I’m 12 years old. I had a yeast infection for a year before my diabetes doctor caught it and prescribed medications. My infection went away for a little while but came back. My mom and I refilled the prescription and it worked for only a few days. Do yeast infections cause high glucose, or does high glucose cause yeast infections?

Yeast infections do not cause high glucose.

Yeast infections are common in women with diabetes, but the glucose in the urine promotes the growth of yeast, so women with diabetes are more prone to recurrent infections. Increased estrogen levels that occur in puberty also promote the growth of yeast. This is rarely serious, but can be very uncomfortable.

Some suggestions to consider and discuss with your own doctor to help prevent recurrences:

Wear 100% cotton underwear.
Consider using some topical cream once or twice daily to prevent recurrence
If the above doesn’t work, you may have some yeast in your gastrointestinal tract. Taking some oral, nonabsorbable Nystatin may sterilize your gastrointestinal tract and prevent yeast in your stool from causing a recurrence. Nystatin is not absorbed, so comes out in the stool and can sterilize the stool. Yeast in the stool can spread to the vaginal area and cause reinfection.

TGL