Yeast infection and inhalers? How on earth can they possibly be related? In fact, the very idea doesn't enter most people's heads, so that when they get a 'rash' of red spots on their lips and other symptoms inside their mouth, they are at a loss as to where they came from. But it is likely to be an oral yeast infection caused by their inhaler. Learn here why this happens and what you can do to prevent it in the future.

Typical oral yeast infection symptoms are; dense whitish spots all over the tongue and soft tissue, a thick white coating all over the tongue that when scraped can show bleeding underneath, difficulty / pain when swallowing, bad breath, and, for inhaler users in particular, red spots all over the lips.

Yeast infection is caused by the Candida albicans fungus that you'll find occurring naturally in all of us. Your body's good bacteria usually keeps it under control though. But, under some conditions, your body's friendly bacteria numbers get depleted and so the fungus is allowed to 'overgrow' into an infection, sometimes also called Candida or Thrush.

There are a number of underlying conditions that can help to cause this situation to develop, including a lowered immune system, antibiotics overuse, too high blood sugar, etc. But one item is the repeated use of steroids. And this of course is important for users of steroid inhalers, because it puts them -- along with denture wearers -- at a much higher risk of getting oral yeast infections.

So what can you do to prevent this? Of course, there are over-the-counter and prescription medications to help combat infections. In the case of oral infections these include lozenges, and others like oral liquid suspensions, sometimes called 'swish and swallow' remedies. The downside for many users is that these only address the symptoms, not the root cause(s). The outcome therefore is often repeated oral yeast infections. And with repeated medications the Candida fungus can become drug-resistant.

Which is why sufferers are increasingly -- and successfully -- turning to totally natural remedies for their infections. These include simple but effective home remedies like using raw apple cider vinegar, garlic, natural yogurt, and so on. There are also homeopathic treatments. And dietary and lifestyle adjustments will undoubtably be required as well.

One obvious thing you should be doing as a user of inhalers is to always thoroughly rinse-out your mouth after each use of your inhaler. This is to ensure that you get rid of any traces of excess steroids trapped in your mouth, teeth, cavities, etc. And clean off the mouthpiece too. This is a good habit to get into and will help a lot.