now in his mid 80’s and not quite ready to retire but thinking it will be soon. However, he states still to this day that this is his passion and recognizes that there are so many women out there that have no one else to turn to with this infection so he is still seeing patients, but for how long I do not know. So, if you fail ampho B /Flucytosine treatment more than twice, I suggest that you make an appt. with him very soon, because he truly is your last hope. I say this too not just because I have been in your shoes and traveled around this country including Mayo to get help, but also because I have literally had contact with hundreds of women at this point from all over the world who have not been able to get help or even someone as knowledgable as him when it comes to Glabrata. He truly is it and God help us ladies when he dies!
Now, just because he is the only one who specializes in Glabrata does not mean that you cannot still find a doctor who can treat it. I can tell you that if you educate yourself on Glabrata and have a doctor willing to listen and work with you, you can teach your doctor how to treat you. Many women have done this and been successful, sometimes they have had to switch doctors but once they find that one that is open to listening and working with them they do receive good care. I do have a doctor here in IL who worked with me and even went a step further while I was trying to teach her and did some of her own research into it and is now treating patients with it. However, I will tell you that if you fail the ampho B / Flucytosine and Voriconazole treatment, it is going to be extremely hard to find ANY doctor including the one here in IL as well as ANY ID doctors that are going to be able to help you. They will send you off to Dr. Sobel because there is really no long term studies on any “one” type of treatment that cures fully resistant strains, so it is really comes down to trial and error regimes of treatments to control it and only Dr. Sobel does that at this point.
OK, so hopefully fully that answers your question on finding a specialist for Glabrata. I probably gave you more than you needed, but I wanted to help you understand why there is no one else when it comes to Glabrata, so you kind of have to know the back story if you will.
So, now why you should not be taking in Stevia while in treatment. You see it does not matter if you are taking in a natural sweetener like Stevia or even honey, because your body still processes them in the EXACT same way it processes cane sugar or any sweetener. You see, when you eat or drink stevia (much like anything else that is sweet including natural fruits that are sweet too) your pancreas has to kick in and up your insulin to balance out the sugars (NO MATTER WHAT KIND YOU ARE TAKING) and when this happens it slows your metabolism and therefore allows the sugars to be absorbed into the body. So, when you have ANY kind of fungi infection you will be ultimately feeding it, sugars of any kind are the main source of food for fungi and they are the main source of interrupting your flora as well as your immune system. Now with that being said, any doctor especially a dietician, Infectious disease doctor, naturopath, intergrative or GI doctor will tell you that any probiotic drink, powder, pill or even yogurt that contains any kind of sugars such as Stevia, honey or even fruit is COMPLETELY WORTHLESS!!! The reason for this is because sugar cancels out and immediately kills the probiotics. Unfortunately, corporations are out for their bottom lines, so they advertise their products as having health benefits with probiotics that are going to supposedly enhance your immune system and health, but they also know the average person has no real knowledge of how probiotics work they just know that probiotics are the latest craze in health conscious people and those people think that if it says it has probiotics that they are going to be doing something great for their body. They also know that if they want to sell a lot of their product they have to make it appealing to the pallet or the average person will find a different brand to take, one that is sweet and not bitter to the taste. So, they add sweeteners like honey, Stevia and even fruits to over power the biter taste of soured bacteria (which is what probiotics come from). They also know that using “key” words like “natural sweeteners” such as Stevia, honey or even fruit leaves the consumer thinking it is much better and less harmful then if the product had actual sugar in it. Unfortunately, the FDA has no regulations on this industry to force them to tell you that any kind of sweetener added to a probiotic cancels out the probiotic, so these corporations get away with it and the average consumer who does not know better or who does not have a doctor that educates them on it will continue to buy their “good” tasting drink, yogurt, powder or gummy bear. This is why I tell women who are dealing with any kind of fungal infection they should not eat any kind of sweetener, nor should they be eating flavored yogurt or even Keifer. They need to get the plain yogurt with no sugars, fruits or sweeteners added and the same for keifer. I’m not going to lie they taste aweful!!! They are very sour but this is the only way to take a probiotic and actually get the probiotic.
So, with that being said and now knowing what you are drinking each day, I want to encourage you to PLEASE stop doing that, because you are not getting the health benefits you think you are and you are definitely feeding the fungi. Your drink is noting more than a fancy and possibly even pricey sugared drink and just to let you know stevia is much stronger than sugar itself (which is why you use 1/4 of the amount compared to sugar) and it kicks the insulin levels even higher, so you are really feeding your fungi very well! You can talk with your doctor about this too, who will let you know how probiotics work and how any kind of sweetener kills them on contact, including fruits. So, please if you cannot tolerate the sour taste of probiotics like from Keifer then please just take a probiotic pill and one with no added sweeteners in it and there are multitudes of them out there and they range from very cheap to very expensive, so find one that works best for you and stop this drink, its worthless and you are just making this company rich!
Well, I hope that answers that question too and helps you get on the right path. I would suggest if you can afford it to get with a naturopath or dietician or even an intergrative doctor who can help you to successfully restore your flora and understand the biology behind probiotics and prebiotics which are only one part of restoring the flora in the body, but both are essential for the life of the bacteria and your diet plays an even bigger part in those bacteria adhering and colonizing within the mucosal tissues. These bacteria and even certain fungi are necessary for our survival and over all health because they are our immune systems so you want to help foster their colonization. I want to give you one more piece of good information and that is when taking any kind of a prebiotic and probiotic you should also be using Reuteri too, because this is the main food source they need to have to not only survive but to adhere to the walls and colonize.
Well, I have written another book, lol! but I hope it helps you in getting what you need to get better. let me know if you have any other questions or if you want my email to talk privately and I can also give you the doctor here in IL if you live close to here too. I wish you the best and good luck.
Thanks Debra. I still have a ton of questions and I would love your email and information on an IL dr.
Debra,
Is there a way to message you privately? I just typed up and submitted a long post with questions and I don’t see it displayed…
Thanks!
Karen
Hi Karen, I will email you, so you will have my email to contact me privately, but your post did show up below, so I will go ahead and answer your questions on here because it will just be easier since this is where you wrote all the questions. Plus it will be here for others to read who may also have the same questions for you too, but again if you want to contact me with other questions or just to talk you certainly can. Thanks
Hello, Debra. I don’t use Facebook, etc. Would you send your email?
Hi Shelly, I did send you an email so that you can contact me.
Hi Debra,
I have read through many of the posts you have written helping people with glabrata and I have a some questions for you. I was diagnosed with vaginal Candida Glabrata about 2 years ago. I honestly don’t know exactly when I got it but I remember going in to the ob/gyn for about a year and being treated with lots of diflucan before my primary doctor finally suggested I get a culture. Needless to say it was positive for glabrata. I have tried almost everything there is to try including terazol, boric acid, nystatin suppositories, gentian violet, gynazole, there’s probably more. I really hope I still have a shot at curing this thing because I didn’t know those were all wasted treatments at the time. In January of this year I finally did 14 days of the ampho b/flucy cream. They cultured me just 4 days later and it was negative. The next day I came down with the flu and ended up with pneumonia. They put me on doxycycline. I actually only took the doxy for about 4 days before my primary doc said I could stop it (he knows about my yeast problems). But, about 4 days after I came off the doxy, I was already having symptoms again. Culture came back positive for Candida Glabrata again. Since then I have been using boric acid off and on because it does seem to help the symptoms some but all subsequent cultures have been positive for glabrata. I decided to repeat the ampho b/flucy gel which I just finished a couple of days ago. Here are my questions on the hopes that you can help me beat this thing.
1) if I get sick again where I need antibiotics, what would you recommend? If it’s Nystatin are we talking the oral kind or the vaginal suppositories? If it’s diflucan, how much daily and will it still help me if my sensitivity culture shows I am resistant.
2) I still have burning after repeating the cream. Is that normal and will it slowly go away? I am waiting two weeks to be cultured so I don’t know my results yet.
3) if this yeast is different than the other strains, why does the diet play a role? Is it just for overall immunity or does this yeast still feed off of sugar/carbs. I tried to be really good with diet on the cream and I have changed my diet significantly since this all started but I wasn’t as strict as you advised in one of your posts. I didn’t read that part until half way through the treatment.
4) my symptoms flare after sex/orgasm more than usual and my vaginal wall will burn for many hours after. Is there anything I should be doing after sex/orgasm (even now) to help minimize the chances of the yeast returning/getting worse?
5) the only other test that was positive for me in all the tests they ran was urea plasma parvum. Have you heard of this and could it be contributing to the yeast problem?
Sorry so many questions and I really do appreciate any advice/guidance you can give me. I pray everyday that I can get back to good health!
Karen
Karen, I am so sorry to hear about your journey with this infection, as you probably already know it is a beast of an infection and very hared to cure, but all hope is not lost. So, before I answer your questions let me first give you some “Glabrata” knowledge for the future.
First, I seen that you wrote that you attempted a lot of other anti-fungi treatments and unfortunately, you did not know at the time that the majority of those were useless against this particular strain of fungi. As you may have read here, this is NOT a candidias strain of fungi, it is known as a non-candidias strain, which also means that this strain does not respond to “candidias” type of treatments. That is because the usual candidias treatments work by altering the PH environment, making the area unhinhabitable for fungi to live and procreate. However, with this specific strain it has the ability to adapt to any PH environment and even to meds used to treat it with. This is what makes Glabrata a beast to treat. Unfortunately, many times using the “usual candidias” treatments like the ones you listed above can make the infection worse, especially treatments that are “topical” (gynazole, terazole, monistat, etc..) This is because Glabrata unlike candidias does not just live on the surface of the mucosa, but instead roots itself into the deeper layers of the tissues and even around the nerves that supply the area. This is also why women with Glabrata suffer from nerve pain like burning, stinging and even a raw razor blade or broken glass being crushed into the tissues feeling. It is also why so many women go on to develop Vulvodynia during or after the infection. So, because it grows into the deeper layers, topical type treatments never work to kill it, but unfortunately they will work to kill other forms of fungi like candidias, which in turn will also make the infection worse. This is because Glabrata as strong of an infection as it is, cannot compete for vaginal or mucosal wall space against other types of fungi. So, you want to maintain some candidias and vaginal flora, which in turn helps to keep the Glabrata infection from taking over and becoming out of control. (this would be why we all NEED a certain amount of candidias and bacteria’s within and on our bodies, they are what keeps us healthy). The same thing applies to using oral “azoles”, like Diflucan or voriconazole, etc.. these two can wipe out the good “stuff” and yet not kill Glabrata, which in turn can leave you with a worse infection. It is also important to say here too that the more treatments you try that fail the stronger this beast can get, which can make killing it even harder, but not always impossible.
The second thing for you to know is that once you have finished any kind of treatment, especially the “topical” ones you should NEVER be retested (even if you are having symptoms right away) for Glabrata, until you are at least two full weeks out from stopping the meds and that does include the oral meds too. It is preferred that you wait three weeks, but if your symptoms return right away then by the two week mark you can retest. If you test any sooner you will almost always get a false “positive”. So, when you were retested four days after stopping treatment and your test came back negative, that was most likely a false negative. The reason for this is because it takes a full two to three weeks for the gel or any type of treatment to fully leave the vagina. So, when they swab the area for Glabrata, they will usually only get a few Glabrata cells but they will also pick up some of the gel, so when they put it in the petri dish to culture it the gel will wipe out the few Glabrata cells, hence giving you a false “positive” result.
Now let me also say that more than likely the four days of doxy treatment for the pneumonia did not bring the Glabrata right back, chances are it never left, meaning the treatment failed. I say this because had the treatment worked to kill the Glabrata and then you went right onto Doxy for four days, you still would have not had returning symptoms of the Glabrata for at least a few weeks, but because you had symptoms within four days of stopping the doxy, that was too quick, which means it never really was cured to begin with. It is also very important to treat any other infections fully regardless of the problems you have with yeast, because many bacteria’s (especially those that cause pneumonia) can quickly return and then become resistant to the antibiotics to treat it or they can move out of the lungs and into other areas of your body, which I will explain later. I will also explain how your doctors could have treated you simultaneously with anti-fungal treatment to prevent a return of Glabrata or even other fungi strains. (although again I highly doubt your Glabrata infection was cured at that point anyway).
So, now your tests keep coming back positive for Glabrata, even though you used the ampho B / Flucytosine gel, but the boric acid is helping you some (which I am glad you are getting some kind of relief.) Unfortunately, the boric acid is just knocking back the numbers of Glabrata cells that are living in you, which is why you are not getting cured and your cultures keep coming back positive. The problem with this is (and it can happen with other treatments that do not fully kill it too) is that not all of the Glabrata cells have adapted to the boric acid yet, so many will still dye, hence knocking your numbers back, but I can tell you from working with so many women that in time all cells will have adapted and then even the boric acid will no longer do anything for you. This is why you will need to stop this soon so that you can move onto a treatment that will fully kill the infection and I will give you some advice on what else you can do in a moment.
I also seen that you had another culture done and are waiting on the results, but again I hope this new culture was done during a two week “free of all treatments” including boric acid period, if not the culture result will NOT be reliable. I will say it is important to get a new culture done for it just to make sure you really still have the infection since you have now done two treatments with ampho B / Flucytosine. I say this because you could have actually killed it this time, but may be still experiencing what feels like the exact same symptoms as if it has not gone away. However, many women who get infections like Glabrata can sustain nerve damage to the area (as I described above), which will leave them with vulvodynia, which unfortunately, will leave you feeling as though the infection has not gone. Now there is no test for vulvodynia, it is diagnosed by ruling out all other conditions and infections. If you are left with vulvodynia then you will need specialized help by a vulvar pain specialist and the treatment modalities are completely different then treating an infection and that is because it is NOT an infection any longer, but instead the damage left behind. So, this would be why it is so important to get an accurate culture done.
Ok, so let me start answering your questions, I will go in order of the numbers you posted above-
1. So, if you get sick again and need antibiotics you will need to have pre-treatment, during treatment and post treatment with either Diflucan or Nystatin. So, to pre-treat you would need four days of treatment prior to starting antibiotics, now this is the ultimate way to go, but if your infection is too severe to wait four days to start antibiotics then by all means start the antibiotics right away, but you must also start the antifungal drugs at the same time. You will stay on a daily regime of antifungal treatment for every day you are on the antibiotics and then remain on the antifungal drugs for up to ten days AFTER stopping the antibiotics. This is important because the antibiotics you take will continue to work and circulate through your system for up to ten days post treatment, so you will need to keep the antifungal treatment going and circulating within your body until the last of the antibiotics have left your system.
Now if you are going to use Diflucan you would need to take 500mgs a day starting four days prior to starting the antibiotics (As long as you can wait the four days) and then continue 500mgs a day every day that you are taking the antibiotics and for up to ten days after stopping the antibiotics. Now if for some reason you are unable to handle that amount of Diflucan daily for that long (And some people cannot due to side effects) then you should either switch to Nystatin or ask for the 250mgs pills of Diflucan instead of the 500mgs. The lower dose is not as optimal but the 250mg. is still better than not taking anything. This treatment is used regularly for patients who are prone to yeast infections of all kinds including candidias. it is also used in immune compromised people when they take antibiotics too.
If you decide to use the Nystatin then you MUST use the vaginal cream and it too will be used in the same manner, meaning that you pre-treat for four days before starting the antibiotics and again used every day that you are on the antibiotics and then again for up to ten days after stopping the antibiotics. Now please do NOT let any doctor tell you that using the oral form of this will work as well because it does NOT. The reason for this is because oral Nystatin, does not get absorbed outside of the GI tract, so it will never reach your vaginal area to prevent the Glabrata or any other type fungi infection from returning. Oral Nystatin is ONLY used for and good for treating candidias of the mouth, throat, stomach, or colon, but it will NOT work in any other part of the body!
Finally, it will not matter if your Glabrata is resistant to the Diflucan or the Nystatin, in nearly all cases of Glabrata infections since the late 90’s the strains have become DNA resistant to these drugs as well as many others, however, multiple studies have shown that even though these are no longer effective drugs to kill and cure Glabrata they are great drugs to prevent it from returning, so that it cannot start up again. I want to stop here and say too that even though they are very effective in preventing a return of the infection while taking antibiotics they too still can fail at even preventing it from returning. The last study I read sited that using one of these two treatments will prevent a return of Glabrata in up to 76% of cases, so even though that is a great number, you don’t want to be one of the 24% that it fails in, especially if you have worked so hard to cure it. So, my advice to you is PLEASE make sure that your doctors have proof positive that you have a bacterial infection and not a viral infection before ever prescribing you an antibiotic. You may also want to work with an alternative doctor who can many times find other alternatives to treating a bacterial infection before resorting to antibiotics. You want to know that your life depends on you taking that antibiotic before taking it, because unfortunately, science still does not have an answer as to why people who get Glabrata have a high return rate with it. There are many theories about this that I won’t get into, but it is surfice to say that once you get Glabrata you are prone to getting it back again at some point in your life, so make sure you need antibiotics before ever taking them again. On that same note you should always ask your doctor (should you need an antibiotic) what is the least amount of time you will need to be on it for it to be effective and always ask for one that is NOT a broad spectrum. Now some infections (especially now a days) will not respond to anything but broad spectrum, so use them if need be, but always ask first. Broad spectrum are ones that wipe out all good and bad bacteria as well as good and bad fungi, leaving you much more susceptible to Glabrata coming back, so be ware and be your own advocate!
2. Yes it can be normal to burn after stopping treatment, however it should get better with each passing day. If it does not then you MUST get retested for Glabrata (like you are) two weeks after stopping the treatment. Once again, both Glabrata and the treatments for it can leave you with the condition known as Vulvodynia, which will also cause burning too, but that burning will NOT get better with each passing day after stopping treatment. It also could be a sign that the Glabrata has not been cured, but again that burn will NOT get better with each passing day. In all the burning should be gone fully by the second week after stopping treatment, if not then you MUST get retested.
3.This strain of fungi, like any strain of fungi does live off of and thrive on sugar and carbs. It is also important to remember that sugar and carbs change not only your PH, which makes your body and especially your mucosa more inhabitable for fungi to live and grow on but it also disrupts your good flora which is needed to fight off these forms of fungi. On top of that a diet high in or even slightly elevated when you are prone to fungi will lower your immune system, which in turn leaves you more vulnerable to any strain of fungi. So, my suggestion to you is to eat a diet full of veggies, lower sugar fruits like berries, citrus and green apples (stay away from melons, bananas and red apples) also eat as much meat as you want. Stay away from dairy except for Keifer which you need to help you fight this infection and stay away from breads, pastries, pastas and rice. Also stay away from all sugars even natural ones like Stevia and honey. Now it is only necessary to eat like this while in treatment, and for about two weeks after stopping it, however when bringing some of these things back into your diet, do it in moderation and slowly. You really need to continue to eat a very healthy diet low in sugars and carbs for the rest of your life to give your body a fighting chance of keeping this beast away. There are many ways to substitute the breads and pastas, like cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles and living grain breads, but even with those breads or any breads do it in moderation. The same goes for using sugars or even drinking alcohol. Make sure to take plenty of probiotics / prebiotics and keifer and make sure to do this daily for the rest of your life, especially if you are prone to fungal infections.
4.Ok, so here is the thing, if you are positive for Glabrata or ANY infection, you should NOT be having any kind of sexual intimacy!!!!! Not even with a condom, because all infections within the vagina are considered transmittable even though they are not considered an STD! The problem for you is, that your partner ( I am assuming it is a male) can contract this infection and he will usually NOT experience symptoms like YOU, however he will give it right back to you during sexual intimacy! I would have hoped that your doctor would have explained this to you once your test came back positive, especially with Glabrata ! I say this because Glabrata is very difficult to treat in women, but it is even more impossible to treat in a male and to even test for it can be very painful for them. He would need a Q-tip swab test down the opening of the penis (very painful!) and if he was positive he would have to be treated by an infectious disease doctor, with oral or IV drugs, for a long period of time and many are very toxic and have high failure rates. It is also known to spread to their prostrate which can be very debilitating and painful! I usually tell women who have no underlying conditions like uncontrollable diabetes or HIV, that if you have failed ampho B / Flucytosine treatment twice and have been having any kind of sexual intimacy with a partner and your Glabrata returns or does not respond to the gel, then your partner must be tested! It is also pertinent to say here too that you only get so many chances with ampho gel before the Glabrata becomes immune to it, so if you keep getting it back especially after sexual contact then you MUST STOP all intimacy until he gets checked or you WILL end up with a completely drug resistant strain of Glabrata and so will your partner and one day your partner will experience the symptoms and it will be devastating for him too. I do not know if this is part of your problem or not, so I cannot say, but if your test comes back positive again your partner will need to be tested by a urologist and if he is positive he will need to be treated by an Infectious Disease doctor. So, please NO MORE intimacy until you have an accurate clean negative culture for Glabrata!
So, with that being said, let me answer the rest of your question, having sex or an orgasm while infected with Glabrata (or pretty much any other type of infection) is not only a NO- NO but it can be dangerous! not only will you make both of you sick, but you could end up with PID (pelvic inflammatory disease) which can leave you sterile with all kinds of internal organ and genital organ problems and in the worse case scenario it can even be life threatening. Having sexual intimacy while infected can also lead to other serious infections, including STD’s and this happens because your mucosal walls are inflamed with possible micro-tears that allow other bacteria’s and fungi to enter into the deeper tissues and set up a home. This is not to mention that the friction of sexual intimacy will only further damage the delicate tissues leading to more seriously deep infections, cuts, scrapes, tears and more inflammation, hence the burning and stinging. Now when the mucosal walls are inflamed from an infection as well as from any treatments you are under taking to treat it, your flora is no longer intact and up to par to fighting off any other micro-organisms that enter into the vaginal space, and you will have thousands of other micro-organisms enter even with a condom. On top of all of this, the more you upset and or damage the area that is inflamed (which is why you are burning and stinging) the higher the risk of developing vulvodynia, which is an incurable nerve pain condition that can leave you in a world of hurt that can lead to all kinds of disabilities for the rest of your life. Finally, any infection that you have, like Glabrata will not have a chance of being cured if you are irritating the area, upsetting what little bit of good flora you have left and entering other organisms into the mix for the body to try and fight off, which it just cannot do right now, especially with a beast of an infection like Glabrata.
So, here is the thing, there is NOTHING I can suggest for you to use to help minimize burning or stinging WHILE you are infected, but I will suggest that you STOP having any kind of sexual intimacy until you know for certain you are cured of Glabrata.
Now I will say this, if you are negative for Glabrata and any and all other infections and you return to sexual intimacy, but are still experiencing burning during and or right after intimacy or orgasm, (and you are positive you are clean of ALL infections), then you need to return to your doctor and have a discussion about vulvodynia, because these are the red flag signs for this problem and you will need professional help from vulvar pain specialists. If this is your problem then you will want to get on it right away because it is a nerve pain condition that does escalate and spread to other abdominal and thigh areas as time goes on. So, it is really important to address it and treat it as soon as it starts. Also once again, women who come down with infections like Glabrata have a high rate of developing this condition, so it would not be out of the norm for you to have been left with this.
Finally, if you are clean and you return to sexual intimacy then it is really important whether you have vulvodynia or not to ALWAYS use a water based lubricant like original KY or aqua gel. Do not use any kind of scented lubricant or an edible one or any kind that has enhancers, fragrances or dyes in it. These types of products will change your PH and disrupt your already delicate flora, which in turn can lead right back to another infection with Glabrata. Please do NOT use things like coconut or olive oil or any other such alternative thing for lubricant either, because even though it is said that coconut oil fights off fungi and bacteria, it also hangs on the vaginal walls sometimes for days setting off PH and flora changes, which will lead right back to Glabrata or even some other infection.
5. Yes I have heard of and know quite a bit about ureaplasma parvum. This specific bacteria comes from the family of Mycoplasma and I am so sorry to tell you this if you do not already know, but any form of mycoplasma is another beast of an infection to treat. This specific genius of bacteria has unbelievable capabilities of adapting to its environment and can quite often become resistant to any and all drugs. I can tell you from my own personal experience as well as all the studying I have done on this one, that it is believed by many in the science and medical field that this genius of bacteria is not curable in most cases. (I have been dealing with Mycoplasma pneumonia that I contracted from a tick bite five years ago and unfortunately it spread out of my lungs to other areas of my body). I have learned that this little nasty bug is probably more of a beast then Glabrata! I have learned about all the forms of it, including ureaplasma parvum. So, let me give you what I know for certain on this one. First it is sexually transmitted, even though it is not official considered an STD. So if you have it and have been having intimacy even oral, then you and your partner have it and he will need to be treated too. This infection NEEDS to be treated with urgency, if your doctor has not already started you on antibiotics. The reason it needs to be treated immediately is because once this bacteria enters you, it only lives within that specific area for a short period of time before it breaches the tissues and moves to other areas of your body, when that happens you will begin to experience symptoms in other areas of your body, symptoms that most of your doctors will have no idea or cause for. Once it moves to other areas of the body it also becomes more difficult to treat and cure, if possible. You can literally be left with life long inflammatory conditions throughout your body and they may even migrate from one area to another daily or over time. So, you can begin to experience arthritis like joint pain, muscle pain, neuropathy in any and all limbs, you can experience migraine headaches, visual disturbances, bladder and urethral pain and problems, menstrual irregularities, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and the list goes on and on. So, I would urge you if you have not already been started on antibiotics to go back to your doctor and demand to be treated immediately! (you MUST be your own advocate, I cannot stress this enough!) I would also urge you, if you have been having any kind of sexual intimacy with your partner to have him go in and get tested and treated right away too. Please DO NOT have any more sexual contact of any kind until you are both free of all infections or you will keep each other sick! It is also very important to get treated right away because this infection is known to cause PID and sterility as well as prostatitis in your partner.
Now many doctors will choose to treat this infection with one of two drugs, which are either Doxy or Azithromycin, however, there are multiple studies out there now that state the only effective way to bring this infection into remission or possibly cure it, is to use both of these drugs together. I can tell you that after contracting this nasty bug, it quickly within a month spread to my joints and then out from there to other areas of my body. I was originally treated with only doxy, which I took for five weeks and believe me I felt like a new woman by the third week of taking the doxy. Then after I had taken the drug for five weeks total, it was stopped, it would take about another three weeks after stopping it before it came back with a vengeance (throughout my body no less) and hit me like a mac truck, no lie!!! I spent months trying to get diagnosed because no one believed that I still had this infection. My symptoms got so bad that I needed to use pain pills for the joint and muscular pain and needed a wheelchair to get around. It would be at that point that I dove into studying this infection myself. I began to learn about how this organism spreads throughout the body and the damage that it does. I finally traveled to Vanderbilt to meet a professor who had been
studying this infection for nearly a decade and had written many of the studies I was reading. I learned at that point that it was already to late for me to be cured, my best hope now was to put it into a remission and bring my immune system up to par so that it could hold it there. He told me that once mycoplasma enters the body you only have a short period of time to try and irradicate it and that would have been within the first few weeks of contracting it. However, the only way I could have even had a chance to kill it would have been being treated with both Doxy and Azithromycin, something my doctors had not done, although they did treat me with both, but they did it one at a time. Anyway, I would return home with a three month script of both and take them daily. I did get it into a remission, but I have struggled to keep it there, which has meant that I have been literally on and off of these antibiotics now for years and I most likely will spend the rest of my life cycling the antibiotics as it rears its ugly head from time to time.
Mycoplasma in all its forms (ureaplasma parvum) is nothing to take lightly or to fool around with, this infection will devastate your life! I will also tell you that this specific organism is know to form biofilm immediately to protect itself from any and all antibiotics, so when you start treating this infection it is really important to also use a biofilm buster, which will break up the biofilm it creates around itself and its colonies so the medicine can get in there and kill it. A great natural biofilm buster that you can use and is actually used in most other industrialized countries (it is even a prescription in all other countries but not here) is Serapeptase. This is a protein taken out of the stomach of silk worms that has the ability to break up biofilms from nearly all organisms. It has been used for centuries and a lot of doctors know about this often forgot about natural helper. It is being studied and used here in our hospitals when treating drug resistant bacterial infections that do not respond to antibiotics due to its biofilm mechanisms. You can buy this cheaply off of Amazon and I would highly recommend it.
Now, you are right to think that this may be contributing to your Glabrata infection and I do not doubt it is involved with your resistance problem, although any sexual intimacy may also be playing a part in it as well as if your ampho gel was not made right or used right. So, there are a few ways of treating all this. First, NO sexual contact until you are both tested for everything and treated and have negative results! Secondly, you can treat with the ampho gel in the vaginal area while treating orally with the antibiotics for the ureaplasma parvum, they will not cancel each other out and you will not make the Glabrata worse if you are using them together. The third way to treat is to first use the antibiotics to treat the ureaplasma parvum and put treating the Glabrata on hold until you have been cleared of the bacterial infection, then you can immediately start on the ampho gel. Any of these ways will work.
Finally, let me say, if your new culture comes back positive for Glabrata, then your partner needs to be tested and if positive treated. As for you, you could try the ampho gel again, but if you do make sure it is being made correctly, that is hugely important other wise it could fail. If it is made right but does not work again and your partner is clean and you have not been having sexual intimacy while under going treatment again, then you have two options. The first, would be try to Voriconazole at 500mgs a day for no less than five to six weeks. (this may need to be prescribed by an Infectious Disease doctor and your liver will need to be tested prior to starting it and every ten days while on it and then ten days after stopping it). If that fails as well or if you want to skip that, you can make an appt. with Dr. Sobel who is the world expert on Glabrata, he is located at Wayne State University in MI. It takes about six months to get into him, but get on the waiting list and you may get in much quicker. He will be your best hope at that point and has spent his career dealing with resistant Glabrata infections. If your Glabrata test comes back negative then you will need to be pre-treated with Diflucan or Nystatin and you will need to use it while under treatment for the ureaplasma parvum, which may be the reason for your symptoms at this point too. Once you have been through all forms of treatment and you and your partner are cleared of all infections, should you still suffer with symptoms even if its only after sex or orgasm then you will need to address vulvodynia with your doctors.
Well I have probably written the largest response yet, LOL! I hope they can publish the whole thing, because it is all really important to what you have written here to me. Well if you have any other questions or need anything else that I can help you with please feel free to email me or come back here to reach me. I wish you the best of luck with all this!
Dear Debra,
I am eternally grateful for this blog! I cannot thank you enough! I’ve learned so much from this. I hope you are doing well!
Here is my story, in September of 2017, i was given an antibiotic with steroid. It wasn’t a flaq but still broadband. In October of 2017, i had a radical hysterectomy due to cervical cancer, and lymph nodes where taken out in groin area.In November after trying to treat what felt like constant uti, my gyn did a culture which showed glabrata. She then treated me with boric acid, which as I’ve read is not very effective. However, after treatment, two weeks later, showed negative when retested. After treatment I did feel relieved, but still had some pain, no burning or discharge or itching, or uti symptoms, only pain and maybe some redness but not much. I cleaned up my diet at the learning of the glabrata, so no sugar and started taking all kinds of natural antifungals. Added probiotics, kefir everything that I could to restore my flora and overall health/ immune system with the vitamins. Then in January i was treated for hpylori cause was having acid reflux so was given a two week double antibiotic course. I doubled my probiotics, ate clean, and took the natural antifungals. However, i still had pain, so felt like maybe glabrata came back or maybe never really left since retested at about 2-3 weeks, maybe too soon. So seems like I am constantly battling with pain or glabrata not sure what it is, because every time i eat the least bit of sugar i get pain. The pain is not constant, I do get relief for hours but comes back in spurts. Or it seems when i’m digesting my food, i will get pain, the pain is vulva pain, not vaiginal pain. There is no burning, just pain and pain in groin. So, i went back this week on Monday to get retested for the glabrata and with the information regarding ampho b gel and flucytocine. She was like let’s recheck but I am not comfortable with treating you with gel if comes back positive, she said I will do boric acid one more time, if still positive then I will refer you to infectious disease doctor because i won’t treat you with the gel, because i don’t know enough about it. She didn’t even want to read the journals. So now, results for glabrata came back negative again, thank God, even after more antibiotics, and it’s been 5 months since first diagnosed. Results from recent pap showed BV, she called in metro gel, however, I’m not sure if this is safe, or if will mess with my ph or cause any affect on glabrata coming back. And does bv cause vulva pain, i have no discharge or itching or anything else. Do you know of any natural remedies for this, or was thinking of going to get a second opinion to test for glabrata again, but not sure. My gyn thinks it’s nerve pain from the hysterctomy, but how would i know? Thank you in advance for any assistance you may have to offer.
i read you had it several times, so wondering if could you feel when it was coming back, because i feel pain if i eat even a green apple so not sure if it’s a sign or just coincidental.
Hi Gracie, I am so sorry to hear of all that you are going through and have been through. I hope all your cancer was removed and you are now cancer free. As for your Glabrata, if you tested negative within three weeks of any kind of treatment then chances are you are Glabrata free. I also have to tell you that your symptoms at this point are not usual for Glabrata and from what you are explaining here, I would definitely agree with your gyne, that this sounds like nerve damage. You have many reasons to have sustained nerve damage to this area, from the initial Glabrata infection, to the cancer and especially from the surgery and removal of the groin lymph nodes. I do not know if your doctor took the time to sit down and explain to you prior to your surgery or even recently, the risks of nerve damage to the pelvic nerves from your cancer and surgery as well as from the infections you have had. These nerves encompass not only the pelvic floor but also the vaginal area, the bladder, the bowel, rectal area and even down the thighs. These nerves are all integrated and if even one nerve on a branch is damaged, they can send signals to nerves throughout these areas in time creating chronic pain syndromes and chronic functional syndromes. Some of these syndromes are known as IBS (when the bowel is involved), Intercysiticial cystitis (when the bladder is involved), vulvodynia (when it is the vulva, the outer vaginal area, or into the vagina up to the coitus), Vestibulitis (when the pain encompasses the deeper inside of the vagina up to the cervix or where it would have been) and finally there is Allodynia (which is a burning, stinging kind of pain on the skin down the inner and outer thighs. You may also get labeled with Fibromyalgia disease as well, especially if you have pain in all of these areas and even other areas of your body.
You see when you get an infection, have cancer or under go surgery in this area, the nerves can get turned on, (which they are supposed to), they send signals to the spinal cord and up to the brain to tell you that there is pain in this area, due to something not being right, hence the infection, cancer or from surgery. The brain then alerts the immune system which quickly goes into action to fight of the “offender” and sends out antibodies to attack the tissues where it perceives the offender. These antibodies attach themselves to the tissues and nerves in this area in order to protect them, but by doing this it causes inflammation, it is like a cushioning mechanisim that the body uses to defend itself. Now all this would be a normal reaction to an assault on the body, but once the infection, cancer or the healing from the surgery happen, the body is suppose to recognize this and the pain signals it sends to the spinal cord and brain should stop which then shuts down the immune system, which in turn then stops the inflammation and you stop having pain, swelling, redness, stinging, burning or whatever other symptoms you may be feeling. However, for some reason in some people, the nerves stop recognizing that the treat is over to the area and so they continue to keep sending signals to the spinal cord and brain, which in turn keeps the immune system turned on and you continue to suffer with what feels like a never ending infection. The area can even look like it is still infected due to redness, swelling, non-smelly discharge, and of course pain. When this happens we know that there has been nerve damage (meaning the nerves no longer know how to shut off or recognize a true threat to the area). This is when you develop one or multiple pain syndromes which can then lead to functional syndromes. Again these nerves all connect to each other so all it takes is one damaged nerve to in time cause other damaged nerves in the area. This is why it is important to get the right diagnosis and then to receive the correct treatment as soon as possible.
Now from what you are describing here, it sounds like you are just dealing with vulvodynia at this point, but as benign as this sounds, it is nothing to play around with, because if it is not dealt with correctly and promptly, the pain can easily spread to other pelvic nerve branches creating even more pain syndromes in other areas, like the ones I listed above. The treatment for this type of pain syndrome is also unfortunately not a “one size fits all” pill. There are multiple modalities used to treat this condition, things like meds (SSRI’s, Tricyclics, anti-seizure drugs, Lyrica or Gabapenten), there is also pelvic floor therapy (massage therapy inside and outside of the vagina as well as exercises), there are creams that are compounded to put in the vagina (Xanax, medicinal pot, lidocaine, ect..) There is also special diets like a low oxalate diet and an anti-inflammatory diets. There are several other types of modalities that are used as well, things like acupuncture, meditation and even biofeedback. Now It can take a few months even up to a year to find the right combination of modalities (usually it takes more than one of these to calm the area down and quiet the nerves), so please do not get discouraged if you do not get immediate relief from any of these things, it will happen it just takes time. Now, unfortunately, most if not all gyne’s have no real knowledge or expertise in this area and so they are not the type of doctor that you are going to need to help you get well. You will need to find a pelvic pain treatment center or a pelvic floor pain specialist in your area and they are usually found in most large cities, so depending on where you live you may have to travel a ways to reach one, but your doctor should have a list or know of one of these places in your area or close by, so make sure to ask you doctor about it. You can also go the National Vulvodynia Pain Foundation site and look up places and doctors in your state and area. You can also find a lot more information on their sites about these kinds of pain syndromes as well as treatments.
So, I also see that you now have BV, let me first say that women who suffer from vulvodynia or even any of the other pain syndromes I mentioned above, often suffer from recurrent bacterial and fungi infections and this is just because the tissues are inflamed and cannot regulate their PH balance or fight off the natural offenders that we all come in contact with. So, with that being said it is important to always get checked if you think you have an infection and if you show positive for one, then to treat it quickly, so as to stop the nerves from over reacting or getting worse. So, using the Metro gel is really one of the safest treatments for BV and this is because it is designed to only wipe out the bad bacteria and leave much of the good bacteria behind. It also has a natural anti-inflammatory effect and quite often it is used in women with vulvodynia who do not even have an infection. It is used to soothe the tissues and bring down the swelling and redness. So, I would definitely tell you to go ahead and use the Metro gel. It can set off the Glabrata again but there is a low risk with this specific gel, however if you wanted to protect yourself from it coming back while using the gel you can ask your gyne to prescribe diflucan too. You would need to take a daily dose for every day that you are using the gel and for up to four days after you have stopped using it. That would ensure that the Glabrata would not come back. diflucan is a great drug to prevent Glabrata but useless at killing it once it has taken hold, so when using antibiotics or even antibiotic creams you can always ask for Glabrata prevention with Diflucan.
As for BV causing vulva pain, yes it can, but usually that happens only when the infection is so bad that you have large amounts of discharge coming out that cover and or sits on the vulva for some time and usually it causes more burning, stinging or itching pain, but without you having any real discharge or itching inside ect,, this is not likely due to the BV. So, I am going to go back to saying here that I am more on board with your doctor that this is more than likely due to nerve damage then from this infection. I also cannot explain why when eating sugars this area gets sets off, this is the first time I have heard of this specific food source causing an exacerbation in pain, however, some women who suffer from vulvodynia do find that certain foods and drinks can set off their pain, this is why one of the modalities in treating vulvodynia is specialized diets, so again this is one more symptom that can be linked back to you having sustained nerve damage in this area. I would definitely tell you to sit down and talk to your doctor about vulvodynia and finding a doctor or clinic that specializes in treating this condition.
Well, I hope this information helps you and I wish you the best.
Hi Debra, yes, thank God, I am cancer free. It was detected early, so the surgery was the only treatment, no chemo or radiation or anything else. I emailed my oncologist/ surgeon to see if it could be nerve damage he said it is unlikely, however, requested to see me. So we will see how that goes. Thank you for all of this vital information you shared with me, and at least now i know somewhat how to proceed. I do live in a huge city so finding treatment, I hope will not be an issue. But now I will probably have to have all sorts of testing to check for nerve damage or torn muscles or what not. If you have any other information that I may need please let me know. Before the onset of any of this, I never had health issues or had to deal with doctors or healthcare, so I think asking all the right questions come from experience. I know now, not to trust what I am prescribed or how I am treated or diagnosed. It is just insane, the consequences. Thank you again!
Can someone give some feedback on how they are doing? Is there anyone with a success story of getting rid of it permanently? I am just so appalled that antibiotics are the most common drug prescribed. So why is it that only a small fraction of people get this infection?
