How Do I Choose the Best Over-the-Counter Yeast Infection Treatment?

Yeasts are certain types of fungi (fungi exist naturally in the body). However, too much fungus in the body can cause problems. In fact, harmful bacteria control the big picture and crowd out beneficial bacteria. This changes the body's environment (or ecology), causing infections where harmful bacteria invade.

Yeast infection

Yeast infection is a type of fungal infection. Mainly because the patient's immunity is low, which causes the imbalance of the flora in the body. Its symptoms are itching, burning, and increased secretions. Can be treated with antibacterial drugs such as clotrimazole and miconazole.

Introduction to yeast infections

Yeast infections can occur anywhere on the body, regardless of gender. Women between the ages of 16 and 35 are more susceptible to vaginal yeast infections, but it can also occur in girls around 10 or women older than 35. Vaginal yeast infections are not necessarily caused by sex.

Yeast infection symptoms

The main symptom of a vaginal yeast infection is pain in the lower body. Other symptoms include a vaginal secretion of a white, odorless mucus, often accompanied by burning and pain in the vulva, especially during urination. Not every woman will experience the above symptoms, but in general, if it doesn't appear to be itchy, then it is unlikely to be a yeast infection. Some women experience secretions during menstrual periods, which usually does not imply that she has a yeast infection, especially if she does not experience itching symptoms.

Although itching is the main symptom of a yeast infection, if you have never had an infection before, you may have a hard time figuring out what is causing your discomfort. This requires a doctor's diagnosis. Later, if similar symptoms recur, you will be able to figure out what the problem is, or at least distinguish yeast infections from other conditions.

Causes of yeast infections

The main causes of Candida-type yeast infections are: physical fatigue, insufficient rest, or decreased physical immunity due to illness. Recurrent yeast infections may be caused by diseases such as diabetes or physical or mental stress. In addition, the use of antibiotics (including birth control pills), malnutrition and changes in food may also be the reasons. In rare cases, recurrent yeast infections are a sign of HIV infection in women. If it is not cured after proper treatment, it is more likely (we will continue to discuss this topic in the next section of therapy).

Some women experience mild yeast infections at the end of their menstrual periods, which may be caused by changes in body hormones and pH. This infection usually does not require treatment, and it disappears automatically after the menstrual period ends. Pregnant women are more susceptible to yeast infections.

Weather conditions also affect the chances of a yeast infection. It is more susceptible to infection in hot and humid weather. In winter, too thick clothing or too high an indoor temperature can increase the likelihood of getting a yeast infection.

Yeast infection prevention

Yeast infections can also be transmitted through sex. Men are less likely to find themselves with a yeast infection because they may not experience any symptoms. If men do develop symptoms of infection, the symptoms may include a moist, constantly falling white rash on the genitals, and redness and itchiness under the foreskin. However, like women, decreased immunity is the main cause of yeast infections in men, not sex.

The best way to avoid yeast infections is to avoid sex. If it can't be avoided, condoms can provide you with the best protection from yeast infections and other sexually transmitted diseases, including the HlV virus. People without a single sex partner must use condoms when having sex, even if they use other methods of contraception. If one is diagnosed with a yeast infection, the other should also be treated.

Disadvantages of drug therapy for yeast infections

Over-the-counter medicines for treating yeast infections contain one of the following four active ingredients:

(1) Butconazole (buconazole nitrate 3);

(2) Clotrimazole (Gyne-Lotrimin, etc.);

(3) miconazole (diclofenacazole 7);

(4) Ticonazole (Vagistat).

These drugs belong to the same antibacterial family and work on the same principle-breaking the cell membrane of Candida until the cells are finally broken down. The U.S. Drug and Food Administration approved in December 1996 and February 1997, respectively, the conversion of butoconazole nitrate 3 and Vagistat from prescription to over-the-counter drugs. Other drugs have long been classified as over-the-counter.

Although these drugs are effective, the recurrence rate of infection after treatment is very high, and about half of patients relapse within 4 weeks after cure. Moreover, these drugs have various side effects. Common but less serious side effects include headaches, vaginal burning, infections, itching, and inflammation. Less common side effects are rash, sore throat, abdominal pain, rhinitis, dysuria, frequent nocturia, swelling of the vulva, vaginal dryness, inflammation, pain, and pain during sex.

