# Yeast Infections?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2000, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeast-infections/24842 "2000-07-07T11:00:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kate)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeast-infections/24842/1 "2000-07-07T11:00:09Z")
The thought struck me that yeast infections are just not all that easy to get rid of without those magic pills (1 pill per infection, they cost $15 each here in Sweden). What did women do to treat yeast infections in the mythical “olden days?” I can’t even decide whether women were more or less likely to GET an infection (poor nutrition vs no antibiotics). Don’t tell me they sat there and itched for years at a time. Then again, no wonder most women made bread every day. /Kate ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeast-infections/24842/2 "2000-07-07T11:26:10Z")
I don’t know what women did in the old days, but you have to use $15.00 pills? I’ve only had a yeast infection twice – once when I had to get a prescription from my doc for a cream that was used internally (i.e., inserted into the vagina). The creams are now available here (U.S.) without prescription, and you use it for 3-5 days (I think there’s one that claims to do the job in one day). As I recall, they cost under $20.00. ---
**Author:** ![Mousseduck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@Mousseduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mousseduck)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeast-infections/24842/3 "2000-07-07T12:54:01Z")
Some antibiotics can cause yeast infections. Or so my doctor told me when I had to see her again, after she had given me strong antibiotics for a dog bite. Although the bite was a week old and not infected anyway and she tried to give me a tetanus shot although I’d recently had a booster. I decided to change doctors, but she might have gotten the antibiotics /yeast infection thing right. And in the ‘olden days’ they might have been so itchy from lice, fleas and other bities that another itch was no biggie. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeast-infections/24842/4 "2000-07-07T14:34:16Z")
“Yeast” infections (bad term really) are cause by Candida Albicans which is an organism we all have growing naturally in our bodies and is kept in check but, under certain circumstances can get out of hand. As has been pointed out, antibiotics are one cause. Another cause often is douching. Doctors tell you that is a bad idea as it upsets the vagina’s balance but women do it anyway because there is this pressure to be “clean”. American women especially, spend millions on douche products and then have to spend millions on products to fight their yeast infections. Yoghurt is good in restoring the balance both in the stomach and vagina. The best way to deal with candidiasis is to not cause it in the first place. A healthy body should normally be able to keep it in check. For more than you ever wanted to know on this or any other health topic go to [Healthcentral](http://search.healthcentral.com/texis.exe/hcnewsearch?query=candida&db=hcall) Here’s one snippet from that site: > [@](#): > > When using medications, the best way to treat a yeast infection is to use the medication directly where the infection is. Now, you said when you use medication, it goes away, so we know we can cure it, but it comes back again. > > When it comes back, it’s coming from some place. Oral sex is probably the most common, under-reported cause. We used to think that things like certain types of tight clothing, the acid-based balance inside of a woman’s body or diabetes could be possible causes. > > Yeast can come from the colon, and it can come from his mouth. I would suggest to stop the cycle he can treat it orally - taking a pill is not going to do much - but he can see a doctor for an oral rinse to treat the yeast in his mouth. > > He can also use a dental dam or you can even stop oral sex for a while to see if we can’t get this under control. And instead of just eating the yogurt, try using live yogurt as a douche. So now you know why you are getting it. \ ---
**Author:** ![Kate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kate)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeast-infections/24842/5 "2000-07-07T15:03:58Z")
I know, from experience, that it is much easier to prevent yeast infections than to cure them! :rolleyes: Yes, antibiotics usage is a major cause of infection today, but shouldn’t poor nutrition (and earlier, poor hygiene) in the past have contributed to the likelihood of infection? Some women (e.g. me) are so vulnerable to yeast infections that it takes merely a week of eating badly (either too little or low diversity) or a period of high stress to bring one on! What about whores? Sexual promiscuity is notorious for upsetting the body’s biological flora. Regarding lice and whatnot, I am not necessarily talking about the court of Edward II - this question applies to any time prior to the development of modern treatments (arbitrary - 1930s or so). /Kate ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeast-infections/24842/6 "2000-07-07T17:41:31Z")
Treat 'em?!? Down here in the South it gets so hot the wimmins just coat their undies with flour and bake biscuits. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeast-infections/24842/7 "2000-07-07T19:28:07Z")
Diabetics are prone to yeast infections. BELIEVE me, I know. And yes, antibiotics can cause yeast infections, because they kill off the “good” bacteria (which keep the yeast in check) as well as the “bad” bacteria. This is also why you can get diarrhea from antibiotics. At the first sign of itching, I use a douche with iodine in it. Sometimes that will nip the yeast in the bud, so to speak. So this is one way to treat yeast. I suspect, but don’t know for sure, that a vinegar douche would help ease the itch, and possibly help cure a yeast infection. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeast-infections/24842/8 "2000-07-07T19:44:07Z")
Frequent douching can lead to yeast infections, as I read in my sister-in-laws imfamous yeast infection xeroxed Christmas letter. They can upset the balance just as antibiotics do. Trivia: In the past Lysol was used as a douche. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeast-infections/24842/9 "2000-07-07T20:26:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Don’t tell me they sat there and itched for years at a time. Why not? The health most people in developed nations enjoy is a novelty. Something like one out of three middle class women were bed-ridden in nineteenth century America–the lower class women were likely as ill, they just didn’t have the luxury to ride it out. I suspect that yeast infections would have been even more prevelant in the pre-modern era, simply because washing machines and disposable menstral pads did not exisit. Underclothes were never cleaned by modern standards. (No truly hot water, no bleach). Reinfection rates had to be high. Frequent child-bearing also raises the risk of a yeast infection. One more reason to go down on your knees and thank whatever fate put you on htis earth today, and not any earlier. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeast-infections/24842/10 "2000-07-07T23:31:27Z")
Yeast infections have been discussed in a [mailbag item](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/myeast.html). As an addendum, a number of years ago, I read a Science News item about a study which showed that live culture yoghurt did help prevent yeast infections but other yoghurt didn’t do much. Apparently, the acidopholus consumes the same stuff the Candida does, thus restricting its growth.