Does Amoxicillin Cause Yeast Infections?

Amoxicillin is an antibiotic that is used for the treatment of infections. It is not used to treat yeast infections; however, they are associated with each other because it is likely for those who take amoxicillin for a long period of time to develop a yeast infection. This association is according to the reaction of amoxicillin to the body and the body’s chemistry.

Importance of Amoxicillin

Amoxicillin is used to treat various types of bacterial infections like bladder infections, ear infections, gonorrhea, pneumonia and salmonella or E. coli infection. Sometimes, it is used together with clarithromycin, also an antibiotic, as a treatment to stomach ulcers as a result to Helicobacter pylori infection. Amoxicillin must not be used if you allergic to cephalosporins like Ceftin, Omnicef, Keflex and Cefzil. You need to inform your physician if you have kidney or liver disease, asthma, mononucleosis or blood clotting disorder.

Amoxicillin is powerful enough to give less to effect to contraceptive pills.  This makes it important not to rely on birth control pills to prevent pregnancy if you are taking amoxicillin. It is very imperative to take this medication as prescribed because skipping doses or stopping it very soon may lead to bacterial resistance to amoxicillin. Your dosage is based on how your system responds to the medication and your medical condition. It is advisable to drink a lot of fluids when this medication is used unless you are told by your doctor otherwise.

Side Effects of Amoxicillin

When you take amoxicillin, you may experience diarrhea, vomiting and nausea. If these reactions persist, you should immediately tell your doctor or pharmacist. There are a lot of individuals who use this medication don’t experience serious side effects. When this is used for prolonged or repeated periods, this can result to oral thrush or a vaginal yeast infection. Contact your physician if you notice patches in your mouth, an alteration in your vaginal discharge and other symptoms. Amoxicillin is likely to cause severe intestinal bacteria at a very rare case. This may be experienced during treatment or after treatment has been stopped.

How Amoxicillin cause vaginal yeast infection?

Antibiotics help the body in removing bacterial infections and not funguses or viruses. Normally, the vagina has a lot of bacteria that live together. There occurrence allows other fungus or bacteria from multiplying. When an antibiotic is taken by a woman for an infection of any part of the body, the bacteria inside the woman’s body will be affected.  This effect will lower the vaginal bacterial balance enabling the overgrowth of yeast and this is termed as yeast infection. Such infection is curable by returning the normal state of the vaginal environment. It is necessary to use an anti-fungal agent to cure this which can be taken by mouth, cream or vaginal suppository. There are people who claim that the intake of about 6-8 ounce of yogurt while an antibiotic is taken is likely to aid in decreasing the possibility of such infections to happen.