Alcohol vs. candidiasis?

I'm a 25-year-old male. I'm been prescribed penicillin, 300mg po 3/d, to clear up a bacterial throat infection.

I'm worried about contracting oral candidiasis during treatment as it's happened before when I've been on antibiotics.

Is strong ethyl alcohol (either the drinking sort, or an alcohol-based mouthwash like Listerine), just swished around the mouth, a way to prevent this? I know that candidiasis is caused by a yeast, and that most yeast can't survive concentrated alcohol (why wine tops out at 12-14%).

Most medical sites recommend abstaining from alcohol with (or to prevent) thrush. I imagine this is because when imbibed it breaks down easily into sugars that only feed the problem? And if I don't actually metabolize (i.e. drink), it's really the best protection I can get without another prescription or an OTC antifungal... right?

I'm looking for a semi-professional opinion as I've done as much research as an amateur hack like me can do.

Thanks for your help!

P.S. probiotic food (yogourt, etc). is the common solution, and is already on the list as soon as I can go get some.

You're right - yogurt is a good starting place. But check that it actually is rich in live ab cultures and does not contain a lot of sugar. A lot of commercially available yogurt contains a lot of sugar and not much live culture.

As a general rule of thumb look for the least processed yogurt you can find - ones set in the tub are often good, ones that have that nice film of whey like liquid on the top when you open them up are also generally good.

Alternatively, make your own, there are good recipes for home made yogurt out there and you don't need a yogurt maker always, you just heat milk and stir starter (a yogurt with live culture) into the milk when it is lukewarm. then keep the milk warm for the next 8 - 10 hours. Guaranteed you will have lots of AB cultures. Alternatively, lots of health care stores sell the cultures in capsule form. They will be in the refrigerated section of the store, and give a much higher dose than just plain yogurt.

On another topic to yogurt, there are a few other things that can increase your chances of recurrent bouts of thrush, obviously the anti biotics aren't helping, but as many people take them without oral thrush there might be other things that are also making you more susceptible.

I know these aren't likely at your age, but diabetes and badly fitting dentures are two possibilities. Dentures because they increase the amount of saliva in the mouth and irritate the mouth, diabetes because you will have higher blood sugar, especially if the diabetes is undiagnosed (and untreated).

Smoking also can increase your chances of oral yeast infections.

Anything that affects the pH of your mouth can also make you more prone - eating a lot of very acid foods, or foods that you are allergic to could be a problem, certain mouth washes and toothpastes may also fall into this category.

Some things you could do to help make your mouth more alkaline, which kills yeast, is to gargle with vinegar, or drink ginger tea. (Grate up ginger, about 1 tablespoon, pour over boiling water and leave to steep until cool enough to drink).
Both are alkaline.

Other foods that are anti fungal are garlic, especially crushed, as the air reacts with chemicals within the garlic and does great things, raw and crushed is very good!

Cinnamon and cloves are also reputed to be very good anti fungals, but I have not tried them myself.

And if you want sweetener of any kind use honey over sugar, even if you add it to your home made yogurt. Honey has anti bacterial qualities, especially the nice organic kind, and sugar is a yeast feeder. It also impairs your immune system.

You need to eat yogurt with live active cultures or take acidophillis capsules when you take an antibiotic to help prevent yeast infections. If you do not eat yogurt now is the time to start or else look for the acidophillis capsules.

Candida albicans is a fungus that naturally inhabits our bodies. Some types of bacteria that are also part of our natural flora control the growth of the C. albicans. When you take an antibiotic, such as Penicillin, it destroys both bacteria that belongs in our bodies and bacteria that is causing us to be ill. When the bacteria is destroyed, the normal bacteria that keeps a check on the C. albicans growth is deminished and, therefore, the C. albicans is allowed to grow and grow and grow...etc. The result is thrush (oral) or vaginal yeast infection. The best way to avoid an overgrowth of the C. albicans during antibiotic treatment is to eat yogurt that contains live L. acidophilus cultures. Do not use mouthwash or anything that will assist in getting rid of your body's normal flora. This will only aid in bringing on Candidiasis.