Womens Health, Fitness, Weight Loss, Beauty and More

Vaginal medications for vaginal yeast infections

Examples

Brand Name: Femstat

Chemical Name: butoconazole

Brand Name: Lotrisone

Chemical Name: clotrimazole/betamethasone dipropionate

Brand Name: Monistat 1 ovule [1200 mg, 1-time treatment], Monistat 3 ovule or cream [400 mg, once a day for 3 days], Monistat 7 ovule or cream [100 mg, once a day for 7 days], Monistat-Derm

Chemical Name: miconazole

Brand Name: Terazol

Chemical Name: terconazole

Brand Name: Monistat 1-Day ovule [6.5%], Vagistat-1

Chemical Name: tioconazole

The following vaginal medications are available in combination with steroid creams for itching or inflammation. These are not usually needed to treat a vaginal yeast infection and are available only by prescription.

Brand Name: Gyne-Lotrimin 7 [1%, once a day for 7 days], Mycelex-3 [2%, once a day for 3 days], Mycelex-7 [1%, once a day for 7 days]

Chemical Name: clotrimazole

Brand Name: Mycolog-II

Chemical Name: nystatin/triamcinolone acetonide

Vaginal antifungal medications are:

Available without a prescription.
Inserted into the vagina at bedtime, and some may also be applied to the genital area (vulva).
Used with an applicator that supplies the correct amount of medication. Vaginal tablets and suppositories are also sold with an applicator to help insert the medication into the vagina.
Able to be used externally. Yeast organisms can grow on the genital skin. Small amounts of some vaginal creams (such as miconazole [Monistat-Derm], clotrimazole/betamethasone dipropionate [Lotrisone], or nystatin/triamcinolone acetonide [Mycolog-II]) may reduce symptoms.
Treatment length varies depending on which vaginal medication you use. Single-day treatments are stronger and more convenient. But you may need longer treatment for a severe infection.

Generally, symptoms will diminish before the medication has completely eliminated the yeast infection. If treatment is discontinued before it is completed, the yeast infection may return, so it is important to complete the full medication treatment.

How It Works

Vaginal antifungal medication kills yeast cells by destroying their cell membranes.

Why It Is Used

Vaginal antifungal treatment is recommended for:

Occasional yeast infections.
Yeast infection during pregnancy.
Recurrent vaginal yeast infection. An initial treatment using oral and/or vaginal medication is followed by 6 months to 1 year of less frequent maintenance treatment.1, 2
Vaginal medication treatment in pregnancy
Vaginal yeast infections commonly occur during pregnancy, probably related to the high estrogen levels. Consistently high estrogen is the most likely reason that treatment takes longer to cure a yeast infection during pregnancy.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that only vaginal medications, such as cream or vaginal suppositories, be used for yeast infection treatment during pregnancy. Treatment takes longer than usual during pregnancy; 7 days of medication is recommended.3

If you are pregnant, do not use these nonprescription medications without first discussing your condition with your health professional.

How Well It Works

All antifungal treatments offer an 80% to 90% yeast infection cure rate.4, 5, 6

About 30% to 40% of women develop another yeast infection after discontinuing maintenance therapy with antifungal medication.2

Side Effects

Side effects of vaginal medications are generally mild. Local burning and irritation are most common with the higher-strength medications. Such skin reactions (including hives) can be distressing if the skin is inflamed.

See Drug Reference for a full list of side effects. (Drug Reference is not available in all systems.)

What To Think About

Talk to your health professional if your symptoms continue or recur within 2 months of vaginal nonprescription medication treatment.

Women who experience four or more vaginal yeast infections a year should be evaluated for underlying conditions, such as diabetes.

Vaginal yeast infections appear to occur more often and may be more severe among women with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection than among women without HIV. Women with HIV who have a vaginal yeast infection should follow the same treatment regimens as women without HIV.3

Treatment of sexual partners does not typically prevent recurrences and is not recommended. However, sexual partners with symptoms should be evaluated and treated appropriately.

Vaginal boric acid capsules can also be used to treat recurrent vaginal yeast infections, particularly those that don’t respond to antifungal treatment. Do not use boric acid if you are pregnant.2, 6

Check with your doctor or pharmacist to see whether you can get a generic form of a prescription medicine. Many generic medicines are now available to treat vaginal yeast infections. They are often less expensive than brand-name medicines.

Surprising Ways to Stop HIV

With a disproportionate number of prisoners infected with HIV and hepatitis C, our nation’s prisons are poised to become the next front line in the battle against infectious diseases. Here’s why prisoner health matters for everyone.

Unless you or someone you love has been incarcerated, it’s easy to think that the health of prisoners is irrelevant to your life and health.

However, the high percentage of prisoners infected with contagious diseases like HIV and hepatitis C makes proper diagnosis, education, and treatment an issue of concern for all of us.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that more than 6 percent of people in the United States (and more than 18 percent of African-Americans) will be incarcerated at some point during their lifetime. Almost all of these people will eventually be released back into the community, where they can pass contagious diseases on to others.

“The period just after an inmate is released from prison is an extremely risky time,” says Dr. Timothy Mastro, an HIV expert with the Centers for Disease Control. “For many former prisoners, the first thing they’ll do when released is seek sex and use drugs.”

Since every new case of infection has the potential to ripple through society at large, this is an issue that ultimately impacts all of us. Fortunately, diagnosis, education, and proper medical care while incarcerated can significantly reduce the chances that former prisoners will spread life-threatening diseases when they are released.

In addition, fewer new cases of infectious diseases, coupled with treatment for those already affected, could reduce overall health costs—and provide great medicine for our overburdened health care system.

HIV in Prisons

The CDC estimates that roughly 0.4 percent of Americans are infected with HIV. Rates of HIV in the prison system, however, are much higher: 2.3 percent of women and 1.7 percent of men in prison are HIV-positive.

Reducing Rates of Transmission

“With an infectious disease like HIV, one of the key strategies is to stop transmission. To do this, we try to identify people who are HIV infected,” explains Mastro. “Once people know they are infected, prevention programs can help them learn how to dramatically decrease risky behaviors so they don’t pass the infection along to others.”

In fact, the data shows that knowing your HIV status is an effective tool for controlling the spread of the disease. According to a study by the CDC, those who don’t know they are HIV-positive are at least three times more likely to spread the disease than those who do know.

Prisons can provide a great opportunity for routine testing. But while some prisons routinely test all new prisoners for HIV, there is no national law requiring this and practices vary from state to state.

That’s too bad, because knowledge of HIV status can not only helps reduce risky behavior, it’s also the critical first step towards receiving proper drug treatment. Such treatment not only benefits the individual, but also society as a whole, since proper drug treatment reduces viral load—and lower viral loads are associated with lower rates of transmission.