A Brush with Thrush

Ready for more breastfeeding drama?  I know I am! 

This time it's a battle with thrush - an overgrowth of yeast and not because I've been doing a lot of baking in the kitchen.

So after days of stabby pain and excruciating nursing this week, with no more cracks or mastitis to blame it on, I called my trusty breastfeeding team at the clinic/hospital (well they should be my team anyway), and they gave me a 2 to 3 WEEK prescription treatment.  Natalie is also getting a prescription for the inside of her mouth so we won't pass the yeast between each other....this is beyond ridiculous now.

Here is what I win with this new diagnosis:

*Cut out as much bread and sugar as I can
*Throw out all pacifiers and basically anything Miss Natalie has had in her mouth.  Throw the new ones out  and get a third set after the symptoms of thrush disappear and treatment is over.
*No deodorant for me as it can be a food source for yeast
*No playdates for me due to the above ^^
*Everyone gets a new toothbrush once treatment has begun and again when symptoms disappear
*.....a bunch of laundry things which is great since I looooooove laundry so much

So I may take my chances with the deodorant one since I'm not sure if I could live with myself by the end of the day without a little help in that area.  Not to mention that after nearly 8 years of marriage, Dennis would finally find out that I don't smell like rose petals and gardenia all the time.  :)

I talked to my mom and she gave me several homeopathic remedies that I'm trying too.  I'm taking grapefruit extract and a really good probiotic and also some raw apple cider vinegar with "The Mother" (seriously what it's called) to do laundry in and apply to affected areas on myself. I think all of this stuff should knock this yeast right out of town. 

I started the grapefruit and probiotic yesterday and I can already feel an improvement in the shooting pains in my breast and the severity of pain during latch and nursing.  Natalie also seems happier because she ate at 6:30pm, 10:30pm, then slept until 4:30 and I got her up at 7:30 to start the day! I remember when Ryan did that the first time and it was about a week until he did it again and it became regular, so I'm not getting my hopes up too high here, but it felt good to get 5.5 hours of sleep!  I haven't done that since January 5th!

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Update on the Shred: I missed yesterday because I was a basketcase with doctor appointments and pain, but I picked it up again today and it's definitely not as hard as it was on the first day.  Soreness is at a minimum and it just feels really good to get my heart rate up again. I'll move onto Level 2 as scheduled if only because Jillian is INCREDIBLY annoying in her commentary during the Level 1 workout! She calls the other girls in the video "Buddy" which it drives me nuts and if I hear her talk about "phoning it in at the gym" again it's going to be the end of me!  Thankfully today I found out you can do the video with music only so I am definitely doing that from now on.  I also got a flexible measuring tape for my measuring and it's pink.  :)  I'm interested to see how my measurements pan out from this, especially when I'll be off sugary and carb snacks for the next few weeks too.