The dangers of not treating a yeast infection

September 25, 2022 0 Comments

Are there dangers in not treating a yeast infection?

It’s a curious question: it assumes that you know you have one. For the purposes of this article, I will deal only with vaginal yeast infections.

So how do you know if you have a yeast infection? One way to tell is if you have the same symptoms as before when your doctor correctly diagnosed you. However, other conditions can masquerade as a yeast infection, even in people who have had them before. Urinary tract infections, sexually transmitted diseases, and bacterial vaginosis are conditions that are often confused with yeast infections.

The most common symptoms of a yeast infection are vaginal itching (inside or outside) and vaginal discharge, which may be milky or have the consistency of cottage cheese. The most common reason women get these infections is from taking antibiotics for a different condition, such as a bladder or respiratory infection. Diabetes is also associated with frequent yeast infections: yeasts like sugar and grow especially well when blood sugar is high.

If you have taken antibiotics and have a yeast infection, do you have to treat it?

Not necessarily. If you are otherwise in good health, your body can often heal itself. Antibiotics kill bad germs as well as good germs. Once you stop the antibiotics and your normal “flora” (population of good germs) is restored, the yeast loses its advantage, allowing your body to fight off the yeast overgrowth. If you can tolerate the itchiness long enough for this to happen, that’s perfectly acceptable.

However, if you must continue daily antibiotics for, say, a severe case of acne, your body may not have a chance to recover on its own. In that case, you may want to stop antibiotics for a while or forever and talk to your doctor about an alternative acne treatment.

Also, if you have a yeast infection that doesn’t resolve on its own (or with treatment), you should be tested for diabetes. Occasionally, if your blood sugar is elevated, the yeast can really take over and make you so miserable that you may not be able to tolerate the symptoms.

Some people may not want to treat vaginal yeast infection due to concerns about the use of chemicals in their bodies. This is a valid consideration. Probiotics can be helpful in restoring normal flora, which is really the essence of ridding your body of yeast infection. There is always some yeast around – they normally inhabit the colon without bothering a person, along with billions of other germs. Our skin is covered in germs, our mouth is full of germs, and the vagina has its own set of normal germs. The key is keeping the right germs in the right place.

The danger of not treating a candidiasis lies mainly in having a wrong diagnosis. I have seen many patients who assumed their symptoms were due to thrush, only to find out they had a UTI or STD instead. In addition, the irritation caused by vaginal candidiasis can predispose to acquiring an STD. Just as an open wound on your hand is more likely to get infected than intact skin, your vagina is also more likely to get infected with a sexually transmitted disease if it’s raw and sore.

STDs that can be confused with vaginal yeast infections include herpes, chlamydia, trichomonas, and gonorrhea. Bacterial vaginosis is not usually sexually transmitted, but it can cause similar symptoms.

Urinary tract infections, bacterial vaginosis, and sexually transmitted diseases require different treatments than vaginal yeast infections, so getting the correct diagnosis is vital.

If you have vaginal itching or discharge that doesn’t go away on its own or with treatment (such as over-the-counter clotrimazole vaginal cream, used according to package directions), see your doctor. You don’t want to be unknowingly suffering from an STD or passing it on to your partner.

Copyright 2010 Cynthia J. Koelker, MD

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