Hi Jeena, I am so sorry you are having so many problems with trying to get rid of this infection. I can tell you that I am a success story, but not before having it return on me (in other areas of the body too) several times. I can also tell you that many of these women on here who have posted have beaten this infection, but because they have become healthy again they have moved on with their lives and have not come back on here to post about it. I can tell you that I know they have beaten it because most of these women privately email me as they are working to treat the infection and once they are better they email me to thank me for all the help, so please know that you can beat it, but I’m not going to lie, it is a journey and it does require several lifestyle changes.
I know you said that you are appalled that the only way to treat this infection is with antibiotics, but actually it is treated with anit-fungals which I am assuming that is what you meant. The reason why this is one of the only sure fire ways to kill this one is because of this specific fungi’s ability to adapt to its environment, which is also what makes it so difficult to treat and kill and to keep it from coming back. This specific fungi is NOT a candidias, it is known as a NON-CANDIDIAS species, which often confuses the doctors treating it, who are not familiar with this fungi and its genetic make-up or its abilities to adapt to its environment and the meds used to treat it. Because it is NOT a candidias is also why trying to treat it with oils or other alternative things does not work, because those things work by changing the PH environment and when it comes to this species it has the ability to adapt to that new environment making those alternative things which can kill most candidias useless against this one. I can tell you too that in studies done they have learned that when it comes to this species of fungi, the hosts immune system and personal body PH and body temp plays a significant role in whether or not a drug is going to work. This means that when your doctor takes a sample of your infection and sends it off for what is known as a MIC test to see what drugs are effective at killing it and at what doses, it does not always mean that the way the drug worked in the petrie dish will hold up once you begin taking it and that is because your own immune system, body PH and body temp which cannot be reproduced in a petrie dish will inevitably play a part in deciding how effective it will really be in your body. This is why so many drugs that are suppose to kill it end up failing. It is also important to understand that this species adapts within approximately seven days to most drugs, so that it can make itself resistant to that drug, leaving you with little options for treatment.
You are asking why only a small fraction of people get this infection, so let me first say that there are more people then you can probably imagine that get this infection (and the numbers are growing exponentially with every passing year), but due to poor testing and a population of uneducated gynecologists, women are walking around with what they are being told is a chronic BV or candidias infection, when in reality it is Glabrata. When these doctors have exhausted trying to treat these women’s supposed BV or chronic candidias they dismiss these women or the women themselves move on to other doctors with the hopes that some other doctor will be able to cure them from what they believe is another infection. Many women, me included, will see at least five gynecologists in an attempt to treat their infections. Some but not all will eventually come across that one doctor who knows to test for Glabrata and for the first time they get the right diagnosis, but then they run into trying to find a doctor who also knows how to treat it correctly. I can also tell you that because this infection was only seen in very sick women who didn’t have much of an immune system left, that most gynecologist were not educated on this type of an infection and most would not have ever even seen it in their lifetime of practice. However, since the 90’s with the HIV crisis and the new chemos meds that are now keeping cancer victims alive longer it began to be seen more often and now in the 21st century we hand out powerful broad spectrum antibiotics like candy which has now made this type of an infection much more common in the average every day women. This is also why we are seeing the numbers growing. This then goes back to the hosts immune system and environmental hygiene habits as well as their diet. This all plays a role in you getting this infection and its ability to continually come back. (I learned that the hard way)
So. I am not sure from what you have said here if you have ever gotten rid of the infection, meaning once the treatment has stopped you have been free from it for a few months, or if once you stopped treatment the infection comes right back. You see, if you stop treatment and are free from symptoms for at least three months then you have actually cleared it, but for some reason it returns. If that is the case then some lifestyle changes can make a huge difference for you. Things like changing your diet to a very clean diet, meaning no processed foods, no sugars even natural ones. Limit your alcohol consumption to nearly none, drink plenty of water and take probiotics and prebiotics daily, including drinking kefir. You should be also staying away from starchy foods too which become sugar to your body once you digest them. Stay away from the pastas and breads too. You will also need to make hygiene changes too, things like taking showers and not using shampoos or conditioners where they will run down your body to that area. Using only Dove hypoallergenic soaps, that means no other types of body soaps, oils, bath beads or salts, no powders, or vaginal PH products. You need to wear cotton underwear only and pants that are not too tight, so the area stays dry and can breathe. You also need to make sure you dry that area thoroughly when getting it wet, you may even want to use a blow dryer on the cool setting. Never douche or use any type of feminine product, other than original cotton tampons at that time of the month. Basically NOTHING should touch that are other than water and dove soap. When having sex use only KY original lubricant or aqua lube, never use scented or flavored products. It is also very important to use Diflucan or Nystatin four days prior to any antibiotic use and then it should be used during the course of the antibiotics and for up to ten days after stopping the antibiotics. Now these drugs are NOT good at killing Glabrata once you have it but they are great at preventing it from coming back. Now if you cannot wait four days to start an antibiotic to pretreat with one of these drugs then don’t worry just make sure you are using it while you are using the anitbiotics and also up your probiotics and kefir during this time. However I would encourage you to use any other alternative treatments before resorting to antibiotics. Unfortunately, once you get Glabrata you are always prone to getting it back and antibiotic use is a sure fire way to get it back real quick, but pretreatment usually works well to ward it off. Finally, exercise and I know your probably like what does that have to do with any of this, but it plays a huge part in it. You see, your immune system kicks in and ramps up and becomes stronger with any kind of exercise even just walking 30 minutes a day and like I said your immune system plays a huge role in this infections ability to live within in your body and even in how well the drugs work to kill it. So, it is of the ut most importance for you to do some kind of exercise to help your body fight this infection off and keep it gone. One last thing here to say, if your infection goes away and stays away for three months but then returns and you are doing all of this still, then your partner needs to be checked for Glabrata because men can get this infection too but unfortunately due to the biological make-up of the male anatomy they will not usually suffer like a female and may walk around with it never knowing they have it and are passing it to their partner. For your partner to be checked for it, he would have to be seen by a urologist and have the aweful q-tp swab test done, but it may be necessary if you are repeatedly getting it back.
Now if your infection returns within a few days to weeks after stopping the meds then your meds are not working because the Glabrata has already adapted to the drug. So, the only reason why you are getting any relief is because not every glabrata cell will have adapted to the drug, so the drug is working to knock the infection back to where you feel some or even full symptom relief but unfortunately it is not killing it. In this case, you would need to use the amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel for 14 days. Then wait to see if your symptoms return. Now if they return right away or within a month then you would need to repeat the gel again for another 14 days. If the symptoms return again within days or weeks then you would need to have another glabrata test done, but you MUST wait at least three weeks from stopping the gel. If the test comes back showing positive then you have a really resistant strain and your journey is going to become much more complicated and will require an expert in Glabrata and their is only one in the country. His name is Dr. Sobel and he is located at Wayne State University located in MI. He is going to be your best hope at that point and that is because he is a world renoun expert on Galbrata and treats only the resistant cases and has years of experience with HIV, uncontrolled diabetic and low immune system women who suffer with resistant Glabrata. So, I would tell you to call him right away because he has a waiting list of at least six months, this is because this infection is becoming so mainstream, so know you are not alone in this fight.
Now if your Glabrata symptoms return after two rounds of ampho B / flucytosine gel but your latest culture does NOT show Glabrata anymore then chances are you did rid the infection but you have been left with what is known as vulvodynia, which can act and even look like Glabrata. This is NOT an infection, it is a nerve damage condition usually caused by some kind of serious infection (like Glabrata) or an injury to the area and it requires specialists to treat it. unfortunately many women even some which have posted on here (me included ) develop vulvodynia after dealing with Glabrata and truthfully you cannot tell the two apart except for a culture for Glabrata. There also is no test for vulvodynia it is diagnosed on exclusion of all other vaginal conditions. It too, much like Glabrata is not well known or taught to gynecologists so many will miss this diagnosis too. So, please know that if your Glabrata tests come back negative then you need to question your doctor about this diagnosis as being your problem now.
Well, I can tell you, I have been Glabrata free for four years now even while treating Lyme disease which requires mega doses of all kinds of antibiotics, but again it took changing my diet, hygiene and incorporating exercise into my life as well as pre treatment with Diflucan when treating the lyme. I hope this gives you hope and more information so that you can beat this infection once and for all. I wish you the best and if you need any more information or help finding help please let me know and I will do my best to help you. Good Luck
Hi, I would like to ask if I you do not mind receiving and answering questions?
Mines started out with a nail fungus that turned into a walking pneumonia, to cross sectional systemic issues. I have had a Cipro, Flagyl, four Azoles, some antibiotic for bladder infection and a general antibiotic for an unknown reason for a high white blood cell count, all eight in exactly one year.
I had vision problems (sensitivity to light), lung pain, irregular breathing patterns, anxiety, irritability, depression, small red spot break out, hearing issues (sensitivity), sharp shooting knee pain-elbow-back-neck and feef, massive brain fog where I can’t understand simple questions nor do basic single number multiplication, finger and toe tingling, aging, feeling tired, confusion, memory problems, confusion, high sugar cravings, weight is stagnant despite the effort to lose it, and im freezing most the time and then I get hot.
Next is Vaginal. Crawling, moving, bubbles, pressure, vacuum, sensations and itching. Vulvadonia, vaginosis, bv, and candidiasis dxs. Then I feel these electrical currents and muscle spasms down there.
IBS has flared as well.
Testing. 1st doc test was high leukocyte count. 2nd was C. Glabrata (zero trace of STDs). 3rd BV and Candidiasis. 4th. Waiting to confirm the fungi species.
My skin also has tingling sensations on the scalp and shins.
Anywho, I’m going to go to ID and get it tested for a systemic infestation. Would you happen to know what a systemic infection looks like and what a severe case looks like. Thank you Debra
Hi Versa, Wow, you are really going through alot and I am so sorry to hear about all of your suffering. So, let me try to explain a few things and then hopefully point you in a direction that gets you down a path toward healing.
So, first I see that you said that this all started with a nail fungal infection, so let me start here. First, Glabrta is not known to infect the nail bed / nails. There are a few species of fungi that infect that area of the body, but Glabrata is not one of them. The species that do infect this area can be hard treat like Glabrata, but not because they are a resistant strain of fungi like Glabrata but because it is hard to treat this area due to blood supply and getting enough medicine to the area to effect the fungi. So, it can take weeks to months of anti-fungal treatment to kill one of these species when it infects the nail beds / nails. However, it is important to know that a nail bed / nail fungi infection does NOT spread to any other areas of the body, even if you never treat it. It will only stay within the nail bed / nails and continue to destroy the nail and bed. So, the pneumonia and even the bladder infection did NOT come as a result of the nail infection. These were all separate infections that just so happened to come in succession.
Now, it is improtant to note here that when anyone gets a fungi infection it is usually becuase there is something else going on in the body or with the immune system. Now, it could be something as simple as a poor diet or hygeine or it could be something more complicated such an underlying health condition like diabetes, thyroid problems, an autoimmune disease or from taking antibiotics, immune supression drugs, ect… In any case, a weakened immune system that allows for a fungi infection also makes your body vulnerable to many other infections and diseases. Unfortunately, the meds that you have been taking to treat each infection has also played a part in weakening the immune system further and has more than likely lead to more serious strains of infections, like Glabrata in your vaginal area. But it is important to know that one infection did not lead to another, they are all separate infections, but they all are a result of a compromised immune system for some reason.
So, with that being said, let me also relieve your fear of having a systemic or serious infection with Glabrata or any other infection for that matter. So, first there are three types of Glabrata infections. They are known as “topical”, “internal” and “systemic”.
So, the topical Glabrata infections are infections that inhabit the eyes, mouth, throat, skin, vagina and bladder. These infections are NOT deadly and will NOT spread to any other areas of your body, unless you are SERIOUSLY ill with an underlying health condition, such as HIV, severely uncontrolled diabetes, end-stage cancer, ect… Another words these are truly very sick people, which I assume you are not. Now these infections are usually treated by “topical” drugs like the amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel or mouth wash, ect.. Now just because they are not deadly does not mean that they will not cause you horrific pain. You see, Glabrata is not like Candidias Albicans, it is known as a non-candidias, which makes it completely different than the other strains and it makes it a more serious infection along with making it very hard to treat. So, Glabrata likes to move quickly once it takes hold and unlike candidias albicans, Glabrata destroys tissues, nerves and even the blood supply to the area it infects. Because of this it can cause horrific pain and even breakdown of the tissues. So, for instance, a vaginal infection with Glabrata can cause severe burning that feels as if someone has poured acid in your vagina and then ground glass into it (thats the nerves being destroyed by it), it can cause some itching, discharge, foul odor (from the destroyed and dying tissues), and if left long enough or not treated correctly it can cause ulcerations, skin breakdown and even bleeding. However, a vaginal infection with Glabrata does NOT spread to other organs, the worst that it can do is spread via the discharge that comes out in your underwear and then sits on the near by skin, causing it to breakdown. So, like the skin around the outside of the vagina, the buttocks, the anus and even down the thighs. This is the worst Glabrata in the vagina will get even if you do not treat it. So, topical infections with Glabrata are terribly painful and life altering but they are not deadly and they will NOT spread!
Now, an “internal” infection with Glabrata is a whole other story. So, an internal infection means that it has infected an organ, such as the lungs, kidneys, gut, heart, brain, ect.. First let me say that it is rare to get it in an organ, and those that do get it in an organ are always people who have serious underlying conditions, like HIV, uncontrolled diabetes, an autoimmune disease that is being treated with immune supressing drugs, cancer that is being treated with chemo drugs, ect.. Now let me just say that even those with these conditions rarely ever get this infection too. But when they do, it is considered a life threatening emergency. This again is becuase Glabrata destroys the tissues, nerves and blood supply to anything it infects, so when it gets into an organ it will very quickly destroy it and the person. Again this is a VERY SERIOUS infection that moves quite quickly, it is not like candidias albicans. So, time truly is of the essence to save their lives. So, to give you an example, if you got it in the gut, within two weeks you would be so ill that you would be literally curled up in a hospital bed crying out for the doctor to please stop the pain or end your horrific suffering. You would be unable to keep anything down including water, making dehydration a factor. You would also be suffering with severe non stop diarrhea and possibly vomiting and in most cases you would be bleeding out from both areas as well. If treatment is not strated immediately the person would suffer a horrible few weeks before succombing to the infection and passing away. Just to give you an idea, the longest known case of someone living with a GI infection of Glabrata only survived 45 days. For most, no matter which organ it infects they do not live pass thrity days without treartment. Now even with treatment many will still go on to pass away due to the fact that Glabrata is so resistant to most drugs and because the people who get internal infections with Glabrata are usually already very immune compromised and quite ill, so their bodies are just not able to help fight the infection.
Finally, there is the “systemic” Glabrata infection, now a systemic infection means that it has moved from an organ or a port that is in the persons body and into the blood stream. This is the most serious infection of all! This is also EXTREMELY rare and ONLY seen in the sickest of the sick. Meaning the sickest of the HIV people, the sickest of the cancer people, etc.. and even within that population, it is still very rare! However, when they do get a systemic infection with Glabrata their lives are in serious jeopardy and if treatment is not started immediately they will pass within 38 hours of the infection becoming systemic. Let me just say here too that 90% of all people who develop a systemic Glabrata infection still pass away even with the most potent IV anti-fungal drugs known to man. This is not only becuase the infection is so serious but also because these peoples bodies are just so sick and broke down that they cannot combat this infection even with the meds.
So, now that I have explained the types of Glabrata infections to you, you can see that you are definetely NOT sytemically infected with it, nor do you have an internal infection with it. I can pretty much bet that the Infectious Disease Doctor that you are going to see, will end up explaining all this to you too and reassuring you too that you do NOT have a sytemic or internal Glabrata infection. Let me also say that after dealing with so many ID doctors, I can pretty much tell you how this appt. is going to go. He / she is going to explain everything I just did to you and then they will want to at least treat your vaginal Glabrata infection and probably with an “azole” drug like Diflucan again, however, this is NOT the drug to treat with it as you probably already know from already using it. So, they are going to be at a loss, this is where you will need to explain to them how to treat your infection. You will need to bring in the studies I have posted on here in the comments section to others, which explains how to treat it in the vagina with amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel and the one study also gives the formual for making the gel. It is going to be in your best interest to be treated with this, than with any other drug. This is because the gel does NOT get absorbed into the vaginal tissues, so it has no systemic side effects and will NOT further your compromised immune system or set off any other bodily infections or symptoms. (please do NOT let your doctor tell you that it is a dangerous drug, because it is only dangerous when used in IV form, but topically it is very safe due to its molecular structure). So, if you use the gel and stop using any other antibiotics, which is more than likely what lead to this infection, then this probelm should be taken care of.
Now, I can also tell you from past exerience with ID doctors that he is not only going to tell you that you do NOT have a systemic Glabrata infection or any other type of systemic infection for that matter (because even bacterial infections would pretty much do exactly what I explained Glabrata could do if it got into your internal organs or became systemic), but that he also does not know why you are having all these other infections and symptoms. He will end by telling you that he can treat the Glabrata vaginal infection but as for everything else he will have no clue about and send you on your way. He probably will not even bring up that there is something wrong with your immune system, this is just not in their interest or repitiore..
So, because I have not only dealt with most of the symptoms you are describing here but also know hundreds of others that are in your same boat, I am going to give you some advice and hopefully lead you down a path of healing. So, the first thing I want to encourage you to do is Google ” Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome (FQT)”, so a fluoroquinolone is a group of antibiotics, most commonly known by their names, such as Ciprofloxin (Cipro), Levofloxin (Levaquin), Avofloxin (Avelox) and there are others too which include eye and ear drops, but the ones I have listed here are the most commonly prescribed ones and Cipro is one that you listed as having used. So, these drugs are very serious and known to cause mitochondrial damage, which is damage at the cellular level. They also cause a host of other problems such IBS, anxiety, weight problems and a host of other problems from the ones you listed here to many more. Thousands to possibly millions of people who have used these drugs have fallen ill with everything you have descibed here and more. For some the symptoms come on slowly and for others they progess quite quickly, it just depends on each persons own body. The symptoms can progess as time goes on because each cell that is damaged by one of these drugs has to replicate, but they can only replicate their exact self, so if they are damaged by something like a fluoroquinolone then they can only replicate another damaged cell, so in time these damaged cells begin to add up and with each damaged cell the symptoms throughout the body can add up or even become worse leaving people to struggle with all kinds of body wide symptoms, pain and even disabilities.
Now FQT is a REAL syndrome and even has a ICD billing code, yet 95% of doctors have no knowledge of it or even know or understand the damages that this group of antibiotics can cause, so this is why all the doctors you have gone to have yet to diagnose this syndrome and I am sure the ID doctor will also not diagnosis it! Many will never believe it either because they have not been taught about it nor told about it from the pharmacuetical reps who want them to push these drugs on people. Yet the pharmacuetical drug literature describes the majority of the symptoms you are complaining about, truthfully YOU ARE THE POSTER CHILD FOR FQT! There are thousands out there just like you and many have formed support groups on-line to help each other, since most doctors are useless in trying to help treat this condition. Many have fought to get tougher regulations on these drugs and more black box warnings to warn people before ever taking them. There is so much to this syndrome that I cannot possibly explain it all to you here, so I would really encourage you to please google it and find FB groups to help you understand what it is further.
As for how to treat it, well I wish I had the answer but because it is cellular damage, which we just do not know how to fix at this point in time, it is a hit or miss on trying to help the body heal from the damages and everyones body responds differently to things, so even though many have the same symptoms, they cannot all be treated the same, but by getting into the groups you will find thousands like you, suffering with the exact same symptoms, including repeated infections (because it also destroys your immune system), and you will be able to learn from them what things you can try to help your body and to heal. Let me also say that the majority of people who suffer from FQT do end up healing, maybe not to a 100% but they do get better, so please check this out before wasting any more money or time on doctor visits that are going to get you no where and possibly further damaged because they do not know what they are dealing with.
Well I hope this very long explanation has explained Glabrata to you, and relieved any fears you may have with this and has hopefully given you a direction to go down now to finally find healing. I wish you the best and if you need anything else or have other questions please feel free to ask.
Hello Debra!, I’m a 20 yr old diabetic who was diagnosed with a glabrata yeast infection of the vagina last July. I put trust in my doctor to help treat it but all she has done was put me on three separate rounds of diflucan and a vaginal suppository. After those the burning still hasn’t gone away and has sent my anxiety through the roof! I have controlled diabetes too but I suspect my one medication (synjardy. It helps remove excess sugars through urination)is helping feed my infection but my endocrinologist said I definitely can’t be taken off it! It’s called synjardy. I have been alone in this (no parents nor friends) and would really appreciate some help if possible. I’m willing to do anything to change my diet and etc as well. I already cut off most breads (definitely cut white breads and pastas) and added garlic and 100% pure cranberry juice (someone suggested me to). I also only wear cotton underwear and a pad while out to keep the area dry. Thank you!
Hi Hannah, I’m so sorry you going through this. Unfortunately, most gyne’s have no clue how to diagnose Glabrata and even less knowledge on how to treat it. If a gyne is going to try and treat it with Diflucan they would need to give you 500mgs. A day for no less than six weeks. The problem with this treatment is that it is usually pretty toxic to the Neuro system and liver, so most people can tolerate this treatment. The second problem with using an “azole” drug is that Glabrata has adapted to these drugs so the majority of strains are inherently resistant to any of them, making this treatment useless. Also using any kind of topical vaginal cream is completely useless against Glabrata and in many cases can make the situation worse, because the topical creams will kill off other strains of fungi that are actually helping to keep the Glabrata from taking over. So, another words the treatment you have received for this infection was ineffective at best and completely useless, which is why you are still suffering.
I am glad to hear that your diabetes is under control, that is a major plus because it is a huge player when it comes to Glabrata. However, you are probably right that your meds which grab sugars and filter them out through your urine is making matters worse and may have even been the contributing factor in allowing this infection to take hold. It will also make treating it and keeping it from coming back that much harder. Understand your doctor does not want you to come off of the med, but you may want to discuss your circumstances with your doctor and figure out if there is a different med or treatment that you could switch too, because unfortunately, just stopping it to treat the Glabrata and then restarting it, could lead to the infection coming right back. This may become a life long struggle for you and the treatment I can suggest to clear it up will only work a few times before the Glabrata becomes immune to it too. You see Glabrata is like no other fungi because it has the ability to very quickly adapt to its environment. Meaning it can adjust to any PH environment ( which is why most fungal drugs do not work to kill it) and it can adapt to any meds used to treat it, so you only get so many chances to kill it before it becomes resistant to everything.
At this point we only have one treatment left to try and treat it with and that is the ampho B / Flucytosine gel, which has to be compounded. You then use that for 14 days without skipping any days and by the end of treatment it should be gone, however with your health history it may take a second round to fully clear it. Again though with the meds your on, I am not sure it will fully clear it and even if it does clear it, I’m not sure it would not come right back within weeks to a few months and that’s even if you adhered to a strict diet. So, here is the first thing I would tell you to try, which is to find a doctor that is willing to prescribe the gel, it is a completely safe gel when used topically ( in the vagina), and studies have shown it to be safer than any other anti-fungal treatment including over the counter creams. Then if it comes back of does not clear, I would tel! you to contact Dr. Sobel who is out of Wayne State University in Michigan. He is the leading authority on Glabrata and treats women who have resistant strains of who have a hard time clearing the infection due to under lying conditions. He will be your best bet, but again you really need to talk to your doctor about changing your diabetes med if possible, maybe even get a second opinion from another doctor about changing your med, because it is going to be very difficult to treat Glabrata and keep it from coming back while on this med.
Finally, you need to keep your intake of sugars of any kind to hear norhing. Also cut out the breads, pastas and starches all together because they are only feeding this infection. Replace them with other things like mashed caulifliwer , avocados and beans. Secondly STOP drinking cranberry juice or any kind of juice at all!!!!! Juices of any kind are loaded with sugars even if it is 100% pure, it still loaded with natural sugars and you are making the situation much worse. Plus cranberry juice will do nothing for the burn of Glabrata and if you think you have a UTI ( which is usually what cranberry juice is used for and by the way it is a myth that it works for that) anyway, if you thought you had a UTI then would need to take D-Mannose, but if the burn is from Glabrata then that will not help either. Taking the garlic is fine but this Glabrata which is known as a Non- Candidias so things like garlic which work on regular candidiasis have no effect on it, but it won’t hurt you to continue taking it. It is important to wear breathe underwear like cotton and using a pad is also a good idsa, just make sure you change it often and keep the area clean and dry or you could spread the infection to the outer genital area. Also take showers and only use Dove hypoallergenic soaps and nothing else. Make sure to pay the area dry and you can even use a blow dryer on the cool setting to compkete!y dry the area and it can be somewhat soothing too.
Well I hope you can change your diabetic meds and obtain the gel to treat the glabrata, but if you are unable to get the meds or if they don’t work, then please get a hold of Dr. Sobel ( and know it can take up to six months to get into him, so you may want to contact him soon, you can Google his name and phone number ) . I hope this helps some, I’m so sorry I wish I could offer you more, I wish you the best and please let me know what happens. Good luck
What a wake up! When the lab results came back 4 days ago and the doctor told me it was ‘Candida Glabrata’, he even said he’d never heard of it before. What did he do? He just saw the word ‘candida’ and threw 7 days of fluconazole at it and said that would clear it up. NOT! I’d been Rx that before to no avail!
Its sad, he wouldn’t had even run the lab to test for yeast if I had not specifically requested something to find out why I have had chronic thrush for years that won’t go away. Once I saw this and started researching it, I quickly found according to our American medical practices, that there is ‘no treatment / no cure’ that really *work* – kinda like a cancer treatment – its a race to see what dies first, the disease or the patient . . . but then they are not God, even though some may think they’re pretty damn close. I had been struggling with fatigue for 4 years now and finally got to the point of being debilitating – cannot even work from home. Brain fog is bad at times, lethargic. energy level on a scale from 1-10 is about a constant 3, 5 on a good day; digestive problems (Gastropersis) and now testing positive for ANA (automimmune indicator) as well as high CRP NOW I see why!
Unlike the toxic side effects of pharma drugs, I’m going to explore the essential oil road – can’t hurt (in spite the protest from quacks that have studied essential oils for 0 hours in training will rave it won’t work) If I’m gonna die, may as well be by my terms, not theirs!
Hi Walter, I am so sorry you are going through all this, but there is treatment for Glabrata, however, I suspect Glabrata is the least of your problems and is more likely a symptom of a much larger under lying problem. From what you have written here it sounds like they cultured Glabrata out of your mouth or throat and that is where you have had constant thrush, correct me if I am wrong here, but that is what I am taking away from what you have written here. If I am correct, then there is a very easy treatment for Glabrata in the mouth and throat and it is NOT an azole drug! You would need to be treated with amphotericin B mouth wash, which any doctor can phone into any Walgreens for you. It is a very safe mouth rinse that you will swish with a few times a day and then spit out. It should clear the glabrata within a few days to a week, however, even if the thrush is gone within a few days, you still need to use the full prescription which would be for 10 days.
The reason the azoles do not work on Glabrata is because they have been over used since the 90’s due to the AIDS crisis. So, Glabrata has become inherently resistant to it, but the ampho B treatments work. Also please know, unlike your doctor, that Glabrata is NOT a candidias, it is known as a NON-CANDIDIAS, meaning just as it is stated, it is not a candidias and so it will not respond to the usual azole or candidia drugs. so, please ask your doctor about ampho B mouth wash.
Now please know that Glabrata is NOT like other forms of fungi or even candidia, meaning it cannot live throughout your body like the usual candidia, so it is not running through your blood, gut, brain, ect… If it got into any other area other than your bladder, mouth or skin (or for women the vaginal area) it would be deadly within less than 30 days and you would become extremely ill long before it killed you at the end of the 30 days. Let me also state that having it in any topical mucosal area which would be the skin, mouth, throat, vagina, urethra, prostrate, bladder or eyes it would NOT kill you, it will definitely make your life a living miserable hell, but it will not kill you and if you are not immune compromised, with AIDS, cancer, high doses of steroids or out of control diabetes, then it usually will NOT EVER leave these areas and spread to other more serious areas. So, another words you are going to be just fine.
On that same note because Glabrata does not live within the body like candidias, it never causes systemic problems, like the ones you are describing here. Glabrata only effects the very tissues it is inhabiting, However, an underlying condition that you are dealing with that is causing all these symptoms is probably what has allowed for the glabrata to develop in your mouth and throat in the first place. This also means that you will need to address the under lying problems in order to make sure that the glabrata does not come back after you have correctly treated it.
So, let me fill you in on some things you need to have checked. First Glabrata will NOT EVER raise your ANA or your CRP, unless it has gotten into a vital organ and then you would have what is known as fungemia or septic and your life would be literally at risk, so glabrata is NOT the reason for these tests coming back high or abnormal. However, what you are describing are the red flag signs for Lyme and co-infections disease and if you had lyme or any of its co-infections, that would substantially lower your bodies immunity and allow for Glabrata to take hold. I can attest to that, you see after writing this article I found out that I was suffering with lyme and several of the co-infections. since learning I have it, I have done extensive research on it and seen numerous specialists all of which explained to me that the glabrata was nothing more than a symptom of the lyme disease. Now I do not know if you have ever been tested for lyme, but if you have and you only had the usual “CDC” testing which is all that any regular doctor or hospital will test you for, and if it came back negative, then please know that those tests have a 60% false negative accuracy rate, so they cannot be depended on. There are several reasons for this test to show negative when you really have lyme, but that is a discussion for a whole other post. I can tell you that I had three negative CDC Lyme tests done within a two year period and all of them were negative, so I thought I was good. However, I kept getting sicker and sicker like you and finally I did so more investigating on the testing itself, because I knew down deep inside that I fit lyme without a doubt and I knew I had been bitten by a tick a few years back when all this crap started. What I found out was that I needed to get tested by a company called Igenex out of CA, which is CDC approved as a lab and had a 99% accuracy rate on their testing because they use a different method and test for more than one strain ofLyme (there are 75 different strains of Lyme that we know of in the US alone, but the CDC only tests for the two most common ones, however those strains and tests are over 40 years old and do not hold up with evolution anymore). So, I found an intergrative doctor to order the Igenex test and sure enough the test came back positive. Matter of fact it was so positive that my doctor said it lit up like a Christmas tree! I was really sick with Lyme! He also tested me for several other co-infections often seen with lyme and over 6 different other infections showed up positive. I was then sent to a Lyme Literate medical doctor also known as an LLMD. I then began treatment for my lyme and co0infections.
I can tell you that it has been five years now and I am still fighting what is known as chronic lyme, which can happen if you contracted Lyme and did not treat it within the first six months. It is very hard to treat chronic lyme, and for many they will have to treat for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, the medical establishment failed me miserably and I am now paying with my health. However, some things have gotten better while others have gotten worse, but I have hope that some day I may get my full life back. Please know there are many with chronic Lyme that do very well with treatment and do get their lives back within a few years, so it is worth treating and you can use herbals or oils for treatment instead of pharmaceutical drugs, most LLMD’s use a combo of both in treatment. Let me also say that even if you do not ever remember getting bitten by a tick, it does not mean that you haven’t been bitten. In studies more than 63% of lyme people never remember ever getting bitten by a tick and that may because they were bitten by a nymph size tick which is the size of a period at the end of this sentence. So, you would have never known you got bit! Also there is still debate as to whether ticks are the only blood meal vectors that transmit lyme through their bite. There are numerous reports especially from other countries of mosquitos, biting spiders, fleas, lice and no seums also carrying Lyme and transmitting it. So, if you have not been tested by Igenex for Lyme I would highly recommend it.
I would also recommend that you do some research on lyme and even join some FB groups, so that you can learn more of how it effects the body and the immune system, so that you can see that your ANA and CRP along with all the other symptoms including brain fog and even glabrata are red flag signs for Lyme and its co-infections. Oh and one last thing, a normal tick can carry over 30 different diseases and we know from studies that ticks have been found to carry up to over 375 different infections, all of which are easily contracted trough the initial bite. They carry infections like viruses (EBV, CMV, Herpes, ect..) they also carry protozoa’s of all kinds (Babesia), they carry bacteria’s of all kinds (like Borrelia, Bartonella, Ehrlichia, Anamoplasma, mycoplasma, C. pneumonia, rocky mountain spotted fever, ect…) they carry fungi of all kinds (like Glabrata Tropicalis, and candidias), they carry parasites of all kinds (like giardia, fluke worms, filirarious, ect..) so, one tick bite can give an array of infections like glabrata, babesia, bartonella, borrelia and EBV as well as mycoplasma and C. pneumonia (which really isn’t a pneumonia at all), or it could give you a whole other grouping of infections, but you get the picture. So, your glabrata could have easily come from a bite and your other symptoms could have come from some of the other infections that you also contracted from the same bite. So, it is really important that you do your homework and search out an LLMD or an intergrative doctor to consult with and get tested. You want to do this as soon as possible, because if this is what is going on with you, you are only going to get worse with each passing year and the longer you live with these infections (which hide out from your blood making them undetectable by ordinary testing) the harder it becomes to treat them and recover.
Well, I hope this gives you some knowledge on how to treat your Glabrata and hopefully it opens up another area of possibilities to look at as to why you are so ill. I wish you the best and if you figure this out please come back and share what has happened with your health with us. Good Luck
Its interesting you mentioned Lyme as well as EBV (Epstein Barr Virus) because the doc did test me for Lyme and it came back negative but he also tested me for EBV and it did come back positive as well as an elevated WBC. I thought the EBV was just because I had mono when I was 12 years old and the virus was still in my body but it’s funny you mentioned that. Also about the ticks and Lyme because I did live in Arkansas before moving back to TX and we did have ticks in our yard and do remember pulling some off of me at times so you may be on to something there. I am seeing a new doctor tomorrow as I fired the old one – and now going to see an Internal Medicine doctor tomorrow and hope he can help me narrow this down. Thanks for the info and I’ll keep you posted.
Hi Debra,
Thank goodness I came across this page because I’ve been looking and reading different sites. I’ve been diagnosed with C. Glabrata in December of 2016. It started out with an itch I never had it was in November. My doctor had prescribed me Fluconazole and terconazole and yet those have not got rid of it. Right now my doctor is having do Boric acid for two weeks. I just want to get rid of this. It’s stressing me out and on top of that I’am breastfeeding my little one too. I’m just too scared to eat anything because seem like most foods trigger it. Is there a way we can email each other more privately? I hope to hear from you.
Hi Tammy, I did email you so you can contact me.
I need help ! I had utilized started in nov/2017 was on many antibiotics now they tell me I have Interstial Cystits But I learned thru support group to send my urine to micron as the do a DNa testing and will pick up more things then our routine urine tests.. It showed up with this candida gabriela. I am to scared What do I do
Hi Peggy, I am so sorry to hear about what you are going through, but please don’t be scared, this is a treatable infection, it just takes time and some basic knowledge about this specific fungi.
So, first let me educate you on urine cultures and urine DNA testing. They are both great ways to tell what may be living within your bladder and urinary system, however, if the urine was collected by you peeing into a cup, then it can have a high rate of false “positive” bladder infections. You see, in order to collect the urine from the bladder, even if you are doing a “mid-stream” collection, the urine must travel through the vagina on its way out and into the cup you are using to catch it in. This poses a huge problem because the urine is picking up bacteria and fungi as it leaves the urethra and flows through the vagina and then out into the cup. So, the urine ultimately gets cross contaminated with whatever is living in the vagina. Even if you wiped the vaginal area first with the anti-septic cloth before peeing, you will still pick up what is living within the inside of the vagina. For this reason most urologists will do what is called a direct catch from the bladder. It is a simple procedure done right in their offices, where they insert a catheter up through the vagina, into the urethra and then up into the bladder. They then suck up a small amount of urine and pull the catheter back out with the clean urine, which has not been tainted by traveling through the vagina. Now if this procedure was not done in order to collect the urine for the DNA urine test, then there is no way to say with any certainty that the Glabrata infection came from the bladder and not from the vagina, even with the symptoms you are having.
Let me also just say that a bladder infection with Glabrata is highly unusual and most often only seen in women with severe under lying conditions like uncontrolled diabetes, HIV, cancer or are severely immune compromised. It is not usually seen in women who take antibiotics, even long term or large quantities of them. It is also important to say here that those who do get it in the bladder are not only sickly people, but their Glbarata infection almost always started within the vagina, where it was left untreated for a long period of time and then it worked its way up into the urethra and ultimately the bladder. If it does start in the bladder first it is usually caused by a contaminated procedure or instrument placed up into the urinary tract system. So, I know you stated that in 2017 something happened and you were put on many antibiotics, but you used the word “utilized” and I am not sure what you meant by that, so it is hard for me to say if whatever happened to you in 2017, which caused you to have to use many antibiotics could have ultimately contaminated your bladder with Glabrata. Let me also say that an infection ONLY in the vagina with Glabrata can cause urethritis as well as intercystial cystitis symptoms, so it would not be uncommon to have the symptoms you are having with just a vaginal infection with Glabrata.
So, with all that being said, it is very important to figure out where this infection truly is in your body, because that will determine who will need to treat you and how you will be treated. So, the first thing you need to do is make an appt. with a urologist, so they can get a clean catch of urine using a catheter. Then that will need to be cultured and or DNA tested for the Glabrata. Now if you find out that it is truly in your bladder or urethra, then you will need to be treated by an infectious disease doctor, they are usually the only ones who treat “internal” infections of Glabrata. If it truly is in the bladder or urethra, then there are two ways to try and treat it. The first would be to use Voriconazole (which is an oral pill) and you would need to take it for at least six to eight weeks with does of no less than 500mgs a day. Now most infectious disease doctors will want to start you on Diflucan 500mgs. a day, but this should NEVER be done. The reason for this is because Glabrata has an inherent propensity to being resistant to Diflucan, so it has an extremely high failure rate in curing it, especially if the infection is an internal one like the bladder or urethra. The second problem with using Diflucan is that it comes from the same family as Voriconazole and if Diflucan is used first instead of Voriconazole, it not only is known to fail but it will make the Glabrata resistant to all other drugs in the same “azole” family like Voriconazole, wiping out any chances of Voriconazole from ever being able to work. So, please do not let any doctors try and treat you with Diflucan when it comes to Glabrata.
Now, if you do have it in the urinary system and the Voriconazole does not work, then the next step that most ID (infectious disease) doctors would use, would be to place a central line in your chest and treat you daily with IV anti-fungals from a group of anti-fungal drugs known as echinocandins, like micofungin, caspofungin and there are others from this group. Again you would need to do daily IV infusions for six to eight weeks.
Now if for some reason both the Voriconazole and one of the echinocandins failed then there are two last resort ways to treat the infection. The first would be for you to receive Amphotericin B through the IV. Now this is a very dangerous drug when used internally (through the IV), so it would be first started in the hospital to make sure your body could handle it, if it did then you would return home and get daily infusions of it for six to eight weeks. This has one of the highest rate of cures, so it should kill it with no problem. However, there is another safer way of killing it without filling your veins and whole body with this very toxic drug. The other way would be for your infectious disease doctor and your urologist to take you into an operating room and put you under a twilight sedation, then they would take the catheter full of amphotericin B and put it up into your bladder and literally wash out the bladder with ampho B. (I have actually had this done twice and I can tell you that it is a pretty painless procedure, other than some mild irritation and burning from the procedure itself, but not bad at all). It usually only takes one time of doing this to kill the infection, however in hard to treat infections you may need to have the bladder washed out twice with it. The nice thing about this procedure is that the amphotericin B does not get absorbed out of the bladder wall, so it is not risky to your entire body, meaning that there are no real side effects other than some mild irritation from the procedure itself. In studies done on the treatment of bladder Glabrata infections, this procedure has shown to be the most effective with little to no side effects as compared to other forms of treatment. I wish our medical professionals would use this form of treatment as the first line of treatment because it is so effective and does not carry all the risks of serious side effects or permanent injuries that all the rest of the treatments carry, but we unfortunately are not there yet with using this treatment as the first line.
