Cough, cough, cough

After coughing continuously for the last week and a half (Christmas was a total wash-out), I've given in: I'm taking Pholcodine. Which, of course, is full of sugar and alcohol. Frustrating, especially as I have managed to maintain the Candida diet all through the festive period, with not one slip-up. Not even a tiny piece of Turkish Delight has passed my lips. Still, what can you do in these circumstances? I cough all night, every night, not just keeping myself awake, but everyone else in the house too. I am exhausted and have managed to pull a muscle in my side. Feel like I've been beaten all about with a lump of two-by-four.

Pholcodine it is then. I'm trying my Mum's tip: 5ml dose in a cup of hot water, three times a day. Here's hoping it works. I do not want to end up how I was this time last year: steriods, two courses of antibiotics and a chest x-ray. For four months I coughed. FOUR flipping months - Christmas right through to Easter!

In better news - the anti-fungals (Nizoral) I was prescribed a few weeks ago seem to have done the trick, at least for now. Hallelujah.

Update

So.... the doctor prescribed me Canestan cream and a tablet. Like a good girl I took/used them. I dunno what happened, but they must have released all the dormant yeasty-beasties in my system from their slumber; I have ended up with probably the worst thrushy flare-up in years. Scuse me while I screeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmm in frustration!

Anyway, back at the doctor's today, during an MOT of my lady bits, I explained the frankly piss-poor treatment I had received from the conventional medical profession in the past. She was really shocked, especially about me being told by a gynaecologist at a hospital which shall remain nameless that I was unlucky and would just have to deal with it (I swear I'd been marked down as 'neurotic'). She revealed that there are LOADS of other treatments to try (besides endless and useless Nystatin pessaries). For starters, she's put me on a course of a fairly heavy-duty anti-fungal treatment (taken orally). I start tomorrow. Here's hoping.

But, just because I have had to resort to medication, I don't intend to stop eating well. The Candida Diet is simply a healthy way to eat (providing it isn't taken to extremes), and I have renewed determination to get back on the straight and narrow, and keep it up.

Tesco Healthy Living Tomato and Basil Soup

I had high hopes for this one...ready-made tomato soup with no added sugar and available in small, one person/portion-sized cartons (300 g). Here's a pic, so you know what to look out for.



It contains:


tomatoes (59%)
tomato puree (30%)
onion
vegetable oil
cornflour
basil (0.6%)
garlic puree
salt
oregano - N.B. a powerful anti-fungal!
black pepper


Nothing that should antagonise (encourage?) any lingering yeasty-beasties. But, for me, the flavour was too sharp and slightly bitter (really needs sugar sadly), and I didn't get on well with the large chunks of tomato (I prefer a smooth texture). Still, others might disagree - it's worth giving it a go.