Deborah, I’ve never had a yeast infection until I started birth control. Is it possible that the birth control pills caused my yeast infection?
As odd and counterproductive as it sounds, birth control pills are a major contributing factor in the development of yeast infections in women.
Women, in general, do have it particularly rough as far as yeast infections go. As a matter of fact, more than two thirds of the yeast infections reported occur in women over the age of fifteen. Why?
According to the NIH, birth control pills  are synthetic hormones. They alter the level of progesterone in a woman’s body, and Candida loves to eat progesterone.
Here’s how it works. Generally, the female reproductive cycle causes higher levels of progesterone and lower levels of estrogen right before a woman menstruates. This is why a lot of women complain of vaginal infections right before their periods.
When a woman takes birth control pills, which do contain estrogen, the Candida attaches itself to the estrogen. When this happens, the body can’t use the estrogen properly and the progesterone levels within the body raise even higher. The Candida allows the levels of estrogen and progesterone, which usually alternate in dominance, to become altered. The Candida forces the estrogen levels to become lower, which makes the progesterone levels higher; and the higher progesterone levels allow the Candida to thrive even more.
So what can you do? Women with healthy immune systems, and healthy adrenal glands, don’t tend to have problems from birth control pills alone other than the monthly rise in symptoms which seem to go away right away. Those who develop chronic vaginal infections, or systemic whole-body infections, may need to stop taking hormonal birth control in order to really eradicate the overgrowth. You’ll need to talk to your doctor to determine which course of action is best for you.
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