So, that is what should happen if your “clean” urine from a catheter comes back showing Glabrata. Now if your urine is clean, then the infection is actually in your vagina and your last urine DNA test was cross contaminated as it came out. Now, if it is only in the vagina, but still causing you all these bladder and urethra symptoms then treating the infection in the vagina will halt the intercystial cystitis. So, if it is just in the vagina, then you could be treated by your gynecologist, family doctor, naturopath doctor or an infectious disease doctor. Again, Diflucan should never be used to treat this infection, for the same reasons I stated above. With that being said, it should also not be treated with ANY type anti-fungi cream or suppository! This is because topical treatment with these creams (even prescription strength ones) are useless against this specific fungi and by using any of them, you will once again make this infection resistant to ALL “azole” drugs, whether they are in pill or cream form. So, do not let anyone treat you with these things either, this is NOT a candidia species it is known as a “non-candidia” species, so the “usual” treatments for candidia infections are useless against this strain and should never be used because they will ultimately fail and make the infection that much harder to treat. So, If they want to try and treat it with an oral drug then again it should be Voriconazole at the same dosage and for the same length of time as I posted above with the bladder infection. If that should fail or if you want to skip that treatment and go right to what is 99% effective and again without all the serious side effects then you need to ask for the amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel. It is gel that has to be compounded and then it gets placed into the vagina for 14 days, without missing a dose. This almost always cures the infection, unless you have an underlying condition like HIV, cancer or are immune compromised. The gel is very safe because of its molecular structure it too cannot be absorbed through the vaginal walls, so there are no known systemic side effects and it has a high cure rate.
So, to sum up what I have said here, you need to first start with a urologist and a clean catheter catch to determine where your infection really is. Then once you know where it is you can find the right doctors to help you treat it correctly, either with oral pills of Voriconazole or by washing out the bladder with amphotericin B ( or amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel for the vagina). No matter where it is located there are treatments to cure it, it just takes time and finding the right doctors. I hope all this information helps you to find the right treatment. I wish you the best!.
Hi everyone. In the New York area here. Has anyone had any luck with a doctor from the US that they can recommend? Even better if in ny. But willing to travel.
Hi Debra,
Did you see my posts of October 21 and 22. Thanks. Deb
Hi Debra,
I have another question. What side effects did you have from the flucytosine and amphotericin b? Thanks. Deb
Hi Debra,
I have a question about the diflucan and flucytosine. Both seem to have fluoride and that is contraindicated after having fluoroquiniolone toxicity. I think you said diflucan doesn’t help candida glabrata, but you can take it if you have to take another antitiobic. I took one diflucan after FQ toxicity and got more symptoms. Also what about the flucytosine if it is is administered topically. Do you think that would cause more FQ symptoms? Thanks. Deb
Hi,
I have been chronically ill for a few years. I have severe gastroparesis and other GI disorders. I have been underweight and malnourished for about a year and a half now. I have been suffereing from various symptoms of candida overgrowth for a while maybe even before I was sick but within the lest 10 months they have gotten extremely worse. I had a comprehensive stool analaysis done where they cultured my stool for weeks and I was found to have candida glabrata in my gut. I have had reoccurring yeast infections that have minimal discharge and the discharge is more white/grey milky like. I have vaginal itching and burning. I have had severe acne and little tiny bumps all over my face for 10 months. Bad itching on my legs without rash. After finding out I had candida in my gut I didn’t realize that there were different types of candida. I thought it was all one type and I don’t think my doctor realizes the difference between the types. My functional medicine doctor put me on an herbal supplement called yeastinol. My candida symptoms have only gotten worse. I developed very severe itching all over my legs especially around the knees. My acne has gotten even worse. My vaginal infection is constant. I have severe GI symptoms and due to my gastroparesis I have been on a very high carb/sugar diet. I am unable to follow a candida diet because I cannot digest most solid food without getting sick. I continued to lose even more weight and my doctor had to put me on am elemental liquid formula which is very high carb/sugar. My candida has gotten worse since doing the elemental formula. I have been on it for over a month because it is the only nutrition I am able to tolerate with my gastroparesis. I am on remeron which I was told can suppress my immune system. I have low WBC,RBC, hemoglobin and platelets for a while now. I am very sick and house ridden. I only just discovered last night when looking back at my test result and finding that the candida I have is glabrata and it started in my gut I believe due to my severe GI dysfunction and immune dysfunction. I am afraid it is too late for me as I have many complications and am very underweight, malnourished, and immunocompromised. I believe my candida glabrata is spreading rapidly and I do not know how my body will ever fight this off given my conditions.
Hi Joanna, I am so sorry to hear how ill you are and how much you are going through. I can try to give you some guidance here and hopefully help you get more informed on a few different issues so that you can help your doctors to help you.
So, first let me put some of your fears to rest because you don’t need the added worry with everything else you are going through. You see, Glabrata, it is not a type of fungi that you could live very long with if it managed to enter into any of your internal organs or even blood. This is a fast moving and very serious fungi strain, unlike other forms of candidia. Let me also say here that Glabrata is NOT a candidia, it is known as a NON-CANDIDIAS fungi, which is completely different than other candidia strains or even other types of fungi. So, let me explain, if candidia entered into your gut, within days you would be doubled over, laying in the fetal position crying out for help. Within a week you would be seeking out medical help from your doctor or showing up in an ER. Within two weeks you would need IV narcotics to control the pain, because it would be beyond anything you have ever experienced before in your life. Your abdomen would be very distended and you would now be facing severe diarrhea and or vomiting. You would also be bleeding possibly out of both ends. By this point the doctors would be in a rush to figure out what was happening to you. Let me just say that Glabrata of the gut is known to kill its victims within 30 days or less depending on the persons health prior to contracting it there. I do believe that the longest known person to live with it in the gut lasted 45 days and believe me when I say it would have been the most horrific 45 days of that persons life. I had it in the gut and within 12 days of it entering there I was hospitalized with IV narcotics that didn’t even come close to making the pain go away. I was also filling the toilet the blood continually and could not hold down even ice chips. I can tell you too that if Glabrata got into any other internal organs you would be looking at a 30 day time frame before your life would be in jeopardy and if somehow it managed to enter your blood it would kill in approximately 48 hours, making it an extreme emergency. Now with that being said, let me say that people who get it in vital organs and especially their blood are usually people that are extremely ill to begin with. These are people who have HIV, end stage cancer, are on serious immunosuppressive drugs or have very seriously out of control blood sugars. This usually does not happen to people who are immune compromised due to poor health, low dose steroid use or even low maintenance chemo drugs. For someone like that to get it there would need to be other extenuating factors involved for them to get it in a vital organ. So, I am trying to tell you that yours is not in your gut at this time and I am going to explain that in a minute.
Now, when it comes to topical or what is also referred to as mucosal Glabrata,( which would encompass the vagina, the anus, the skin, ears, eyes, mouth and throat) anyone has the potential to contract it there, as long as the conditions are right. The types of conditions that can allow for someone to get it in these areas would be things like taking a broad spectrum antibiotic with or without steroids, over use of “azole” drugs (Fluconazole also known as Diflucan, monostat cream or other vaginal or skin anti-fungal creams), out of control blood sugars for diabetics, chronic bacterial infections that are getting treated with antibiotics (even non-broad spectrum ones), unprotected sex with someone who is infected with it, dirty medical instruments infected with it, poor health, other underlying medical conditions the person has or may have that the do not even realize. There are a lot of reasons that someone can get it and at this time in science we really do not know all the ways, however we know the persons immune system plays an important role in allowing it to grow.
So, I understand that they cultured your stool and found Glabrata, so let me explain this to you. Stool tests especially comprehensive ones are great for finding a lot of things that may be wrong with your gut, however when it comes to Glabrata, this test is worthless. It is also NOT used at all to look for Glabrata in the gut. The reason for this is because Glabrata does not just sit on the mucosal surface, like candidias.. Glabrata hooks itself into the mucosal walls and then roots itself into the nerves within the tissues. This is why the pain is beyond anything you can imagine. It is for this same reason that you will not usually find it in the stool. To find it in the gut your doctor would need to do a colonoscopy and or endoscopy and would need to take biopsies and cultures from the inside.
So, now you are probably asking why did it show it up in your stool culture? Well, a stool test is done from the stool that comes out of your rectum and the rectum is very closely positioned to your vagina, which from what you are writing here appears to be infected and is almost always the culprit when Glabrata is found in the stool. Whether you realize it or not, the discharge, however little it is – will spread to the rectal area whenever you have vaginal Glabrata. It gets there via your underwear, panty liners, wiping, washing and while laying down. From the symptoms you are writing here, you definitely sound like you have it in the vagina and it sounds like it has probably been there for some time, which would definitely cause it to spread to the rectal area, which in turn would cause what is known as cross contamination on any urine or stool tests you would have. So, even though you have GI issues, which are complicating your health and even your immune system, I can tell you that you would not be writing me right now if it was truly in your gut or even anywhere else in your body. Instead what you have is a very serious vaginal infection that needs to be cultured and dealt with. Let me also reassure you that Glabrata in any of the mucosal areas of your body almost never spreads to vital organs or your blood, even if the infection is left untreated for a lengthy period or time. Now this is not to say that if other factors were to come into play that it couldn’t move into a more serious internal infection, but it is rare and usually it takes a “perfect storm” for that to happen. So, I want to try and reassure you that it is not to late for you, and this Glabrata infection is NOT going to kill you, now that is not to say that it is not going to make you life miserable but it is not going to kill you.
So, now that I have explained that to you, let me give you the information you need to start getting better. First, you need to go to your gynecologist and ask to be tested for any and ALL infections, like bacterial, yeast, STD’s and also specifically for Glabrata as well as for ALL other rare fungi. It is important to ask your doctor to run a specific Glabrata and rare fungi tests because these tests take special culture sticks as well as special mediums and dyes, so they need to specify this on this sheet sent to the lab. Now if your doctor says a normal yeast test will check for it, please tell them “NO it won’t” and then tell them to please call the lab and ask how to test for it because it is done with different culture sticks. If you doctor does not know how to culture for it, again tell them to call the lab and ask them, they will be able to tell them what they need and how to do it. Any gynecologist or even a PCP can do this test, except possibly a county health clinic, planned parenthood or small town doctor. You will also want to ask your doctor to run what is called a MIC test on any positive cultures they find. This test tells your doctor what drugs your strain is resistant to and what drugs it is not resistant to. It also can tell them how much of a drug may be needed to kill the strain you have. This is really important to know because it will help to determine which drugs are going to work best in treating it.
Let me also stop here and tell you that you need to be tested for all types of infections including STD’s. This is because Glabrata has the ability to live alongside any and all other types of organisms. It can live with both bacterial as well as other fungi because it can adapt to any PH environment and usually the reason you get Glabrata is because you more than likely had another infection in the area prior to the Glabrata. So, you need to know if there is another infection living with it or even an STD. If you do have other infections of any kind (except fungi) you will need to treat those first before attempting to treat the glabrata. The reason for this is because the antibiotics you will use to treat bacteria’s or STD’s will only cause the Glabrata to come right back, and you only get so many chances to kill this beast with any meds before it adapts and becomes resistant. So, make sure to treat other infections first and then treat the Glabrata last. One last thing here, if you have candidias or other strains of fungi but no bacteria or STD’s then you can treat with the ampho B gel right away because it will kill all types of fungi at the same time.
Now when the test comes back, if it is positive, you will need to talk to your doctor about the MIC report and decide which drugs to use to kill it. The important thing to know here is that most if not all strains of Glabrata are either resistant or dose related for any and all “Azole” drugs. So, if your report states that your strain is resistant or dose dependent to any of the azoles, then you want to ask to be treated with the ampho B/ Flucytosine gel. You especially want to use this gel and skip any and all azoles drugs if you have been chronically using Diflucan (Fluconazole), Monostat creams or other candidias type drugs, because then Glabrata will definitely already be of no use to you, even if your MIC report states that it is dose dependent (I won’t go into the reason for that here because this already so long). So, don’t waste your time with these drugs, which could ultimately make your situation much worse and from what you are saying you have been using here, I would say that these are not going to do you any good and are already making your situation worse. So, make sure to ask about doing the gel. It is very safe due to its molecular make-up, so it is not able to be absorbed into the mucosa, which means it will not cause systemic side effects. The only side effects you may experience will be some stinging or burning, but that should end within about 15 minutes of putting it into the vagina. After that it should soothe the area. You will need to use this gel for 14 nights and you cannot miss a night or you will give glabrata a chance to adapt to it and then to become resistant. You also need to make sure that the gel is made correctly or again it can and will become resistant to it. Now if your doctor does not know about the Amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel and does not know how to make it, then you can download the studies that I can email you and bring them into your doctor. Most doctors will have no problem writing this script, and it must be compounded so you will also need to find a compound pharmacy that can obtain the ingredients and make it for you. If you have any problems with any of this, please let me know and I will help you to find what you need. I will send you an email tomorrow so you can reach me if you need to.
When using the gel you will also need to put a small amount on your finger tip and also rub it up from the vaginal area to the rectum and then right around the rectum as well as right into it. This will kill it in this area too.
Now I understand you have many other issues with your gastroparesis that are going to make treating this infection much harder and it will also be more difficult to keep it from coming back, but I can try to give you some things to talk to your GI docs about with this too. I also suffer with GI issues, I have crohns but I do not have the “usual” or “typical” crohns. I have EDS which causes gastroparesis and due to that I suffer from the constipation form of crohns (which is a form of gastroparesis too) . I too have been on an elemental diet as well as TPN, which is all sugar too. I too fight malnutrition and have been severely under weight (my lowest weight was 87lbs.) and I take steroids daily and have been on chemo drugs and biologics and I am dealing with several other health issues, so I know what it is like to be immunocompromised too. I have spent many years being bed ridden and still struggle most days, but things have gotten better with some stuff and yours will too. Believe me this infection will not kill you nor will your other health conditions, you just need to figure out how to get everything managed correctly and that takes time, you getting educated so you can work with your doctors and finding doctors that are knowledgeable and willing to work with you. Once you have that your journey to getting better will happen, so there is hope and you have to believe it and know you are NOT at the end. So, with that being said, I may be able to give you somethings to help with this too. However, it is very late tonight and I have written quite a bit already so I will email you tomorrow with that information, but hopefully what I have written here tonight will at least alieve some of your fears and give you hope that you are not at the end, you can and will get better, however it is a journey, but one that you can and will make. I will send you an email tomorrow, good night for tonight.
Dear Debra,
Is there any way that I can contact you as I need help! I am grateful for whatever time you can give~~
Joanna, I am so sorry this happened to you. Please take a look at the Candida Support and Information Group on facebook. There are people on there that have the same type of candida and are talking about how to recover from it. Good luck to you! sending positive vibes
Debra if you have any input about my situation I am anxiously awaiting it. As I explained I do have a rare lung disease and I certainly don’t want this candia to go there. I am really scared and if you could email me at my email address I would greatly appreciate it. thank you in advance.
Hi Jo Ann, I am sorry you are going through this and I understand your concern and fear, so let me see if I can help to relieve some of your fear and point you in the right direction.
So, let me start by saying that I am not understanding why your doctor would have put you on Diflucan pills for a fungal infection of the mouth or throat and that includes even a simple candidia infection in this area. I say this because oral anti-fungal pills do not reach the tissues of the mouth, even though you take them through the mouth. Once you swallow them they have to go through the liver where they get metabolized and then sent out through the circulatory system and dispersed to certain areas of the body. However, there are areas of the body that these meds never reach, like the mouth, anus, skin or eyes and work poorly in other areas such as the genitals , so they are poor to useless as a treatment in these areas of the body. Because of this we have anti-fungal drugs made specifically for these areas which are site dependent, meaning they work directly where they are put. So, for a skin infection you would use an anti-fungal cream made specifically for the skin, for the genital area you have inter vaginal creams made for that area, for the eyes you have eye drops made for that area and for the mouth and throat you have mouth lozenges or mouth rinses made specifically for that area. So, why they gave you oral pills for a mouth and throat infection makes no sense and I am not surprised that you have not seen any improvement.
So, let me say I do not know what kind of specialist you seen but most doctors who treat immune compromised people who use steroids, chemo or biologics are very well versed in treating these kinds of infections with the correct drugs and that is because they happen quite often in this population of ill people. Infectious disease doctors are also very versed in how to correctly treat these kinds of infections too because once again they are quite common in people who are immune compromised for all kinds of reasons. So, I am not sure what kind of specialist you seen, but apparently they were the wrong kind of doctor because they did not know how to commonly treat a mouth and throat fungal infection. The correct first line of treatment for a normal candidias infection of the mouth and throat would be to prescribe Nystatin mouth wash and rinse (however, this only works on a regular candidias fungal infections of the mouth or throat). This would be the first line of treatment for candidias, now if that failed and it often can especially in immune compromised people then the second line of defense would be to prescribe what are called Troches or lozenges of Diflucan. This is used as a second line treatment in normal candidias and a first line of treatment in Glabrata infections of the mouth and throat. A troche is like a big chalky lozenge that you place on your tongue and let it dissolve with your saliva, then you swish it around the mouth and swallow. You are not to drink or eat anything for up to a half hour after using this. You also usually use one to two of these lozenges a day for 7 to 10 days. You should see the infection begin to clear within about three days, but you have to take the full course to make sure you have killed it fully.
Now, the Diflucan lozenges may not work and there a few reasons for that. So, let me explain why, first you are fighting a stealth organism that is completely different than candidias, secondly you are immune compromised and have been for quite awhile and finally because you probably do not have the opportunity to come off of the immune suppressing drugs while you treat this infection and this last reason is going to be your biggest problem. You see when a cancer patient gets one of these infections they are usually pulled of their chemo agents until the infection is taken care of. Many people who suffer with autoimmune diseases of all kinds (and I am one of them) are also pulled off of treatment too, until the infection is taken care of. The thinking is that it is better to stop the treatment for two weeks and take a chance that the under lying condition may flare, then it is to try and treat the infection without any immune support because of the suppressive drugs. Most patients including cancer ones usually do fine for the two weeks it takes to cure the infection. This is always the optimal way to treat any kind of infection especially one like Glabrata which is known to be very difficult to treat with an intact immune system. So, I would suggest first and foremost that you have a discussion with your doctors about the possibility of stopping your steroids and chemo drugs for the two weeks needed to treat this infection. I say this too because Glabrata is an organism that has the ability to adapt very quickly to the meds used to treat it and we only have two drugs available to treat it in the mouth and throat at this time. That means you only get a few chances with any drug to treat it before it becomes resistant to it and leaves you with no way to combat it. Also because Glabrata is so hard to treat and kill, it really is important for your own immune system to be able to kick in and help with any drug you take to fight it.
So, if the first line of defense for mouth and throat Glabrata fails. (Diflucan lozenges) then you move on to the mother drug and the last resort which would be Amphotericin B mouth wash and rinse. Now this mouth wash will kill it dead in its tracks and is used in the hard to treat cases with people who are severely compromised like HIV and end stage cancer patients, but if your doctors are worried about it spreading from your mouth or throat to the GI area which would be your stomach because with it being in your throat too it is already considered esophageal, so the stomach would be the next area it would spread to (which would be unlikely due to stomach acid, but it could happen with the drugs you are on) then they may want to skip the diflucan lozenges and go right to the ampho B mouth wash and rinse. Let me also say that even with it in your mouth and throat and you being immune compromised it is highly unlikely that it would spread to the lungs and if it did, it is not something that is going to happen over night if ever. So, I want to relieve your fear about this. Glabrata of the mouth and throat usually does not go anywhere else in the body (even when you are immune compromised), it is also one of the easiest areas of the body next to the skin to successfully treat it. This is because your mouth is always opening and allowing light and air in making it more difficult for the Glabrata to live and spread.
Let me also tell you I have been where you are at, I have crohns along with some other health conditions too and I have used steroids for over thirty years, I have also used chemo drugs daily as well as biologics and after I wrote this article I went on to develop Glabrata in my mouth and throat twice. So, I know all to well what you are going through. I did use the troches but they failed for me, so we went right to the ampho B mouth wash and it began to clear it up within two days and it was gone within a week, but I remained on the mouth wash for the full course of 10 days. I was also pulled off of all of my immune suppressing drugs while I went through treatment and I did fine. Once we knew the Glabrata was gone I went right back on my meds.
Now the amphotericin B mouth wash is used quite a bit by HIV people and cancer patients. It gets used not just for Glabrata but also for hard to treat candidias as well as other types of fungal infections in both the HIV and cancer populations. Any doctor who treats cancer patients as well as infectious disease doctors know all about ampho B mouth wash, this is NOT an “out of the box”. or “out of the norm” treatment for them. Unfortunately, when Glabrata shows up in the vaginal area the use of ampho B in a compounded gel IS out of the “norm” which is why so many women have a hard time finding the treatment. So having it in your mouth should not be hard to get it prescribed, although I think you may have to find another doctor because the one you have doesn’t even seem to have the basic knowledge on how to treat any kind of a fungal infection in the mouth and I am sorry you came across a doctor like this.
Let me also tell you that most pharmacy’s like Walgreens and CVS are able to make this mouth wash, however, most have to order the mix, which can take a few days to a week. Once they get in they will mix it up with water and then keep it cold until you pick it up. When you get it home it is very important to use it according to directions, which are going to tell you to swish it in your mouth for at least three minutes then slowly swallow it. You will do this three times a day for ten days. After swishing with it you MUST NOT drink or eat anything for up to a half hour. You need to be consistent with taking it every six hours and at the same time each day. I can tell you since I have used it myself, it stains everything yellow, so do not let it drip on counters or your clothes and if you are wondering about the taste I can tell you it does not taste the greatest but its not as bad as the Diflucan troches (YUCK!!!) I can also tell you that it does not burn the mouth or throat either, it actually will soothe the tissues as it covers them. It must be kept refridgerated at all times and do not use a metal spoon with it because it changes the structure of it. Also and this is very important, it has a 15 day shelf life, and you will only need it for ten of those days but you must discard it after the 15th day because it will be no good, so make sure to start it right away and whatever you do – DO NOT miss a dose or a day because Glabrata only needs one chance to gain hold and adapt to the medicine, so you do not want to give it that chance.
Finally, I want to give you some sage advice since we are in somewhat of the same boat. If you are already not doing this, then I highly suggest you start some of the things I am going to tell, so that you can prevent this from coming back and it can, especially because of your immune status. First you need to be drinking at least 4ozs. of Keifer daily and you need to swish it around your mouth and swallow slowly, you should do this at least twice a day. The keifer has 100 times more probiotics then any pill or yogurt you could take. This will keep your mouth coated with the necessary probiotics to ward off another infection. Secondly , you need to cut the sugars even natural ones like stevia and honey down to near nothing, because they make your mouth a perfect PH breading ground for all types of fungus. If you do eat something sugary then you need to rinse your mouth right afterwards with water and brush your teeth if possible. Thirdly, and this one is very important, NEVER EVER chew gum or suck on candy, not even ones that are sugar free, this is a sure fire way to get this infection or even candidias right back. Fourth, NEVER EVER use mouth wash with alcohol in it, because it wipes out your good bacteria, which is needed to prevent and fight off infections like this, it also dries out the tissues and changes the PH of the mouth. Finally, and you probably already do this just because you are sick, but I will mention it anyway, you need to eat a healthy “clean” diet, with mostly meats, veggies and fruits and try to eat fruits low in sugars like berries of any kinds or green apples, stay away from melons of all kinds because they are full of sugars as well as red apples and bananas (if you do eat them from time to time rinse your mouth afterwards with water) and make sure to drink plenty of water, it is very important to keep your mouth moist, but stay away from sugary drinks like soda, fruit juices and lattes.
Well I hope this relieves some of your fears and guides you in getting the right treatment. I hope I have given you all the info you need and again I would seriously suggest talking with your doctor about pausing your treatments for two weeks to get this infection cured, it really will make the treatment more successful and you will lower your risk of it not only failing but coming right back. If you need anything else or want to speak to me privately just let me know and I will email you. I wish you all the best with treating this infection and with your other health problems.
Everything I am reading is mostly about vaginal candia glabrala but mine is in my mouth. I am immune comprimised and take steroids daily and chemo once a week now for 11 years. I have had this mess for 3 months and saw a specialist at Duke Hospital last week. She put me on diflucan 200 mg. daily for 14 dats then 100 mg for 14 days and then taper down but I have seen no improvement, In fact I am seeing more white spots in the back of my throat. I have a rare lung disease and have to take the steroids and chemo so I do not know what to do. Can you lead me in the right direction? Thank you so much in advance.
Hi Deb, I am so sorry I am just now for the first time seeing this post. So, I do not know if you found a place already to get the cultures done, but if not let me tell you that any gynecologist or even a PCP has the capabilities of running these cultures, you just have to ask them to run them. The only place that you might not be able to get them is in a small rural clinic or a public health department clinic, but all other places that run vaginal cultures have the ability to run these too, you just have to ask the doctor to culture for them. If your doctor has never run a glabrata or other rare fungal cultures before they may not know which culture sticks to use but they can easily find out that information by calling the lab they use. The lab will let them know which stick to use, there are different sticks for different kinds of infections this is because the sticks are soaked in different mediums to keep the organisms alive, so it is important to know which one to use and again if your doctor does not know which one to use she / he can easily call the lab for that information.
I hope this helps you if you have not already found this information out. again I am very sorry I did not see this post sooner. I wish you the best
Hi,
Can you please tell me the specific symptoms of a vaginal glabrata infection? If anyone can get to NYC Dr. Mortan Teich (212) 988-1821 is an expert in all candida/glabrata and gut health. He can also complete the cultures in his office….
Hi Debra,
I noticed in one of your posts someone should get a bacterial culture, regular fungal culture and rare fungal culture to see if they might have glabrata or other issues.
Do you know the best place or any places in Atlanta to get these three types of cultures or do you know where else could I look?
Thanks.
Deb
Hi Debra,
I’m so glad I found your story. You truly are an amazing person and I can’t thank you enough for sharing all your knowledge about this beast. I can’t believe the doctors know almost nothing about it.
When I got my test back, I didn’t know glabrata was so different from albicans so I looked for regular candida treatment and tried oregano oil with organic coconut oil on the vulva and garlic in the vagina. Of course it didn’t stop the itching and burning so I stopped the treatment (my gyn prescribed me nystatine before I even got my results back and told me to use it right after the swab but at that time I had no symptoms except a greenish discharge so I wasn’t worried) Now my thighs, belly and hands are also very itchy. I feel like it’s spreading so my first question is:
– can C.Glabrata spread on the skin like that and if so what can I do to get rid of it on theses areas?
I’m also wondering (sorry I feel like it’s a dumb question but I’m so worried about all that)
– is it necessary to disinfect every areas where I sat? Like the toilet seat or a fabric chair
Thank you
Hi Sophie,
I am so sorry that you are going through this nightmare too. It is sad doctors really have no knowledge of this type of infection and with it becoming so common it is really time that the medical schools start teaching more about it. I hope one day it all doctors will know as much about this as they do about regular candidias.
Unfotrunately, as you have found out alternative or out of the box homeopathic treatments have no efficacy when it comes to this specific infection. That is basically because it is NOT a candidias and its structured in such a way that it can adapt and survive in any type of environment such as alkaline or acidic. Almost all fungal treatments including homeopathic ones are based on changing the PH environment, therefore making the environment less hospitable for the organism to survive. This is also why Glabrata is one of the few types of fungi that can live alongside both bacteria and other species of fungi as well as STD’s. This is what makes this specific infection so difficult treat and kill.
So, before I try to answer your question let me just say that a greenish discharge is NOT indicative of Glabrata. Usually with Glabrata the discharge is white, clear or a grayish color, so with you having a greenish discharge I would suspect that there is another infection living alongside of your Glabrata. This goes back to what I was saying about this infection being able to live alongside other types of infections. So, my suggestion to you, is to make sure that your doctor has run cultures and tests for all other infections, such as bacteria’s, other fungi species (even abnormal ones) as well as all types of STD’s. Now I do not know if you have been using other types of treatments that may have changed the discharge color, things like homeopathic oils, herbs or creams, so this could also be what is playing into the greenish color, but to make sure you are only dealing with Glabrata, make sure to have all other infections checked for. Then let me also suggest that from this point forward you do NOT use any type of alternative or homeopathic creams, gels, soaps, oils, herbs, ect… I say this because they will not work and in many cases can cause secondary infections or exacerbate the Glabrata infection and make it even harder to treat with the correct drugs.
So, your doctor prescribed you Nystatin prior to the culture coming back for Glabrata, which at this point was really not a bad thing and here is why. Nystatin used to be the “go to drug” with this infection but unfortunately, this species has learned over the decades to alter itself so that it is resistant to it. However, just because it is resistant does not mean it will not knock the infection back some, giving you some minor relief until you can obtain a more effective drug. So, using it while not knowing you had Glabrata was not going to make a difference in the strength of the infection, nor was it going to make it resistant, seeing as though it already is. At best it was going to buy you some relief for a short period of time. However, from what you are saying here, it sounds as though it did not even give you that, which in some cases it won’t but you are also saying (if I am understanding you correctly) that it not only did not help you some but, it caused you to start itching through your thighs, belly and hands. Which is what is making you now wonder if you have spread the Glabrata to these areas. So, let me try to answer this for you.
First Glabrata is NOT known to spread to the belly or hands in people who do NOT have very serious under lying immune problems, such as cancer, HIV, uncontrolled “severe” diabetes, etc.. However, if your infection is really bad and producing a lot of discharge the discharge itself if left sitting in your underwear can spread the infection to the outside vulva area, up to the butt crack, around the anus and even down the inner thighs. This would not be abnormal, but that is because the discharge is sitting on this areas for a period of time, not just touching it for a few seconds or minutes, like on your hands and belly. If it did infect these areas they will not only itch but also burn and the skin would be reddened, inflamed and could even be blistered. So, I really do not think that your Glabata infection is the cause of the itching that you are experiencing on your belly and hands and maybe not even on the inner thighs. So, before I go into what I think is happening let me just say that if for some reason your immune system was severely compromised and somehow allowed this infections to spread to those areas they would have to be treated with ampho B gel that is specifically made for skin infections of this type. In order to know if the Glabrata has actually spread to these areas you would have to see a dermatologist, who need to do a scraping or biopsy of the infected area and test it for Glabrata. If it came back positive, then they would treat that area with an ampho B cream that we do have available for skin infections of Glabrata as well as other rare fungi species. It is very rare but it does happen, but again it is usually seen in very ill people.
So, here is what I think may be going on and I would seriously suggest that you talk with your doctor about this immediately. It sounds like you are having an allergic reaction to the Nystatin, which can cause a pruritis (itching) to the areas it is applied to or that come in contact with it. Seeing as though you are using your hands to apply the cream as well as washing the area and wiping the area when you go to the bathroom, it would make sense why your having itching on the hands. The same would go for the inner thighs, because as it leaks out of you it can come in contact with these areas, even if it gets on your underwear when you pull them up and down you are smearing some of it on your inner thighs, so again it is coming into contact with these areas. As for your vaginal area, you would not know that you are reacting with itching from it because you already itch there from the Glabrata, so you would not realize that – that area too is experiencing a reaction. When it comes to your belly itching, that actually concerns me the most, because if you are not somehow spreading the nystatin to that area by hand then your body is absorbing some of the vaginal Nystatin and your immune system is beginning to react systemically. You see, when the body begins to have any kind of a systemic reaction to a drug or something it sees as offending, one of the first places to break out with a rash is usually the abdomen. So, it is quite concerning to me that you may be having an allergic reaction that is getting worse and could become more serious in time. So, I would really encourage you to call your doctor and let them know what is going on as soon as possible. I cannot tell you to stop this med because I am not a doctor but I would really tell you to take action as soon as possible to stop this reaction. You may also want to take some Benadryl and let me say if the Benadryl stops the itching you can then bet this is what is going on and then you MUST talk to your doctor right away. Let me also just say that if the Benadryl works then it is NOT the spread of Glabrata, because it will do nothing for the itch caused by Glabrata.
So, let me answer your last question, which was “is it necessary to disinfect areas where I sit?” The answer to this is “no” you do not have to disinfect areas like your toilet seat or bath tub or chairs any more than you would normally do it. Meaning you do not have to disinfect it every time you sit on it or in it. Here is why, you see a normal healthy person (your husband or children or friends) who use these facilities will not come down with Glabrata just by sitting on the seat or in the tub, nor will washing your clothes or towels with everyone else’s spread it to them. This is because Glabrata is already everywhere in our environment and we are exposed to it much like we are exposed to candidias. What allows some to come down with it like you, is that there was an internal breakdown in the immune systems ability to fight it off, like it does with other organisms we come in contact with. So, for most who get this infection they were already ill with another infection or illness, whether they knew it or not at the time (in the vagina or somewhere else in the body), they could have been taking a broad spectrum antibiotic (which wipes out healthy flora needed to fight these kinds of infections), they could have been using steroids for some other illness within the body (steroids lower the immune systems ability to fight off all sorts of infections especially stealth infections like Glabrata), or they were suffering from cancer or another autoimmune disease, so they were using immune suppressing drugs which lowered their ability to fight off all kinds of infections they come in contact with. Finally, the people who are not healthy with things like diabetes and whose blood sugars are terribly out of control tend to not be able to fight off these kinds of infections because it not only lowers their immune systems ability to fight off infections but the high levels of sugars in their systems feed fungi infections like this. Now, even if someone has any of these immune lowering things going on, it still does not mean they will come down with this infection, however it makes them more prone to it. But they still have to come in contact with the fungi internally or for a long period of time, not just through skin touching it, unless there is a break in the skin, like and open sore. So, just like I was saying for you, it is not normal or usual even for you right now with this infection to have it spread to your hands or belly, etc.. It will usually only spread on your skin if it is in constant contact with the discharge coming out of your vaginal area, but even for you to touch the discharge while cleaning yourself or wiping, it would not spread to your own hands if you washed them afterwards. So, even for you to sit on your toilet seat again and again without cleaning it is not going to cause you to re-infect your skin on your butt or legs, even having the infection and a lowered immune system from it right now still will not do this. So, you will not spread it to others either by them sitting on your toilet seat, chairs or using your tub or towels (as long as your towels are clean when they use them). The only way that you could potentially spread this to someone is to have unprotected sex, but even that is not easy to do or to not wash your hands then prepare food and serve it to others, and again they still would need to be immune compromised for their bodies not to fight it off too. So, please do not worry about spreading this or even re-infecting yourself. Just remember to always wash your underwear, rags and towels in very hot water with soap before using them again and clean your bathroom at least once a week with a bleaching agent. Also make sure to always wash your hands after using the bathroom (I’m sure I probably did not even have to state this one, lol!) Other than that do not worry you are fine.
Well I hope this answers your questions and makes you feel a little less scared about what is going on. I would also once again encourage you to talk to your doctor right away about the itching you are experiencing and the possibility of it being an allergic reaction to the Nystatin, this is really very important because Glabrata does not spread to areas like that. I also hope you can get your doctor to prescribe the ampho B / flucytosine gel for you, which should clear up your infection within 14 days. Once again I would also talk to your doctor about checking for any other infections because Glabrata is not known to cause a greenish discharge, this sounds more like you have a bacterial infection or an STD going on too, which must be dealt with prior to the Glabrata or treating the Glabrata will more difficult and you risk getting it back when you go back to treat any other infections. Well, good luck to you and if you have any other questions please let me know and I will try to answer what I can.
Hi there,
I am from Germany and after more than a year a dermatologist found out, that I have a Glabrata-Vaginitis. All started 1,5 years ago, when I was treated with Cipro against a bladder infection.
My problem also is, that I have severe digestion problems, so I guess the C. Glabrata is also in my guts. Where you treated with Amphotericin B internallly to eliminate the C. Glabrata in your guts? Or did you just do the diet?
I am on fluconazole 800 per day now, for more than two weeks… in addition I got a creme that attacks glabrata.
I am a little bit worried, since I was treated with a lower dose of fluconazole (100g the first three days, then once a week), so I fear that the glabrata is already resistent.
But maybe I am lucky, I try to stay positive!
Thank you in advance for your reply!
Hi Tempura, so sorry you are going through this, it is a beast of an infection to get, but please know that it is treatable and you will get better soon. To answer your questions, yes I was treated with Amphotericin B internally but it was after they had tried several other less toxic drugs internally. Drugs like Caspofungin and micofungin and those were used only after I had failed oral Diflucan and Voriconazole, so it took a long time before I was put Amphotericin B. However, the IV drugs for Glabrata did NOT treat the vaginal Glabrata infection and that is because IV drugs go through the entire system before reaching the vaginal area, so by the time it reaches that area it has lost most of its potency and the vaginal area has few blood vessels and no large ones, so it is very hard to treat this area with any kind of an IV drug. For this reason I still had to use the amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel in that area.
Now I understand that you are having a lot of GI problems, but it does not necessarily mean that it is Glabrata in the gut, you more than likely are having GI issues due to high doses of Fluconazole that you are taking, it can be hard on the gut especially at the dose that you are taking, which by the way is a correct dose for treating Glabrata, but it has to be given for no less than five to eight weeks. So, I hope they are prescribing it for that long. You may want to talk to your doctor about the GI problems so that they are aware of it and maybe they can prescribe something to help soothe the gut. Make sure you are taking a good probiotic too because anti- fungal drugs can mess up the GI system just as bad as antibiotics too. If it does not get better within a few weeks of stopping the drug then you will probably need to have a GI work-up and stool tests done to make sure that you do not something else going on besides Glabrata. Usually if Glabrata attacks the gut the pain is very severe and it creates chronic diarrhea and even vomiting and quite often with blood. It will become pretty severe within a short amount of time causing you to not be able to eat and to lose weight and to become dehydrated, so if any of this starts to happen you will need to contact your doctor right away.
Now you said you were also treating the vaginal area with a cream that is suppose to kill it, but I do not know what cream you are using, because the only cream that is truly effective in killing it in the vaginal area is the amphotericin B / Flucystosine gel, if this is what you are using then you are definitely on the right track, but if it is another “Azole” drug it more than likely will not kill it and there is a high probability that it will return within weeks of stopping the cream, I hope this is not the case for you, but please know it would be common. It was not great that you were treated with a low dose of Diflucan prior to this higher dose, but that does not always mean that it will become resistant to it, there is that risk, but like you said you could be the lucky one and I hope you are. Resistance would be more probable if you had been treated repeatedly with a low dose of Diflucan several times, but if it was only once you may be ok.
If you find that the infection returns within weeks after stopping all the meds than there is no point in using the same drugs again, because that I the sign that it is not killing the infection but instead just knocking it back and after a few more uses of it, the drugs will not even be able to do that. So, if I does return you will want to talk to your doctor about prescribing the amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel. The studies on its use and the formula to make it is listed on here farther down. You can click on the links and down load them to take to your doctor. The gel will definitely kill it within 14 days, but you will still need to alter diet at least for awhile as well as your heigene habits, to lesson the chance of it coming back. Also please know that once you get this infection you are always susceptible to getting it back, so if you have to use antibiotics ever again, make sure you definitely need first and then ask for ones that are not broad spectrum if at all possible and then you MUST be pretreated with Diflucan for at least four days prior to starting them and then you must continue to use the Diflucan the entire time you are taking the antibiotics and for up to ten days after you have stopped the antibiotics. Now the Diflcuan may not kill the infection once you get it, but it does work pretty well to prevent it while on antibiotics. You can also use Nystatin to pretreat with too.
Well, I hope I answered your questions here and have given you the info you need to help you incase what you are working does not kill it, but I really hope you are one of the lucky ones, and please know it does happen. Good luck to you and let us know how things turn out.
Thank you so much for your detailed reply!
My guts have been bad for over a year now, it all started about the same time… Here in Germany most of the studies say 2-3 weeks fluconazole against Glabrata, but I will talk to my doctor on wednesday and I also will ask him about the amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel.
I also changed my diet, and added propiotics etc…
I will keep you posted, thank you again!
On German websites there is not much information about Glabrata, neither about the connection to Cipro. Your website helped a lot to understand what is going on with me…
One more question:
Do you know how they mix the gel in the USA? Because here in Germany, Flucytosine is only available as a solution… so do they mix the two solutions in lube?
And the Flucytosine alone costs 300 Euros…
Thank you so much for your replies!!!
