Beauty and the Yeast.

As part of my child-rearing decisions, I decided to breastfeed.  The benefits abound, I knew that it was something I wanted to do for my baby.  What I did not know, however, was how hard it would be to actually commit to breastfeeding.  Spoiler alert: Elise is now 8 months old and I am still successfully breastfeeding.

Right before I gave birth, I had the standard Strep B test. I tested positive.  Lucky us.  So that meant that while I was labor I would need to have Penicillin every 4 hours.  I was in labor for 28 hours and I wound up having four horrible doses of the pen (it took 2 hours to administer each time because I had a very bad reaction to the normal speed drip so they had to slow it waaaaaay down).  Needless to say, it was bad.  Big time bad.  What I didn't know is that this copious amount of antibiotic that poured into my body would make me incredibly susceptible to yeast infections.  This is where the blog will get gross.  Not big time gross, but gross enough to warn any readers.  So that is my warning.

Now breastfeeding is hard.  For us, the physics of it worked out well and we had no trouble with latching or sucking or any of that stuff.  What was hard (which by "hard" I mean "not hard") were my nipples.  They were not ready for nursing, to say the least.  I had cracking and some bleeding, despite the fact that Elise was a confirmed "good latcher."  I tell you all this because the cracking of the nipples often leads to the dreaded yeast-beast.  When a body gets drunk from a penicillin cocktail, and you add an almost constantly wet environment, you can get one heck of a yeast hangover.  And that is what happened to me.  About two weeks after Elise was born I realized there was something wrong.  I'd endured the painful feedings and assumed that the pain was normal new-breastfeeding pain.  But when I had intense pain and burning and redness between nursings, well, I knew something else had to be going on.  I went to my midwife and she confirmed that I had thrush.  Elise did not have thrush. Thrush is just a yeast infection in the milk ducts.  And it milk duct suckt.

So the first time I had thrush, I took diflucan.  I drank chlorophyll.  I took a probiotic.  I used genetian violet (if you want purple nipples, I suggest you try some genetian violet.  It stains everything purple, including baby's mouth). I used vinegar to clean the "girls" between nursings.  I tried a lot.  Even with all my remedies working together, it still took nearly 5 weeks for the thrush to clear up.

Fast forward six months.  I started feeling the unpleasant but all-too-familiar itchy/burny suckiness.  I called the midwife and she gave me some more diflucan but then recommended I see a witchdoctor.  Ok.  She didn't actually say "witchdoctor."  That's what Eugene calls her.  She is just a naturopath.  She doesn't do magic or other witch things.  She did wear all black, but that is probably irrelevant.

I went to see said witchdoctor and she took some blood.  Upon examination, she told me that my yeast levels were incredibly high, especially considering that I'd been taking diflucan for a week already.  On a 1-5 scale, with 5 being the most yeast, I got a 6.  I also found out I have a B-12 deficiency and a leaky gut. 

I feel a lot better in the two days since I've been taking my new and natural regimen. I am now taking diflucan (one tablet a day), B-12 (2 a day), "yeast fighter" drops (30 a day), chlorophyll (36 drops in water a day), nux vomica drops (20 drops in water a day) and I have to limit my carbs.  None of it tastes that bad, although the chlorophyll stains everything it touches green ... which I guess is better than purple nurples.