Are there any over the counter drugs to treat a vaginal infection?!
Question: I don't know what I have, it might be a yeast infection, there is a bad odor and lots of white discharge but no pain or burning. Is there anyway to treat this without prescription medication?
Answers: I don't know what I have, it might be a yeast infection, there is a bad odor and lots of white discharge but no pain or burning. Is there anyway to treat this without prescription medication?
Over-the-counter drugs for yeast infections exist, but I think if you have a bacterial infection you'll probably need a prescription for antibiotics. It is important, though, to get checked by a doctor so you know what the infection is before you apply medications -- whether they're prescription or not. Home diagnosis is prone to error, especially if you haven't had the problem before and the symptoms are unfamiliar, because symptoms do vary from one individual to the next. (For instance, some women report an odd odor with yeast, but most sources I've read say it doesn't smell like much of anything at all and a foul odor is probably bacterial.)
You don't want to treat the wrong thing, for two reasons. First, it won't do any good! Second, many of the organisms that cause problems are normally present in your body and only cause trouble when they get out of hand. If you treat for the wrong thing, you might encourage the natural population of yeast or bacteria to become resistant, and then if you *do* have a problem later with what you treated for, the first medicine you try might not work.
It sounds as though it may be thrush (candida, yeast infection). I'm not sure about overseas (depending on where you're from) but in Australia, you can buy pessaries, creams, capsules etc over the counter. Speak to your pharmacist about it. I prefer to use a pessary, combined with a cream. The most common brand is Canesten (in Australia) but there are others.
Have you ever had a yeast infection before? If you have, and you found a treatment that worked last time and your symptoms are the same, then you could go ahead and use the same treatment again.
However, if you've never experienced these symptoms before, the best thing to do is go to the doctor, especially if you're experiencing a foul odor. Yeast infections usually don't come with much of an odor at all, so you could have something completely different, like bacterial vaginosis. Using OTC medications to treat something other than a yeast infection can actually make the infection worse, so it's always better to check with the doctor first if you've never had one before. They can check your vaginal pH and look for bacteria or viruses in order to help you find the proper treatment.
if you have had it before and now it is a yeast infection yes you can get over the counter stuff. if you never had one go see the doctor to make sure.
Monistat
OB/GYN RN