With so many sequelae, you may question these antimicrobials. If the side effects of a drug are as terrible as the condition itself, or even more terrible, a quick cost / benefit analysis will definitely give a clear answer: it's not worth it.

Probiotic therapy for yeast infections

Scientific research has confirmed that microbial imbalance in yeast infection is one of the causative factors of infection. Moreover, it is recognized that microbial imbalances cause yeast infections, not yeast infections that cause microbial imbalances. The only way to address this imbalance is to regulate the number of probiotics in the urogenital system (UGS). This can be achieved in several ways.

First, probiotics in the genitourinary system usually control harmful microorganisms. They do much the same thing in other parts of the body: they produce complexes, some of which are antibacterial substances that retain those probiotics and directly attack harmful microorganisms.

Second, probiotics also lower the pH of the urogenital system. This is important because pathogenic (harmful) microorganisms do not like low pH environments like probiotics. Probiotics automatically generate acidic substances such as lactic acid, so they are also called lactic acid bacteria. Their presence can itself inhibit the generation of pathogens. In fact, harmful bacteria will find themselves surrounded by acids and lose their protection, and they will eventually die.

Third, probiotics also produce hydrogen peroxide. In the genitourinary system, hydrogen peroxide has a cleaning effect. Pathogenic bacteria are very fragile, while probiotics are more resistant. As discussed earlier, this is a battle over the number of games. Which kind of bacteria is more, it can win. That's why probiotics need to be replenished to outnumber their enemies, harmful bacteria.

With these effects, probiotics can be successfully used to treat yeast infections. One way to supplement probiotics is to eat yogurt containing active microorganisms. This has been a traditional therapy for a long time and we will discuss it in detail later. Yogurt can also be used as a suppository. In fact, yogurt suppositories containing lyophilized Lactobacillus acidophilus are commercially available in Europe. A large number of lactic acid bacteria are filled into capsules by lyophilization technology, and then placed in a target location (such as the vagina), where the capsules will break down and release probiotic bacteria. As a result, probiotics continue to grow in the body.

This is the natural state of a healthy person. Probiotics grow in the vagina or other parts of the urogenital system and protect against harmful microorganisms. There are probiotics on the mucous membranes in our body. They accumulate in the ducts or chambers of the body and come into direct contact with air (such as probiotics in the vagina) or food we eat (such as probiotics in the colon). After the body balance is broken for some reason, the number of probiotics decreases, which causes the pH value to rise, the attachment points in the cells to open, and pathogenic microorganisms to begin to grow.

The infection caused by Candida albicans is the most common yeast infection. Let us now discuss it specifically. Everyone knows that lactic acid can inhibit the growth of Candida albicans, but the specific process is unknown. There seems to be some sort of balancing activity between the three players-Lactobacillus, Candida albicans, and carbohydrates. We have already discussed the first two, so what role do carbohydrates play here?

Carbohydrates come in different forms, but their basic chemical composition is the same. It doesn't matter what they look like, but for the sake of simplicity, we assume they are all sugar. Sugar is made up of two substances: glucose and fructose. Glucose is often called blood sugar. Most sugars can be broken down or converted into glucose and then used effectively. This is true for body cells, bacterial cells, and yeast cells. Almost all living things like sugar. The simpler the sugar composition, the more easily it breaks down and the faster it can be swallowed and used.

How much sugar is in a certain part of the body at any time is strictly controlled, because microorganisms are likely to abuse large amounts of sugar to promote their own growth. This is what causes yeast infections. When yeast or probiotics are grown in the laboratory, sugar is often added to accelerate the growth of bacteria. When pure glucose is added directly to bacteria, they are like being in heaven. However, when probiotics are added, the sugars in the probiotics (called probiotics) do not promote the growth of pathogenic microorganisms. And glucose is not a prebiotic, so even harmful bacteria can take advantage of it.

There are several reasons that cause too much sugar in the body, which can easily make the body infected with yeast infections. For example, a diet high in sugar or carbohydrates promotes the growth of yeasts and similar microorganisms. Some conditions (such as diabetes) that make people unable to make full use of sugar in the body can cause the sugar content in the body to exceed the standard. People with diabetes usually excrete a lot of sugar with their urine. This in turn creates a good living environment for bacteria and yeast, that is, a warm, humid, polysaccharide environment.

