Help! Chronic thrush-like discharge & pain during sex

[Jlion94]

Hello! I’m a 27 year old woman with a long term partner (negative on STIs besides hpv). Do you have any suggestions for what a chronic thrush-like discharge could be if it’s not candida or BV? I was diagnosed with chronic thrush over a year ago and have just come off 3 months of itraconozole treatment (which didn’t clear out the symptoms). I haven’t experienced the itchiness/swelling however since I started the treatment which is good. Although, I am still experiencing pain during penetration of any kind (sex, fingers, tampons, recent Pap smear), and a lot of white discharge daily. I recently had a vaginal swab when this discharge was present (GP thought it was thrush) and it has just come back negative on any abnormal flora. Please help! This is affecting many facets of my life. Any ideas on what it could be or what to test for would be extremely helpful.

Some other important details:
- the discharge looks like candida (white, cottage cheese like)
- We have tried diff lubes and also sweet almond oil, but no difference. Penetration does however aggravate it and I do find more discharge the day after.
- Have had hpv detected since 2015 with low grade abnormal cells (just had a recent Pap smear to confirm this).
- Just did my bloods and came back with a high LH/FSH ratio (4.0). I am going next week for ultrasound to check for PCOS.
- also came off the pill in April 2021 after taking it for 6 years.

I guess the question here is even if it is PCOS, what’s with the negative vaginal swab results?? This discharge is not normal at all and I’ve never experienced consistent pain like this during sex. It’s impacting my mental health immensely :(

Any guidance or ideas would be extremely appreciated! Thank you!

[RockRose]

Did you post this info within the last month here?  I can't find the post,  but if it wasn't you,  there's another woman out there who is experiencing this exact same situation!

I'm a little confused here.  Candida,  and other thrush symptoms,  aren't caused by a flora that is unusual to the vaginal tract.  It's an imbalance,  or over growth,  of a typical bacteria or yeast found in the vagina.  So when your doc says they can't find anything unusual in your lab works,  that's to be expected.  It's an overgrowth of a usual member of the environment.

Can you ask for a detailed lab analysis,  to see what it is,  exactly,  that's represented in larger numbers than expected?  

First thing,  though,  while you're waiting, if you haven't already gone off white sugar and carbs,  do that now.  You'll likely see a dramatic benefit,  as yeast thrives on sugars.

Best wishes.  This sounds really frustrating.