u/Legal-Yoghurt-3313

I can only get my thrush to go away to this point. (Last pic is what it looked like at its worst) I tested negative for yeast and positive for heavy staph overgrowth and now I just don't know what to think!!

The first 2 photos are what it looks like currently.

Does it look like yeast still? Dr. says it’s just elongated papillae but I’m like wtf does that even mean…

I’m about to scream at this point!. I was on treatment for thrush… fluconazole would always start to clear it a lot but I never did a full 14 day+ course. Nystatin didn’t help. I’ve done strict diet. Then I got referred to an ENT who did a swab test WHILE I was still on antifungals and it came back negative for yeast, and positive for heavy staph overgrowth… I believe the test was crappy but maybe I’m wrong????

I then got put on just an antibiotic which I KNEW would make me worse because it freaking causes thrush!! ..and it did make me worse… I really feel like this behaves like thrush.

Am I going crazy or does this look like candida?

To make a VERY long story short: I thought I had oral thrush for 3+ weeks… finally got it biopsed by an ENT and it came back as no yeast found but “Heavy growth of staphylococcus aurous”

ENT then prescribed me an antibiotic and CHLORHEXIDINE mouthwash to be used 2x daily. (I started the oral antibiotic yesterday but I’m terrified to use the mouthwash.)

Why am I terrified? ….Because diminished taste has been my main struggle this WHOLE time with the tongue coating that I’m dealing with. The coating is very thin now, hardly visible unless I scrape it, but my taste buds still can’t grasp saltiness and it’s still greatly diminished due to the residual stubborn coating.

Back when I lost taste completely with this problem, I had a huge panic attack (went to the ER from the anxiety) , but at the same time I’m worried if I don’t use the mouthwash that I might never wipe this tongue coating out completely which is also affecting my taste.

Has anyone ever used this mouthwash while your taste was ALREADY struggling from an infection? I’m worried I’d be risking permanent loss by taking it but I also feel like I’m risking not solving my issue if I don’t.

Both my ENT and dentist really want me to use it. I feel pressure and wondering if I should just do the oral anti.

Any feedback on this is much appreciated

I’m a 28y/o female who “randomly” got oral thrush on April 20th- my first sign was greatly diminished taste and I then noticed the white coating and some veryy minor burning when eating. (I have not had much discomfort besides cottony mouth) The loss of taste caused me to have a full blown panic attack and I went to the ER because my panic attack was so bad and they told me it looked like I have thrush. Now mind you, I had been struggling with high stress all month prior to this after finding out that the guy I was seeing was cheating on me with 2 other women. I got tested for all STDs several weeks prior to when my thrush even started due to this knowledge and I was clear of everything.
I did give this man a blow job on the night of April 1st and we had sex with a condom. ANYWAYS: the thrush came to my awareness on April 20th to be clear.

My primary care had me on 7 days fluconazole right away and it started clearing heavily on days 4 and 5– but by days 6 and 7 it started to repopulate a little. She then said “let’s switch you to nystatin mouth rinse just to knock out the rest” which I think was a big mistake because the fluconazole was showing progress but clearly I needed more to eradicate it.

Of course I got worse all over again and the nystatin didn’t do shit but I only took it for like 4 days (by itself, NO oral pill during that time)

My primary care then referred me to an ENT who took a swab of my tongue which I should have the result for tomorrow. He then put me on a 14 day course of fluconazole which I am now on day 7 of (LAST PIC)

Once again, I saw a huge improvement on days 4 and 5 (MIDDLE PIC)… but then when I went to sleep at night, I noticed by day 6 & 7 it starts to creep back in again and to be clear this is with NO nystatin rinse and NO probiotics. Just the oral pills and coconut pulling, rinses ect.

Really I have so many questions, including if this could’ve been tipped off by the man I was intimate with
But I’m really just starting to lose hope in general and becoming depressed, anxious and stressed, which then makes me feel more anxious and stress about trying not to be stressed to not affect my healing!!!!

I haven’t even gotten to grieve the situation that I just shared because my only focus has been fighting this.

I have lost 15 pounds in the last month and I only weigh 108 pounds due to overthinking what I’m eating with the Thrush and I really don’t think I can do a strict diet anymore because I have so little left of me physically.

I guess I’m just looking for some feedback on everything I’ve shared particularly any success stories or if yall think I’m seriously overreacting with my case based on the photos.