Here in the USA we Flucytosine comes in a capsule and the pharmacist opens the capsule and empties the powder into the gel base along with the amphotericin B powder. So, I am not sure you could use a solution because it would be to watery and may not mix with the gel. This is something you would have to talk to a pharmacist about. I know it is expensive here too, costing around $1,000.00 US for a 14 day supply. If you are not able to obtain the flucytosine capsules or if you cannot afford it, you can always talk to your doctor about using Voriconazole, it is an “Azole” drug to like Fluconazole (Diflucan) but it is stronger and if you have not over used diflucan or if your strain has not become resistant to Azoles, it would be your next best drug to try. It is more potent than the Diflucan and can have some really bad side effects, but if all else fails it would be worth a try. Just know that it too must be used for no less than five to six weeks and with this one, you need to have your liver levels checked prior to starting it and then every ten days while on it. Also let me just say you can try using the amphotericin B in a gel base by itself, it is risky to use it without the flucytosine, and when I say that I just mean that without the Flucytosine in it you take a chance of the Glabrata becoming resistant to the amphotericin quite quickly and without the Flucytosine the amphotericin B may not be as effective at killing the infection, but you may want to try this instead of the Voriconazole because this does not carry all the serious side effects as Voriconazole and hits the infection at the spot without having to go through your entire system first. Well, I hope these are some other options for you in case everything else fails, but I hope it does not. I wish you the best and let me know what happens.
Hi Debra-Jolie,
Thank you very much for the information. I talked to my doctor today: he is very open and interested in this treatment, so he sent me to the pharmacy in order to check, if we can get the ingredients via the international pharmacy. It is possible, although there is one problem: we cannot get the pure substances in capsules. We are able to get tablets, which also will have additional ingredients like talkum, lactose etc. Do you think that could be a problem for the treatment?
In addition, I bought a probiotic today, because I found this article:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25688886
I will continue with my Fluconazole course, in addition with the probiotics internally ( I am also contemplating to use them vaginally, that might also work) and if my results come back positive, my doctor will probably prescribe the ingredients, so that I can use the gel for 14 days.
The pills cost around 150 Euros here in Germany, I do not know how much the preparation in the pharmacy costs, but it seems to be less than in the US.
Have you ever tried those two strains of lactobacilli, mentioned above?
Tempura
Hi Tempura, The tablets of Flucytosine will not work. This is because they cannot be crushed into a fine powder to adequately mix with the amphotericin B and gel. On top of that they contain binders, fillers and additives which WILL change the effectiveness of both the amphotericin b and flucytosine in the gel. So, if you are not able to obtain the capsules with the powder then you need to just make the amphotericin B gel without the flucytosine. If you use the tablets, you will be risking the Glabrata becoming resistant to both the amphotericin B and the flucytosine and you will be left with no effective treatments against it. This would be dangerous chance to take because you could potentially make a completely resistant strain of Glabrata. Also because it has other ingredients due to the binders needed to make a tablet, you could risk an adverse reaction that could do damage to the vaginal tissues. I would highly encourage you to just go with the amphotericin B by itself. Many have used just this because of not being able to obtain the Flucytosine and have still cured the infection, so I would go this route and not risk using the tablets.
As for the probiotics, yes I have seen this study and used both of them (and still do) but you have to understand this study was done in-vitro under very controlled conditions and for the purpose of finding new ways to make drugs to treat this infection. The results will lead to new treatment options in the future but not as it stands by itself now. We know from prior clinical studies and from women who have tried this route (me included) it does NOT work the same in-vivo. I have actually used both of these strains orally and vaginally as well as several other alternative things like Hydrogen peroxide, coconut oil with oregano oil, etc.. and I have met several other women who have tried this too, all while under pharmacological treatments of some form for Glabrata and none of us have gotten better with this stuff. Most have developed other issues (me included) due to trying this. Unfortunately, probiotics do not wash or run out of the vagina, but instead cling to the walls, but they do not live in the vagina on the mucosa for more than a few hours and many die right after admisnistration, they do not have the ability to attach to the walls via this route. In turn what happens is you develop severe itching within hours and even days, you disrupt the already existing flora making things worse and can create a bacterial infection or a worsened candidias infection on top of the Glabrata. You may even be able to see posts on here where women have written that they have tried this along with many other things are still suffering horribly and do not know where to turn now. So, I highly discourage any of these treatments especially since learning that so many women have attempted it only to make their situations much worse and more complicated to treat, me included. I actually discourage ANYTHING being put into the vagina or used in bath waters as well while dealing with Glabrata, this is not your usual yeast infection and it likes to gain strength and resistancy when you further disrupt the flora and pH balance.
Now with that being said, I have written responses on here to several posts about the use of probiotics orally and have really stressed the use of Reuteri when using any strains of probiotics. This is because we know that all strains of probiotics that we take orally cannot survive and attach to the mucosal walls without being fed and without help to attach. Prior studies have shown that the probiotics we take only live between 12 and 24 hours once taken, but when we feed them with prebiotics and Reuteri (which is a food needed for probiotics to survive and the necessary ingredient needed to attach to the walls) they can live for days and more than half of them will attach to the walls and colonize, therefore making it harder for “new” fungi to set up homes. I say “new” because it works great for protection but is much less effective at killing them once they have established a home, which is pretty much what this study states. This is because once we get an over population of bad bacteria or fungi they begin to take up the space on the mucosal walls. Kind of like weeds taking over your yard and snuffing out the grass. This in turn makes it very difficult for the new good probiotics to find the space to grow and colonize, much like it would be hard for new grass to grow in a yard full of weeds if we did not first kill the weeds. So, I have encouraged women to start on probiotics right away and to remain on them the rest of their lives. I also tell women to mix up the strains because we have studies showing that by mixing the strains we end up with more of a balanced flora, leading to less infections. However you should mix the strains and even the makers of the probiotics (because they all are different and source their strains from different areas) but you should always use Reuteri when taking any probiotics. You should also be using prebiotics to help feed them and boost their survival. I have written extensively on this subject and Reuteri on here in other posts and really encourage women to use them, but again it MUST be orally and NOT as the main treatment to kill Glabrata, but instead to enhance the treatment and eventually as a protective measure against it coming back.
I hope this all makes sense and again I hope your fluconazole treatment works, I want you to be one of the lucky ones, but should that not happen then I would highly encourage you to just make the amphotericin B gel by itself and continue to take your probiotics and even ad in the prebiotics and follow the rest of the diet and hygiene changes, if you can do all this you will be successful in conquering this infection and hopefully never getting it back again. I wish you the best and please let me know if your current treatment works or if you have to use the gel.
Sincerely,
Debra-Jolie
Hi Debra-Jolie,
I finished my Fluconazole course and it did not work. I used a Ciclopirox olamine cream with it, but unfortunately my doctor made a mistake and gave me only cream for 6 days vaginally, once a day and I read that you are supposed to use it for at least 14 days, twice a day 🙁
I am very upset, because the wrong treatments could end with me having this for the rest of my life.
I tried to do some research if Glabrata can be resistant to Ciclopirox olamine, but I could not find any evidence for that, so does the cream always work?
Because the next try would be the following treatment:
https://file.scirp.org/pdf/Health20100600007_99457810.pdf
Oral
Posaconazole
800 mg (suspension in 3 105-ml bottles)
400mg BID = 10ml BID with high-fat food (e.g. custard made with full-fat milk)
Local
A) morning
Ciclopiroxolamine Cream 35 g
Introduce deep into the vagina and apply to
labia, vaginal opening, under the foresk
in/clitoral hood, and from perineum to anus
B) evening
Ciclopiroxolamine Cream 35 g
(repeat as stated under A)
Additionally at night
:
Nystatin
Ovula inserted at depth once daily
Supportive
A) Pubic shaving of both partners before starting therapy
B) Mouth, bowel and sperm of both partners must be fungus-free
C) Remove IUD beforehand
But I am a little bit scared, that Glabrata might also become resistant to the ciclopiroxolamine cream.
This Dr. Tietz (he is a fungus specialist in Berlin) also discovered resistancies to Posaconazole, so the next possible treatment would be Micafungin 150 mg intravenously with the above mentioned cream (twice a day, plus Nystatin ovula) for 15 days.
I am scared like hell, a sex life does not exist at the moment and although I have a very supportive fiancé (who is also treated, because a penis swab came back negative with Glabrata), I cannot live like this for the rest of my life. The itching and burning and non-existance of my sexlife is driving me crazy…
So back to the question: is it possible that Glabrata can become resistant to Ciclopiroxolamine?
I am waiting for new swab results with an antimykogram, finally for the first time!!! In my opinion way to late, but the doctors here just seem to know nothing about this disease.
Thanks
Tempura
Oh by the way: the Amphotericin B and Flucytosin treatment is not an option here in Germany, because I cannot get the pure substance in capsules. It is always pills with a lot of ingredients like talkum etc in it.
Hi. I had a baby back in July of 2015 and I have had issues with yeast ever since then due to having 4 rounds of antibiotics during delivery. Last week my gyn finally tested for the type and it came back glabrata. She put me on boric acid suppositories for 2 weeks. She had do research on it because she didn’t know how to treat it. After reading your article I know boric acid will not work. She did mention that we would try the cream next, but you said it would need something added to it. Also, my yeast always starts in the anal area and then spreads to my vagina, so the boric acid wouldn’t do anything for that anyways due to it being put in the vagina. I deal with this every few months for months at a time before I get relief for a few months. Vagisil is starting to do nothing for the itching around the anal skin. My sex life is non existent and it’s hard to work or take care of my daughter during these outbreaks. Could you please email me the studies you have so I can present them to my doctor? Also, I noticed this article you posted a while ago, has your infection returned?
Hi Kirstin, I am sorry to hear that you are going through all this. The rounds of antibiotics you were given definitely played a part in creating chronic fungal infections, which in turn can lead to Glabrata. It is an unfortunate vicious cycle that you were thrown into and now you are going to have work at breaking the cycle, starting with treating the Glabrata.
I am glad to hear that your doctor was willing to research how to treat it and is willing to treat you with the gel, you have already won half the battle, so kudos to your doctor. I am just sorry that she found info on treating it with boric acid, because that is definitely not the way to go and unfortunately can do more harm, so I would definitely try to get her to prescribe the gel as soon as possible.
Now you asked what “should be added to the cream?” So, let me first start out by saying first it is not a “cream”, it is a “gel” and that is really important because you do not want this medicine made into a cream, it has to be made into a gel, which requires it being put in a water based gel. This is very important or it will not work and could cause you severe internal acid burns. Now as far as what should be added to it, nothing should be added or altered from the formula that has been posted on here. I have said to others though, that it is important to make sure that your doctor does NOT make the gel with ONLY Amphotericin B, the formula MUST be made with Flucytosine too. I say this become some doctors have found a formula for only the amphotericin B gel, but it is no longer made this way. This is because studies have shown that only using the amphotericin B without the flucytosine is less effect at clearing the Glabrata and leads to early resistance to the only known drug left to treat this infection. Studies have shown that by adding the flucytosine, you not only make the gel more effective but keep the Glabrata from becoming resistant to it right away, buying you another chance at treating it if necessary. It is more effective too because both these drugs work in conjunction with each other for the kill. The Flucytosine breaks open the nucleus wall and allows the ampho to get in and unravel the DNA of the cell, so that it cannot replicate and therefore dies. So, it is important to make sure that your gel contains both amphotericin B and Flucytosine and again it is very important to make sure it is made with a water based gel.
The studies and the formula are listed below for you to download and bring into your doctor and my reply to “Susan” below gives the exact formula to make it too, so please check it out.
Now as far as your anal area being a problem too, this is totally normal with a Glabrata infection that has gone on for a while. This area will also need to be treated once you get the gel as well, even if I is not broke out at the time. You will need to put a finger tip amount on your finger and spread a light layer of the gel over the anal area and right into the beginning of the rectum. You should do this every night for the 14 nights. While in treatment with the gel do NOT use anything else in the area during the day, like Vaseline or A&D or anything. You should only be using the gel at night and you can wash the area the next morning in the shower with Dove Hypoallergenic soap then pat dry and dress.
I will tell you how I am doing and give you a very important tip that is going to benefit you because you are dealing with it in the anus area and it is coming and going. So, let me explain, first I am doing very well and beat my Glabrata, but not until I learned the hard way that I had to change my diet and lifestyle. You see, after my treatment which worked the first time out with my colon and vaginal area, the Glabrata returned, only this time it returned in my mouth and throat. I treated it again this time with a mouth rinse of amphotericin B and it worked. Unfortunately, it would return again and again, with it showing up in my vagina, rectal area, mouth and throat. I went around and around with this beast for nearly two years. I knew I was in trouble because I knew I was running out of chances with the meds and once the Glabrata became resistant to it I was going to be left with this infection for life and that was NOT an option. So, I worked with my doctors, did my own research and we figured out that it was my diet and lifestyle that was allowing for this monster to return, by getting it in my mouth and rectum repeatedly meant that my digestive tract was a perfect place for it to set up home again and again. I had to figure out how to change this before it was too late. This meant working with my doctors and a nutritionist. I had to make my body an unhospitable place for this monster to live. This meant drastically changing my diet, which meant NO more sugars of any kinds, not even natural ones, it meant no gluten which leads to all kinds of chronic inflammation and poor PH and flora problems. It also meant No dairy, no processed foods, no soy and no starches (rice, potatoes and pastas). You are probably wondering what did I eat? Well I ate very well, but it took time because I had to learn how to substitute and cook with herbs. So, my diet consisted of all the meats I wanted (as long as they were not processed meats like hot dogs or sausage or lunch meats, etc..) It also meant that I could eat as much veggies as I wanted to, except white potatoes. I could also eat fruits, but they had to be low sugar fruits like berries and green apples. It also meant that I had to change the way I looked at breakfast. It was no longer about pancakes or cereal or muffins, instead it was about green drinks and Kefir (which is the only diary I was allowed) and if I was still hungry then I ate some chicken or mashed cauliflower with some butter and garlic. My soups were homemade for lunches and sided with a salad that contained all kinds of veggies and some chicken or salmon. Dinner could be something like homemade spaghetti sauce with beef and cut up veggies added to it and then spread over spaghetti squash noodles. I would snack on veggies or fruits or make my own fruit sorbet with raspberries. I would also use the spaghetti squash in place of dishes that called for rice. I used zucchini for noodles also and cauliflower steamed, dried and mashed in place of potatoes. It took me awhile but I figured it out.
I also had to change my hygiene habits too. It meant no more bath products or after bath products like bath salts, bubble bath, scented soaps, lotions, oils or perfumes. The only thing I used in the bathroom in that area was dove hypoallergenic soap and water, period! When it comes to sex, I only use the original KY jelly or surgilube with no scents or additives etc.. I washed all my underwear in hypoallergenic soaps and no dryer sheets. I also had to start exercising to help my immune system kick in and on to fight any and all infections. I have other health problems so believe me it was not some great 30 or 40 minute work out. It was more like a fast paced walk, doing squats while picking clothes out of the laundry basket to fold and marching around the house when putting clothes away. I also added probiotics and kefir as well as a homemade green drink each day. Once I started repairing my PH and made my body less hospitable to all infections, especially yeasts, the Glabrata never returned! I will also tell you that I was bitten by a tick and contracted Lyme and several other co-infections and have had to take rounds of antibiotics for almost two years now and even at that I have still not had another fungal infection, but again I work hard at keeping my body less hospitable. So, with you having it around the anus and with it coming and going, this means that your gut flora is out of whack and your problem is not just in your vaginal area, it is also within the gut, which means you are going to be at risk of it coming back again. So, I would seriously encourage you to change your diet and lifestyle now, even before you start the gel. I can’t say this is going to guarantee you will not get it back at some point in the future but I can tell you without a doubt that it will GREATLY lesson your chances and make your whole body much healthier even against other infections.
Well, I hope this helps you and I wish you the best, please let me know if you need anything else and please come back and let us know how you are doing. Good Luck
Hi Debra, I read your story with much interest as my husband has been diagnosed with this candida glabrata. He had antibiotics prior to this as well as Brachytherapy for prostrate cancer, which lowered his immune system because of the radioactive pellets. He is using Wild Oregano oil capsules by Solgar and it seems to be working. The homeopath said that more antibiotics would just make the situation worse.
Have you heard of the Oregano oil that it is sensitive to and has anyone else used it with any good effect.
Thanks Marion
Hi Marion, I am sorry to hear about all that your husband has been through. Unfortunately, Glabrata is a real risk in cancer patients due to the drugs used as well as the suppression of the immune system as well as hospital exposure where this infection mostly resides. I can tell you that there were studies done on the use of unconventional or alternative treatments with Glabrata which included Oregano oil and unfortunately, the studies showed no efficacy in curing Glabrata. They did these studies because we really have no pharmacological drugs that cure Glabrata outside of Amphotericin B, which is very toxic when used internally, so scientists were looking outside of the box with the hopes of finding something to beat this infection, especially because so many die each year from it even with amphotericin B treatment. Unfortunately, in the studies none of the alternative treatments showed any efficacy with Glabrata, however, if I remember correctly in the “conclusion” of the study they did state the use of some of the treatments may not work to cure the infection but they may be able to help alongside of amphotericin B in very serious cases.
Now I can tell you too that I have met a few people who have tried alternative treatments like wild oregano oil, but unfortunately, it did not cure them either. They eventually had to turn to the ampho gel to finally kill the infection. Let me just explain something here, your husband may be having some relief with this because it is knocking it back, which many kinds of treatments will usually do in the beginning including Diflucan. The problem is that it is only knocking the infection back, which is what gives you the moments of relief, but once the treatment has been stopped, the infection unfortunately comes right back and usually with a vengeance. Now it coming back can take a few days to a few weeks, sometimes leading people to think that they got rid of it but then somehow were re-exposed to it again, through sex or their partners or the soap they used, etc.. In truth this is not what happened, instead they never really got rid of it and it just took a few weeks for the numbers to climb again and for you to feel the symptoms of it again. The problem that happens to most people at this point is that they then go back and try treating the infection with what they thought cured it prior like Diflucan or monostat or something like oregano oil, but unfortunately, this time it is less effective or not effective at all. This happens because Glabrata is a unique species that very quickly adapts to whatever you try to treat it with, so if what you use does not kill it and only knocks it back then it leaves the door open for the remaining organisms to become resistant to that treatment, making it useless when it rares it ugly head again. This can even happen with the amphotericin B which is why scientists are now asking doctors NOT to prescribe it as a preventive treatment or to prescribe it without Flucytosine in conjunction. Which the Flucytosine when combined with it lends more efficacy to the kill with the amphotericin but also seems to help with keeping the infection from becoming resistant to the ampho so quickly, therefore buying the person a few more times of treatment if necessary. So, what I am trying to say here is that the oil of oregano may be helping right now with your husbands symptoms but will more than likely not cure the infection itself. If this happens please do not be surprised if when going back to try and treat it a second time with the oil that your husband does not get any effect from it at all. This is a common problem with this infection and would more than likely happen even if he used anti-fungal drugs like Diflucan. I hope this will not be the case but from what I have read and heard from others it usually is what happens even with alternative things like wild oregano oil.
Now, I am assuming that your husbands infection with Glabrata is located in the prostrate or urinary tract and unfortunately, that is not an area that the ampho gel can be used. As you know it is impossible for lack of a better word to “shove” it through there, so he is at a disadvantage with his infection and he will require the help of an infectious disease doctor. This is because he is unable to treat his infection with a topical gel and instead will need to take drugs either orally or through an IV and the only doctors that treat this kind of infection internally are infectious diseases doctors. Now I know you are using a herbalist right now, but if this infection does not leave or spreads you will really have to decide about turning to an infectious disease doctor as quickly as possible. This is not an infection that can be treated by herbals and it is not one that you want to get out of control, especially since your husband is in a weakened immune condition from his cancer treatments. This infection can be quite deadly once it gets into deeper tissues and other internal organs and especially in the cancer community. So, I know you want to try this and I don’t blame you for wanting to try something other than conventional treatment but please be aware that a herbalist really has no business treating such a serious infection, especially in a debilitated person, this infection can turn very quickly and that’s the last thing you want to happen. So, if this does not work or if your husband begins to have other symptoms I would really encourage you to seek out the help of an Infectious disease doctor. They will probably want to start him on an oral treatment first which is the least invasive way to go and they will probably want to use Diflucan first. Unfortunately, Diflucan is the “go to” drug with this infection but you can advocate with the doctor to by pass this one because of its high failure rate especially in cancer patients or the immune compromised people and ask to be put right onto Voriconazole. It too is an oral drug but has a much better kill rate with Glabrata. If you start on Diflucan and it fails it will unfortunately have made this infection more resistant to any of the Azole drugs like Voriconazole, which means when it fails and they then want to try him on voriconazole it will have raised the risk of it now failing too. So, I would really advocate for the use of voriconazole before any other azole drug. If this one fails too, then they will likely need to put a line in him and start the more potent IV drugs like micofungin, or caspofungin. If these were to fail then they would have to put him on amphotericin B, but there are a lot of drugs to go through before you would get to that point. Let me also tell you that the drugs used to treat Glabrata are NOT antibiotics they are anti-fungals which is a totally different class of drugs and these drugs do not mess with your bacteria counts they only are designed to kill fungi which is different than bacteria’s. So, I get how your herbalist does not want to use conventional treatments, for fear of causing more problems but this is not just a simple candidia infection and your husband is not a healthy person to begin with, so in his case I would really encourage you to seek out the advice of an infectious disease doctor because the ramifications of what this infection can do are way worse than treating him with voriconazole.
I don’t want to scare you, but I know first hand how serious this infection is and can becoming before you even know what hit you. It worries me when I hear someone like your husband who is not in good health and is being treated with only alternative treatments with an infection that is not topical. So, I really just want to stress to you how serious this is and that you really need to have an infectious disease on board. That does not mean that your herbalist cannot still be involved too but at least you are covered should this infection turn very serious very quickly.
Well I wish you and your husband the best and I hope he has conquered his cancer on top of all this. Please come back and let us know what happens. Good Luck
Hi Marion, I’m curious to know if the Wild Oregano oil capsules worked for your husband? I tried them for a little while and got some relief but it didn’t get rid if my problem completely yet…
Hello Debora! I can’t believe you have all this knowledge! The hours you have spent helping all of these people!….incredible! I have been suffering with Glabrata since I was 19 I am now 25. Mine started from taking way to much antibiotics to treat cystitis. I then found out through years of all sorts of treatments and surgery that it was Glabrata! I am from England and my Mum got in contact for me with Doctor Sobel who recommend a doctor in the uk Dr Hay who has been treating me with Boric acid and Niastatin but after a year of treatment I still have the infection. Could you send me the research you have and this gel treatment you have been recommending? I wouldn’t be so greatful! I feel my youth has been robbed from me by this awful infection and to know that all my best efforts are still not helping it, is soul destroying! Thank you in advance! Charlotte – charlotteoakley@gmx.co.uk
Hi Charlotte, I tried to email this to you but it kept saying that your email address was not recognized so I am sending it to you here. I am sorry to hear what you are going through, as you already know Boric acid and Nystatin do NOT work against Glabrata. Boric acid kills fungus by changing the PH balance of the vagina, but it is useless against Glabrata because Glabrata is a unique species that has the ability to adapt to ANY PH environment, making drugs or chemicals like Boric acid useless. As for Nystatin, it has not been used to treat Glabrata since the 90’s and this is because it was so over used prior to the “Azole” revolution of fungal drugs that Glabrata as well as many other species of fungi became resistant to Nystatin making it also worthless. Drugs like Nystatin and most of the Azole family of anti-fungal drugs have no efficacy anymore against strains of Glabrata because they were so over used and this fungi species adapts to drugs and PH enviormental changes so quickly that it is now ingrained into the DNA of Glabrata making it almost impossible to kill it. We literally have one drug left to treat it, and more than half of the cases of Glabrata even this drug has become resistant, and because of this we are seeing people die of these infections at increasing rates each year. Our pharmaceutical companies need to get their azzez in gear and start finding other treatments before we run out of time.
So, with that being said I do want to make an important point here to you, the gel consists of two major ingredients, which are amphotericin B and Flucytosine, those are then mixed into a water based gel to make the treatment. So, it is the ampho B that actually kills the Glabrata, but because it is the last known drug to be able to kill it, researchers have found that by adding Flucytosine to it, it not only helps the ampho to get into the cells nucleus and unravel the DNA so as to kill it, but it also for some unknown reason as of yet prolongs the Glabrata from being be able to adapt to it right away, buying the person a few more times of use, just in case it does not kill it the first time or should it come back again. So, researchers are now insisting that anyone who prescribes the gel MUST use the Flucytosine with it so as to not make this last drug resistant to the only known cure right now. So, pleases make sure that your doctors use both ingredients when making the gel for you, it will help kill it the first time for you and spare you the chance of becoming resistant to it, just in case it comes back again.
It is also important to refine your diet from sugars of all kinds including natural ones like honey and stevia. Also stop eating starches like rice because they turn into sugar once digested too. You will also need to change your hygiene habits, no use of any kinds of perfumes, body sprays, perfumed soaps, vaginal PH soaps, shampoos in the shower, bath salts, bubble bath, or oils. You will also need to use only water based pure lubricants like KY jelly, no scented ones or ones with additives. Make sure to keep the area always dry and wear cotton underwear and breathable pants, no nylon pants or stockings. You will also need to be pretreated with Diflucan prior to any antibiotic use for the rest of your life. You will need four to five days of it before starting the antibiotic and you will need to continue to take through the course of the antibiotics and then for another ten days after you have stopped taking the antibiotics. If you do not do this you WILL get it back again and try to not take any antibiotics unless you absolutely have to, try natural remedies if at all first. Now this will not guarantee that you will not get it back again at some point but it will definitely lessen the chances. Unfortunatley, once you get Glabrata you are always at risk of getting it again, so be careful!
Ok so here are the links for the studies, all you have to do it copy them and then paste them into your browser and then pull them up, down load them and print them out. The one has the formula for making the gel too that your doctor can use. I hope this all helps you and I wish you the best.
Sincerely,
Debra-jolie Anderson
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3294902/
http://sti.bmj.com/content/77/3/212.full
Hi Debra, firstly I wanted to thank you so much for helping so many people out and warning people against the use of antibiotics.
I wanted to ask you a few questions
1) are you still continuing your no sugar, no grain diet?
2) did you have intercourse during the infection? Is it safe? I know it’s painful, but is it safe?
3) did intercourse become painless again after the candida was cured?
4) is it common to have flare ups when wearing tight clothing?
Please help me get rid of this as Its causing me a lot of discomfort
Hi Mary, I do still continue my no sugar diet, but will occasionally cheat and have a coke, but I try very hard to stay away from all sugars other than those in fruits and even at that I stay away from the high sugary fruits, mostly eat berries and green apples. I definitely stay away from grains and found that I can get all the fiber I need from veggies and some fruits. Although if you stay away from all grains you may also need to supplement your diet with some B vitamins, which I do.
I never had intercourse throughout my infection, first I was in way to much pain, my infection was so bad with pain that I thought I would take my own life at times because I could not imagine living like that for much longer so sex was the farthest thing from my mind. Secondly, after figuring out that it was Glabrata I was told by both the ID doctor and Gyne that any kind of sexual contact could infect my husband too and if he got it too, his treatment would be much harder than mine and we could pass it back and forth, making clearing it impossible as well as making it resistant to any drugs we were treating it with. So, it is very dangerous to have any kind of sexual intimacy while infected with Glabrata, that includes oral as well. So, I would not suggest doing this until you are positive that you are clear of the infection.
Sex was not comfortable after the infection was cleared, but that is because I developed vulvodynia from my infection which is quite common for women to develop after a very serious or lengthy vaginal infection. I have been in treatment for this problem and it has gotten better but it is a life long condition that I have been left with and will always need to treat this.
It is common for it to reappear after you have cleared it and I am not sure if it is because there is always some cells left that hide out just waiting for the right opportunity to come back out, or if we somehow get re-infected but it is common. However, you can control it from coming back out by changing some things within your life, such as your diet, your hygiene protocols and exercise. It is really important to keep your immune system working at its capacity, it is also important to not wear tight clothing, or anything that does not breathe. It is also important to keep the area dry at all times, which means getting out of wet clothes as soon as possible too. It is important not to eat a diet high in sugar especially processed sugars. You also need to try and control the PH of the vagina by only bathing in pure water (no bath salts, oils, bubble bath ect..), no lotions, perfumes, powders or body sprays ever in this area, no using lubricants that are NOT water based or contain additives at all, NEVER EVER douche for any reason, no scented tampons or pads, no scented soaps or body washes or wash your hair in the shower and no dryer sheets in the dryer with your rags, towels or underwear. You should only be using Dove hypoallergenic soap to wash the area with pure water, then dry it thoroughly and get dressed, with cotton underwear and breathable pants that are not too tight. Wipe with only unscented white toilet paper and use KY jelly original when having intercourse and wash the area and dry it thoroughly afterwards. Finally, if you have to use antibiotics then it is very important to be pretreated with Diflucan for at least four days prior to starting the antibiotics and then you must use the Diflucan throughout the course of the antibiotics and for up to ten days after you have finished them. If you follow these things you will be able to prevent any re-infections with Glabrata. Since doing these things I have not had another infection with it, so it is controllable.
In order to get rid of it, you need to start by changing the things you can with your diet (and no cheating during treatment or for the first few months after treatment). You also need to start with the hygiene changes as well, believe me these things alone will help to keep the pain and irritation down while waiting to get treated and during treatment. Next you need to find a doctor who is willing to treat you with the amphotericin B/ flucytosine gel. The medical articles on its use and the formula for making it are listed here on this site, so you can download them and bring them into your doctor. This will cure your infection within 14 days but then you must still keep to the life style changes that I have suggested here or it is highly probable that it will come right back and you only get so many uses with the gel before it becomes resistant to it too. These things should help you to get better quite quickly. If you are still having problems after the 14 day treatment then you will need to be tested again to see if you still have the infection. It is unusual that the gel would not kill it the first time out but it does happen if you have underying conditions or have a diet high in sugars or bad hygiene habits. In any case you would need to wait at least two weeks and up to three before retesting or you could get a false negative. If the tests comes back negative after that then it is possible that you have developed vulvodynia and that requires a whole other regime of treatment. If it is positive then you would need another 14 days of the gel, and that should be 100% effective again as long as you have no underlying conditions. It is also very important NOT to have intercourse during any of this. If you do get cleaned up but it comes back again and again and you have done everything here and if you have been having intercourse throughout this infection then your spouse is going to need to be checked for the infection too, because he may be giving it back to you and men a lot of times will not know they are carrying it due to their biological make-up.
Well I hope this helps you, good luck.
Debra can you please share your email id? Would be very grateful
I am going to be unavailable for awhile to come on and answer questions or email out the studies, so I do not want to leave anyone without this information that may need it. So, I am going to give you the web links here and you can copy and paste them into your browser and then download and print them out to take into your doctors. I will also give the web site for a pharmacy that can make the gel. They are out of Ohio but can ship anywhere in the US. You can go to their web site to obtain the information to give to your doctor.
For any other questions you may have on Glabrata you can probably find the answer to any one of them by looking back through the many posts on here. I think we have pretty much gone through most questions that you may need answered, so please check the numerous posts to see if you can find an answer to whatever question you may have. I wish you all the best in fighting this beast and know there is hope and you are not alone.
The web links to the studies, (the one study has the formula for making the gel too) :
http://sti.bmj.com/content/77/3/212.full
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3294902/
The web site for the pharmacy:
http://www.LeeSilsby.com
Sincerely,
Debra-Jolie Anderson
Dear Debra,
I was diagnosed with C. Glabrata October 2016. My OBGYN did not understand how I could have caught this type of infection, yet after reading your blog it became clear to me since I had had a hospital stay and was given the exact antibiotics you mentioned in your article. My saving grace is that I am a well trained Functional Nutritionist and was able within 3 months, of a 100% holistic approach, to manage this infection. I was just checked last week and my Dr did not find any C.Glabrata in my vagianl swab, the “crazy” rashes I suffered from for months are 99% improved.
I would be glad to share my protocol with you and your lectors in order to help them heal without the use of harsh drugs with serious side effect.
I can be reached at http://www.Radianthealthnutrition.com
Hi Debra,
I have not been diagnosed with glabrata but am getting chills reading your article. I have had problems for years. I have been told I have interstitial cystitis and now being told I have these problems due to menopause. I am constantly getting recurrent yeast infections. I am so frustrated and so is my husband. I feel like doctors just write a prescription and push me out the door. I just left a message for my gyn to call me after reading your article. My yeast infections never have the cottage cheese like discharge. I always get blood red down there, with unbelievable burning, very little itching. The discharge is usually runny and yellow and at times it looks like mucous. When my gyn does a culture, she always says I have a million white blood cells but never gives me an answer why. My husband has resorted to wearing a condom but I still become inflamed and on fire. I need help but I don’t know where to turn. I was so relieved to see your article because I am not crazy after all. Lucy
Hi Lucy, I am so sorry for what you are going through. I know it has been awhile since you wrote this and you stated you were going to call your doctor to discuss this with them, so I do not know if you have been tested for Glabrata yet or not, but I hope you have. Your symptoms do sound like Glabrata, but please be aware that there are several other vaginal conditions that can cause very similar symptoms to glabrata. Things like Vulvodynia, vaginal Lichen Planus, vaginal psoriasis and other rare fungal infections like Tropicalis, so it is really important to get tested for all types of bacterial infections, all types of rare fungal infections, chronic candidias infections and all STD’s. It is also important to make sure that your doctor is requesting a specific “Glabrata” test as well as a “rare fungal test”, just running a “normal” fungal culture will not show any of the rarer forms of fungi like Glabrata or Tropicalis. These types of cultures use different petrie mediums and dyes then the regular ones, so it is really important to make sure your doctor is ordering the correct tests. Now if these all come back normal then you are going to need to talk to your doctor about other vaginal illnesses and diseases that could definitely be at play here and cause the symptoms you are complaining of. To rule out other vaginal diseases you may need to be seen by a mucosal specialist, now most University hospitals have them, but if your local one does not you may have to travel to one or maybe your doctor can speak with one and send them a biopsy of the tissues from that area. Usually these doctors are able to take that biopsy of the tissue and look at what is happening to it at the cellular level. This tells them if your own body is attacking the tissues like what is seen in Lichen Planus or even vaginal psoriasis or several other vaginal diseases. Now these are rare illnesses but should definitely be ruled out if all your testing for infections comes back normal. Now if the biopsy shows inflammation only with no known cause then you are probably dealing with Vulvodynia. (which by the way causes a high white blood cell count under the microscope as well as what is known as clue cells and a discolored discharge, which are all seen with infections in the vagina, but also with some other illnesses that are not infectious) Unfortunately, this illness can feel and act like an infection and cause exactly what you are describing here too. However, Vulvodynia is NOT an infection and trying to treat it as one with drugs or creams can make it worse, so it is important to figure out what is really causing all your symptoms first. If it is Vulvodynia then you will need to ask your doctor for a referral to a vulvar pain specialist. These people are very knowledgable about how to treat this condition, which believe me your doctor is NOT! You will need their expertise to get control over it and there are many different modalities for treatment. Unfortunately, there is no “one size fits all cure” for this illness and you may need to try several different things to help treat it, which again is why you need a specialist in this field. Also please do not expect your doctor to figure any of this stuff out for you, unfortunately most will never bring up any of these conditions or even think of testing or suggesting them to you. They usually just try the “usual” creams and pills and when they do not work they dismiss you as a patient because they do not know what else to do. So, it will more than likely be for you to have to bring up everything I have said here with your doctor and push for all of them to be checked for.
Well, I hope since it is has been awhile since you wrote this, maybe you are already on the mend and knowing what you have. In any case I wish you the best and hope you will come back on and let me know what has happened to you and if you are doing better. Good Luck
Hi Debra
I have been dealing with Glabrata for 6 months now and have tried all the different drugs. I have had 6 cultures come back positive for Glabrata with little relief. I decided research myself and did find Amphotericin B Flucytosine compound. I asked my gyn to prescribe it for me and she did call it into compound pharmacy. I have been using it for one week now and Am more irritated now than I was before starting it. Is this burning normal during treatment? I have been using vasiline but it only gives a little relief. I saw you recommend the Indian healing clay, can you use this while treating? Also could you send the formula so I can make sure I gave her the right formula. My Dr has never said anything about having a secondary infection, is it possible that I only have glabrata? Thank you your articles are most informative.
Susan
Hi Susan, I am so sorry to hear that you are going through this nightmare and having such difficulty with the gel. So, let me try to answer your questions. First, let me say that it is not abnormal to have an increase in the burning and irritation, especially if you were raw before starting or had any open or broke down skin in the area. However, the burning usually dissipates within the first couple of days as the gel kills the Glabrata and washes out leaving the area feeling soothed and nearly back to normal. So, it is slightly concerning that you are still burning after a weeks worth of use. Now I say “slightly” because there are reasons that could cause this to last this long or even through the entire treatment. First some women can experience it through the entire 14 days of use due to these women having a severe infection that has gone on for some time. leaving the area very raw and hypersensitive to anything being placed on it. Secondly, there are women who have also suffered a long time with the infection and may have even used other forms of failed treatments, which has left them with neuralgia or hypersensitivity to the area, making this treatment very irritating. Thirdly, you could be having a reaction to one of the compounds in the gel. Now, usually in all these cases the stinging and burning and irritation does clear up after the treatment is finished. This unfortunately, is the one side effect and the only one that is listed with this gel, but again it does go away (albeit slowly) after treatment is finished. Even though your suffering has gotten worse with the treatment, it does not in anyway mean that it is not working, it is just a side effect that I would tell you to try and hang in there with. However, I would also tell you to pay attention to make sure that your skin is not breaking down or ulcerating with the gel or that you are not having some other serious reaction, which could happen if you are allergic to any of its ingredients, but that would be very rare, but possible. So, if you can stand it and your skin is not breaking down, then just hang in there.
Now with that being said, I do need to warn you that it is critical that the gel was made correctly because if not it too could definitely cause you burning and irritation or worse. So, let me explain this part quickly, when the gel is made it MUST be put in a water base gel, not a cream, or oil or in a suppository form. This is because Amphotericin B is one of the most acidic toxic agents on the market. So, when it is used topically like in the gel, it needs to be in a gel that washes right back out of the vagina. You are literally using it as a wash for the inside. So, when your gel arrives it should be cold packed or if you picked it up, it should be refrigerated as soon as you bring it home. This is to keep the gel in a thickened state. So, when you are ready to use it, you will take it out of the fridge and fil your applicator, at this point it will have a thick gel like consistency. You then place it into the vagina and lay down prone for the next 8 hours. Within about ten minutes of insertion, your body heat will have heated the gel up inside you and should notice it beginning to slowly leak out of the vagina. This is what it is suppose to do, because the water based gel now begins to break down and wash over the walls, then it begins to leak out. Now if your base is an oil or cream it will NOT break down with your body heat and leak out washing the area clean of the Glabrata and removing the very acidic Amphoteicin B, instead it will cling to the inside walls holding the ampho on your tissues, where it will begin to burn the tissues and could eventually cause acid burns throughout the vagina. It is also less likely to fully hit all areas of the vagina, leaving you with some live Glabrata cells, which ultimately could start the infection all over again and may leave you immune to the gel. This is why I really stress on here to women who are going to use the gel to PLEASE make sure your gel was made correctly. It is important to stress this to your doctors, especially those that have never prescribed it before, but it is also very important to discuss it with your pharmacist prior to them making it too, so that everyone is on board and knows how to make it correctly. This is very important because most doctors and compound pharmacists have usually never prescribed or made this gel because it is so rarely used. So, you need to make sure that your gel was made correctly. Now you asked me for the formula to make it, so you can check to see if yours was made correctly. So, here is how it is to be made up- it is 100 mgs. of Amphotericin B (this only comes in a powder, usually used for IV use), with 1gram of Flucytosine (this comes in capsules of 250 mgs. or 500 mgs, so to make one gram of this you would need four -250 mg. pills or two -500 mg. pills, no matter which one they used they would open the capsules and empty the powder into the bowl with the ampho B powder). These two are mixed together and then mixed into a water based gel (water based gels are ones like Aqua Gel, KY Jelly (the original), or surgilube). Now they will have to figure out how much gel is needed to make 8 grams of treatment gel to be used each night for 14 days. ( 8 grams of gel each night would be two applicators worth of the gel each night to be placed in the vagina). This is how the gel is made correctly. So, I would definitely check with your pharmacist to make sure this was how they made yours. If it is then, again I would say that you are just having a side effect and as long as you can handle it and are not having skin break down, try your hardest to get through the 14 days of treatment.