As mentioned above, yogurt has been used to treat yeast infections for many years. The clinical results are complicated: good times and bad times. The survey confirmed that one of the problems with yogurt is that not all dairy products contain Lactobacillus, the most critical microorganism for treating yeast infections, and those products containing Lactobacillus may contain few active probiotics. For yogurt therapy to be successful, it is important to find a reputable manufacturer who knows how to sell and handle these products. Specifically, manufacturers need to know how to not destroy live microorganisms.

The process of treating probiotics is called "fermentation". It is even more important than cultivating probiotics themselves. Probiotics are easily affected by a range of variables: temperature, moisture, food, and more. If these variable factors are not well controlled during the fermentation process, the properties of probiotics will change greatly, and usually change in a bad direction. Therefore, it is also important to optimize the growth environment of probiotics during the production process.

Again, the most important thing is that the probiotics contain Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria, because the two main microorganisms in yogurt-Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus are transient organics. That is, they are not implanted in the gastrointestinal tract. To effectively treat a yeast infection, it must be continuously infused into the gastrointestinal tract with a bifidobacterium such as LA-5.

When there are too many pathogenic bacteria in your body, you need to clear them quickly. Taking probiotic-containing supplements, a large amount of probiotics can be delivered directly to the infected site. Supplements are just as effective when used with other foods that help fight harmful bacteria. Bilberry products are often used to treat urinary tract (UTIs) infections, whether bacterial or yeast infections.

The gastrointestinal tract is an active system, and its contents are always changing. One of these changes is that the bacteria inside-beneficial and harmful bacteria-are constantly attaching and separating. If there are more harmful bacteria than beneficial bacteria, the result is disease or infection. Because the beneficial bacteria-probiotics-can't seize positions, the homeostasis develops in their favor.

Bilberry has an anticoagulant effect and inhibits the adhesion of bacteria. If you add it to probiotics, it can help probiotics seize their positions. Bilberry can inhibit the proliferation of harmful bacteria, thereby promoting the isolation of a large number of harmful bacteria. This makes room for beneficial bacteria on the surface of the intestine, allowing them to start working.

Of course, Bilberry also has the potential to isolate some beneficial bacteria. However, this has not been proven. Remember how many beneficial bacteria can enter the gastrointestinal tract through supplements in most cases-tens of billions. Supplementing so many microbial organisms can shift the body's balance in the direction of beneficial bacteria. Moreover, Bilberry is not 100% effective. It does not separate all the bacteria, but simply clears up space in the colon, allowing the beneficial bacteria to attach. With these benefits, some composite products, such as a mixture of probiotics and bilberry, are likely to become the development direction of probiotic products in the future.

As researchers continue to study how to use probiotics to treat yeast, more new knowledge in this field will be tapped. In fact, probiotics are not only safe and effective, but they don't have many of the same side effects as other over-the-counter medicines. The use of probiotics in the treatment of yeast infections is already common in Europe and Japan, which means that the same trend will occur in the United States and other countries sooner or later.

More and more scientific research and clinical experiments have proved the effect of probiotics on yeast infections.

A study in the Journal of Infectious Diseases in 2001 reported the efficacy of probiotics (Lactobacillus). The article states that probiotics inhibit the growth of pathogens by 50% to 74%. Therefore, patients can try to take a clinically proven probiotic supplement and use a lactobacillus-containing yogurt to lavage the vagina before going to bed to improve and prevent vaginitis caused by yeast infection.

Scientists such as Dr. Reed and Andrew Bruce of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology of the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and the Canadian Probiotic Research Center have conducted clinical research on several different porcobacteria for more than 20 years, confirming that certain probiotic strains have a urethral infection And reduce urethral pathogenic bacteria effectively.

In a study of 32 women with bacterial vaginitis, some people took one or two probiotic (Lactobacillus acidophilus) tablets a day, while others received placebo. After two weeks, about 77% of people using the tablet were cured, compared with only 25% of people using a placebo.

In another experiment, 28 women were given a probiotic and 29 were given a placebo. Examinations a week later revealed that 16 probiotic users had recovered, while the number of patients cured in the other group was zero.