Yeast Infection: Which medicine (OTC) is the best?
August 21, 2009 - 7:13am
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There are so many choices for over-the-counter medications for yeast infections, and I understand the difference between the suppositories, creams and wipes.
I'm curious, though, to know which of the suppositories are the best, or how do we find out? For instance, Monistat has the 7 day, 3 day, and two versions of a 1-day that contain different types of medication. Most of them have the active ingredient miconazole nitrate, but one of the 1-Day is tioconazole.
My questions are:
1. Are there any clinical studies that says one active ingredient works better?
2. Any research that says the 7 day, 3 day or 1 day treatments work better?
thanks!
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Hi Veronica
It's hard to say which medication works best for an individual women as they have their individual preferences based on their experiences/cost etc.
But the one day tioconazole is considered by most to be better - it is certainly stronger, hence only needing a one day application. But it's more expensive so some women choose the miconazole and suffer through the 3 or 7 day versions. The problem is that so many people stop taking it after 3 or 4 days and fail to complete the regime, causing the infection to come back. But both are anti-fungal and they both work but tioconazole is generally considered better.
From Wiley Interscience - "A total of ninety-nine patients, of whom eighty-six had fungal infections of the skin and thirteen erythrasma, took part in a double blind comparison of the efficacy and acceptability of tioconazole and miconazole creams applied twice daily. The duration of treatment was 4 weeks.
Of the patients available for review upon completion of treatment, twenty-three of thirty-four patients (68%) treated with tioconazole and twenty-one of thirty-eight patients (55%) treated with miconazole were cured clinically and mycologically. Of the patients available for follow-up 4 weeks later, nineteen of twenty-one patients (90·5%) treated with tioconazole and twelve of fifteen patients (80%) treated with miconazole remained free from infection.
Statistical analysis showed that tioconazole achieved a significantly higher mycological cure rate than miconazole. There was no significant difference between the two creams in clinical or overall cure rates."
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119563671/abstract
This study was from St John's Hospital, London, England.
So if women can afford the one day treatment, it's the better option but either will work.
There is also a single pill called Diflucan that is made with fluconazole and saves all the mess! However, it can cause a little nausea in some women (I've taken it and had no side effects) and is by prescription only.
Has this helped?