So, lastly I want to tell you that you should NOT be using Vaseline in your vagina, while under treatment! This will one, cause the gel to stick to the walls creating a worse situation (much like what I just described above with the wrong base) and two, it will prevent the gel from making full contact with the walls, making the gel worthless and you will be risking making this infection resistant to the gel. This also goes for using anything else in the vagina, you should only be using the gel for 14 days, no other vaginal creams, rinses or anything. Now if you are using the Vaseline on the outside areas of the vagina due to skin break down that would be ok, so would the Indian Clay, however, if the gel is creating the skin break down and it wasn’t there prior due to Glabrata on the outside of the vagina, it is more than likely doing it inside too, and in that case you should stop using it, because it was either made wrong or you are having a reaction to something in it. If it is that you are reacting to something in it, you will have to find another form of treatment and please know that there is still Voriconazole, which is a pill and does carry a lot of systemic side effects but, it does have some efficacy in killing Glabrata, however, if it fails too then you are going to need to see a Glabrata specialist like Dr. Jack Sobel out of Wayne State University in MI. So, please do not loose hope if this is the case.
To answer your question about whether you may have another infection besides Glabrata, the answer is “YES”. Glabrata because of its unique ability to live in any type of a PH environment is rarely seen living by itself. It is almost always seen living alongside bacterial or other fungal infections or even both. You see, most women come down with Glabrata because their vaginal PH and the flora have been for some reason compromised, leaving them vulnerable to this infection. That break down in PH or healthy flora usually first allows for other infections to set up home. Things like BV (bacterial vaginosis) or chronic candidias, it is after these have set up home that Glabrata often shows up, so it is very possible to have other infections going on. I usually tell women prior to starting the gel it is important to get checked for bacterial infections, all forms of yeast infections (including Glabrata) and to be checked for any and all STD’s, all of which can be found along side Glabrata and according to studies can make treating the Glabrata very difficult. You must first treat any other infections, with the exception of other fungi infections and that is because the ampho B / flucytosine gel will work to kill all other fungi. You must also treat any STD’s., if these are not dealt with first you could have a difficult time treating the Glabrata and clearing it. You will also be left with those infections after your Glabrata treatment and you will need to go back and treat them which can in turn bring the Glabrata right back. So, your doctor would have need to have tested and treated other infections prior to your treatment, if not it could make things harder for you. However, here is the thing, you now cannot test for any other infections or even STD’s until you have finished your treatment with the gel and you have waited no less than two weeks, however it is preferred you wait three weeks before testing for any and all infections including for Glabrata again. If you do it any sooner you could end up with false positive or even negative results. You would also have to wait that long before starting any other kind of treatment, unless it was an oral treatment.
One last thing, if you make it through treatment, which I hope you do, and you have waited two weeks and you are still irritated, burning or itching, you will definitely need to be re-checked for Glabrata as well as any other infections. Now if all these come back normal this time around, please know that you could be left with a chronic illness known as Vulvodynia. I have talked on here in length but you can also look up articles on it too. Vulvodynia is usually brought on by long standing or serious infections like Glabrata and unfortunately , can make you feel as though the infection is still there when it is not. You can not tell the two apart except through negative cultures for all other infections. With you having so much irritation with the gel and for as long as you have been dealing with Glabrata it is very possible that your hypersensitivity is coming from irritated nerves within your tissues, which is pretty much what vulvodynia is. Now if that is what you are left with, you will more than likely need to bring it up with your doctor, because very few doctors know about this or have the knowledge to diagnose it. So, you will have to bring it up and if your doctor agrees that it was you may have, then ask them to refer you out to a vulva pain clinic where you can be treated by someone with knowledge on how to treat this condition. I hope this point will all be mute for you and you will heal fully once you get through all this, but just in case please keep that in the back of your mind.
Well, I hope I was able to answer all your questions and I hope this is just a side effect for you and in another week or two you will be on the mend. Good Luck
I wanted to share my Candida Glabrata experience with anyone who might benefit. I was diagnosed with Glabrata after 18 months of pain and testing from my ob gyn. I was persistent enough that after many appointments and complaints with nothing turning up they finally tested my sample at the genetic level. Bingo. The nurse sheepishly called to report that I did indeed have this highly resistant infection. I knew that something had to be wrong, my pain was intense and ongoing. It felt like I had a cut on the inside of the vagina and salt had been applied. After attempting to treat with Boric Acid and many rounds of Diflucan my Dr. was referring me to infectious disease for further treatment. In a last ditch effort to avoid this group I sought out the help of an Acupuncturist and Chinese Herbalist who treated me for 6 weeks and I was cured. The Dr. was very skeptical but I felt it was worth a try before heading down the infectious disease path. My Acupuncturist, Dr. Dean Deng out of Lake Forest, Illinois assured me that he could help. He did. He is worth checking out for anyone who is struggling and losing hope with this battle. He treated me 3x per week for the first two weeks, 2x per week for two weeks and 1x per week for the last two weeks. I had a follow up lab done to confirm and it was gone. Wishing you all the best of luck with treating this exhausting condition.
Hi Debra,
I also have Glabrata & have been struggling to find help for 2 years. I live in the North Texas area. Do you know if there are any specialists in this area that are knowledgeable?
Hi Susie, I’m sorry to hear that you are going through this, unfortunately, I do not know of any doctors in the Texas area. However, I can email you the studies, which are peer reviewed studies done here in the United States, so almost any doctor in the US will accept them. The one study does have the formula for making the gel. It does have to be compounded, so you will need to find a compound pharmacist to make it and I can give you the name of a pharmacy that is able to make it and ships anywhere in the US. I am telling you this because quite often you can teach your own doctor how to help you. So, you can take the studies into an open minded doctor and it can be a family physician or gyne and show them the studies and ask them to write you a script for the gel. Most will do this, but if not you can try finding another doctor in your area or you may have to travel out of state to see one that will. There is a doctor here in IL that is educated on treating it, if you should need one, but I would really encourage you to try working with your own doctors there in Texas first.
Well I wish I could be of more help to you, but I will email you the studies and the doctor and pharmacy information from here in IL in case you need it. Good Luck to you
Hi Brenda, what exactly did your Acupuncturist treat you with?
Thanks, Melissa
Hi Debra,
This is one of the most in depth and informative articles I have read on Candida! You are so knowledgable! It is sad that so many people have to do their own research to find a cure for their disease when doctors can’t or won’t, but I bet so many women are thankful that you did!
I am convinced I have a vaginal glabrata infection and am truly frightened. I am awaiting culture results from my Gyne doc, but unfortunately, I did not happen upon this article until two days after my appointment, so I am unsure if she ordered a specific glabrata test.
The reason I think I have glabrata is because I have taken multiple courses of Cipro from 2012 to 2016 for diverticulitis attacks. Then, in June 2016, I took both Cipro for diverticulitis again, and a course of steroids for a severe allergic reaction to some sort of insect bite. I took
them at the same time. The “perfect storm.”
I had a sigmoid resection in Sept 2016, so in prep for that, I took three doses of Erythromycin, which I believe is also broad spectrum. I developed an oral thrush infection several days after being home from the surgery. I took Nystatin swish and swallow for 10 days and that cured it.
I did ok for October and most of November. At the end of November, I developed a vaginal yeast infection. I took some OTC cream and it seemed to resolve. Then, in early December I developed another vaginal yeast infection. I tried everything OTC, multiple natural remedies, and Diflucan 150mg three days apart. Nothing worked. I then tried boric acid, one suppository nightly for 14 days. I thought it worked. The burning, irritation, slight itch and slight discharge disappeared. I felt normal “down there,” but only for about four days, then, BAM, burning and slight discharge right back again. My discharge is clear and watery on the outside, but if I stick my finger up there, it comes out with some milky, white, thin, slightly sticky discharge. Rarely, I get a small amount of the white, curd like discharge. Another reason I think it’s glabrata is that this doesn’t have the insane itch that a normal candida infection has. It is more of a burning, irritated sensation. The burning extends all the way to the top of the butt crack. The discharge does not have an odor. I believe I saw in a couple other posts that you stated the discharge has a strong odor.
I am still holding out the slightest hope that I don’t have Glabrata, but my gut tells me I do. I have read through most of the posts to your article and have taken many notes. Your knowledge on this subject is astounding and it is wonderful that you have been able to help so many women. I am a nurse also and I see my gyne doc frequently where I work, so I’m hoping that will be advantageous in getting the correct testing (if she didn’t already order that) and in getting the correct treatment should it turn out positive.
I thought I saw in one of the comments above, you stated there was a link to the studies by Dr. Sobel. I can’t seem to find it. I would like to be prepared for my next gyne appt. with some studies and the recipe for the prescription, should I find out I do indeed have glabrata. If you would be so kind as to email those to me, I would be very grateful.
One more thing Debra. Is there anything that can be applied to the area to soothe the burning while waiting for treatment? Thank you so much!!!
Hi Chris, I am so sorry you are going through all this, you definitely have been on the drugs to cause a perfect storm and you definitely sound like you have Glabrata. So, I will email you with the studies to bring into your doctor and the one has the formula for making gel too.
I also wanted to address a few other things here real quick. First, you need to STOP using the fluoroquinolone drugs (Cipro, Levaquin, avelox, etc..) these are very dangerous drugs that can leave you with permanent life long disabling injuries. They also should NEVER be combined with steroids, NEVER!!! It even states this in the drug pamphlet, which most doctors do not even know about! Let me also say that Glabrata only effects the vaginal area so if you are having symptoms of not feeling well in other areas of your body, things such as painful muscles, joints or tendons, fatigue that is abnormal and for no reason, headaches, visual disturbances like blurred vision or floaters, dizziness, ringing in the ears, jaw pain, dry skin, mouth, eyes or nasal passages, peripheal neuropathy, etc.. then you may have been what is called “Floxed” which is a type of poisoning that happens from using one of the fluoroquinolones and you can learn more about this by checking out a blog by David Melvin at http://www.myquinstory.com or googling fluoroquinolone toxicity or joining a FB group on it.
Next let me explain that Glabrata is able to live in any PH environment, which means that it is rarely ever seen living by itself. It can be found living along side of bacteria or other fungi, which means that the smell of the discharge can be altered by which ever infection is dominant at that point. When Glabrata becomes the dominant one it often has a very distinctive smell of rotting flesh and that is because it does eat and kill the tissues, but again you may not have a strong odor of this if there is other infections living along side of it.
This is why it is very important for your doctor to test for all fungi and bacteria as well as any STD’s. You need to have this done because if there is another infection like a bacteria infection, that infection needs to be treated prior to treating the Glabrata or else it makes treating Glabrata very hard. So, if you had a bacterial infection you would need to treat with something like Metrogel or cleocin before using the ampho gel and you must wait five days after using any other meds in the vagina before you can use the gel or you risk it not working. You could also take Tinadazole orally to treat a bacteria infection while using the ampho gel. If there are other fungi do not worry the ampho gel will kill them too, so do not use Diflucan or any other OTC treatment for it. Now if your doctor did not specifically request for a Glabrata test then it will not show up, so you may have to ask for it to be done.
In the meantime you can use a few things to help with the burning and pain. If you need it on the inside you ask your doctor for a prescription of Metro gel. Now I know this is usually used to treat BV, but it only treats specific bacteria without wiping out the good ones, so you do not have to worry about it causing a secondary problem. Now it is often given to women with vulvodynia or those that have unknown or even known inflammatory conditions without a bacteria infection and this is because it has a natural anit-inflammatory property to it. So, it tends to soothe and heal reddened tissues and bring down any inflammation. However, if you use this, you must stop using five days prior to starting the ampho gel or the gel will not work. Now if the irritation is on the outside areas, like the outside of the vaginal “lips” the perineum, up the butt crack, the rectal area or even around the inner thighs you can buy a product called “Indian Healing Clay” which is made my “Majestic Purity” and you can find it on Amazon for about $11.00 US dollars. You would take 1/4 tsp. of it and mix it with 3/4 tsp. of warm water and mix until it is a clay consistency. Then using your finger smear a thin layer over the irritated areas. You leave it on for about 15 minutes, now if you are really irritated you may only be able to stand it for a few minutes, then you will get into a warm bath and let the water rinse it off. You can use your fingers or hand to wash the area clear. Now if it burns a little in the beginning that is ok, do not stop using it, just keep applying it once a day everyday and within about three days the burn will stop and you will notice the area is n longer irritated or red. This clay naturally heals the skin and brings down the inflammation. I also want to let you know that you should not be washing the area or dying it with a rag or towel, because the tissues are very irritated and fragile due to the Glabrata eating at them, so if you use rags or rub you risk not only tearing the tissues but also spreading the infection to new areas. So, always use you hand or fingers to lightly wash over the area and rinse with water. For drying just pat the area and then follow up with a blow dryer on the cool setting. This will actually feel really good, but in any case never leave the area damp or wet. The same goes with wiping, you want to use a white dye free and smell free toilet paper and only pat the area, do not wipe! If the area is still very irritated you can use destin with zinc, but only smear a thin layer over the areas, this may help some too, but the clay will do the most.
Now when you get the gel make sure to take a little of it on the tip of your finger and smear a small amount over the infected areas up the butt crack and around and right into the anus. This will help to kill the infection in those areas too.
This should help to get you started. I will email you the studies and if you need anything else please let me know and I will do what I can to help you. Good luck
Hi Debra,
I’m writing on behalf of my partner, we’re in Perth in Australia and shes been fighting a losing battle with doctors for nearly a year and we’ve put thousands of dollars into curing her with no luck. She is only finally on some treatment that is getting close to the right thing which is the Flucytosine with Niastatin but reading this we are not hopeful, and her symptoms still persist. Shes been messed around by every doctor and specialist we’ve seen as there is little to no knowledge or awareness on C. Glabrata, especially in Australia, which has only made it stronger.
We’ve only found one place which will compound the Amphotericin B but no doctor will prescribe it, even though we’ve told them that the mix of that and Flucytosine is the only thing proven to fix it and explained the properties of both. I’m hoping we can get in contact with you and get more information like the studies you’ve mentioned in other comments and also the breakdown of the gel with Ampho. B and Flucytosine to try and push to get prescribed and fix the problem,it would be greatly appreciated! Also any information on doctors in America who will treat it as we’re prepared for that option as well.
She’s lost all hope and become very depressed which is killing me to watch, I’ll do anything to get her better.
Thank you for any response and if you need contact details please don’t hesitate to ask.
Hi Chris, I am sorry I didn’t answer sooner, but for some reason I did not see this post show up. I am sorry to hear what is going on. Unfortunately, Nystatin even when combined with Flucytosine is useless against this infection. Glabrata has shown total resistance to Nystatin since the late 80’s and most doctors don’t even prescribe it anymore. All the studies on Glabrata dating back into the mid nineties no longer even study Nystatin as a treatment. I will send you the studies that you are looking for and the one even has the formula for making the gel. Unfortunately, many doctors even here in the states do not understand the molecular make-up of amphotericin B, so they are afraid to prescribe because they have been taught that it is a very toxic drug which has the potential for serious injury and even death. However, that only applies to it if you use it orally or interveiniously. Many times a pharmacist may have to inform the doctor that when using ampho topically, its molecules are to large to be absorbed through the tissues. It often gets used on the skin, in the vagina, in the rectal area and even in the mouth and throat to treat Glabrata as well as a few other hard treat fungi infections. When used this way it has no systemic side effects (because it is not capable of being absorbed) and very few if any side effects to the treated area. It is also combined with Flucytosine in almost all cases. This is because the Flucytosine keeps the Glabrata from being able to adapt to the ampho, buying the person a few more times of treatment with it, if necessary. The Flucytosine is also used to help break open the nucleus wall so that the ampho can get in there and unravel the DNA, there by killing the fungi. The latest studies are stating that doctors should no longer prescribe flucytosine or ampho by themselves, due to the potential of gaining resistance to either drug alone.
I know this infection can be quite painful and life altering, which in turn can bring on serious depression, so I hope that you are able to find a doctor there who would be willing to prescribe this gel. However, if not you can ask about trying voriconazole, which has had some success in treating it as well. If they are willing to do this they will need to treat for no less than five weeks and they should do a MIC test on the culture as well. That will give them an idea as to how strong of a dose you would need to help kill this. Now that test is not always accurate because these drugs always act differently in the body then they do in the petrie dish, but it is a good way to find a starting ground. It is the only other drug that has any efficacy against this infection. The one study I am sending you talks about this drug too. If all else fails and you find yourselves needing to come to the US for treatment there is a doctor here that will be able to see you and prescribe the gel. You will just need a positive culture report with you. I will send you this information too.
Well, I wish you the best of luck and if you need anything else please let me know and I will try to help however I can.
Hi Deborah,
I am so happy to find this forum!!!!! I have Candida Glabrata and have been battling it for a good while. I had a positive test done from a swab at my gynecologist almost 2 years ago and was treated vaginally with boric acid for several months. Then I started developing multiple symptoms and seen several different types of specialist. One of them ordered urine and stool cultures and they both came back positive for Glabrata! I was given Nystatin orally and had a allergic reaction then I was given Prednisone 10 MG for 14 days for the reaction because it was so bad. I was also given Clindamycin 2%vaginal cream. Now I am even worse! I am currently taking a very strong probiotic and a supplement called Yeast Guard. Please help me with any ideas you may have. I have a pharmacy near me that does compounding. Will you please email me the RX ingredients for the gel so I can have my Dr. order it? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Susan, I did get a chance to talk with you by phone and it was a wonderful conversation, I hope all the information I shared with you helps you to finally understand what is happening to you and gets you started on the road to recovery. I did email everything to you and let me know if there is anything else I can do to help you. Good luck to you hun
Debra
Thank you for all this information, so glad to have found it as I’ve been struggling for years with pain and every time I go to the gyn, they say there’s nothing wrong. Well this time, after a course of antibiotics, she said I have candida glabrata, but that’s just based on looking at a microscope and not a culture. Can you please see me all the information I see you sending to others, including the doctor in the US who can treat this?
Thank you!
Hi Molly, I am so sorry you are going through this, but I want to share a little information with you. First Glabrata cannot be seen under a microscope in your doctors office. This is because it does not produce hyphae which makes it invisible to the naked the eye even under the scope. It has to be grown out on a special medium with heat and then a specific dye must be added to it and then placed under an ultra violet light under the scope. So, I am not sure why your doctor is telling you that they are seeing it under the microscope without a culture. What she may be seeing is something called clue cells, which are often seen under the scope in a doctors office, these clue cells tell them that there is some kind of inflammatory condition going on in the vagina. However, the clue cells does not tell them what kind of infection, but in most cases your doctor can see the bacterial cells or regular yeast (candidias) cells under her scope, so if she is not seeing either of those types of cells but is seeing clue cells, she may be just assuming that you have an infection like Glabrata going on because it is something that would cause clue cells without anything else being seen under her scope along with your symptoms.
The problem with this is that there are also other reasons for clue cells as well as your symptoms besides bacteria, candidias and even Glabrata. It can be being caused by atrophic vaginitis (which has many causes) or from STD’s, other rare fungal infections like Tropicalis or even autoimmune conditions that effect the vagina or just irritation like vulvodynia. So, cultures for BV, candidias, Glabrata, other rare fungi and STD’s should be performed so that you truly know what you are dealing with before you just start throwing meds at it. I say this because all these different conditions can look alike under the scope and can cause many of the same symptoms, yet are treated with very different meds. So, you need to know what you are really dealing with so as to not be taking meds that can have serious side effects or make your condition worse.
Secondly, a culture is absolutely necessary when treating some of these conditions, especially Glabrata. Here is why, in studies they have found that Glabrata rarely lives by itself in the vagina, because of its ability to live in any PH environment it is often seen living along side both BV and candidias as well as other rare fungi. It is necessary to know what else may be living with it because depending on what else is living with it will depend on how well certain treatments are gong to work. In most cases the doctors want to treat what else is living with it first then treat the Glabrata, by doing this they have found that there is a higher cure rate. So, it is very necessary to have that culture done. On top of this the culture also lets the doctors know what strain of Glabrata you have and how resistant it is to all forms of treatment. This is called the MIC’s and this lets them know how resistant the strain is and what is going to work best. Now this test is not always accurate because what they have found is that what seems to work in the petrie dish does not always work the same in the host and that is due to the hosts own immune system, under lying conditions, life style and PH of the vagina, but it is a good starting ground and is needed. I will also tell you that any doctor I would send you to is going to require this culture to be done before they will even be willing to see you and you will want it done prior too. This is because these doctors are not cheap, they can have very long waiting periods to get into (up to six months) and for them to do the test it would take a few weeks for the results to come back, so you will have to go back again before they would treat you. They will also not treat without a positive culture for the reasons I explained above.
So, I will email you the studies and the doctors info, but you need to go back to your doctor and ask for a culture to be done. These doctors will want that information with the MIC’s before they will even set up an appt. Once you get that you can do one of two things, you can first try giving your current doctor the studies with the formula for the gel and ask them to treat you and the studies are peer reviewed studies done here in the US at prominent universities so they should take them with no problem. Or you can make an appt. with one of the doctors I email you, just make sure to bring your culture report with you. If it turns out that it is not Glabrata then your doctor will at least know what you really are dealing with and be able to help you correctly from there. One last thing, if your cultures all come back negative but you still have clue cells and pain, then you may want to bring up the possibility of vulvodynia with your doctor. It is often a misdiagnosed problem and one that too often is misdiagnosed as a rare or hard to treat fungal infection, but it really is not and it gets treated with a whole different regime of modalities. I say this because you are complaining of pain going on two years now with the doctors supposedly not seeing anything. This really does not sound like Glabrata, because Glabrata especially one that has been going on two years would not only be causing you severe life altering pain but it would also be causing you tissue break down, swelling, discharge and at this point probably ulcers. So, if you are not having all these issues too and if they are really not seeing anything then you actually sound like you have a classic case of vulvodynia, in which case you would have clue cells under the scope along with pain but nothing to be seen on exam and treating it as Glabrata or any other type of yeast infection would actually make you much worse!!!!! So, please before traveling to see a Glabrata specialist or spending a lot of useless money and treating yourself with unnecessary drugs I would encourage you to go back and ask your doctor to do cultures. When you ask for cultures tell them you want one for BV, one for candidias and one for Glabrata as well as for other rare fungi. Then wait for the results before doing anything else. If you do not have some of the symptoms I said you should see with Glabrata above then I would encourage you to also check out the article on Hormones Matters on Vulvodynia, it explains this condition and how it is often misdiagnosed or not diagnosed and it explains the causes, symptoms and treatments. You may want to take that information with you along with the studies to your doctor so that you can have a conversation on all of them to help you help your doctor to figure out what is really going on with you. Then you can be assured of getting the correct diagnosis and treatment.
Well, I hope all this information helps you and I will email you all the information. Good luck to you
Hi Debra, I have another question. Can Glabrata and normal yeast infections, can they be sexually transmitted to your partner???
Hi Helen, Both Glabrata and even candidias can be transmitted to your sexual partner, however they usually do not catch it as easily as a women does and that is because of the anatomical make-up, which I did explain in another post on here to someone if you want to look back at other posts. If your partner were to have either, they too would be suffering with discharge, a reddened area around the uretheral opening, burning with urination, itching in and around the head and if bad enough even on the penis. Now there are some men who may not have symptoms this bad and may not even know they have it, because they are only getting intermittent itching or burning with urination and they are attributing it to jock itch or not drinking enough or even to something they drank. But if they have it there will be some symptoms, so you may have to ask him if he has had any of these symptoms at ALL. If not then chances he does not have it and to find out if he really does have it, would require a q-tip swab for culture into the penis, which is painful (from what I hear) so it is not something you want to put him through unless he has symptoms or if you have been successfully treated and for some reason still keep getting it back especially after sex. I hope this answers your question and helps you.
Hi, Debra! Thank you for the useful information. You are a real Wikipedia on this subject and I appreciate you care some much about the women that struggle with this. I also have the same diagnose and I am worried that my doctor doesn’t really knows much of this disease or how to cure it. Next week I have an appointment and I would like to discuss with the doctor about the studies and the gel formula you were talking about. So, please be so kind and send them via email. Thank you very much!
Hi Nicole, I am sorry I just seen this posting, so I hope I will be able to get you the studies in time for your doctor appt. So, check your email for them. I wish you the best of luck and if you need anything else please let me know. Thanks
Hi Debra,
Thank you for responding to my question, your answers are always so helpful. After much thought, I think I was misdiagnosed. I don’t think I have Glabrata because my symptoms are not what most people experience and also I know for a fact that my OBGYN did not ask for this specific glabrata test to be done. When the test results came back she didn’t even know what glabrata was. And I also think whatever I have isn’t a regular common yeast infection either. I don’t really know what I have, I have to get some more test done. However, what I’m thankful for is that whatever is that I have its bearable, I can handle it until I do find a cure.
Hi Helen, I am so sorry you are going through all this, but thankful that you are able to bear this until you find the answer. I think I did post awhile back to you that I too was not sure that you had Glabrata and even back then I thought you needed to have a full work up with testing. So, I hope you can find a doctor that is able to do this for you. I would still encourage you to ask the next doctor to run a bacterial culture, a regular fungal culture, a rare fungal culture to look for ones like Tropicalis and then a Glabrata culture. You should also ask to have all STD’s checked too, not that you any but it is just to rule every type of infection possible out. Now any doctor (gyne or family physician) can take these cultures and send them to a lab. When talking to your doctor about testing make sure to ask for exactly what I just wrote here, they should know how to order all of them or they can look them up or call the lab, so that they know how to write and send the cultures.
Now if you have ANY kind of infection (rare or normal fungi as well as any kind of bacteria or STD) they will find it. If for some reason these all come back normal, meaning they show no infection of any kind, then you need to discuss with your doctor the possibility of the diagnosis of vulvodynia. This is actually how you diagnosis this condition, which is done by ruling out any and all infections of any kind. This may be what you are suffering with and I think I talked to you about this one too in prior posts. But I want to once again reiterate that vulvodynia is an illness that very few doctors know about , think about as a diagnosis, or even now how to treat, so often it is up to the patient to bring it up to their doctors. I also want to reiterate that vulvodynia almost always feels like and acts like some kind of a yeast infection and for that reason alone, most gyne’s mis-diagnose it as such. However, it is not an infection and requires a whole other regime of treatment by vulvar pain specialists. It is also very common for women to think they have picked up some “rare” or “weird” kind of fungal infection that their doctor is just missing or maybe hasn’t even seem before, but its not, it is very normal to feel or think this way when dealing with this kind of illness. Most women walk around and go from one doctor to another for nearly twelve years looking for an answer to their suffering, so it is not abnormal to go through this, but you can head off this long journey by getting all those tests done and finding out if there really is an infection and if not then you need to bring this diagnosis up with your doctor so that you can start getting treated as soon as possible. I do think that when we talked before I told you that I suspected this because Glabrata is almost never the type of infection that you could get by with or bear with it. A Glabrata infection if not treated gets worse with each passing month and is terribly unbearable, it is truly life altering and will spread to the outside areas of the vagina if let untreated for too long. So, even though you do not fit the usual the symptoms of Glabrata, I would still encourage you to get the test done as well as the other ones and then go from there. I did write an article recently on Hormones Matters about vulvodynia that you can look up and read. It gives you all the information on symptoms, problems with diagnosis and treatments available. So, you might want to check it out, so that you are fully informed the next time you see a doctor. Well, I wish you the best Helen and please let me know what comes of all this for you. Good Luck hun
Sincerely,
Debra
Then when they come back you will know if there is any kind of infection
Hi Debra many thanks for the information, could you email me the details/breakdown on the gel and I will give to my doctor ….hope you are still feeling better x
Hi Louise, I’ll email you the studies, which have the formula for making the gel. Good luck to you
Hi Debra hope yo are well , I just wanted to update you on my story. I took my weeks cousre of antibiotics after a suspected strep g infection in my anus, it didn’t make much difference the second swab did show up glabrata but less of the strep g I don’t know if glabrata was on the first swab probably did but the doctor said it could just be part of my flora and would be difficult to get rid of and they could easily colonise again from foods etc. So I saw a different consultant about the fissure and told him about the glabrata but he didn’t seem interested , he was just going to try and help them so I got a cream to help relax the muscle at my anus but that didn’t make much difference, I haven’t seen him again yet but he said that if that didn’t work then I would be Botox injections there they possibly surgery. I took the nystatin/ flucytosine cream over xmas it was 100,000 units of nystatin and 1gram flucytosine, 8 grams per syringe dose, it wasn’t a gel it was a cream like substance.it also had a 2week shelf life and had to be stored in the fridge. The fist night I used it I felt a different sort of feeling in the vagina . As the days went on i started to get discomfort not during the night but the rest of the time, it was like the vulvodinia symptoms, it was like they knew they were under attack and went into the walls causing discomfort. I was exhausted thinking it over in my head what could be going on and I was still getting the watery discharge. The symptoms are only slightly better now , I have been finished the cream for a few weeks now but still feels worse than when I started it. I am due for a swab next week and see the consultant on the 2 nd. The only other thing that is available to me is the boric acid capsules but I know they are useless .i am also worried that because they have been exposed to the flucytosine they have already became resistant to it and won’t have any other chance to get rid. I found out that there is a world shortage of ampho b and there is a quality issue . The only way I could get it is by going to another country but don’t know how to go about doing that , there must be someone else in the U.K. how has had this andgot rid of it without going abroad. I don’t think I could cope knowing I had to live with this forever.
Oh I am so sorry Iona, I really hoped that the combination of Flucytosine with Nystatin would work for you, I knew it would be a long shot, but really prayed it was going to be your answer. Unfortunately, like I explained before, Flucytosine is NOT the drug that actually kills Glabrata. All it does is break open the shell that protects the nucleus, there by allowing the other drug (which in your case was Nystatin) to get into the nucleus and unravel the DNA of the fungi. In theory and decades ago, Nystatin should have worked to kill it once the Flucytosine busted open the protective shell. However, like I also explained before Nystatin was so over used prior to the “Azole” revolution in the 90’s that Glabrata learned how to adapt to it, making it useless in its ability to kill it. So, the combination that you took of the two was going to be a long shot, but one I truly hoped would work for you.
Now, I can’t say if the way it was prescribed is what caused it to fail or not, but in order for it to have had any chance you would have needed it for no less than 14 days. It also should have been put in a gel not a cream, this truly makes all the difference and may actually be the reason why you felt so much discomfort and were left worse off. You see these drugs are NOT meant to stay in the vagina or adhere to the walls, they are only meant to “wash” out the vagina and exit it. These are very acoustic drugs and if they adhere to the walls they can cause all kinds of burning, irritation, skin break down and even nerve damage. This is why it is very important that the drug be put into a water based gel. However, again I cannot say for certain that it was the reason for it failing, because it was going to be a long shot anyway. Although, it may very well have been what made you worse.
So, I am not sure where you go from here, because you need the amphotericin B to be added to the flucytosine. Let me also just relieve some of your fears right now. Believe me you did not make the Glabrata resistant to the flucytosine from this one use. Let me explain, there have been studies done on the use of Flucytosine and what they found is that for some reason (still not fully understood why) Glabrata has a hard time adapting to Flucytosine, which is why it is suggested that doctors do NOT prescribe the amphotericin B without it. When you combine it with ampho it actually buys you a few more times with both drugs before the Glabrata is able to adapt and become resistant. So, please put this worry aside, you have enough on your plate right now.
So, as you already know the boric acid capsules are useless against this fungi and will only cause you more skin issues especially in the rectal area, where it commonly breaks down the tissues. So, I would really suggest not using this. I will also say that your doctor seems to have very little knowledge of Glabrata, which is very unlike other forms of fungi, commonly known as candidias. This one is known as a non-candidias and for good reasons. With the most important difference being that it will not be treatable or curable with the “usual” candidias drugs, making it very difficult to treat if you are not knowledgeable or experienced with it. However, this does not mean it is not treatable or curable or that it is something you will have to learn to live with. Let me also say Glabrata is not a “usual” part of your flora, nor is it found in foods that you would normally eat either. So, it is not going to recolonize when you eat again, however, it can recolonize if it is not fully eradicated during treatment. Now food does play a role in how well your body is able to help the drugs attack the fungi. If you eat sugary foods, carbs or starches you will be working against the drugs by feeding this fungi, so even though food cannot “cause” or “recolonize” the infection it does play a role in treating it.
I have to say that I am very worried about you, for a couple of reasons. First I am worried because your doctors do not fully understand this infection and I am very worried that they are going to use unnecessary procedures that will not only NOT help you but may actually cause you more problems. I say this because you are saying that they are talking about using Botox in that area. I am not sure if you understand how botox works, so in case you don’t let me quickly explain it to you here. Botox is a neurotoxin bacteria that causes the nerve endings to become paralyzed, so that the “irritated” nerve can’t send signals to the spinal cord and up into the pain center in the brain, therefore making it so you no longer feel the pain. The second effect that you get when the “irritated” nerve is finally calmed down with a Botox injection, is the muscles in and around that nerve begin to relax, which then stops the inflammation and breaking the cycle, which is what they are supposing is causing your nerve to be irritated in the first place (this is why they gave a muscle relaxer). Now all this sounds great IF you did not have an active infection going on and your only problem was an injured irritated nerve which is what was causing you to clench the muscle up, there by creating even more pain, inflammation and irritating the nerve further. But you DO have an active infection and once they treated the strep infection they took away one of Glabratas competing infections, which means they gave this infection full run with no competition to hold it back, which is also why you have gotten worse. Getting rid of the strep was necessary, but it needed to be followed with the ampho / flucytosine gel and unfortunately you could not access the ampho. But again, the botox is just going to be a stronger form of a muscle relaxer, which is not going to work and carries some very serious side effects. It will also leave the anus unable to hold in your stool because the muscle will be paralyzed and this can last up to six months. It can make for some very difficult and embarrassing incidents. (I have had crohns friends who have gone through with this, so I am very familiar with it) I believe this is only going to add to your anxiety, pain and over all health challenges. I would seriously reconsider this and definitely talk with your doctor about what I just said here and get more information before deciding to do it. I will also tell you that you have no clue what you would be in for with surgery in this area. Again I have had to face this decision myself with my crohns and have many friends who have had their rectal areas removed or altered due to disease. This one I would not even consider without first leaving the country and trying to access the gel. If they remove part or all of the rectum you will NEVER be able to hold your stool again. You will constantly have to wear a pad and have some kind of deodorizer with you at all times. This is because our colons produce a mucus like substance around the clock to basically “grease” the colon and keep it supple. Our anus’s hold this mucus in until we are ready to have a bowel movement, however if you paralyze, remove part or all of the rectum you will no longer be able to hold this mucus in. So, you will have constant anal leakage which smells very bad. Please also understand that you have hundreds of nerve endings around the anus which come off of the Peudendal nerve and go up into the spine and then into the brain. If for any reason ANY of these nerve endings are irritated, damaged or cut through surgery you can be left in an incredible amount of pain that WILL BE PERMANENT! This pain is beyond anything you could imagine and in most cases in considered an intractable pain condition, meaning that we do not have ANY drugs available to treat this particular pain and there is a name for it when this happens, but it slips my mind tonight. Please know this was told to me by my own colorectal surgeon. It is absolutely the very last area that you ever want to touch with a scapal! So, PLEASE before you allow any of these doctors to do either of these procedures to you, PLEASE – PLEASE do some research on your own and then sit and talk with your doctors. Let me also say that because your problem is an active infection, the surgery could potentially make the infection worse and definitely put you at a higher risk of it spreading deeper into your tissues and even into your colon, which could be life threatening. On that same note, if you were to have either of these procedures you will be at a higher risk of other infections entering not only the rectal area but also into your vaginal area because of the constant anal leakage. It is a common problem seen in people who go through either of these procedures. Ultimately, you will be opening up Pandoras box or another whole slew of problems and challenges to face. So, once again, please take a moment and trust your own instincts and research, then research some more and then sit and talk with your doctors.
I am also worried very worried about your emotional and mental state. I say this because it sounds like you are feeling overwhelmed and fearful that you will somehow have to learn to live with this horrible infection and that worries me. I know that feeling all too well and I know it nearly drove me at one point to think about ending my life because I could not imagine living with that kind of pain daily. It was effecting my entire life. This is why I wrote this article, because I did not want other women to ever face that thought. I am beside myself with how to help you, but I know there is relief and hope, we just have to get the drugs to you or we need to get you to the drug. So, with that being said, please know if there is anyway for you to make it to the US, I will set you up with a doctor who can get you the gel and I will take you to the pharmacy myself to get it. I know this would all be very expensive from the travel to the drug, but I would help in anyway I could and you are always welcome to stay with me while here to save on hotel costs. I would help you make the appointments and get you there too. If it is too expensive you might want to think about putting up a Go-Fund me account to raise the money. In the meantime there are a few things that may help ease the suffering right now. First you can have your doctor prescribe metronitazole vaginal gel (it is used for bacterial vaginosis) but this gel only targets specific bacteria, so it will not wipe out all your good bacteria causing you another infection. Now it will not clear up the Glabrata, but this gel has a unique quality, it has a natural anti-inflammatory in it. It is often used in women with vaginal pain and irritation or redness with no known infections. It gets used to help bring down the inflammation and redness and can be very soothing to the destruction and inflammation the glabrata is causing to your tissues. It will ease some of your suffering and buy you some time. It too can be used around the anus and it can be used several times a day. You can also use “Majestic Pure” Indian healing clay. This can be bought off of Amazon, I think for like $11.00 US dollars. It is all natural, You will take 1 teaspoon of it and put it in a bowel, then add three more teaspoons of warm water to it. Mix it up until it becomes a clay consistency. Then you will smear a thin layer over the rectum area and any area outside of the vagina. You will leave it on for about 15 minutes, however the first few times you use it, you may only be able to withstand it for a few minutes. Then wipe it off and get into a warm tub to soak for 30 minutes. When you get out make sure to pat the area dry, DO NOT wipe the tissues, because you will set off the Glabrata. You can also use a hair dryer on the cool setting to dry the area, which will actually feel good. Then get dressed, you can do this once a day, every day. This clay has a natural ability to bring down inflammation, burning, itching, redness and heal the tissues. I used this often, it was the only thing that got me through the days. However, if your skin is really irritated or broke down it may actually burn at first, so do not add fuel to the fire, just wipe it off and get in the tub, but do not stop using it, keep attempting it each day, because every time you use it, even for a few minutes it is working to bring down the inflammation and begin the healing. So, within about a week you should see a big difference in the pain and redness and even in the integrity of the tissues. Again this is not going to clear the infection, but it will help to ease some of the suffering and buy you some time until you can get the gel. One last thing too, I do not know how your country feels about narcotics, but when I was really bad (before they knew I had Glabrata) my doctors did prescribe Dialudid, which was a life saver at that time. It did stop the pain, burning and itching for about six hours, giving my body and mind a few moments of rest. So, maybe this is something else you can talk to your doctors about, even if it is only used in the short term. Please also know that there is still Voriconazole, it is not something I would recommend to people who can access the gel, but in your case, this may be worth giving it a try before resorting to these other procedures. Your doctors can do a MIC test and figure out how much of the drug you would need to possibly kill it. Now it too does not have a high kill rate with Glabrata but it is the only other drug out there that has some efficacy against it. It does have some very serious side effects, so you need to be watched while on it and you would need your liver and kidney levels checked prior to starting it (for a baseline of functions) and then you would have to have them checked every ten days while on it. You would need to be on it for weeks, at least 8 weeks, but it might be worth trying too. You can also ask about trying the Voriconazole crushed -up in a gel which would be placed in the vagina. Now I do not know if this would work at all and there are no studies on it, but another women on here brought it up as something else to try. She never did try it so I cannot say if it worked, if you tried it, you would be the first of us to have tried this. It may work, I do not know, but again it is something else to try. If you do try this please come back and let us know how it goes. I would definitely ask to try this before doing either of the other two procedures.
