Embarrassing but it happens! If you're a women over the age of 16 years, you're likely to get thrush at least once in your lifetime. Men you're not off the hook either it can happen on the tip of your penis

Now to be clear, thrush is NOT a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and is more a result of a compromised immune system.

What's that mean? Well when your not good on the inside, you can start having problems on the outside. E.g. you're dehydrated, you've been sun tanning for hours, you're physically overworked at the gym or on some project, you're underslept, you're running on more than 3 cups of caffeine-containing drink. IMO these are 50% of the time the cause for the thrush.

The other 50% cause is being on antibiotics in the last few days. See antibiotics kill not only the bad bacteria (e.g. causing that skin boil), but also the good bacteria. Yet the good bacteria help maintain a balance of acidity in the vagina. Without good bacteria, yeast aka thrush take advantage and explode in numbers causing serious itching, a white-cheesy discharge. Gosh you think! You were just doing the right thing by going to the doctor for antibiotics but end up with thrush! Yep, happens all the time. That's why I always feel remiss if I don't tell my female patients to consider getting a probiotic (good organisms) with their script. A favourite of mine is Saccharomyces boulardii. There's many brands of it around, ask your local pharmacist for one-it drastically reduces getting thrush (as well as side effects from the antibiotics like diarrhoea).

Fun fact: "SB is a tropical species of yeast first isolated from lychee and mangosteen fruit in 1923 by French scientist Henri Boulard." - Wikipedia

So to loop back to my earlier point about your immunity, taking good care of your fundamentals will mean you're also less likely to get thrush. Stay hydrated on hot days, go gym or stay active couple times a week, eat your veges - they have fibre which nourishes your good bacteria and acts like a detox sponge for your insides, and if you drink coffee/tea drink double the number of cups in water to balance out their diuretic effects. Finally, treatments for thrush are all behind the counter so ask your friendly pharmacist for help on these.

xoxo Smiling Pharmacist