According to http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a682753.html
some of the yeast infection conditions treated with clotrimazole are itchy, and
clotrimazole may also cause itching as a side effect.
Can patients tell if their itching is due to the disease or if it is a side effect? How?
Clotrimazole is not of my knowledgr but regarding adverse events, in order to assess the causal relationship to a medicinal product, the onset date of the event has to occur after the treatment initiation day. In addition, if the event is reversible (not chronic due to a permanent injury caused by the medication), it should abate after stopping it. You could confirm the causal relationship if you administer again the product and itchying reapears (although if it doesn't you cannot exclude that the cause was the product, as other factors could be involved in the first episode).
Therefore, if itchying occurred already previously to first day treatment administration, you could assess medication is not involved, unless itchying worsened after initiation of the medication.
Hope it helps...
Just a General comment on drug side effects:
the sides effects of a drug are usually listed in the order of highest frequency observed, so itching is one of them and on the top of the list. BUT that side effects list on the link you provided is not in the correct order and Itching is one of those that is not a common side effect of the drug (Rxlist.com: Side effects are not likely to occur with clotrimazole. Continue to take clotrimazole and talk to your doctor if you experience
nausea or stomach upset,
vomiting,
itching, or
an unpleasant sensation in the mouth)
NO for your specific question, I dont think there is one good way to tell, but if your patient (e.g. is having a topical fungal infection) and you gave them the cream/ointment and they did not have itching problem before then the itching is most likely the side effect of the drug (off course with topical not internal or vaginal infection) there is a cream that has both the antifungal and the a mild corticosteron the reduce the itching especially if the pateint has severe irritation and bad itching so that will calm them.
Now If the itching already exist and they start taking the drug and it is working it the itching urgency should decline with time likely after a couple of days at most of using the drug.
Hope this helps
Clotrimazole can cause itching. No drug is safe. Bad taste, sour taste, some time due resoling of local fungal infection. The itching may due to -trichophitids. The dissiminated distant lesions on the body. -dr.s.k.punshi, consultant dermatologist,amravati.-444601,m.s.-india
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