As far as amphotericin B being in shortage or not being pure, I cannot speak to your country, but here in America there is no shortage and our supply has had no issues with purity either. Unfortunately, I do not know anyone else that can help you find the amphotericin B in the UK, I know there were other women on here from the UK who did access it, but none of them have contacted me back, so I am not sure how else to help you there, other than what I suggested above. I will try to reach the other women again. I am sorry I am not of more help, but please hang in there, because this is curable without doing more damage to yourself, we just have figure out a way to get you the ampho. I will do what I can and I hope some of the suggestions I offered above will help with some of your pain. My heart goes out to you! Hugs
Thank you for your reply, and it is so very kind of you to offer putting me up if I have to come to the states. I will try researching more about the Botox and the surgery but when I looked online about glabrata in the anus I didn’t get much. My other concern would be if I did ever get the ampho b gel I don’t think smearing it on my anus would eradicate , it would need to be an inch or two in as I am feeling it inside the anus as well as the outside and wondered how that would work, or would I need an IV to take the meds. The only time I get relief from discomfort dowm there in both parts is usually when I go for a walk or keep moving (I don’t know why). If I do decide to go to the states to get treatment , would I need to go first for a consultation then the treatment or just for treatment, and would I need anything with me for the doctor, also how much roughly would it cost. Sorry for all the questions but one last thing if I decided to go for it , if I can’t get it in any other E U countries would it be possible for me to speak with you over the phone, thanks again Iona x
Iona, you probably won’t find much on anal glabrata because it usually goes along with the vaginal Glabrata as an associated infected area. If you were able to get the gel you could go put it up into the rectum as high as the first 6 inches, if you are infected past that then you would need IV treatment with Micofungin or one of the others. In that case you would need to have an infectious disease on board to help with that. It is not unusual to feel the burning in the rectum about three inches in, but because of the bacteria load right there and mucosal fluids produced right there, it usually does not go any further unless there is an underlying condition. But you definitely could put it into the rectum which the rectum is considered the first six inches, after that it is considered the colon. To do that you would need to put about two pea size amounts on your finger and then rub it into the rectum, making sure you hit all tissues within that area, top and bottom.
The reason you may get some relief from walking is because when you walk your rectal area produces more mucus to lubricate the area so the tissues do not have friction. That extra lubrication may be thinning out the Glabrata conscentration, which in turn is giving you some relief. However, I can’t say this for sure and it could be that there is also something else going on in this area besides Glabrata, because normally it should cause more irritation by moving. They can take a swab of that area and test it for bacteria’s and fungi, even though you have a lot of bacteria normally there. They will look for any unusual ones or ones that have to high of a count. I have had this done several times when that area became inflamed as well. I am definitely wondering if vulvodynia is not at play here too, because this would be something that you could see with that, which would not be abnormal with the infections you have had. However, until your cultures come back clean it will be hard to say.
If you came here to the states, you would meet with the doctor and she would do an exam and a culture right at that appointment. Now if you have a positive culture, you will need to bring that with you to show her. She will still want to do another a culture but with a positive culture report from your country she can at that appointment order you the gel. We can then go and get it filled, but it does take about four days or so to make it, so you will need to be here for at least a week. You could then go back home and finish your treatment. To see this doctor it is going to cost approximately $325.00 (US dollars) and then to get the gel made it is going to cost around $1,400.00 (US dollars). I know this is very expensive, which is why I will try to help you as best I can. On Monday, I will talk with the doctor herself and see if there is anything she can do to cut costs for you too. I will let you know what she says and if she knows of anyway for you to obtain this med, maybe without even coming here. If you are able to get it from another EU country and you want to speak by phone you can definitely call me, or if you want to call for any other reason just let me know. I will send you a private email with my number, so look for it. I will also email you Monday night after I have talked with the doctor here and let you know what she says. I hope we can figure this out for you and soon.
Sincerely,
Debra-Jolie
Hi Iona..
I am really curious to know how you are doing now.. In the same boat as you and I’m not too far from you in the UK.. I’d love to make contact.. It’s so overwhelming in fact consuming my whole life to be honest.. Take care
Hi Debra! I am so grateful to have found this site/blog. It is sadly comforting to know I am not alone. I would also like to share the gel info with my infectious disease doctor tomorrow. After more than a decade of struggling off and on with candida Glabrata I find myself still in need of therapy. And yes, I have taken Voricinazole, Terconazole, Flucytosine, Amph B (suppository), Itraconazole and lots of Fluconazole. After pouring over much of your experience and others, it sounds like this is my next best hope. There are so many details to add… Thank you, thank you!
Hi Lisa, I am so glad you found this site too, I hope this gives your doctors a new treatment that will help you finally conquer this beast once and for all. I will email you the two studies. The one actually has the formula to give your to your doctor, so that they know how to write the script. It does have to be compounded at a compound pharmacy, so if you need help in finding one that is able to access the ingredients and knows how to make it, just let me know and I can get that info to you too. I also want to share with you, that this gel is not cheap and that’s because it has to be made by a compound pharmacy, it is also not covered by insurances. I am warning you so that you will not be in “sticker” shock when you find out how much it will cost. I can tell you that the pharmacies that I use charge around $1,400.00 but if they have to obtain the Flucytosine from an outside source it could cost a few a hundred dollars more, so please be aware.
I do want to share a few other things with you to, just in case you did not read through other people’s posts on here, also because you are stating that you have a had a long history on and off with this beast. First, I am a little worried that you have already been exposed to ampho suppositories, which was the worst thing anyone could have done with this infection. It unfortunately, may have already allowed the Glabrata to adapt to this drug, so I want you to be aware that for you this gel might now be enough to conquer this infection. You see, the ampho is the part that kills the Glabrata in the gel. The flucytosine, is used in the gel to help bust open the nucleus to allow the Ampho to get in and then dismantle the DNA and effectively kill the Glabrata. The Flucytosine is also used to help stave off the ability of the Glabrata to adapt to the amphho, giving you a few more times if necessary to kill it. However, if it has already been exposed only to the ampho, there is a chance that this gel may not work to effectively kill it. Please do not discouraged if this happens, because it is not the end of the road. You can go back and use the gel a second time to see if that will do it. Now if both times using it, you find that it is only knocking the infection back for a few weeks and then you are back to square one, you will need to have long term treatment with not only the gel but also with Nystatin and possibly Diflucan and boric acid washes. this regime would have to be done for about nine months. If this were to happen then you would need to be seen by Dr. Jack Sobel, who is out of Wayne State University in MI. It takes about six months to get in to him. So, if this gel fails the first time out, I would highly recommend making an appt. with him right away. He is experienced in cases where the Glabrata has become resistant to even the ampho. I would also encourage you NOT to use the gel more than twice, because you do not want to make it totally resistant to it before you see Dr. Sobel. Now I cannot say that this gel will fail, but there is a chance, so I am just trying to warn you and give you other options in case it does. Secondly, just let me explain why the ampho suppositories failed. You see, suppositories are made with parafen and or oils, which is what is needed to make into a suppository. The problem is these ingredients prevent the drug from making full contact with the walls where this monster lives. Suppositories also do not usually “wash” out the entire vagina, they soften up and hit only the areas that are toward the front of the vagina, missing some of the key areas it needs to hit. This is also why it is so important to make sure that when they make this gel it is compounded into a water based gel and NOT an oil or cream, or you will be in the same boat too.
Finally, I want to let you in on what it may take to keep this beast gone, once you get there. Let me just say that I too have had go arounds with this beast on several occasions too. It would take me almost a two years before I would finally conquer it fully. What I learned was that my diet, hygiene and lifestyle was playing a big role in allowing for it to come back. So, once I made changes to all the areas I was finally able to conquer it, once and for all. So, here are the tips that I would really encourage you to make and you can start on these right now.
First you absolutely need to change your diet. You will need to eat a “clean” diet from here on out, and for you it is really going to be important to do it not only during treatment but also for the rest of your life. Now a clean diet does not mean eating a specific plan, but instead eating as much as you would like of veggies, meat and fruits (low sugared fruits). It also means that you will need to cut out sugars and that means sugar substitutes as well as natural sugars like Stevia and honey. This is absolutely important during treatment, but for you it should be made a way of life. I know it sounds impossible, but you can do it, you will just have to learn to cook with spices, to make your food just as appetizing. Now your brain is used to the taste of sugar and will want it back really bad, which can cause you to go out and binge, so my suggestion is to go slowly when trying to cut it out, so you don’t just give up. Then once you get there and have not had any sugars for awhile you will find that you will not miss it. Now clean eating also means no boxed, bagged or prepared foods. Everything must be homemade, right down to your salad dressings, which contain a lot sugars too. You will also want to stay away from starches which turn into sugar as soon as they hit your saliva, so things likes potatoes and rice. So, you are probably thinking what am I going to eat to fill up. Well you will have to learn to substitute other things in their places. Things like cauliflower steamed and then mashed with some butter and garlic to make mash potatoes. You can also use cauliflower to – to make rice and there are recipes on-line on how to do that. You can also use spaghetti squash in place of pasta noodles and for rice dishes too. There are many kinds of things to put in place so that you do not lose weight and feel full and get all your nutrition. You may want to ask your doctor to refer you to a nutristionist to help with this. With your diet too you want to stay away from dairy, which is high in sugar and feeds this beast as well. However, you will want to drink at least 4ozs. of Kefir a day to get your probiotics, and kefir gives you more than ten times what you can get from any probiotic pill, so you need to drink this. You still can add probiotic pills to your diet with this as well. The more you can take in and the more strains you can get the better off you are going to be in fighting this beast. You also can use hard cheeses like parmesan too because they do not contain the sugars that soft cheeses do, but buy it by the brick and shred it yourself.
Then you will need to make sure not to upset your PH balance in your vaginal area. So, this means that you should never ever use a douche! It also means no more bath products, like bath salts, bubble bath, essential oils or anything else. Your bath should contain ONLY water! When washing the area, you should only be using Dove hypoallergenic soap, no other soaps should come in contact with this area, not even PH vaginal washes. This is because dove will not change your own PH, where the vaginal PH balance ones will change it and not always the way you want it to. They also contain a lot of other chemical additives which can again change the PH balance and irritate the tissues. This also means if you are taking a shower, no shampoos or conditioners should come in contact with that area, so do not wash your hair in the shower. Now you should also make sure to wash your rags, towels and underwear with a hypoallergenic laundry soap and do not use fabric softner or dryer sheets, which can leave a residue on your clothes and rags, which have the potential to once again change your PH balance or irritate that area, setting off the Glabrata again. The same goes for feminine products and toilet paper, make sure they contain no perfumes, dyes or colors. Also no body sprays or powder in this area. When it comes to lubrication, make sure to ONLY use water based gels like the original KY, Aqua gel, or even surgilube. NO lubricants with colors, perfumes, dyes or additives for heightened excitement, these will definitely set this off again. So, I think you get the idea here and please know this is really important.
Finally, you need to exercise, even if it is a little each day. You do not have to do a thirty minute routine or do some kind of hard exercise or buy a gym pass or an expensive machine. You just need to get your heart rate up several times a day. You can do this by just walking from the back of a parking lot into the store, using the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator. You can do squats while picking up your laundry out of the laundry basket on the floor and then marching with your knees going high as you put the folded laundry away. You can do leg lifts while doing dishes and put on your favorite song or two and dance around the house. Just doing this will get your heart rate and you want to do this because every time you get your heart rate up you are kicking on your own immune system to fight and become stronger at protecting you. So, you really want to get your own body in on this fight and keep it working strong to not only help to rid this infection but to help keep it from coming back.
So, these are the things you really want to start getting in place right now and try making them a lifestyle change. One last thing, it is really important to never use antibiotics again in your life, unless they absolutely necessary and you have tried everything else. Then if you have to use one, make sure to ask for ones that are NOT broad spectrum ones if at all possible. Now this may not always be possible with some infections, but always ask. If you do have to take an antibiotic, then it is going to be really important for you to be pre-medicated with diflucan or Nystatin for at least four days prior to starting the antibiotic and continue using it during the treatment with the antibiotics and up to ten days after you have finished the antibiotics. This is really important for you because you have a long history with this beast and you will definitely get it back again if you have to use an antibiotic. If you cannot wait four days to start an antibiotic then definitely start the antibiotic but make sure to get the diflucan or Nystatin on board right with it. This will hopefully head it off and keep it from taking hold again.
Well I hope all this information helps you and I really hope this gel is going to kick it for you, but if not please do not give up there are other options still. You can beat this with the right meds and some lifestyle modifications. Well I wish you the very best and if you need anything else please let me know and please come back and let us know how you are doing. I will send the email with the studies now and if you would like you can email me back at my address and add in any details or questions that you may want to share, but not on here, that you think may make a difference in your treatment. Good Luck to you.
I too am fighting this infection and have been for a year.
I second what Debra has said
Here’s what I have learned:
1. Find a doctor that specializes in c.glabrata. Most OB/GYN doctors have no idea how to treat it and can make it worse. I recommend finding a clinic that specializes in vulvular care.
2. Diet: Eat a paleo diet. I have been told, by a knowledgeable Physician that specializes in c.glabrata, that around 2 servings of fruit a day are not going to hurt you. Most days I eat a green apple and an orange. This may impact you differently but it does not seem to bother me. I eat hard cheeses only and in moderation. Full fat dairy in moderation does not hurt me. For instance, I do about an ounce of heavy cream in my coffee in the morning. Doesn’t seem to impact anything. Careful with the cashews. Almonds, including almond butter (if it is the good kind without added crap and sugar) doesn’t bother me. Pumpkin seeds are fine too. Green apple with some almond butter is a great snack. Cinnamon tea is a great anti-inflammatory and I drink a lot of it.
3. Exercise: Very good for you. However, if you are in ketosis, which is a state that your body can naturally enter when being on a low carb diet, your body can dump a bunch of blood sugar into your blood stream during exercise. This can cause a glabrata flare. Google it yourself- they tell diabetics in ketosis to not exercise for this very reason. I bought ketone strips on Amazon and use it to test myself before exercise. If I want out of ketosis I will eat a sweet potato or a piece of fruit for a few days and that seems to do the trick.
4. Treatment: Mostly c.glabrata is resistant to azole medications. I am currently being treated long term with nystatin, which combined with diet seems to be doing the job although we will see.
5. Tips for Keeping from Going Crazy: Accept that this disease will be a lot of back and forth. I get better for a while and get worse. The bad times are decreasing more and more, and I hope this continues. One thing that has helped me is meditation. Find something you enjoy doing. It will help. It’s okay to cry.
6. Although c.glabrata infections can be fatal, they are not always. I am young and have an otherwise healthy immune system. People with AIDS or diabetes will probably have much more of a struggle. I don’t plan on dying from this anytime soon, although having this has sucked.
7. Supplements: I take a supplement called AHCC and also take curcumin. Both boost the immune system and people use them while going through cancer treatment. Be careful of multivitamins since I have read in medical articles that c.glabrata needs niacin to survive. I noticed I would feel like crap right after taking a multivitamin that was loaded with niacin. I also take a probiotic that has 20 million cultures.
8. Antibiotics: Just say no, unless you really need it. Doctors in the US give them out like candy. I also have a urinary tract/Kidney infection but I am treating it with herbals (uva ursi) and I am having it monitored (by urinalysis) to check up on it. My last test was negative for bacteria and I have used 0 antibiotics.
9. c.glabrata doesn’t like to culture. Boy, it is frustrating.
10. Hygiene: Use dove hypoallergenic soap. You can use coconut oil for a lotion/hydration. 100% cotton underwear only. No dryer sheets, even in other loads of laundry. You can get wool dryer balls on Amazon. I live with 2 other females and wash towels in hypoallergenic soap and boric acid (borax) along with hot water. No problems so far.
Good luck folks and I hope that everyone finds some relief and recovers.
Hi Terri, thank you for you chiming in with your experience and backing up the things that I have been saying that really do make a difference when dealing with Glabrata. I am sorry that you are going through this, but I want to let you know that you could literally clear your Glabrata in 14 days!!! There is absolutely no reason that you should still be dealing with this infection. Unfortunately, you are being treated with a very old drug that has no efficacy in killing this infection, NO MATTER how long you use it. However it is used in long term preventaive treatment if you have used the ampho gel and gotten the infection back more than once. The cases where this would be necessary would be in people who have underlying conditions or who have not changed their lifestyle habits. In these cases, Nystatin is then used for six to nine months AFTER the gel to help prevent it from coming back, but you will be clear of it. Nystatin is not the “kill” drug but it does have some efficacy in preventing it from coming back and according to all the latest studies out there it should ONLY be used for prevention not for treatment. What you are doing right now, is first needlessly suffering and potentially damaging your vaginal tissues and the nerves that live within them, which in time can leave you with a painful permanent condition known as vulvodynia. The Nystatin itself even has the potential to do you harm if continually used as well. Secondly, the Nystatin is only knocking down your numbers, buying you some minor relief, but in time even the nystatin will no longer do this for you. If you are unable to stop the Nystatin after 30 days of use without it coming back within two weeks, then you are definitely not killing this infection, but instead creating a 100% resistant strain to Nystatin, that will leave you with an even harder strain to treat and you will not be able to use the nystatin as a follow-up treatment if necessary for prevention. I would seriously encourage you to talk to your doctor about prescribing the amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel as soon as possible. This gel is safer than the nystatin and you only need 14 days of it to be cured! There is no reason for you to continue suffering with this when we have a drug that kills on contact!
The other thing I want to mention to you, is that Glabrata is NOT hard to culture out at all, as long as your doctor is specifically requesting a Glabrata test. When the test is ordered for Glabrata a different medium is used in the petrie dish, it is then incubated in heat for up to six weeks (but preliminaries can come as soon as two weeks, however some strains can take up to six weeks to culture out) then once it has been incubated, they add a dye to it, put it under an ultraviolet light and look at it under a very high powered microscope. They can stain and look at it every week for up to six weeks. If you have it, somewhere within that time frame they will see it light up purple under their scope. It is time consuming but if you have it, it will always culture out, although again your doctor has to ask for this specific test and not just a fungal test. There is also a new test that was mentioned on here by another woman, it is one that is not covered as of yet by insurance and not all labs do it yet, but it is a test that is looking for the DNA strands that it leaves behind and this test takes only about 48 hours to do, however, it is very expensive and not easy to find one that does it. I also cannot say how accurate it is, but it is based off of the same test done for Lyme by Igenex and that test seems to be quite accurate, but again I have not done enough research into this one to know the accuracy on it.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know this information, because I hate to hear that anyone is dealing with this infection for longer than 14 days, when there is no need for it anymore. Unfortunately, most doctors are very unaware of this gel or even this fungi, so most do not even know that this treatment exists and unfortunately are subjecting their patients to needless rounds of useless drugs that carry harmful side effects. This is not even to mention that they are creating more seriously hard to treat strains by over using drugs, while doing nothing more than knocking down the numbers but not actually killing it. Again often damaging their patients tissues and causing them needless on going suffering. If you would like the studies which explain all this and contain the formula for making the gel, because it does have to be compounded please let me know and I will email them to you. One last thing, this gel carries NO side effects, other than some minor vaginal irritation while being used and not all women even get that (it just depends on how raw you are when starting it). This is because the drugs used in it have molecules too large to be absorbed through the vaginal tissues, so there is no systemic effect. So, even though they may be highly acidic drugs if used internally (IV or oral) they are not able to absorbed through the tissues, so this gel is safer than any other treatment out there including the OTC fungal treatments.
Well, I wish you the best and hope that you will consider talking to your doctor about the gel. I will only send you the studies, which are scientific peer reviewed studies done right here in the US, so all doctors accept them, if you would like me too, I do not want to tread on anyone’s treatment protocol, but instead hopefully give you the information on other effective treatments available to treat this infection, usually one that most doctors don’t even know exist. It is time for you to get yourself cured from this infection in two weeks so that you can get on with your life.
This gel was mentioned by my doctor, and to my knowledge it is the next thing we are doing.
I am seeing a yeast infection specialist doctor out of a university hospital in St. Louis. She is probably the best doctor here for c.glabrata and I do believe she knows what she’s doing, unlike the other doctors I saw before her.
We are trying the nystatin first because it was working and c.glabrata can be sensitive to it. Amp B is in the same drug class, as you knoe. I am on cream and suppositories. It’s 2 weeks in to the treatment and I was told to give it a month.
I am going to try and give it a bit but then will request the combo you mentioned. My spouse is a nurse and said to be patient and give it some time since these things can take a while to clear and a lot of patience. I was doing pretty good then ate a sweet potato at dinner tonight which flared it up. Stupid on my part.
I have had multiple cultures specifically for glabrata including a long term one specifically for it. The doctors can see it under the microscope and can see it is the yeast without hyphae, but it will not grow in the lab. Pretty aggrivating.
The yeast infection specialist I am seeing only treats yeast and vulvular conditions and said it was pretty common that it won’t culture. It’s frustrating to say the least since I would at least like to have a clue as to what it’s sensativities are.
I am hoping you can share the office you use in St. Louis. I have not had luck with any drs here. Thank you !
Missy, email me at chernobylorbust@hotmail.com and I will give you the info.
Terri, Do you still have the same email? I know this post is from years ago- but I’d like to know who your doctor is that treated you as well.
Hey Missy,
Did you ever get the info from Terri? I tried to contact her with no avail. I would just like to know which doctor was used.
Thanks in advance.
And yes if you could send me the info that would be great, either through the email provided or on FB. If this isn’t gone in a couple weeks the cream you mentioned will be the next step; it seems to already be on my doctor’s radar.
Thanks,
Terri.
Dear Debra. Thank you for your story.
I had got mixed candida glabrata and ablicants bronchtis 3 month ago after using avelox therapy fo 10 days (avelox effectively cure bacterial bronchitis i had).
As for last test ablicants is eliminated by fluconazole therapy. But glabrata is still on and flukonazole resistant.
Now im getting flukonazole 300 and terbinafinum?! 250 a day with some good dynamics especially after adding terbinafinum.
What do you think of posaconasole therapy for fluconasole resistant glabrata?
Do you have any information or recommendations on this situation?
Thank you for your help.
Hi Leo, it sounds like you got hit hard and having it in the lungs is really scary, I am glad that they were able to at least clear the bacterial and albican infections, which had to have at least lessoned the load. I am not surprised that the Glabrata is fluconazole resistant. A majority of the invasive strains of Glabrata, which is what you have are already resistant to the “azoles”, making these infections much harder to treat and definitely more dangerous to have. I have to say that I am very surprised that the Terbinafine, even when added to the fluconazole did anything to treat your Glabrata infection. I say this because there are studies where they tried treating Glabrata with Terbinafine by itself and combined with Fluconazole and it had no efficacy against Glabrata as well as Kruesi and Tropicalis. It also has no efficacy against normal candidias. However, It has shown some good results with other strains of candidias known as parapsilosis and dubliniensis, but again it did nothing against Glabrata and is usually not even considered as a treatment for this strain. So, I am not sure why you are having some response with it. I can only think that your response may have nothing to do with the Terbinafine but instead to the increase in Fluconazole, which could mean two things. First it may mean that your strain has some efficacy with Fluconazole at higher mics or it could mean that there is another fungal strain that is inhabiting your lungs that your doctors may not even be aware of (this is not unusual and usually it is the Glabrata that gets missed with other strains, but they could be missing something else too) and whatever else is inhabiting your lungs may be responsive to the Fluconazole or the Terbinafine or even the combination. Now what also may be happening (and again is not unusual with Glabrata) is that it is knocking your load back with the increase in Fluconazole, which would make you feel better, but unfortunately, if this is what is happening then once the drugs are stopped the infection will increase in strength again and you will be back to square one. This often happens to people who are treated with “Azoles” for Glabrata, however, I really hope this is not what is going to happen to you.
As for Posaconazole as a treatment for Glabrata when you are dealing with a Fluconazole resistant strain, it is something that can be tried but I have a few things to let you know with this one. First this particular azole is very -very toxic to the body and often does cause permanent damages especially to the kidneys and heart. It usually is not used unless it is the last resort. Even at that, it never gets used by itself to treat Glabrata, its often used as a follow up treatment after being treated with Flucytosine, amphotericin B or Caspofungin. Truthfully in my opinion your best bet is going to be caspofungin. It is the least toxic drug and has the highest kill rate, not only for Glabrata but also for any other strains that may be living in your lungs. However, this drug only comes in IV form, which would mean that you would need a central line put in and you would need a home nurse to administer the drug daily to you at home for a few weeks to months. You could also try Flucytosine, which does come in pills and is also a good one too, with few side effects an usually no permanent injuries and it too has a high kill rate. Now both of these are good ones but your doctor should be able to tell which one would work more effectively at a lower dosage rate based on your mic tests. It is important to know that the mic tests are tests done to show the doctors which drug your strain is not resistant to and to show them how much of that drug is needed to kill it and for how long. However, when it comes to non-candidias strains, especially Glabrata, these mic tests are not always very effective in actually figuring out which drug or at what level is really going to work in the human body. The mic tests are done in a petry dish with controlled conditions, or what is known as in vitro. However, the human body is completely different and you do not always have the same or optimum controlled conditions, making those tests really inaccurate. This is why so many doctors try to treat with fluconazole and will increase it over and over before they realize that it is resistant to it. You see, the mic test usually shows that Glabrata can be killed with Fluconazole at higher mics in vitro, but when they actually prescribe it and you take it, your bodies immune system, the environment of your lungs, other infections living alongside of the Glabrata, other drugs you may be using, your diet, etc.. all will play a role in how well the fluconazole actually works to kill the infection, this is called in vivo. So, the mic tests are great for laying out a blue print as to which drug is best to treat your strain and a starting point for the mgs needed to start, but your doctor must watch you closely to see how you are responding, because what happens in the petry dish with glabrata is almost never seen in the body with it. Anyway, the mic test would be a good way for your doctors to see by which one of these two drugs are supposedly going to work in your body and which one can be started at the lowest possible dose.
Now I am not sure why you got an invasive infection with Glabrata, it is not normal in healthy people even with the use of Avelox, unless you have a compromised immune system, so I am not sure if there is something else going on with you, even something that you are not aware of. So, due to the fact that you did get an invasive infection with it, you should more than likely follow up either of these two treatments I posted above with Fluconazole, so as to help to keep it from returning. If it were to return then you would need treatment again and then I would say the Posaconazole would be worth following up with next time. It may not be something that you need to do for a long period of time, but something that may be needed for a few months after the initial treatment. Now even though fluconazole is not a good “kill” drug against Glabrata it does have some efficacy in lowering the chances that it will return shortly after treatment is completed, especially if there is some underlying immune problem.
Now please understand I am not a doctor, just someone who has a long history with this nasty infection and one who has studied it a lot because of that. So, this is my opinion and something that I would tell you to definitely sit and talk with your doctor about, especially if the regime of drugs you are on now does not work to fully clear this infection. I would really encourage you at that point to not take anymore Fluconazole at even higher rates or to use Itraconazole, or any of the other “azole” drugs. I would encourage you to talk to them about Flucytosine or Caspofungin and then follow that up with Fluconazole. I would also encourage you to not use steroids, if at all possible while trying to fight this infection. I know a lot of inhalers contain some form of steroids and some doctors may even want to prescribe oral steroids to help you breath easier, but it is going to make treating this infection just that much harder and riskier. It will also put you at a higher rate of return with it. So, if you have to use them, by all means you must breathe and use them, but if you can use inhalers (and there are a few) that do not contain steroids I would encourage the use of those while trying to beat this beast. I would also stay away from oral steroids if at all possible while fighting this, use the inhalers before resorting to this, especially since you used Avelox. The use of steroids with or within six months of using a Fluoroquinolone, like Avelox can cause serious permanent “Floxing” injuries that can be body wide. So, I would encourage you to stay as far away from them as possible, if at all possible.
Well, I wish you the best with this, and please let us know how it all turns out and what worked best for you. I am also posting a study that talks about the use of Terbinafine with Glabrata and how useless it is with this infection even when combined with Fluconazole, so that you can see it yourself. You will need to copy and paste the web address into your browser so that you can open it and see it. You can also go to Drugs.com and look up Posaconazole to see the very serious side effects often associated with this drug, so that you can have all the information you need to help you in working and making informed decisions with your doctors in treating this infection. Here is the Terbinafine study web address- . https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC105744/
Good luck to you!
Dear Debra thank you very very much for your time and your very useful answer.
I read some controversial articles about terbinafine. One interesting point is that concentration of terbinafine in some liquids in body (incl sputum in my case) could be up to ten times higher than overal concentration.
I have about 10 test only with ablicants and glabrata in different ratios (some with bacterial infection also). After unsystematic use of fluconasole and even voroconasole 7days with some uncertain dynamic and some pause in treatment I got worse. Test showed ablicants and glabrata 10 in 5 both. Than I start my current course first about 4 days fluconasole 300. The dynamic was positive but not very much. Than I add 250 terbinafine continuing 300 fluconasole with very positive changes even after several hours after first terbinafine!
Now I’m taking terbinafine along with flu about 18 days. But I have to say this treatment now cause something that I could describe as some poisoning or intoxication and I have to decrease load to 150 fluconasole and 125 terbinafine a day.
Thank you for your advice, hopefully till now I have no need and never used steroids of any form.
Now I’m on vacation and going to return home about 16 January. I will discuss situation with my doctor.
I will inform you about any changes and new tests.
Thank you again.
Leo you are welcome for the information, I hope in time you will beat this beast. I can tell you that when you get an invasive infection with this particular fungi it can be a long journey to getting better. For me it took five months on daily IV drugs to clear it from my gut. Unfortunately, the fluconazole which was given to me in the beginning also made my situation worse too, much like you and there are reasons for that. One being is that you are wiping out Glabrata’s competition (candidias) leaving it to take full control, so I am not surprised you got worse after using it especially since you took such a low dose to begin with..
I hope when you get home, you sit and talk with your doctor about your treatment, especially since you are beginning to experience the nasty side effects these drugs can cause. You want to make sure that you are not injuring your liver, kidneys or nervous system, because those injuries could become permanent. So, please do follow up with your doctor soon. I would once again, encourage you to talk to them about using Flucytosine, it is much safer and has a much higher kill rate and usually at lower dosages. If you are having to lower your doses on Fluconazole and Terbinafine to lesson the side effects, you may very well not be taking enough now of both of them to kill this infection, and instead you may be making this fungi now resistant to both of these drugs, which in turn could make fighting it even harder. So, I would really encourage you to see your doctor as soon as you get home. I wish you the best and please do come back and let us know how you are doing. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
Debra, thank you for your attention and recommendations. Am also afraid of decreasing dosage, but I can’t sustain original dosage any more, though about 12-15 days it was ok. I will contact doctor ASAP.
As for gut infection a could highly recommend primadofilus bifidus capsules, several a day.
I have had some problems with gut for a 15-20 years. Previously problems have bacterial origin. The only remedy that help me for a long period is primadofilus bifidus. They also have primadofilus optima and etc.. with more strain and higher concentration, it also help me but I see no big difference in results with primadofilus bifidus. Of course there are many other probiotics, but only primadofilus family really help me.
As for my resent problems avelox really wiped out bad bacteria from my gut also. And test I passed about a month ago showed glabrata in my gut in a rather high rate 10 in 5 (I have no candida in gut tests before for my life). I think it was colonized from sputum. But as I regularly use primadofilus I can’t complain for any of symptoms concerning my gut.
So as for my experience unfortunately primadofilus will not cure the gut but it could vanish all symptoms as long as you will take it. And as it has no side effects it is possible to take it as long as necessary Every Day! I hope this experience will help.
Thank you Leo for your suggestions, you are very kind to come back and give them. I actually do take probiotics daily and I drink kefir which is much higher in probiotics than any pill you can take and it is easier to absorb, so you might also want to add kefir to your diet too. My gut bacteria was wiped out by Cipro just like yours was by avelox, unfortunately, all of these broad spectrum antibiotics do this and they end up creating a whole other set of problems for us to have to then deal with. The doctors should never give us these drugs unless our lives are in jeapardy and even then then they should help us to prepare for the after effects by upping probiotics and taking anti-fungals to balance out the onslaught that will inevitably happen.
I also just want to let you know that the sputum test will not detect Glabrata in the gut, for that you would need to have a biopsy of the gut wall or a culture taken from the discharge it creates along the walls in the gut. This is done by scoping you from either end. Also if you had it in the gut, you would be very – very ill and would not be able to travel, eat, drink or stay off of a toilet. The pain would be so bad that you would need medical help to control the pain, so the Glabrata they found in your sputum is showing due to your respiratory infection. Every time you cough you will bring up Glabrata cells within that sputum, so when they culture it out Glabrata will show in it. However, that does not mean that you do not have other gut issues from using the Avelox, that drug can cause candidias overgrowth along with bacterial over growth in both the small intestines and the large intestines and that can make your life miserable! Taking your probiotics is a great start to treating these problems, but you may want to add in that kefir too along with it. You also want to make sure that you are feeding those probiotics and helping them to adhere to your gut walls and procreate new growth. For this you would need to also take Reuteri , which feeds them and helps them to adhere to the gut walls and you would need to take prebiotics. This can be taken by pill or by juicing (no smoothies). The green juice drinks provide the fiber and nutrients to help feed the probiotics you are taking. You see the probiotics need certain bacteria in the gut to eat in order to continue to stay alive and adhere to the walls. Green juices when digested create the bacteria that you feed the probiotics with. So, you may want to add this into your diet too. Hopefully these will help to heal your gut sooner. I would also suggest to stay away from gluten because gluten destroys the probiotics and good bacteria that you need right now to re-populate your gut walls with healthy fighting bacteria.
Well I pray you that your lungs get better and you are able to get into see your doctor right away and thank you once again for your suggestions, you are very kind and thoughtful. Hugs
Vaginal Candida Glabrata can be cured with Boric Acid ovules and Gentian Violet. You don’t need any gel with AmpB. Yes, the polyenes, all of them are effective against the Glabrata but Nystatin cream is a lot less expensive than Amp B. Ancobon is also effective against the Glabrata. However, the best is Gentian Violet. In the case the infection has been there for too long, an oral systemic drug such as Itraconazole or Voriconazole should be prescribed long term together with local treatment. DMSO helps to give topic drugs more penetration. Gentian Violet with some drops of DMSO is more effective because the enhanced skin penetration. Many times, only with Boric Acid and Gentian Violet are enough to eliminate the Glabrata.
Not true, I don’t know about other drugs you’ve mentioned but Boric Acid, I have heard far to many times regarding this drug being ineffective with Glabrata. I have been reading up on this fungal infection on several blogs and I still have yet to hear from someone who has had Glabrata claim that Boric Acid does work, all I’ve been hearing is it doesn’t work.
Hi Jorge, Thank you for your suggestions, but unfortunately, the majority of the women on here have already used Boric acid and Gentian Violet, many have also used Nystatin and oral “Azole” drugs, which for these women they have been useless against this infection even when used at high doses. There have been several studies by University Hospitals that have tried to see the efficacy and best treatments for this infection, all of which have studied everything and more of what you have mentioned here and none of them especially the Gentian violet, Boric Acid Nystatin showed any efficacy against this particular infection. This is because Glabrata is not a candidias it is known as a non-candidias and does not replicate in the same manner as the candidias fungi. It is also because Glabrata has the unique ability to adapt to any and all PH environments, which means these treatments which are based on killing by changing the PH environment are useless against this infection. The Nystatin which kills by Polyenes no longer has any efficacy against Glabrata because of its over use prior to the azole revolution, where it was being used even preventively in HIV, cancer and diabetic people. This infection has long adapted to the polyenes and there are many studies to prove this. Now let me just say that Nystatin still has some efficacy in preventing a reoccurance with Glabrata in women who have underlying conditions, it is not full proof, but does inhibit the rate of return in this population, but does NOT treat Glabrata. As for the Azole drugs, you should NEVER treat this infection with Itraconazole., it is absolutely resistant to this one at any level and that is because this particular azole is designed in a way that it cannot treat this specific fungus, just as it is not a good one to treat candidias. This drug is usually used for fungus that inhabits the nails and hair follicles, which is a totally different strain. I will also tell you that this particular azole is one of the most dangerous of them all, with even low levels causing permanent liver damage. You could not and should never be prescribed this particular azole in high doses or for long periods of time and if you are prescribed this one, liver and kidney tests are an absolute must! As for Voriconazole, it does have some efficacy against Glabrata, but it will depend on what strain the person has. and if they have already been treated with any other azole drugs. If you already have a strain that is azole resistant or if you have been treated with high doses or for a long or repeated time with Diflucan you will have made the Glabrata resistant to even this one. You also have to be very careful with voriconazole because it is very toxic even at low doses and again liver and kidney tests MUST be done prior to its start and every ten days while taking it along with ten days after its use. This drug also carries a lot of very toxic systemic side effects that can become permanent and life altering even with the first pill. This drug should not be and usually is not prescribed by any doctors other than Infectious disease doctors because of its toxicity and the length and dose you would need to cure Glabrata. Which you would need it at very high doses and for a very long time and you would need a doctor that is very experienced with this drug. Most Gyne’s will not prescribe this one and if they do, they will prescribe it at too low of a dose and only for a few days, which WILL only make this infection resistant to it and could make the situation much worse. I also want to let you know, in case you are not aware of this, Boric acid is very toxic to the human body. There are studies done with Glabrata and the repeated use of boric acid which proved to show repeated failures, due to its ability to adapt to the change in the PH environment which is the way Boric Acid kills and because of its toxicity to the human body the study concluded that its long term use was not advised and they do not know the long term effects on the body or the tissues and because of this it is discouraged. I will also tell you that I have not only used it myself in the beginning with this infection but have met many, many women on here that have been prescribed this for their treatment and because it did not cure it they would be prescribed it again and again. Many of these women me included went on to develop vaginal and anal fissures, burning, skin breakdown and many of us began to have full body wide illness. Which in turn made our situations much worse and more painful, it also lead to our infections increasing in strength. Now I have no problem with using boric acid on rare occasions to treat BV or even regular candidias but it is not useful against Glabrata as many women on here can tell you and it is not safe to use repeatedly with any infection.
I want to also address another thing with you, just in case you do not know this and I want to put this out there to other ladies reading this. The use of DMSO is NOT approved for use in anyway shape or form and that is because it is very toxic and is considered a poisonous chemical and one that I would not suggest for anyone to use. I know all about its anti inflammatory properties as well as how it allows for other chemicals to enter through the skin. It is a free radical scavenger as well, however it is a toxic chemical found in chemical solvents and if not used carefully or right can cause serious injuries. I would never tell anyone to use this chemical without being under the care of a doctor who is experienced with it and very few naturopaths are. I also would not recommend the use of it with any of the other things you mentioned here. You do not want the Gentian violet to enter into the skin like that because it too is very toxic and is a poisonous compound (you can look it up) to the nervous system. It should be used sparingly and never repeatedly and only a thin coat should be put on when using it, it should only be done once too. All of the treatments you have mentioned here have the ability to cause more damages and leave women with life long pain problems like vulvadynia due to the potential of nerve and tissue damages. So, for anyone reading this please know this is not anything I would recommend and if this is something you want to choose please consult your doctors first!
Finally, please understand I appreciate anyone’s suggestions on here but I do not want any women on here to get hurt, use anything that can make their situation worse, leave them with systemic side effects or permanent injuries. I care about all of these women and many have been suffering in silence for months or even years. Most on here have used everything you have suggested here with disasterous results and are desperate for help and help that will bring them relief. So, for this reason I felt I needed to address this post and explain what you printed here and to hopefully enlighten you to the things you are using too. Now you may have been one of the very few fortunate ones that had Glabrata and was able to beat it with any of these treatments, there are a few cases out there but they are few and far between and the diagnosis has often times been called into question with these ones. Multiple studies show that these treatments have no efficacy against this strain and the studies go on to show and explain why they have no efficacy due to its structure and ability to adapt. I would honestly question whether you had Glabrata to begin with, because I can guarantee Boric acid would have done absolutely nothing against this strain even when combined with Gentian Violet which unfortunately when used together has the potential to cause irreputable nerve and tissue damages. It may have lessoned your symptoms while using it but within days of stopping it would have returned because it does not kill it. I also want to say that the amphotericin B/ Flucytosine gel is extremely effective, it is the ONLY known drug to kill it and it carries no systemic side effects, it will not hurt you in anyway shape or form like the numerous treatments that have been mentioned here. It only takes 14 days to kill it and much safer than anything else you could even use including vaginal creams and suppositories, its even safer than the OTC yeast treatments and this is because it cannot be absorbed through the mucosa due to its molecular structure. So, I encourage women to use this treatment to kill their infection once and for all and so that they do not hurt themselves any further or cause themselves anymore undue pain an suffering.
