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Hello Aunt Vadge,
I had a diagnosed yeast infection for about three months that wouldn’t budge until antifungal and antibiotic pills plus Gynoflor finally cleared it – I could feel the difference, and it smelled more acidy. Since then my partner and I only use condoms (he was treated too).
Now, five weeks later, the same symptoms are back: redness, soreness, pain at the entrance, thick-ish milky white discharge, not smelly at all. I’m in Indonesia – the nearest real doctor is three hours away, so it’s best if I walk into a pharmacy knowing what to ask for.
No pill or hormones, period due in three days, no diabetes. I’m a diving instructor, so I’m in a wet bikini constantly (never a problem before). Any ideas? I’m starting to go a bit crazy.
K
Age 34, Indonesia
Hey K,
Three months of misery and now a relapse – no wonder you’re going spare. So here’s a pharmacy plan, plus two curious thoughts, because the pattern is telling me something. First: is it even yeast this time?
You said it smelled ‘more acidy’ after treatment. And now you’ve got milky (not chunky) discharge with entrance soreness and no smell – after a big course of antifungals, antibiotics and a lactobacillus pessary. That combination can tip you into cytolytic vaginosis, an overgrowth of good lactobacilli that makes the vagina too acidic and irritated.
It mimics yeast almost exactly, but it’s treated the opposite way (you’d stop probiotics and gently raise the pH with a baking-soda sitz bath). So treating it as yeast makes it worse – which could be exactly why you’re on this merry-go-round.
The cheap way to tell them apart is to grab vaginal pH strips and test at home: yeast tends to sit at a normal pH, while cytolytic vaginosis is markedly acidic (low). That one reading would change your whole plan.
Second: the wet bikini. If it is yeast, your environment may be feeding it now even though it never used to – constant warm, damp swimwear is a yeast paradise. Rinse and dry thoroughly the moment you’re out, peel wet bikinis off fast, switch to breathable cotton between dives, and give yourself some air time; that alone can break a recurring cycle.
And if it really is yeast, here’s your pharmacy plan. Boric acid vaginally is the standout for stubborn, recurrent yeast, partly because recurrence often means a non-albicans species (like C. glabrata) that shrugs off standard antifungals but responds to boric acid – capsules ideally (vegetable), or make your own, with two firm safety rules: never swallow it (it’s toxic by mouth) and don’t use it if there’s any chance you’re pregnant.
A coconut-and-tea-tree homemade pessary (freeze little foil moulds to shape them) is a good all-rounder too, and feed your gut, because yeast often has a gut reservoir, especially after antibiotics – pile in fermented foods and ease off sugar and refined carbs for a while.
Given how recurrent this is, it’s worth knowing the very antibiotics used last time can trigger the next yeast bloom. So each round can set up the one after; our yeast page has the fuller diet-and-treatment picture. So test your pH first if you possibly can, sort the wet-bikini situation either way, and write back if it doesn’t shift and we’ll dig deeper.
Best,
Aunt Vadge
This is general information based on current research and our clinical experience, not a substitute for personalised medical advice.
