After showering or swimming, make sure your vaginal area is thoroughly clean and dry.
Thrush
It’s more common than you think. Thrush is a vaginal yeast infection caused by excessive growth of natural yeast-like fungus, called candida albicans.
If you’ve noticed vaginal irritation and inflammation or a change in your discharge (cottage cheese-like white discharge), you may have a yeast infection. This occurs when the good bacteria in your vagina cannot keep the fungus under control, or when your immune system is weakened. Just so you know, vaginal thrush is not a sexually transmitted infection, although it can be passed from one partner to another if they have sex while one of them is suffering from thrush.
Thrush Symptoms
You might have thrush if you experience:
- Sore and itchy vagina / vulva
- Soreness, burning and redness around the entrance to your vagina (vulva)
- Slight swelling of your vaginal lips (labia)
- Finding what looks like cottage cheese-like white discharge
These symptoms aren’t uncommon:
- Pain during sex
- Thick discharge
- Red and swollen labia
- Burning around your vulva
- You are experiencing thrush for the first time
- You suffer with recurring thrush, or if it returns in less than 2 months
- There is no improvement in your symptoms within three days, or if they've not disappeared within seven days
- You suffer from thrush during pregnancy or while breastfeeding
- You have multiple sexual partners
- You are under 12 years old
- You have fever, chills, nausea, or vomiting
- You feel abdominal pain
Still Unsure About Your Symptoms?
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This AI-powered symptom checker can help match possible conditions with your symptoms. Simply answer a few symptom-related questions and receive a personal symptom assessment† report.
Understanding thrush
We all know it’s uncomfortable but rest assured – thrush is usually easily treated. If you need further help, a pharmacist or doctor can help you decide the best medication option for you.
Thrush treatment
Vaginal yeast infection can be treated with medication available over the counter from a pharmacy or on prescription from your doctor.
Treatment of thrush is quite straightforward. To treat the vaginal infection, you can use an internal treatment that contains the active ingredient clotrimazole or fluconazole. Choose from the oral pill, soft gel pessary, pessary or internal vaginal cream. These products all treat your infection, but different people prefer different format options. External thrush creams will help to soothe your symptoms such as itching.
Top tip: just treating the itchiness with an external cream won’t get rid of your infection so don’t forget to treat thrush at the source, with oral capsule or pessaries.
You can buy our products separately or you can purchase a Combi pack containing both the internal and external treatments.
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Preventing thrush
You should avoid fragrances during infection as well as other irritating chemicals, like perfumed soap, bubble baths or regular perfumed shower gels.
Wipe from front to back after going to the toilet.
Facts about thrush
It can happen to anyone - 75% of women will have thrush at least once in their lifetime.
Thrush is usually caused by candida albicans, a yeast naturally occurring in your vaginal microflora.
You can help prevent yeast infections by avoiding high-sugar foods, stress and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. By doing so, you can help keep your immune system strong.
Learn more about intimate health
Thrush Trivia Quiz
Take our Thrush Trivia Quiz to test your knowledge on the causes of thrush and other candida symptoms. Explore more about Thrush on the Canesten® Learning Zone now!
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Diagnose yourself at home
Diagnose common vaginal infections from home with our easy-to-use self-test! Canestest is convenient and clinically proven to deliver results with over 90% accuracy.