So, I just want to say again, thank you for your input, but I cannot agree or suggest the use of these treatments and I want the other women on her to know that and why. Again the majority of women on here have already used many of these treatments to their detriment and that’s why they are here looking for something else and trying to understand this infection that even their doctors do not understand. I wish you the best, but I also want to please warn you about the use of some of the things you are using here and to please do your own homework on them, so that you do not hurt yourself in the future. We are our own best advocates, so know what you are using and the risks it carries. Thanks
Debra;
Would you please email me information about Glabrata? (theliteratihamlet@gmail.com)? -I had a diagnosis delivered by voicemail to me today by my nurse practitioner (OBGYN) of 30 years. I don’t know the details, but, I will be asking my family practice doctor to write the prescription for “the gel”. I also have a compounding pharmacy in Georgia -so, I will be researching the possibilities. I have a question *How does a patient determine the severity (besides the discomfort of symptoms) of their Glabrata condition. My provider specifically said, “Candidas Glabrata” -she spoke briefly about how “hard it is to treat” and sounded like I would just have to live with the condition. Two weeks PRIOR to the diagnosis, she prescribed Fluocinolone Acetonide ointment 0.025% -3 times a day (sparingly) -Apply sparingly to infected area -(thighs included). I have been dealing with symptoms intermittingly since 2011 -so, I’m really wondering -along with menopause (ph balance, and hormonal imbalances) -HOW in the world did I get this -I can count on ONE hand how many times in 50+ years I have had to use an antibiotic -and I’ve always been very leary of them, and most other medication. Yeast infections have been a problem -I have had six healthy, full-term births. This is perplexing. Any advice, and full disclosure of the diet & hygiene “changes” that you recommend will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance -and I will be Googling the Michigan physicians resource/book(s) information. We all obviously appreciate your labour of love extended here -btw -Please provide a link to your ‘blog’ site location? Thanks again. A.A.
Hi A.A., I’m so sorry you are going through this, I will definitely email you the studies. The one study I will be sending you does contain the formula for making the gel, which you can bring into your doctor. Let me also say that your doctor is right about this one being hard to treat, but by no means is it anything that you should have to learn to live with. Unfortunately, too many doctors out there are not informed on how to safely treat this infection and many unfortunately, prescribe treatments that can make treating this infection even harder.
Your doctor prescribed Fluconazole cream, which years ago may have been the answer but unfortunately, this drug, especially the vaginal cream is now useless against this infection and in many cases can make the situation worse as well as making the Glabrata more resistant. The cream she prescribed will not be enough or strong enough to even attempt to kill this infection, if she was going to prescribe Fluconazole she should have started with the oral pill, but again if she did not prescribe it at a high enough dose for a long enough period of time you would still be sitting in this same spot. So, I hope your doctor is willing to prescribe this gel for you and will not want to go any further with “Azole” treatment. The studies I am sending will show her the ineffectiveness of other treatments including the Azoles. Now I did see you mention that she is having you put it on your thighs, so I am not sure if you are also having issues that too with Glabrata, which is not abnormal, but if so make sure when using the gel that you put a small amount of it on your finger and smear a thin layer over any irritated areas outside of the vagina as well.
As for why you got this, well I can’t say for sure how it happened, but I can explain why you would have been at high risk of getting it. I see you say that you did not take many antibiotics throughout your life, which is really good, but unfortunately, they are not the only precipitators in making you vulnerable to getting this infection. There are other things that can set you up for getting it too and you have written here some of the most serious ones. You say you are in menopause, which unfortunately, changes your PH balance, your vaginal moisture (which is one of the most important protectors against this and other infections), as well as a hormonal imbalance. All of these conditions set up the vagina for infections to take hold and the more dry you are, the more fragile your tissues become, which in turn does not allow for good blood flow to the area which is needed to keep the area nourished and healthy. The same goes for the hormones, they keep the PH balance, which in turn does not allow for bacteria’s or fungi to grow within the area. The hormones also help to keep the area moist as well and they keep the tissues supple all of which is needed to keep infections at bay. Now these are all risks, but the big one you mentioned is a problem with chronic yeast infections. This one is huge and studies have shown that women who get Glabrata, especially those without immune deficiencies, are women who have had chronic yeast infections. The studies also show that this particular group are usually the ones who have the hardest time treating it and are the ones most likely to have “Azole” resistance. This problem is what put you at the highest risk of getting it and then you add in the menopause and here you are!
So, let me explain, women who have chronic or even often yeast infections are having them because their vaginal area is not healthy and it may go beyond the vagina to the rest of the body. So, they can have abdominal symptoms too, headaches, muscle aches, fatigue and more. Their PH balance is off which is allowing for the infections and there are several reasons for that, all of which needed to be addressed by your doctor after she seen you for the second yeast infection. You needed to get to the bottom of why you were getting them, so as to stop the infections, instead of just repeatedly treating them. You see, by repeatedly treating them, you kept the vaginal area continuously unbalanced and you kept exposing the fungi to repeated treatments with the azoles. By doing that you gave the fungi repeated chances to build up a resistance to the drugs, making them less and less effective. So, even treating regular candidias was going to get harder and harder to treat as well as making the area ripe for another infection within weeks of finishing the treatment. It also sets you up for making an azole resistance strain of Glabrata. You see fungi live all around and in us and we are repeatedly exposed to them everyday, but if you have a good immune system and you have a balanced environment you can effectively keep them in check and kill the really bad ones, often without any pharmaceutical help. However, if you keep treating with the same class of drugs for the same kind of infection over and over you will make not only that fungi harder to treat but you will also make other ones you come in contact with that much less responsive to the drugs. Every time you use the azole cream you are making your body as well as the organism used to it, so when you really need the drug (like now with Glabrata) it will be ineffective. You may have had a few Glabrata cells growing within the vaginal area during what you thought was just a candidias infection and with each use of the azole cream you dosed this beast with just enough to make it resistant to that class of drugs. Now please know you could have picked this infection up from a hospital visit, even one that was for something totally unrelated to this area of your body, (hospitals are the biggest culprits), you could have picked it up from a dirty gyne instrument, from a partner that may have had it, from one of the few times you used antibiotics, especially if you used a broad spectrum one, it is hard to say where exactly you picked it up or even when, but because of the problems with yeast infections and continually wiping out Glabratas biggest competition, which is candidias, you set yourself at high risk of getting this one. You see we all need some fungi in our bodies and that includes the vagina. You should always have some candidias in there, but if your healthy and the area is balanced, your body is going to keep it in check and then that candidias will attack and keep other more serious fungi in check. So, you really never want to wipe out all of your fungi or even all of your bacteria, you need them for health and survival. So, when you use repeated anti-fungals or antibiotics you are continually wiping out everything and changing the PH in the area to do that. Which then leaves you open to contracting another even more serious infection. This is why your doctor needed to help you get to why you were having repeated infections.
So, here are the things you need to now address with your doctor, so that you can get healthy. First you need to treat this infection with the gel. Stop trying to treat it with “Azole” drugs because they are more than likely going to be useless against this infection, especially since you have been already using them and because of your history. Secondly, you need to change your diet, your hygiene routines and address any other underlying conditions that put you at risk. So, that would mean you need to be checked for diabetes and treated for it, even you are borderline. You also need to have your thyroid checked and treated for any problems with that, again even if you are borderline. Now if these are all fine, then your diet is going to be a major thing to change. You will also need to treat your menopause symptoms, so that you can get your vaginal area healthy enough to keep this infection from returning. Now that does not mean that you have to take hormone replacement drugs from pharmaceutical companies, it also does not mean that you will have to be on them forever. What it does mean is that you will have to have a discussion with your doctor about ALL treatments available to help with vaginal moisture and PH balancing during menopause. So, you may want to use the pharmaceutical drugs, but you could also look at bioidenticals, or OTC natural supplements (although these may not be strong enough, but are worth a try), you can also talk to your doctor about vaginal estrogen creams that only go in the vagina and are not systemic or there is the new drug which is not an estrogen, it is called Osphena. It is used for women who have painful sex after menopause, but studies show that it treats vaginal dryness, rebalances the vagina’s PH and even causes the vaginal tissues to become thickened again and regain their elasticity, so they are not so fragile, so another words you get a 20 year old vagina again, LOL! Again it is NOT estrogen and a great option for women with menopause that creates vaginal problems, pain and continual infections. I use this one myself too and I can tell you that it is a wonderful drug and does everything it says without any bad side effects. One other extra benefit to Osphena is that it has been shown in studies to stop and even rebuild bone in women with osteoperosis due to menopause. So, there are quit few options for you to discuss with your doctor, but you absolutely must treat this condition, or you are likely to go on having fungal infections and that includes repeated Glabrata infections and eventually it too will become resistant to the gel, leaving you with no options to kill it. So, please have all of these things checked out and treated.
Then you also need to change your diet on top of this and that is going to consist of eating a clean diet. I will tell you that just changing your diet will make a huge difference in your vaginal PH as well as your overall health. So, a clean diet means that you eat NO processed foods. So, no more eating anything that comes out of a bag or box. Everything is homemade, no more skillet dinners, no more boxed or microwave dinners, no more processed meats, like hot dogs, sausage, lunch meats, etc.. Your diet should consist of meat (any kind you like, but choose lean meats) veggies, (any that you like and as much as you like, however do not smother them in sauces especially cheese), you can have fruits, but while in treatment I advise against this because they contain high sugars and you do not want any kind of sugars while in treatment, but afterwards you can have whatever kind you want, but limit the sugary ones, like melons, red apples, etc.. berries of any kind are the best and have antioxidants to help your immune system to fight off infections. I would total stay away from dairy except for Kefir, which you need and you should drink even during treatment. This is because it has ten times more probiotics than any pill you could possibly take and you need these to help the vaginal area as well as the rest of your body to fight off fungal infections. The rest of dairy is not good for you and should be avoided. You want to use olive oil when cooking instead of vegetable oil, its healthier and is a natural anti-inflammatory. Stay away from salad dressings, make your own, use olive oil and a fresh lemon and add spices to it. Dressings are high in sugars and contain unhealthy chemicals. Stay away from starches, especially while in treatment, this is because starches turn into sugar as soon as they hit your saliva, so no rice’s or potatoes of any kind. I would also say to stop all gluten, this has been implicated in many chronic conditions and is a known systemic inflammatory precipitator. You especially do not want to use gluten during treatment, so that means no breads, pastas, bread crumbs, etc… You will need to learn to substitute certain things so that you do not go hungry. So, that means using zucchini cut into noodles or using spaghetti squash in place of pastas or rice’s. It means steaming cauliflower and mashing it, then adding butter (no margarin) and I like to add a little garlic, to make a mash potato substitute. (believe me you will not even know nor will your family that it is not mashed potatoes). You can also use a large romaine leaf to wrap tuna, salmon or chicken with some veggies in for a sandwich instead of bread or a tortilla shell. You just have to get creative and you can find a lot of substitutes on the internet too. You also will need to stop eating sugars of all kinds, that includes sugar substitutes and natural sugars like honey and stevia. Now this is really important during treatment, but because you have a history of yeast infections, you really need to adapt this for life. So, you can eat some sugary treats from time to time, but try to make it a special thing and then try to eat only things that contain natural sugars. You are going to have to learn how to cook with spices as much as possible, so that your food is not boring and so that you feel like it is worth it. It takes time to learn how to eat like this, but once your palate gets used to it, you will not miss all the crap food. When it comes to drinks, no sodas, no adding sugars or creamers to your coffee or teas. Drink plenty of water, especially while in treatment. Finally, NO fast food, it is not healthy and contains to much sugar, gluten and processed foods. It can quickly become your down fall with fungi! If you have to eat out, try to eat a salad with bottled water and always carry a piece of fruit with you, like an orange for desert. So, this is pretty much the diet.
As for hygiene, first and for most never use anything that is going to possibly change your PH. So, no scented lubricants, bath salts, bubble baths, scented soaps, body sprays in that area, scented pads or tampons, etc.. When taking a shower, do not wash your hair in the shower because the soap and conditioner will run down into that area. Use only dove hypoallergenic soap, no other soaps or body washes, not even the Vagisil PH ones. Use only white unscented toilet paper. When using lubricants they should only be water soluable ones, with no dyes or scents or any additives. So, use ones like original KY or aqua gel or you can even ask your doctor for a handful of surgilube packs (however, until your infection is cleared up you should sustain from sexual activity so as not to give it to your partner, but these things should be adopted for when your clean again, to help from getting the Glabrata or other fungi infections back) . Wear only cotton underwear, so that you allow that area to always breathe, especially since you have chronic yeast problems. Make sure to always dry the area thoroughly after your shower or bath, you can even use a blow dryer on the cool setting to make sure it is really dry. (it will feel really good to if you are burning from the Glabrata) Do not wear nylon pants, like yoga pants while in treatment, you need air to get to this area, that also means no tight pants either while in treatment. If taking a bath, then the only thing in the bath with you is pure water, no oils, salts, or bubble baths. If you swim make sure to dry off and get out of the swim suit as soon as you are done swimming and again use a blow dryer on the cool setting. When it comes to washing the items that will touch that area like bath rags , towels or underwear make sure to wash them in hypoallergenic soaps with no scents or dyes or even dryer sheets, because that does stick to the items and rubs off on that area when you wash, dry or wear your underwear and it has the potential to change your PH. Finally, NEVER EVER douche in your life!!!! If you treat your vaginal menopause symptoms and get that area healthy you will never need to do this because our bodies are designed to clean themselves with the good bacteria and fungi and if you use a douche you destroy that delicate balance and set yourself up for infections of some kind, so never do that!
Finally, make sure your vitamins and minerals are balanced and take probiotics as well as kefir. Change up your probiotic pills daily by using different strains and even different brands so that you are getting all kinds of good bacteria. Make sure to use Reuteri, because this one is needed to help the other probiotics adhere to the mucosa walls and to thrive. Also make sure to get prebiotics to feed the probiotics. Now you can take pills for this too, but I do not recommend it, I would make your own prebiotics, which is really easy. Each morning or at least every third day, just juice 1 carrot, half of cucumber, half of a green apple (no red apples because they are to high in natural sugars), a handful of spinach mixed with kale, a handful of romaine lettuce, 1 stalk of celery and you can add some ginger or a quarter of beets or a few chunks of pineapple or half of an orange or mango to change up the taste from day to day. Do not add yogurt your not making a smoothie, you are juicing and you can get an inexpensive bullet to do it. This combination is chocked full of vitamins and nutrients that will balance your PH and fight off infections and feed your probiotics. It will also regulate your GI system. However, if you have never juiced before start with only a few ounces at first and build your way up to a full glass over time, because if you just jump into it, you can upset your stomach and set off cramping and diarrhea, so go slow to start. Believe me this is the best way to start off your day, you will feel amazing in a few weeks. I do this instead of breakfast and it leaves me full for hours. Finally, make sure to exercise each day. It does not have to be some crazy routine or be some long routine. Start out slowly with just walking more, do some squats while lifting laundry out of your laundry basket on the floor, march around your house as your are putting clothes away, turn on your favorite song and dance to one or two songs. Just make sure to move around, so that your blood gets flowing and your immune system gets turned on and up. It will help to get blood flow and nutrition to all areas of your body and help you to fight off infections of all kinds and balance your whole body.
Well, I think I have answered your questions and I hope all this helps you. I hope you get this cleared up and can finally get healthy in the New Year. I wish you the best and please come back and let us know how you are doing. Good luck to you
AMAZE’n…lady -thank you! Much of what you have shared is affirming. I am an aspiring Pilates enthusiast (11th year) -looking forward to certifying as a teacher. The pre-biotic juicing recipe is simply priceless -I use “Swanson’s” website to purchase my probiotics -I will resume. I SIT all day in the current position in which I work -I must pass my company’s “free” (we already paid for it with the lower wages we incur +Great medical insurance [I WILL be appealing repeatedly any denial of coverage for the Non-Formulary gel] GYM before arriving at the office each day…and I have a WONDERFULLY accessible outdoors (FREE!) hilly walking path 6-blocks from my home.
The menopause advise is priceless, and I didn’t know that Osphena medication was so safe, and side-effect FREE. My goodness -and the benefits!?! I have refrained from wearing underwear at all for YEARS; but I do wear cotton-croched ‘yoga pants’ for my one-hour Pilates classes, 3-4 times a week (goal) -unavoidable. Once I deliver the INVALUABLE information you sent along via email to BOTH of my medical professionals next week -then, I can begin to request them both on board to assist me in acquiring some cleansing outcomes.
Thanks SO MUCH for the details on the diet, and hygiene -I have muscle, or bone aches, and fatigue (heaviness) which causes IRRESISTIBLE CRAVINGS for bath soaks -Dr. Teal’s epsome salts & foaming epsome salts are a staple -but, I guess that TREAT will have to wait until I can confirm that I’m much better.
Question: Is there a blood test that I should specifically request to determine whether, or not there is a more invasive infection from this Glabrata disease? I’m thinking this condition has been present in my body for MANY years -perhaps 6+ -so, I’m wondering if it may be present elsewhere. For instance -the PH Balance (or absence thereof) in my mouth, bloodstream or internal organs?
I have another question -more personal -I will send it by email. Thanks again for your labor of love. Also, as deadly as your condition sounded in 2015, I’m just so grateful that we are entering 2017 in about 30minutes -and here you are -BETTER, and able to help others. Glory to our beloved Creator, and may God continue to Bless you with continued healing.
A.A., you are very welcome, when I hear back from women like you, it makes me feel like what I do is worth it. I hope I give you all hope and the information each of you need, so that you can go back to your doctors and educate them and help them to help you get better. So, thank you for your kind words.
As for your question about a blood test, unfortunately, there is no blood test for this infection when it is inhabiting your vaginal area or even an organ. This is because this fungi lives within the tissues and not in your blood stream, however, if you were severely immune compromised it could get into the blood stream, but then it would become life threatening. You would develop what is known as septicemia and if this were to happen it would literally take your life within 36 to 48 hours. If you had an invasive form of it, (again this is something that usually happens to people who are immune compromised) which would mean it was in an organ like the bladder or the lungs or the gut, you would know within days, of it entering one of them, because this is a very serious infection and can take over the organ and its ability to function quite quickly. You would be in terrible pain (bad enough to take to you to an ER for help) and you would need medical intervention right away. Now you can have a cutaneous infection with it, which would mean that you would have it in your vaginal area, rectal area, mouth, throat or anywhere on the skin. This is what most people on here suffer with and you can get this without really being immune compromised, if the conditions are right, like what happened to you. When this form happens, it can cause severe burning and or stinging pain as well as skin break down. This form is not life threatening, however, it can leave you with life altering pain, dysfunction and even secondary infections from the break down of the tissues. with this form as well as the invasive form, there is no way to detect it other than to culture the discharge or take a biopsy of the tissues effected. As for how severe the infection, it would be based on your symptoms as well as the culture. The culture would show how many micro-organisms grow out in a certain amount of space within the culture, but most doctors will base the severity of your infection based on your symptoms as well as what they are viewing in your tissues. It is also important to know that cutaneous Glabrata usually does not spread into organs or the blood stream, unless you have a weakened immune system due to a serious underlying condition like HIV, Cancer, uncontrolled diabetes or something within that realm. Even at that people who do have these underlying conditions very seldom have the infection spread to their organs and even less likely have it spread to their blood. These are considered rare occurances. Please also know that there are women who have Glabrata that has become resistant even to the gel and have no way of treating it and those women will still go on to live a normal life span, just in agony from the infection and the destruction it causes to the tissues.
So, with that being said I can tell you that your Glabrata infection is definitely cutaneous and localized to your vaginal area and possibly the area surrounding the vagina, like the outside vulva, thighs, buttocks and rectum. You would not have it in any organs, or you would be in serious trouble and would not survive past 30 days without medical intervention. Now you could have it in the mouth, that too is a cutaneous form and can happen if you have it in the vaginal area or have had oral sex with an infected partner. However, if it were in the mouth you would know right away and you would seek out help very soon. This is because it will cause the mouth to dry out, you will develop a painful coating through the mouth and tongue, making it very difficult to eat or swallow. If left to long, it would cause ulcerations in the mouth and tongue and spread to the throat making even swallowing liquid painful and difficult. So, as far as having it other areas of the body for 6+ years, this would not happen, although it is possible to have it in the vaginal area that long, but again it would leave you in terrible pain and discomfort and seeking medical attention constantly. Now that does happen to women because doctors continually miss the diagnosis and treat women for what they believe is a bacterial infection or a constant hard to treat candidias infection. Which in turn can make the infection worse and leave the women in a nightmare of pain and discomfort. This definitely could be what has been happening to you and several of your yeast infections may have actually been Glabrata infections. This would be why after treating with an azole drug the infection came right back. So, I can’t say how long you have truly had it in that area and I’m not sure anyone could tell you that.
Let me also just explain that your bodies blood PH balance MUST always be between 7.35 and 7.45, if it got any lower or higher, your body would go into shock and your organs would begin to shut down. However, you have varying PH balances daily in other areas of the body like your mouth, vagina, bladder and colon. These balances are effected by your diet, your hydration, your immune system, any underlying conditions or diseases, vitamins and mineral balances and any meds you are taking. So, if these get out of whack you can develop bacteria or fungi infections in those organs out of PH balance, but it does not make your whole body out of whack. Now let me also say that the problems you may be having in other areas of your body could be being caused candidias or unbalanced PH levels in those areas. All of which could be being effected by your diet and lifestyle as well as stress and things you are coming in contact with like chemicals. I would first bet that a lot of your problems may be due to these issues. Each of these issues causes inflammation in specific organs or if left long enough you can get symptoms throughout the body. Diet is a major player in this and once something becomes inflamed a whole series of things begin to happen. First you can begin to feel pain and aching from the inflammation, then comes the fatigue from our bodies immune system reacting to what it believes is a threat, then you begin to stop moving or using the area, from pain, the muscles begin to atrophied and then the blood vessels no longer are able to supply the area with enough oxygen and nutrients to keep it healthy. This in turn causes drying of the area, tissue and or muscle break down, leaving you in more pain, then depression sets in, stress sets in and because you are no longer living a healthy life, the rest of your body begins to ache and faulter too, leading to over all fatigue and the cycle just goes around and around, with each making the other worse, until you are a “sick” person with a dysfunctional life. Unfortunately, our medical system likes to just write a script and send us out the door, treating only the latest symptoms you are complaining about. We do not address the root of the problem, so the cycle never ends. This is why naturopath or intergrative doctors are now being sought out by so many people. It is because these doctors try to go back to the root cause and hopefully help you to heal. I can tell you that the first thing these doctors do is to put you on an anti-inflammatory diet. This is where I stated to you in my last post about diet and removing gluten, this is because gluten has been implicated in so many chronic inflammatory conditions and by just removing this from your diet you can change your inflammation, pain and fatigue within weeks of removing it. The same goes for sugar and dairy. So, before spending the hundreds of dollars on one of these doctors, I would first start by changing your diet and adding in exercise. This alone can make major differences in every part of your body. If you are stressed I would also find ways to address this whether it is by exercise and or meditation or some form of a hobby. You have to get that under control as well. Your mind and body are one and work in synch whether western medicine wants to believe this or not. You need to treat the whole you and you need to make time for your health or your body is going to force you to do it the hard way and that will be with infections, pain, fatigue and illness. So, You need to make changes and since it is a New Year, it is a perfect opportunity to set some goals for yourself and to be a little selfish too. However, I always tell everyone to set realistic goals and to start slow so that you do not just give up a week into it. So, like I said with exercise, start with just walking more, do some fun dancing, do leg lifts while washing dishes at the sink, squats while folding clothes and so on. Then as your body gets used to it and you gain more energy, begin setting aside a time each day to take a 15 minute walk and change up your pace as you walk, so that you are getting your heart rate up and kicking in your immune system. Eventually your body will want more of this and you will find yourself wanting to add more minutes to your routine or wanting to try something else like biking or swimming or taking a dance class, ect..
The same goes for your diet, start slow, by removing the soda pop or sugar and creamer from your coffee or tea and try adding in one bottle of water of a day. Then a few days later instead of eating four cookies only eat one. Next stop eating out at fast food places and add in two bottles of water a day. Instead of eating a skillet dinner try baking some chicken yourself and trying out some spice or herbs with it. Then try steaming some veggies or make an awesome salad with it. Then next week, instead of eating that one cookie now, replace it with an orange. You just keep removing one bad thing and adding one good thing and if it is something that you really are not ready to give up then just cut it back little by little until you no longer crave it and that will happen as your body gets used to no sugars and processed foods. Those bad things will not taste the same to you anymore and it will be easier to give up the things you really feel you cannot live without. If time is a problem because you are very busy then you are going to have to find a few hours during the weekend to spend cooking several dishes at once and freezing them so that you have it ready during the week. You can cook six pieces of chicken at once and add garlic and olive oil to several pieces while cooking and add Rosemary to other pieces or whatever other spices you like. Then you can freeze them and pull out one and make it with a salad or veggie. You can also make your mashed cauliflower and freeze it too as well as spaghetti squash. So, all you have to do it pull out and heat it up with your chicken or heat up some spaghetti sauce to add to your squash for a spaghetti dinner. You can also buy the bagged lettuce to make your salad easier to make. You can use your chicken for your own homemade skillet dinners, stir fry’s, chicken wraps with a romaine leaf to hold it, or you could make an awesome salad with chunks of Rosemary chicken. You can do this with other meats as well. Once you get used to this it should not take more than 20 minutes each night to make your dinner and about four hours on the weekend to pre-make your nightly meals. So, you have to make the time and set out to do this, but do it in incrimints so that you get your body and your mind set for it. Make small realistic goals each week, so that you do not give up. You can do this and believe me within weeks you will notice the difference and you will want to continue.
Well I have written another book here, LOL! I did see your email to me too and I have a few things to talk to you about with that too, but it is late tonight, so I will respond back to that email privately tomorrow. I hope this information helps you for now. I will talk with you tomorrow, you have a good night.
Hi I’ve also been diagnosed with this condition. Do you mind emailing me the formula for the gel too? My email is icecoco30@gmail.com I’m literally at my obgyn appt now. Please help than you
Hi Diane, I just got this post so not sure if your still at the doctors appointment but I did email the studies to you. I hope this helps, Good Luck to you
Hello Debra, I have been suffering with Glabrata I believe for couple years. I was diagnosed after being pregnant and keep complaining about a yeast infection. They finally found out what I had after giving different types of antibiotics and creams. After I had my baby I was given boric acid but it keeps coming back. I see you suggested amphotericin B/ Flucytosine gel. If it’s possible, can you provide this information so si can give to my doctor? Thank you for all your information posted in this site.
Hi Karito, I am so sorry that you are going through this, I will email you the studies that you can bring into your doctor. The one study has the formula for making the gel, so your doctor knows how to write the script. Please be aware that it is a compounded formula, which means it has to be made by a compounding pharmacy, which unfortunately, do not accept insurance. It can be expensive, but well worth it because it does cure it, once and for all. I will also email you the pharmacies that do make it and ship it anywhere in the US, just in case you have a problem finding one that will make it.
Also in case you have not read through some of the posts on here, I will let you know that Boric acid will do nothing against this species of fungi. This is because it has the unique capability of adapting to any PH environment, which is also why it is often found living alongside other species of fungi and even bacteria. Unfortunately, Boric Acid kills fungi by changing the PH balance in the vaginal area, making the area inhospitable to the fungi, but with this beast it has already learned to adapt to that change, which unfortunately makes this form of treatment useless. It may knock down the count and relieve some of the symptoms, but within a two weeks of stopping the treatment, the numbers will go back up and you will be right back where you started from. I would suggest not continuing to use boric Acid repeatedly, because it is acoustic to your tissues and the delicate nerves that are in them. With repeated use you can cause skin and tissue irritation as well as skin break down and leave yourself with a painful nerve condition that can be permanent. So, please talk with your doctor about this gel and give them studies that I send you so that they can become educated on this form of fungi and the treatments that work for it.
Well, I wish you the best of luck and let us know how you do or if you need anything else.
I Agree with Helen here Boric acid only suppressed one of my symptoms which gave me false hope but it also made the whole area very painful.
The C. Glabrata came back twice as strong and I feel that the boric acid helped to strengthen the the nasty life ruining bug which I have now had for 7 horrible months
Debra, where do I download all the information I need to show my doctor? Where do I get the amphotericin-B formula to give to my doctor? Can you please email me all the information that I need to take with me? I think it would be easier if you could email it to me at….chubbyjuke@gmail.com. I am planning to resume on this mission as early as possible next year. I’m going to get financial help from my mom and I want to prepare myself before hand, just incase I lose contact with you for some reason or another. If I lost all the important information you’re providing I’d lose my mind because it seems like no one knows about this but you. I still can’t believe how much you know and doctors don’t, it’s so backwards to me.
Hi Helen, I follow the posts on here because I have had a confirmed glabrata infection for 9 months now. Prior to this infection, I had a glabrata infection for 6 months in 2014. I got the first one from taking Levaquin and the second from taking Augmentin. Obviously I never want to take another antibiotic ever again.
After reading through your posts and Debra’s replies, I want to tell you about the test that my doctor uses to detect my glabrata. The description on the lab report says, “This test utilizes amplification of target DNA for Candida genus and selected species by the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).” If any candida is detected, it then breaks it down by species–albicans, glabrata, tropicalis, parapsilosis, dubliniesis, krusei. My doctor said that this is the best test out there to determine which species of yeast is colonizing the vagina. The results come back in only 6 days, so no need to wait weeks for a glabrata specific test. He said that his office doesn’t do regular yeast/fungal cultures anymore because they would get false negative results from the older tests. I see a regular GYN doc, so your doctor should be familiar with this test. The bad part about the test is that it is very expensive (my insurance was billed $2,097), so if you don’t have insurance, I would contact the lab and ask for non-insured pricing. Many labs will do this. The test also uses DNA to detect BV and just about every other STI that you can think of. I get a little annoyed by this since we know that glabrata is my issue and I don’t need to see (and pay for) 50 other results. I’m not sure if they can run just the yeast PCR or if it is a one test covers all situation.
Like Debra said, if you do not have the burning feeling, you may not have glabrata (and that would be a wonderful thing!). It may be worth having the test for everything so that you know exactly what you are dealing with. I wish you luck in getting diagnosed and cured (and I really hope that you don’t have glabrata!).
Lynn, thank you for the added tip in testing for all the above, to rule out everything that doesn’t apply to me and find out what I really have. I will let my doctor know on the specifics in testing for this correctly. If I don’t have Glabrata I wonder how I was misdiagnosed. Even though I have been told by other doctors that I have the common yeast infection, but doesn’t feel like my usual yeast infection like the ones I’ve had many times in previous years, the symptoms are different this time. The usual yeast infections I was able to cure it myself with Monistat and this time not even the the stronger medication doctors prescribed me hasn’t worked, topical or oral antibiotics nothing has worked from the 10 different fungal medications I have tried. I looked up the most common symptoms of Glabrata and the top 3 was, severe itching, burning, and mild thin discharge. So itching is one of the symptoms, I just don’t have the burning or stinging like everyone else, it seems, and for me the thin discharge only happens around my period time and not everyday and there is no odor and that part is the big one. Whenever I was diagnosed with the usual yeast infection I always knew even before any other symptoms came up, I automatically knew because of the strong fowl fishy odor and this time I don’t have that and the itch was much more severe than what I am experiencing now because the itch is only at bed time and not throughout the day, thank goodness. I can’t wait to find out what I really have if its not Glabrata, but whatever it is, its been hard to find a cure.
Helen, I am glad that you are going to get a full panel work-up before starting treatment again. I do want to let you know that there are a few key signs of Glabrata, first it WILL have an odor that smells like rotting flesh, not a fishy odor and this is because Glabrata truly does eat into the tissues and wraps its roots around the delicate nerves within those tissues. By doing this it causes cell death to the tissues which causes a foul odor of dying flesh. The fact that it wraps around the nerves is what causes the intense burning, because the nerves are being injured, so they send signals to the brain that they are being attacked and when nerves are being damaged they will produce a burning, stinging, electrical shock or razor blade cutting feeling. You can have all these symptoms or a few or only one but you will experience them and you will experience them around the clock. This is what makes this infection so incredibly painful and different than any other yeast infection. The pain will be life altering for anyone suffering with this. Now it does produce some what of an itch, but it is very mild in nature, nothing like what candidias would produce and many women with Glabrata can tell you that the itch is almost non- existent and not their main complaint. This is how they realize that is not a normal yeast infection. It does not cause the itch so much because it does not have the hyphae like Glabrata. As far as the discharge it produces, it will be a thin grayish to white colored discharge that is very acidic, so anywhere it gets onto, (labia, outside of vagina, thighs, rectum or inside the vagina, it will cause intense burning, not itching. If left untreated to long the skin or tissues will break down and can ulcerate. The same goes for the nerves, if they are left with this infection to long they will cause permanent nerve damage and leave the women with a pain syndrome known as vulvadynia. The burning and very mild itch that it creates does NOT come and go and during your period it actually may lesson NOT get worse and that is because the menstruation is actually washing some of that acidic discharge out of the vagina.
Now I know we have talked before on this, but you have given a little more info this time that really sounds like you are suffering with either BV or a resistant strain of candidias. It truly does not sound like Glabrata. The fishy odor and the fact that it gets worse at night and around your period is very consistent with BV. Please know that BV often can look and feel like a yeast infection and the use of anti-fungals can make this infection worse. BV can wax and wane with its symptoms like you are stating because there is die off of the bacteria and what you drink and eat will make a difference in the build up of it. BV is also known for the fishy smell, as well as a discharge that is grayish white or even mildly yellow, which is often why many doctors misdiagnose Glabrata as a BV infection, because their discharge is the same in look but not smell. I would say that you have probably been dealing with a BV infection for a long time and even though you have BV you still could have a yeast infection if you have contracted or created a resistant strain of candidias with over use of azole treatment, especially vaginal treatments. So, it is really important for you to get rechecked before trying to treat again.
I do want to say too that if you have a resistant strain of candidias, the ampho gel will still be your best bet in treating this one too, since the azoles have now failed it, but again, if there is also BV you will need to treat this one first then go and treat the candidias with the ampho gel or you will be chasing your tail and making even the candidias resistant to the gel. If your doctor wants to hit both at the same time you can be treated orally with Tinadazole to treat the BV while using the ampho gel in the vaginal area to treat the resistant candidias. This can also be done if you are suffering with Glabrata and BV too. Tinadazole is a great option for hard to treat BV and is much more effective than the vaginal treatments, plus it is not messy, LOL!
I would also encourage you to have your doctor check your hormones and look at your birth control because it sounds like this may be contributing to your symptoms and even the infections. I say this because you are having more problems around your period which falls more under a hormonal problem which will get worse during that time of the month and birth control can be a big contributing factor in that. So, I would be sure to have a talk with your doctor about this one.
Well, I am glad that you are going to meet with your doctor and have all the info you need to sit and have a good discussion about what is really going on with you. I hope you will finally get to the bottom of what is causing all your suffering. I hope the new year brings you much healing and a new lease on life, without all these symptoms. Please let us know how it goes for you. Happy Holidays
HI Lynn, thank you so much for the updated testing info. This is great news and it is wonderful of you to come back on and share it with all of us. I do know a little about PCR testing from having Lyme and I know with Lyme it is not a fool proof test, matter of fact is has a dismal failure rate with it, but that also is because of the many different strains seen with Lyme along with some other problems. This type of testing is in its infancy stage and I am sure in time they will perfect it. I have not researched it for this type of infection, so I cannot comment on it success with it. I will try to learn more about it after the holidays are over, but for now this is exciting news! The only draw back is the cost and the fact that most insurance companies will not pay for it, which I am sure is because it is not yet FDA approved and has not passed all the testing to say that it is a successful test, this is the reason why it is not paid for with Lyme and several other illnesses that they are now using it for. However, like I said, this is all new and in time it will be perfected and once the FDA passes it, insurance companies will start paying for it. The cost should also go down then because more doctors will be able to use it in clinic bringing down the costs. Anyway, thank you for this, we women have to stick together to help each other out and I am so happy you shared this with us. I hope you will keep us informed as to how you are doing. Well I hope you have a Merry Christmas and wonderful pain free New Year! Hugs
Helen, I will email you the studies, so look for them in your email. The one study does have the formula for making the gel on it too. If you need help finding a compound pharmacy let me know at that time and I will email you with phone numbers for one. Please keep us informed as to how you do and I wish you the best of luck.
Yes, I got your email and thank you for responding so promptly. I have all the docs printed out but holding off on the treatment until I have 1 more glabrata test done to make sure this is what I really have.
Debra – Can you email me these studies and the formula? Was just diagnosed today and looking for any help I can get. Thank you for all this information.
Hi Staci, I am emailing you the studies and one of them contain the formula for making the gel, so you can take it into your doctor. Good Luck to you
I am just thinking out loud, I am not expecting anyone to respond to this comment. I just want to say that I take back what I had said earlier about feeling bad towards all the doctors I saw regarding this problem. I don’t feel bad but feeling a bit agitated and annoyed. I am just wondering how can a non medical person who doesn’t work in medicine know so much more about this disease than most doctors if not all doctors in Southern California. The only doctor I know who knows allot about this disease is a male doctor in Detroit MI, I wish I could remember his name. He is the only doctor that I know of who knows how to cure Glabrata, but too bad he works in a different state. I am so frustrated with all 6 different medical professionals that I saw regarding this deadly infection and not 1 could help me. I am still baffled by, how could they not know but someone who isn’t a doctor knows more, I just don’t get it.
I am a retired cosmetologist and when I was in business I had to keep up with the changes and in order to keep up with the latest trends and styles I had to take classes to keep up with the current education in hair. I don’t understand how doctors don’t know. If anyone should be keeping up with their studies/education are doctors. I don’t care if Glabrata wasn’t something they studied while in medical school because it wasn’t known then but since it’s known now and that this new disease is becoming more prevalent you’d think more doctors would educate themselves in knowing more about this especially obgyn/ gynecologist, etc… It’s so ridiculous how Debra knows more than any doctors I’ve spoken to about this annoying infection. If it wasn’t for Debra I would still be clueless as to what I am dealing with here. The doctors who we all depend on for medical support are useless in my opinion!!!
Hi Helen, I so get your angst and disgust at the medical field and their lack of concern and education on this illness. I too, like many of you on here, spent nine months very ill with this infection before being diagnosed correctly and I was not even diagnosed by my gyne. I was diagnosed by a GI doctor after it had spread to my gut and made me very ill ( I did have underlying conditions which allowed for the spread). I then would spend the next five months on very toxic IV drugs to treat it, which left me with drug complications to other areas of my body. None of which had to happen, had my gyne just realized what I had in the beginning. I too like you do not understand the lack of education on this illness as well as many others, when we are seeing these kinds of infections as common occurances. I can tell you too that unfortunately, the medical fields lack of education on what we are seeing as common everyday occurances does not end with Glabrata. We are seeing this with illness like Lyme, Epstein Barr Virus, Myalgic Encephalitis and even into disease like Ehlers Danlos and so many others. In my opinion I believe a huge part of this lack of education goes back to the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance industry. You see, insurance industries decide what doctors can and cannot treat by what they are willing to pay out for testing and treatment. There by limiting doctors from pursuing the root cause of a patients symptoms. Which means your doctor finds it easier to just guess at what might be making you ill and then they write a script and send you out the door, hoping not to see you back again. By doing this it keeps them from learning what you really have, which in turn keeps them from learning how to recognize symptoms of emerging illnesses. Which then in turn slows down the healthcare worlds view of what is really happening out here, which prevents them from studying and learning how to effectively treat these illnesses. Finally, because of this lack of information doctors are not being educated on how prevalent an illness has become and what the latest symptoms and treatments are.
