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Male Yeast infection - what causes them and how to diagnose it

Male yeast infection is a disease widely misunderstood and over looked as not being important. Most men do not realize that they are suffering from male yeast infection unless they experience symptoms which affect their health. Due to their built, it becomes difficult for men to recognize male yeast infection earlier.

During sexual intercourse, the male urethra, the tube that drains urine from the bladder, is exposed. It leaves men vulnerable to the yeast infection. The yeast infection can travel up through the urethral canal and settle in the prostate gland. However, it is not necessary that every man having sexual intercourse is exposed to risk of yeast infections. Also, it’s not necessary that a man will get yeast infection from his partner who suffers from vaginal yeast infection.

Causes of male yeast infection
One of the causes for male yeast infections is sex. Often, the good bacteria in your digestive system are over numbered allowing the yeast fungi to spread in other parts of the body.

The main causes for yeast infection in men and boys are:
• Excessive use of antibiotics
• Alcohol and beer
• Wheat and corn products
• Peanuts
• Barley
• Weak immune system

These food stuffs are contaminated with molds and fungus. Due to this, fungus can take root in the stomach and lead to yeast infection. Male yeast infection thrives on beer and beer helps it grow due to the yeast used in its production.

Men eat food unknowingly that contains molds and in the process kill the good bacteria which are part of immune system. You eat sugar-laden foods, which feed the infection allowing it to grow and spread. This goes on until the fungus takes root in your digestive system and becomes systemic, pierces the lining of the intestine and spreads throughout the body.

Symptoms of male yeast infection
• Itching or burning at the head of the penis
• Red rash on the penis
• The skin of penis can get cracked and become extremely painful
• Constipation
• Bad breath
• Bloating
• Indigestion
• Frequent intestinal gas
• Frequent diarrhea
• Sexual dysfunction
• Irritability and mood swings
• Fatigue or lack of energy
• Prostate problems

Symptoms of yeast infection in males may not be apparent soon. It may take days and even weeks for the symptoms to manifest.

How is Yeast infection diagnosed

There is a simple home test to check if one has male yeast infection. To conduct the test, the very first thing you need to do when you wake up in the morning is to spit twice into the glass of water. Leave a glass beside the bed on your nightstand the night before you want to conduct the test. You do not need to get up form the bed to spit in the glass.

Then, over the course of the next 15 minutes watch the glass of water. If your spit just dissolves and dissipates in the water, you do not have an infection. On the other hand, if the water becomes cloudy, with strings, sinks to the bottom and looks like spider webs you may have yeast infection. If there is sediment in the bottom of the glass after 30 minutes or so then you have parasites also and need proper treatment.

Also, the doctor may need to carry out pelvic examination. He may also carry out a wet prep. The visual identification under the microscope can diagnose the yeast infection.

Male yeast infection is a disease that is not very common men are vulnerable to it. It can be caused due to eating foodstuff that contains molds and bacteria as well as excess alcohol. Diagnosis of yeast infection in males is not very easy, and a patient may need to see a doctor for proper diagnosis.