Q&A: thrush + diarrhea = diaper rash X vicious combination

Simone writes:

I've looked through your illness section, and while I have found some information about diaper rashes and teething, I couldn't find anything that throws thrush into the equation. Three weeks ago, my 6 mo-old son was diagnosed with Thrush. (Which in itself is weird since he's on the older side for Thrush, and I'm no longer nursing.) We were given Nystatin, and after now our third round it has proven to be ineffective. Several people have suggested Gentian Violet, and I've heard it's messy. I'm OK with his mouth being blue/purple for a few days. But is it one of those things where if he drools, the drool will then also be purple? How badly does it stain? Is it worth the trouble? I have visions of having to replace clothes, carpeting, etc.! But, we need to try something different because the Nystatin is not working. (Plus, I'm freaked out over the sugar content, and also read somewhere that yeast thrives on sugar...in other words, it sounds like the WORST thing to give.) During all of this, he also developed diarrhea (5 days ago), and subsequently a HORRIBLE diaper rash that we're finding hard to battle. He's vaccinated against rotavirus, but we took him to the doc to be sure and they've ruled that out. It took two poopy diapers to cause the rash, and every time I think we're on top of it, he poops once and it flares up. So obviously the poop itself is an irritant. I am wondering if the two things are related, and that perhaps the Nystatin is what caused the diarrhea. Has anyone else experienced this side effect? He's also teething, which could be a contributing factor, and also why I mention the drooling/staining thing. In the meantime we are limiting his solids to rice cereal and bananas in an effort to help the diarrhea. This is a vicious cycle that we're anxious to break, and my little boy is miserable!! If any of your readers have dealt with a similar situation I'd love to hear how they fixed it.

Oof. This is a big cluster of hideous.

I don't remember what the guaranteed thrush cure is, but I know it was mentioned somewhere in the comments section of Julie's A little Pregnant blog back when her son was a few months old. Does anyone remember what I'm talking about, and remember what the cure was? It contained the word "grape" (grapeseed, grapefruit, grape-something) and was topical and was far more effective (and less messy) the Gentian violet and less disruptive to the system than Nystatin.

Now, if the thrush was out of the picture I'd offer that the diarrhea and diaper rash could be caused solely buy the teething if he's got a ton of drool. Many kids get what's called "drool stool," which is watery diarrhea-like poop, often with strands of viscous drool in it. Talk about things you could never even imagine before you had kids! Anyway, the poop seems to get highly acidic because of the drool, and that can cause diaper rash that's really hard to battle. I also think sometimes the body just causes a rash on the anus the same way some kids get a rash on the face around the mouth near where the upcoming tooth is located. The human body is both wonderful and creepy sometimes.

So I'm hoping someone either remembers or can find the archive of the thrush treatment (I really really want to say grapeseed oil, but have no idea if that's what it actually was) so you can get the thrush under control. Once that's gone you can start working on the other layers. In the meantime, the more you can keep his poor little butt exposed to the air the better you'll probably be. If you can just let him roll around on a waterproof pad for periods during the day it might be the only thing that doesn't make his butt pain worse.

And now let the magic of the internets commence, with the thrush cure appearing in the comments section ASAP.

Comments

[christiec]

Nystatin and Diflucan (ingested through b-milk) can cause irritative diaper rashes in infants. My pediatrician explained to me the medicine is alkaline and therefore when excreted can be irritative. I experienced this several times with my repeated bouts of thrush with my 1st child. I had to be treated quarterly, almost like clockwork until I stopped b-feeding her.
For yeasty rashes, we shell out the big bucks for the prescription Vusion, I always had a hard time layering whatever zinc paste I was using over the antifungal cream. Vusion is nice if you can afford it because it's all nicely whipped up into a wonderful paste.
Good Luck!

[Pam]

Has anyone heard of making a mixture of monistat, maalox, and desitin for a bad diaper rash?!!!!!!

[causes diarrhea]

Definition of Diarrhea
Most people experience frequent, watery bowel movements once or twice a year. This change from the usual pattern of stools is recognized as diarrhea, although many less "formal" names are sometimes used.

[causes diarrhea]

Sometimes diarrhea lasts for weeks or months, and then it can be an indication of major disease. This more serious form of diarrhea may be accompanied by blood, mucus, or undigested food in the stools.

The underlying cause of diarrhea also may produce fever, abdominal cramps, weight loss, nausea, and/or vomiting. So, we should try to separate the mild and short-lived episodes of diarrhea from continuous and severe diarrhea with these other features.

[wendy]

The only thing that worked for me was what you used already nystatin and sterilized every thing that his sucks on either a dishwasher or baby sterilizer will only work, as it kills the virus .Believe me we foster babies and had lots with it and usually when it is in their mouth it goes to the bum as it will be in the poop. so i sterilized everything until it cleared up .. then it went away goood luck