You then have the pharmaceutical industry which now is one of the top industries in the country, right up there with the energy corporations and they are out for their bottom line, not your health! This industry has become so powerful and rich that they have bought up the universities and labs throughout the country. The problem with this, is that they call the shots on what is going to be researched and how much will be spent on the research. Now because they are worried about their bottom line, they are only going to want to research illnesses that the majority of the population are effected by, thereby making drugs or treatments that millions will need, which means big money in their pockets. So, universities which used to be dedicated to studying any kind of illness or disease they sought, now can only study what they are told by the pharmaceutical industry. So, they are researching common everyday illnesses like diabetes, cancers, MS and heart disease. Which is great but they are not focused on the everyday illnesses that people are now emerging with, like Glabrata. The Drug companies are also more invested in finding newer and newer treatments for the same illnesses over and over, leaving the universities to continue focusing on the same illnesses, with the only focus in mind of making a more expensive drug then the one they just put out. The second problem with this is that the pharmaceutical industry is not only calling the shots on what will be researched but they are also manipulating the research to fit their needs and the money they have spent on the initial research. This means that a drug which may not be really safe by data is going to be manipulated to look safe so it can be marketed to the general public, so that the pharmaceutical company does not loose its financial butt on the research and making of it. The problem with that is these drugs are causing a wide array of injuries and chronic conditions that doctors are not familiar with and have no understanding as to why. Like the Fluoroquinolones which wipe out all our good bacteria and allow for infections like Glabrata to be seen, and because doctors are prescribing these drugs at increasing rates more and more people are coming down with illnesses like Glabrata. The problem is your doctor is unaware to be looking out for it after prescribing you the antibiotic and they are not educated on how to treat it. So, this is how this is happening. I also want to say that women’s healthcare is a field with a severe lack of education in what we are seeing as common illnesses. This is because our gyne’s who are pretty much are main doctors or at least the ones we will definitely see yearly are not trained in everything that they should be looking out for in women. They are also not up to date on the anatomy changes that have been discovered over the past two decades in women. Which leaves them severely lacking when it comes to conditions like vulvadynia, intercystial cystitis, endometrieosis, painful mensturation, rarer infections like Glabrata, and hormone and birth control treatments. It is very sad, but we are still ruled by a male dominant society when it comes to the medical and research fields and the men still do not get that our bodies and illnesses are different than theirs. As women all we can do is try to reach out to each other to help educate ourselves and then take that education back to our doctors to educate them. We must also teach our young daughters to go into fields like this, so that they can make a difference in the future for all women.
As for how I know so much, well first let me say that I do have a medical background. I was a nurse for twenty-two years and back in the late 90’s I went back to medical school for pre-med. I had the intensions and dreams of one day working for the CDC researching microbiology. Unfortunately, that would not come to fruition, due to my health deteriorating. I had always been sick since I was a child, but it wasn’t until the early 2000’s that I would learn that I had a genetic defect that caused a slew of illnesses or co-morbidities, which finally began to catch up with me in the late 90’s. It left me unable to continue on in school and even having to quit work, which I still to this day have a hard time coping with. I was a hospice nurse for nearly fifteen years of my nursing career and I loved it with all my heart. I miss it everyday and miss the people who gave me so much in their time of despair. Shortly after being diagnosed myself, I would learn that my own mother and her family (all of whom were deceased) carried this genetic defect and was advised to get my own children checked for it. Within months I would find out that all of my children ( who also had been sick most of their lives) were also positive for this illness too. I was now in a desperate situation to find help for all of us, but as I started out looking for a doctor who knew about this illness I quickly became aware of how very few doctors out there had knowledge of my illness and even less that knew what to do with me. It would be at that point that I would find myself turning to my own medical background to help me research a way to save my family. I began using the tools I learned through my career and schooling to research and make connections with professors and doctors in fields that applied to my needs. I literally spent every moment I was bed ridden reading and researching and calling people from around the country. I made several trips around the country to meet with specialists and built up a file cabinet worth of studies and research. Unfortunately, with everything I found I still have not been able to change the outcome that is happening to me or my kids, however, I have used everything I have learned to educate doctors in several different fields from around the country and gave a lecture on it to a class of second year medical students at Northwestern University two years ago.. The genetic defect that my family has is no longer being looked at as a rare illness and with more doctors now knowing more about it and how to recognize it, I am hoping in time it will be given the research its due.
Now it is this underlying condition that along with the broad spectrum antibiotics and steroids I was given that allowed for the Glabrata to emerge in me and of course spread into other organs. After finally being given a correct diagnosis of Glabrata I would once again find myself in a position of finding very few doctors aware of this illness and even fewer who knew how to correctly treat it. So, once again I would spend those five months on IV’s in bed doing research from around the world and making contact with specialists all over the country. Finally, I found the “Guru” of Glabrata, a Dr. Jack Sobel, which I believe is the doctor you are talking about. He is located in Wayne State University in Michigan. He has written some of the most compelling and conclusive studies on this infection and that is because this man has dedicated his life to finding a cure for it. You see, he works in one of the worst economically poor cities in the country, it is predominantly African American and has a huge HIV population. So, the majority of his patients were women with HIV and he was seeing an increasing number of them coming in to his clinic with this infection. (HIV women are the largest population seen with this illness) He was unfortunately watching too many of them dying each year from this treatable infection, so he set out to find the cure to save his patients. So, as I laid there in my bed for months being treated for this infection, I read everything I could on him and his studies and contacted him myself and then set him up to work with my doctors via the internet and phone. Once I was finally able to make the trip to MI I drove up to meet him in person and sat down with this man and had a very long conversation. He was a wonderful man that loved to share his knowledge and has been a big proponent in helping me to get better. So, while I was still recovering from all this I began to write my story on some on-line groups that I belonged to and Chandler from Hormones Matters seen the story and wanted to print it, to help get the word out to other women like you and I of course said yes and here we are! Let me say that I still work tirelessly to teach doctors and pharmacists about this infection and how to make the gel. I have a few doctors here that are now very experienced in Glabrata and the treatment and I refer people to them quite often. I also have two pharmacies that I have personally worked with that know how to make the gel and can ship anywhere in the US. So, I can help women find the drug if need be, but most of all I hope to educate the women so that they can then go back to their doctors and educate them, this way there will be more doctors out there who know how to recognize and treat this condition, which means less women getting misdiagnosed and suffering.
So, my final thoughts to you on all this, is to be your own advocate, get yourself educated, get armed with studies and then go in and do not let your doctor shut you down, be strong and confident when talking with them. Teach your doctors and if your doctor is not willing to learn then definitely move on and find one that is. In todays day and age we have the knowledge at our fingertips and we must use it to help our doctors help us. So, yes you can be upset, dismayed or even angry at the medical fields lack of knowledge, but put that energy into changing it. That’s how we women do it!!
Debra,
Good for you for all of your hard work! Did you clear your Glabrata infection with that “gel” you are talking about? My Pelvic Pain OBGYN is stuck on how to treat me and would love to share with her your recommendations or knowledge of medications to try. What is the “gel” you are talking about? Does Dr. Sobel still take patients?
Thank you for your dedication in fighting this nasty infection. I am also an RN and all of this makes me want to go back to school to help others if I can ever get through this.
Thanks for any help,
Jessie
Debra- Can you share what pharmacies make the gel you are talking about? I have a doctors appointment tomorrow and would love help on where it can be made properly for my MD. She is lost with what to do or where to go for compounding flucytosine and ampB if that is what the gel is. Thanks! Jessie
Thanks Jessie, for the kind words and it was great talking with you last night. It is unbelievable how much we are alike right down to the maxi skirts, lol! I wish we lived closer, but if you do decide to make your way here to Chicago please let me know because I would love to meet up with you. However, once you get the gel, you may find that you will not need Sobel or the other doctors here, because Glabrata won’t be your problem anymore, but if you are left with the other conditions, please remember we have a great team of doctors here for that too. I will send you the email with all the information we talked about last night and all the doctors info and the book too. I have not forgotten, just busy today with holiday stuff and family. So, look for my email after the holiday. Please keep in touch and don’t hesitate to call me any time, even if you just want to talk about other stuff, especially since we suffer with so many other conditions. I would love to hear how you fare with everything right down to the Lyme. Well good luck and Happy Holidays to you
WOW!!! Like I have said before, if you’re not in a medical field you should be. I believe medicine is your calling. For you to be this knowledgeable and you trained yourself, self taught, that is incredible. I agree with you 100%. I recently found out about 9 months ago that all cancers can be cured naturally 100%. I saw this video called …”The truth about cancer a global quest the true history of chemo and the pharmaceutical monopoly”. Just like you, the author of the video, Ty Bollinger was on a mission to find a cure for cancer and he is not a doctor but has accomplished allot more than the average doctor we know too well. He was so fed up with everyone he loved dying from cancer, because of no definite cure, so he made it is mission to find out the truth about the American medical industry. What he found out was very disturbing to say the least. He found out that all doctors are not really trained to cure but to write prescriptions. The whole medical business in America are controlled by the pharmaceutical giants, they rule and control all the doctors. If they find out a doctor is practicing natural medicine for a permanent cure they could get their license taken away. Ty not only interviewed allot of American doctors but he traveled around the world talking to many other doctors regarding the fraud behind medicine. Thank God literally that there are some brave doctors willing to take a risk to educate themselves in healing patients with God given natural medicine that really works permanently 100% natural cure. If I knew all that I know about the truth on cancer my dad would be alive today. My dad was a strong healthy man who passed away due to prostate cancer and not knowing then that he didn’t die because of the cancer, what he really died from was the poisonous drugs they were injecting him everyday until he passed away from over dose and not the actual cancer. I don’t mean to get off the subject on your thread on C. Glabrata, but this is the main reason why I got so upset. Here I go again, getting help from a non medical professional who is helping me find a cure for my ailment. Do you know how backwards that is, how utterly ridiculous it sounds? Well, it does and makes me very angry!!!
Anyone, reading this and even though its not about what you may be suffering from you may know someone who is fighting cancer. Please do not let them go through chemo or radiation, there is something way better, safer ,and permanent and not temporary like chemo and radiation. My brother made a life saving and life changing investment by purchasing all 6 videos and paid around a lil over a hundred but whatever the amount was it was way worth every dime spent. The good news is everyone can watch the videos for free now on YouTube. Again its called……”The truth about cancer a global quest the true history of chemo and the pharmaceutical monopoly” by Ty Bollinger.
Hey Debra, is this ever going to end, I just thought of something else I wanted to talk about, the actual symptoms. I have been reading through some of the other people dealing with this same infection but seems like the symptoms are different. I have read more burning and stinging discomfort but with me I don’t have the burning or stinging, I have the itch but thank goodness its only at night when I am in bed and thank God not throughout the day. If the itch was 24 hours a day that would be way too hard or impossible to deal with. I was able to handle a minor itch only one time at bed time but it was consistent just one time every night but after having this for over 4 years the small night time itch has gotten worse and now its disrupting my sleep. I have to get rid of this before it becomes a 24 hr crises. My other problem is and the reason why I haven’t started on treatment yet is because I don’t have medical insurance and have to pay out of pocket. I’m financially strapped and that is one of my main reasons why I had stopped seeking help. I have to wait until next year to try to save up some money and pay-off some debt before I can resume again.
Helen, when it comes to Glabrata there is a definite burn and sting to it, one that most would describe is like having acid poured into your vagina and then having broken glass ground into it. Women with glabrata also suffer with itch, but this is very minor compared to the burning and stinging. This is because Glabrata is different than candidias. You see candidias lives on the surface of the flora and can be easily wiped off the walls, where as glabrata lives within the walls and roots itself around the nerves within the walls. It is those nerves that create the burning and stinging feeling and if left to long can leave you with a pain condition known as vulvadynia which I think I have talked to you about before. Now, just because you do not have the full symptoms of burning or stinging does not mean that you still do not have glabrata, however, it makes it less likely that this is your problem. So, let me explain, if you have read my last response to your last questions on here, I talked about how Glabrata lives with other infections like candidias as well as bacteria’s. If you remember I also told you that as strong as Glabrata is it cannot compete against candidias. So, what this means and may very well apply to you because of your chronic candidias history, is that you have more candidias or even other bacteria’s living within your vaginal area and they are keeping your Glabrata down. It is not able to take over the area, so your symptoms will be less severe than other women who have stomped out all other infections. However, you should still be suffering with some minor burning from the areas it has attached itself too. Now you could also have a higher pain tolerance too, so you are not recognizing the symptoms. But with what your telling me, I am suspicious as to whether this is your problem.
With that being said, I would definitely tell you that you need to have your doctor run another Glabrata test and make sure they are requesting a specific test for glabrata and not just a fungal culture, or they will miss it. If that test comes back negative then you are dealing with another problem and not glabrata. There are a lot of other fungal organisms that can inhabit your vaginal area that are not canididias or glabrata and you may need to be checked for one of them. You could also have a resistant candidias infection which would cause these symptoms too or even a chronic bacterial infection, known as BV. All of which can look and act like what you are describing. So, you really need to get another specific test for Glabrata before attempting the treatment. You also may want to look at your form of birth control and your hormones because they too can cause what you are going through, so you really are going to need to be seen by a doctor to help you figure this all out.
I will let you know that the ampho B gel is expensive, it can run in the neighborhood of $1,200.00 for a 14 night treatment, but I will also tell you that insurance usually will not cover it because it has to be compounded by a compound pharmacy, which insurances do not cover. so, you may want to start saving for this, in case you do have glabrata and need the treatment. This is unfortunately, not a cheap infection to have whether you have insurance or not. However, your doctor fees and testing should be covered by insurance, so when you get yours going next year you will need to go in and get checked.
I hope this answers this question. I will respond to other posts tomorrow. Good night for tonight!
I have a unique situation.
While I have found a lot of the information helpful for starters, I am unable to relate to a lot of this because I am a man.
How I found out I have glabrata is also unique.(if I even actually have it) I am a US citizen in Poland who decided to take body test given by a naturalpath.
Among things like pinworms and cat liver fluke, ureaplasma, and mycoplasma (most likely unrelated things) I was told I also had candida glabrata. So I went to google to find out what it even was.
Needless to say, I’m wide awake to this as it sounds very serious. I was not given a location as to the location that is affected so I am unsure where to start. Random burning when I pee, very rarely. So it could be there on up. So now what?
I assume a test. But seeing as I am a guy…some of what I’ve read can’t apply.
I’m open to any information you can give me. I obviously want as much information as I can get, not just “yes, you should be tested”
Thank you all for reading and I wish you all the best in your own struggles!
Mike
Coffeeaddicted77@gmail.com
Hi Mike, well you do have a unique situation, seeing as though you are a man, but let me just say it is not abnormal for a man to get this type of infection, but it is rare. I don’t know what a body test is, so I can’t comment as to whether this is something they would have picked up in that kind of test. However, if the body test included a urine test it is very possible this is how they picked it up. Which again would be unique because this type of infection is one that needs to have a specific test done just for it. A regular fungal test or a simple urine test would not test for this. So, it would be unique in the fact that this doctor would have thought to test you for it and if he did, kudos to him!!
So, let me tell you a little about males with Glabrata. First a male is not going to have the exact same symptoms as a woman or even the same intensity as a woman. This is because of the obvious, we are made differently. A woman’s vaginal area is its own natural reservoir which is larger than a mans urethral opening and it is always moist and dark which makes it the perfect climate for growth of any kind. Where as a mans penis and urethra is a very small tube where not much can grow. The urethra in a man is constantly being washed out every time you urinate. The urine of a healthy male will be very acidic and it is the acidity of the urine running through the urethra that washes it out and kills both bacteria and fungus. In a woman, the urethra comes through the vagina but does not wash out the full reservoir, leaving areas for germs to grow. Now if the male has a poor diet (high in sugars and carbs, a lot of alcohol) or if he has been on antibiotics, or if he has an under lying condition like diabetes or HIV, it can throw off the acidity of his urine, which then makes it ineffective in washing out all living germs from the urethra. This then could lead to an infection like Glabrata. A man could also become infected through unprotected sex (both oral or intercourse) if he is intimate with someone who is also infected with Glabrata, but again, it would be less likely unless there was something else going on in the body that lowered the PH of the urine.
So, as far as testing for it, like I said it can sometimes be picked up in a urine test, although this is not that reliable. The other way to test for it in a male is by (hold on because this is not going to be pleasant!) is for the doctor to take a long thin q-tip and scrape the inside of the urethra, it then would need to be specifically cultured for Glabrata. Now Glabrata cannot be tested through your blood, unless you had a blood infection with it and if that were the case you would be deathly ill and would not survive more than a few days, so blood testing is not an option. Now if you have discharge coming out of the urethra they may be able to culture that for Glabrata, but other than these ways there is no other way to actually test for it. If none of these kinds of tests were done then I would seriously question this doctors testing and diagnosis of this infection.
So, like I said before there is a difference between the symptoms of males and females with this infection and that is due to how our bodies are designed and how I explained you wash your area out repeatedly with acidic urine as opposed to a woman. So, due to this a man could potentially have this infection and if it is mild because of the constant urine wash he may have only intermittent burning with urination or in some cases the man may have no symptoms at all and it will be his partner that keeps showing up with the infection that alerts him to him possibly having it. Now if the urine is not acidic enough the man then could have severe symptoms much like a woman. So, he would suffer with constant burning and a raw feeling that never leaves the urethra even when he is not peeing. He could also have a grayish / white discharge that seeps from the head of the penis and that discharge will be full of glabrata, so it can cause skin break down around the head of the penis or even further out on to the penis. You could get blisters as well and you may have blood in your urine too. These would be the symptoms that a man would have with this type of an infection. So, I know you said that you do get some burning with urination from time to time, which may very well be Glabrata , but I would only consider this if you had a urine test or a q-tip test that actually diagnosed Glabrata. Otherwise your burning periodically could be from anything as simple as not drinking enough, to something to acidic you ate, to a soap you used in the shower to some other kind of infection. Which many kinds of infections (bacterial, STD’s, normal fungal, ect..) can cause intermittent burning with urination, so please unless you have had a specific test for Glabrata, I would not get to worried about this yet, however, you definitely need to have this checked out by a doctor. The doctor (which should be a urologist) should check your urine and may want to swab you too.
Now I want to also add here that you have been diagnosed with several other kinds of infections, many of which I am very familiar with and I am sure your doctor wants to treat you with antibiotics or maybe some kind of herbal. So, here is my advice to you, if you are going to treat these other infections I would first get tested for the Glabrata, because if you have it you will need to treat your other infections before trying to treat this one. Otherwise the antibiotics and even some herbals are going to make your urine less acidic leaving you open to regaining the Glabrata infection back, so you treat the other infections first then treat the Glabrata. Otherwise you risk making the glabrata resistant to the drugs you are going to need to treat it and as a male you have less choices than a woman for treatment, so you really can’t risk that!
Ok, so now you are probably thinking “how does a man treat this?” Well, unfortunately, you cannot use the amphotericin B / Flucytosine gel like a woman, because as you know you cannot shove the gel through your penis. Which means you only have the “azole” drugs to turn to. Which I am sure you have read are not really good drugs to treat Glabrata because this infection is usually pretty resistant to them. So, you are going to need an infectious disease doctor on board to help you get through this treatment. They will probably want to start you on Fluconazole, which is not a good one and I would advise against it, because this infection is so resistant to it, that it will more than likely fail and in the process it will make it that much harder to treat with the only other azole known to have any effect on this. That would be voriconazole, which is the one you want to be treated with. You will need high doses of this for at least eight weeks or more, but because it is very toxic to the liver and kidneys they will need to check you liver and kidneys prior to starting it and then every ten days while on it, to make sure that your body is handling it ok. Now at the levels and length of time you will need it, it may cause some unwanted side effects like periphereal neuropathy, dizziness, headaches, muscle pain, fatigue and some other things. So, if you begin to experience any of that while on it, you need to let your doctor know right away. Now if these drugs fail or if the infection is also up into the bladder then your infectious disease doctor may want to put a port in your chest and treat you for a few months with drugs like mycofungin, or caspofungin. These should kill it, but they too are very toxic to the body and you will need to be watched closely. This is why you will need an infectious disease doctor, one who is experienced in treating these types of infections and using these kinds of drugs. I will let you know that there are NO herbals that will treat Glabrata, so if your doctor wants to treat you with something like that, then he does not know what he is doing!!! Again please do not let him try to treat you with Fluconazole either, because if you really have this you are going to make this situation much worse and more resistant. You definitely need an infectious disease doctor to treat this, no other kind of doctor! Let me also say this, because of how resistant this infection is, several top universities throughout the world have studied “out of the box’ treatments like herbals, gentitian violet and others and unfortunately, none of them had any efficacy in treating or even knocking this infection down. So, if you really have this, you will need the help of an infectious disease doctor to treat it. Let me also say that when it comes to men with glabrata in the urethra, it is very important to treat this infection as soon as possible and correctly because once in the urethra it can travel up to your bladder and to your prostrate and the havoc it can cause will be unimaginable!!! So, this is something you really want to have diagnosed correctly as soon as possible.
One last thing while talking about this, it is very important to refrain from any kind of sexual activity with your partner until you have been diagnosed correctly and fully treated. I say this because you will give this to your partner, who then will be facing a nightmare as well and the two of you could potentially pass it back and forth, making treatment impossible and eventually making it resistant to all drugs!
Well, I hope this has answered your questions and I wish you the best of luck. If you have any other questions please let me know and I will try to answer them.
Debra, I went back to read your story more thoroughly. I didn’t know you’re in a criticle state and you have the time to help educate the public and spread awareness in your condition? WOW!! You’re so selfless, you have just reached the highest level of respect from me, you’re truly amazing!!! I am so sorry, so very sorry that you’re going through this, especially because it seems like you caught the beast by accident, taken strong medication that you didn’t even need in the first place. I wish I found your blog and read it 2 years ago when I was diagnosed with this and then I would have known not to stop taking fluconazole in the highest strength but not combined with steroids. I have never taken steroids but have plenty of various antibiotics. I was taking the strongest dose of fluconazole for 2 weeks but should have taken it for months. How long was I suppose to take it for, 3 months or 6 months or longer? I had no idea 2 weeks was not nearly enough time to kill the beast. At this point what should I do, start all over again with fluconazole and take it for the correct amount of time or go straight to the strongest and the last resort medications the Caspofungen & Amphotericin-B? I don’t remember off hand when I first wrote on your blog, I think it was either September or October and I said I was going to start a new diet and exercise routine? Well, the truth is I didn’t start my new health journey, the holidays was and still is a huge distraction for me but I will start soon, very soon, like tomorrow, I’ll get back on my treadmill even if its just for 10 minutes, I will, no more excuses and plus will refocus in eating way better cleaner. I just want you to know that you will be in my daily prayers for a fast speedy recovery. Keep fighting the good fight because there is no other option you have to win there is no other choice.
Hi Helen, thank you so much for your kind words and prayers. I am in a battle right now with my own health, but because of that I keep my mind busy with the internet so as to not let this get me too down. I always want to try and warn other women against these antibiotics that can cause such havoc and to help those that get left with these secondary infections. I know all to well how life altering these situations are and how desperate and lonely they can leave us feeling.
I am sorry that you are still going through this too. You definitely need to make those life changes, so that you can help your body fight this infection and it will be really important in helping to keep it from coming back once you get it fully cleared. I would start as soon as you can, but don’t try to do it all at once, or you will fail. You need to make simple small changes each week and before you know it, you will have changed your whole life. You can start with something as simple as cutting back your sugar in take, especially since it is the holidays and you know you are going to want to indulge in some good treats. So, instead of eating a piece of pie and three cookies and drinking a few glasses of wine, only eat a sliver of pie or share a piece with someone else. Then only allow yourself to try one of each of the best cookies and no more than one glass of wine a day. This is easier to do then to try and just go cold turkey, especially right now with the holidays. Then each week cut back a little more and replace some not so good things with healthier options, but again do it in small incriments instead of all at once, you are much more likely to succeed. As far as exercising, you don’t have to do 30 minutes of work out each day, because again you are much more likely to give it up by the end of the first week, especially if you are hurting or tired. So, instead just start adding in more steps to your day. So, instead of parking really close to the store or your job, park in the back of the lot and walk across the lot. Then take stairs whenever possible instead of an elevator or escalator. Also try spending a few hours at an indoor mall, just walking around and mix up your pace from slow to fast as you walk. When doing laundry, leave your laundry basket on the floor and do squats to pick a piece of laundry up to fold each time and then march lifting your knees high as you walk to put the clothes away. You can do leg lifts while standing at the sink doing dishes too and when adding soap to your washer lift the jug three times in each hand first before adding it to the machine. These may seem silly and small, but believe me they add up each day and each week to be a full work out routine and you will feel the effects, but it will be slowly and manageable so that you don’t want to give up. As you do this make sure to pat yourself on the back each time you have completed another exercise, so that you make your brain aware of your accomplishments and it will inspire you to keep going and increase your exercise over time. Before you know it you will want to get on that treadmill and take a run because you will feel more inspired, happier and you will have more energy. By making changes this way you will fool your own brain and body as to what you are doing and before you know it your body and mind will want more of it, this is how you succeed.
As for your Glabrata infection, I am sorry to say that it is more than likely to late to go back on the Fluconazole for treatment. You have already exposed it to this drug and you exposed it for too long of a period of time yet not long enough to kill it, so what you have done is made it resistant to it. You would have had to have been on 500 mgs. a day for three to five months, but please know that even that would not have guaranteed that you would have killed it. Glabrata has a high resistance to the “Azole” drugs. However, there is now no way this is going to work for you. Chances are it was not going to work anyway, but by not doing it right the first time you have given this beast all it needed to change itself so that it can become resistant to it. At this point you really need to get the gel because that is going to be your best bet. I would also encourage you to use the gel instead of attempting the Fluconazole again because the amount of Fluconazole you would need and the length of time you would need it is going to give you some very unwanted side effects that could become permanent and in the end your chance of beating it with that is slim to none! The gel will not give you systemic side effects and only takes 14 days of treatment as opposed to the now five to nine months you would need on high doses of Fluconazole, which most gyne’s will never want to treat for. The only side effect seen with the gel (and not all women get this side effect) is some minor vaginal irritation from the gel, which will subside within days of ending the treatment. I also want to tell you that you need to get this treatment on board as soon as possible because Glabrata is a very nasty infection that grows deep into the vaginal tissues (unlike candidias) and attaches itself to the nerves. Once it does this, it begins to damage those nerves and if left too long it can leave with you a life long pain condition known as vulvadynia, which believe me you never want to have! Several other women on here (including me) are now facing this diagnosis due to their infections being left untreated correctly for so long. There is no real effective treatment for vulvadynia and it can spread to other surrounding nerves in the pelvic areas causing you pain and dysfunction in the colon, bladder, urethra and thighs. So, I would really encourage you to talk with your doctor about prescribing the gel as soon as possible. I would also encourage you to make those life changes now so that your body is ready to fight when you get the med and keep up the changes so that this infection does not come back, because once again this infection will try to become resistant to the gel too and it is only a matter of time before it will, so you have to try and beat it at its own game.
Well, I hope this helps you and I wish you good luck on making those changes. If you need anything else please let me know.
Hi Debra, thank you again for thoroughly answering my questions. However, I just have couple more if you don’t mind, I hate to keep asking you so many questions when you’re not 100% healthy yourself. Hopefully this will be my last few questions. First of all I have to retract what I said about me have taken allot of antibiotics in previous years. I was thinking about what I said last night and not realizing, I really haven’t taken allot of antibiotics maybe total of 4 in all my 49 years and never steroids. Most of my normal yeast infection medication wasn’t oral antibiotics it was topical cream, ointment meds, most often store bought Monostat would cure it. So now I’m back to square one and wondering how I caught this infection. I spoke to a friend about my situation and my friend told me she’s taken allot of antibiotics way more than I have, plus she’s also taken plenty of steroids as well and she hasn’t contracted this infection. If I have not been exposed to too many antibiotics and no steroids what could it be as to how I caught this disease? Could it possibly be because I was prone to yeast infections? Just recently I have been on allot of antibiotics trying to cure this infection but not before in past years and so far nothing has worked in recent years.
When I was on the Fluconazole the dosage I was on was 200 and I thought that was the highest I could be on, I didn’t know it could go up as high as 500? Also, is it possible to have both regular yeast infection and this fungal glabrata infection at the same time? The reason why I’m asking is because when I was getting tested, the first doctor’s report came back with the glabrata but the 2nd doctor did the same test but the results came back with regular yeast not the other. So could that mean I have both? If your answer is no, then I know the 2nd test was misdiagnosed and the first test is correct because the symptoms I have is different from having a regular yeast infection.
So, my 2 last questions are…. How do you think I caught this infection? Could I have both types of infections, yeast and fungal? Oh wait, I just thought of 1 more question. If the last resort medication doesn’t work, what then? Could I live with this disease for the rest of my life without being a life threat? What are my chances of this spreading to other areas in my body if I can’t cure this?
I can’t thank you enough, there are no words to express my appreciation for how much you’ve helped me. Also, thank you for the exercise tips I will take that into consideration. How do you know so much about everything? Its amazing and unbelievable how you know so much more than the average doctor regarding Glabrata. If you’re not already, I think medicine is the field you should be working in.
Just wanted to grow this out there for you. (Think i actually posted it below in the wrong place. Sorry for posting twice.) I’ve dealt with chronic Glabrata for many years. I used boric acid and medicated duche for years. Kept my symptoms at bay as long as I was using it, but it’s a poison, and finally stopped bc a doctor said it wasn’t good to keep using it. Struggled on and off with all the symptoms in the article. I started taking Jarrow Formulas, Saccharomyces Boulardii + MOS, and I had really good results. When I first started using it, I went thru a die off stage. My eyes swelled up almost like an allergic reaction. I stopped it, then started again once my eyes weren’t swollen. What a difference taking those has been for me. I take two every night before bed. Recently, my gynecologist told me about studies with iodine. Apparently the group (sorry I don’t know who it is doing the studies) has found a link with a lack of iodine in those who struggle with yeast issues. With the use of Sea Salt instead of iodized salt in use for foods today, many people who are in need of iodine are not getting what they need on a daily basis anymore. (At least this is what my doctor told me she had just learned in the seminar she had attended.) About two months ago I started a sublingual iodine drop that I use every day under my tongue. I feel better than I have in years using it. It may not be for everyone, I realize, but it is really worth checking out for yourself. Wanted to put this out there just in case it helps anyone. It’s simply awful living life with something doctors seem to know so little about. I have felt so alone in all this for such a long time. Thanks for sharing your experience Debra!
Hi Helen, I can see that you are really struggling with this infection and the emotional toll it plays on us. I am so sorry you are going through this and I hope what I write here helps you finally get some kind of correct treatment. I see that you have written a few posts on here so I will try to post to each one and answer what I can. I am sorry it takes me a day or so to get back to you, I do try to reach out to everyone that posts as soon as I can, but due to my own health right now, sometimes I am only up to posting back to one post a day. So, If I don’t answer back right away, don’t worry I will get to you as soon as I can.
So, let me start by trying to answer this post for you. When it comes to Glabrata, it is hard to say why some will get it and others won’t. I am sure it falls into your own bodies immune system and how well it works against infectious agents. It also depends on your lifestyle and any other underlying conditions. Now I know you say you did not have underlying conditions and you did not use very many antibiotics, but here is the thing, for some people, especially those prone to yeast infections, due to diet, lifestyle, immune system and genetics, Glabrata can happen with literally one prescription of an antibiotic, especially if that antibiotic is a broad spectrum one. Some of the broad spectrum antibiotics are the Fluoroquinolones (Cipro, Levaquin, avelox, oflaxcin, etc..) another one is going to be Clindamyacin and there are still others, but not as used as these ones are. These can set off a Glabrata infection in some people with just one pill. The reason for this is because they wipe out all the bodies good and bad bacteria, leaving you defenseless against any organisms left behind or contracted right after taking the meds. Let me also explain that good bacteria grow much slower and need nutrition to replicate where as the bad bacteria (including fungus) grow back at a much faster rate than the good bacteria and need nothing more than dead cells and dying bacteria to feed on. So, it is kind of like a patch of grass, if you wipe it out the first thing to grow back is going to be the weeds and before you know it the weeds take over where the lawn should have been. This is how a broad spectrum antibiotic can totally ruin your bodies flora. The flora in your gut, where 75% of your immune system resides and also in your vaginal area, bladder, urethra, mouth and gums get wiped out from a broad spectrum antibiotic and within weeks your flora grows back bad bacteria and fungi. Which in turn leaves you with chronic fungal infections, bacteria infections, GI troubles and so on. So, what I am saying here is that, it does not matter how many antibiotics you have taken, because it could have happened with just one.
Now, you also stated that you were prone to fungal infections and have used a lot of anti-fungal creams in the vaginal area. Now this is going to make you very prone to getting Glabrata and here is why. Every time you use an anit-fungal cream in the vaginal area, you are wiping out all candidias and I am not sure if you are aware that all of our bodies NEED a certain level of candidias. You need this to help keep other fungi and even some bacteria under control and our bodies are full of all kinds of bacteria’s and different fungi’s at any given moment. You need this for survival, however, your bodies immune system along with your lifestyle are suppose to help keep all of them in check. But when something goes wrong, due to a drug you took, or a cold, or flu or any assault on the body, you loose that delicate balance and when this happens, one or more of the bacteria or fungi can grow out of control and that’s when you get an infection. Here’s the problem, you then go and take an antibiotic or an anti-fungal cream to stop the overgrowth of the offending organism, but many times that will help with that organism but then unbalances another one, leaving you to have to treat the next one. This many times becomes a viscious cycle for people. This is how they get into treating a bacterial infection and then get left with a yeast infection and then after treating the yeast they go right back to a bacterial infection. Once you get into this cycle it can be very hard to break it. You also have to realize that every time you treat with a fungal cream you are not only killing all of the candidias but you are also making not only the candidias resistant and harder to treat but you are opening the door for other yeasts like Glabrata, who normally is in competition with candidias to take over. So, studies done on women who suffer with Glabrata, especially the resistant forms showed that these women were chronic users of “azole” creams and pills to treat candidias. This is often why it is mostly seen in HIV and diabetic women. You see they are constantly having to treat candidias because of their poor immune systems and out of control sugars that feed the yeast. However, even women who do not have these underlying conditions who use anti-fungal treatments regularly or often have a much higher rate of contracting Glabrata. It also makes treating their Glabrata much harder. So, your use of the anti-fungals have raised your risk of contracting this.
Now I know you probably have felt like what else were you suppose to do treat the constant candidias infections. Well, unfortunately, this is where our medical system is lacking, you see your doctors should have sat you down after the second bout with it and explained to you that you need to change your diet and exercise. They also needed to check your hormones, your thyroid and you should have been checked for diabetes and any STD’s. If any of these came back abnormal then they should have been treated and corrected. If they came back fine then they should have looked at your type of birth control, which also can have a tendency to change the vaginal PH, which can lead to chronic yeast infections. So, you may have needed to have your birth control method changed. These are the usual underlying reasons for chronic yeast infections and should be addressed, so as to stop the cycle. Your doctor also should have advised you NOT to treat what you may think is a yeast infection with an OTC cream without first being cultured for one, because often times women think they have a yeast infection and treat on their own, when in more than half the cases they really do not have one. You also should not be treating a repeated yeast infection with OTC creams. The first time is fine but if it returns then you want to get to the bottom of why is it returning (with the suggestions I listed above) and then treat the second time with a prescription anti-fungal which is stronger and should work to finally kill it. This is what should have happened, but it didn’t, so you are now dealing with the aftermath, but be hopeful it is curable with the right treatment. However, I will stress that you must change your lifestyle and diet so as to avoid it coming back and you must have your doctor address any underlying contributing factors that are leading to these chronic infections.
So, to sum this up, you probably got it due to chronic yeast treatments, diet, lifestyle, hygiene habits, and any one of the antibiotics you took. Glabrata is everywhere just like candidias, but it usually is controlled and irradicated immediately in a healthy individual, which you were not.
Ok, so on to your next question, first you can take up to 800mgs. of Fluconazole a day, however, most regular doctors will not want to prescribe this amount or any amount over 200 mgs. and they will not want to prescribe it for more than a week or ten days. Neither of which is going to treat a Glabrata infection. So, a good gyne, should either refer you on to an infectious disease doctor who is used to treating and using these drugs at higher doses and for longer periods of time, or they should know about the gel and prescribe that. So, why won’t they treat at higher levels or for longer periods of time? Well that is because ALL anti-fungals drugs are very toxic to the liver, kidneys and nervous system and can cause permanent or even life threatening injuries, so a regular doctor like a gyne will not feel comfortable in treating a patient with these drugs above or longer than the usual 200 mgs for up to ten days. Again, unfortunately, this will do nothing against glabrata except to make it more resistant and harder to treat!
Secondly, yes you can have Glabrata with candidias. Actually it would be very unusual for you to have glabrata all by itself, this almost never happens. The reason why is because Glabrata has a unique ability to adapt to any and all PH environments, which means it can be found living alongside all kinds of bacteria’s and all strains of yeasts. So with the vaginal area being “sick” enough to allow Glabrata to grow, would mean it has been “sick” for a long time prior to the Glabrata, with overgrowth from candidias or even bacterial organisms. Here is the thing, as strong as Glabrata is it cannot compete against candidias! So, if you had candidias with the Glabrata, chances are your glabrata infection would not be as bad as someone who has worked at stomping out all the candidias. This is why women who get treated with Fluconazole for their glabrata can become much worse instead of better.
So, here is why your two tests came back differently. Obviously your first doctor specifically tested for Glabrata, so they caught it. That doctor knew to ask for this test specifically, which many doctors do not know they have to ask for this one specifically, because a different agar, and testing is used to check for this test. If they do NOT request for this specific test and only order a “usual” yeast culture, it will never catch this one because it cannot be seen with a normal test, due to its lack of Hyphae. So, I am guessing your second doctor did a “usual” yeast culture, which is why his only came back showing candidias. Now let me explain, a “usual” yeast culture will not find Glabrata, but the same goes for the glabrata test, it will not show other forms of yeast like candidias, it will only show Glabrata. So, you would need to have both tests done to check for all forms. This is why your tests came back differently.
So, I think I have answered your question as to how you got this and to your question as to whether you could have both, which again, is YES!
So, as far as if this treatment does not work, what will you do and what does that mean for your health. Well, first let me say that this treatment is 100% effective as long as a few things happen. First, you must make sure that the gel is made correctly, secondly, you must make sure to use it correctly as directed, no messing with it or skipping a night, NEVER let that happen! Thirdly, you MUST change your diet during the treatment and for at least a few weeks after treatment has ended. Then you, must have your doctor address any conditions that are leading to these infections. Again, you need to be checked for hormone imbalances, thyroid conditions, any STD’s, birth control may need to be changed and you need to be checked for diabetes, even borderline. Those things must be addressed if they are not right. Finally, you will really need to make life altering changes with diet, exercise and hygiene, if you do not make these adjustments it will come back again and then you could get into trouble. Now women who have suffered with chronic yeast infections and have used anti-fungals a lot, or those who have had this infection for a long period of time and have not been treated correctly may have to be treated a second a time with the gel, but let me just say that this is rare, it usually works the first time around as long as you follow the steps I suggested. If you need it a second time, you should still be ok and in studies with women who have needed it a second time, 99% of them were cured. The one percent who did not rid it, where ones with HIV, uncontrolled diabetes, end stage cancer or some other immune suppressing underlying condition, which is NOT your problem, so this will not happen to you! However, you must address why you keep getting fungal infections and you must change your diet and hygiene if nothing else.
Now if for some out of this universe reason you did not clear it and it became resistant to the last resort drug, you could still live a normal life span with it. So, let me tell you that there are many women who have HIV and cancer that contracted Glabrata and were not able to clear it before it became resistant to this med due to their underlying conditions. It is an unfortunate way to have to live because it is very painful and it will eventually break down the vaginal tissues causing you bleeding, ulcers and permanent nerve damage, so this is not what you ever want to be left with. Now I cannot say that if you were left with this infection for the rest of your life that at some point it would not spread to other areas of your body and cause you more problems and grief. It is very likely to spread to the urethra and bladder and into the rectum as well as down on to your thighs. If for some reason you were to fall ill to another disease like cancer, it could then become life threatening, but your doctors would refer you out to an infectious disease doctor to help treat this infection in other areas of your body and there are very toxic IV drugs that can work against this infection, but would not be used unless it entered into these other organs. So, let me finish up here with this by saying, this will more than likely NOT happen to you, nor will you NOT be able to clear this infection. You can and will treat it successfully with the gel, so please do not go to this place or this thinking, you have hope!
One last thing that I want to advise you on, since you have used anti-fungal creams often in the past and have a history of chronic yeast infections, it is going to be very important for you to make sure that your doctors prescribe both the amphotericin B with the Flucytosine. The reason for this is because you may need to treat your glabrata infection a second time because of this history, which could make treating yours a little harder. So, it will be very important for your doctors to combine both of these drugs. Some will only want to prescribe the ampho B but if you were to use this one alone with your history, it could very well fail because you have a history of “Azole” use which means your Glabrata is going to be more resistant, so ampho B will usually not be enough to fight this one. So, you need the Flu