Q: Hi Doc, can yeast infection prevent pregnancy? If you don’t cure it does it go away on its own?

A: Hi dear. Thanks for writing in.

Yeast infections will not prevent pregnancy but interestingly, pregnancy is one of the conditions that can trigger candidiasis. And…it needs to be treated.

Let’s start from the very beginning…

Vaginal candidiasis which is a yeast infection occurs when the fungi which live normally in the vagina overgrow and cause an infection. Usually, there is yeast (fungi) in the vagina and they generally mind their own business until something comes along to disturb the peace of the environment. This disturbance can be in the form of abuse of antibiotics (which kills off the good bacteria that hold the fungi at bay causing them to take over and overgrow the environment) or even in pregnancy (where the estrogen hormone produced in pregnancy messes with the…