Reply To: Desperate for advice. Could this be candida?
The way I look at thing is most western doctors treat the symptoms via drugs. They don’t usually cure many people and don’t address the cause of the symptoms. There are very few drugs that are effective for completely reversing whatever you are ill with. If you have a bacterial overgrowth, then antibiotics may or may not work and be prescribed. If its parasites its pretty much the same thing.
For yeast, there is a different class of antifungal drugs which basically encompass nystatin and fluconazole (mispell). Here are some posts about these prescription antifungal drugs by dvjorge:
http://www.thecandidadiet.com/forum/yaf_postst4633_Understanding-Candida-Related-Complex.aspx
and
http://www.thecandidadiet.com/forum/yaf_postst4751_Rx-Antifungals.aspx
The antifungals will kill the yeast but they do have side effects (liver damage) and they alone won’t reverse CRC (candida related complex) in most cases. My naturopath thinks that they make the candida go deeper in the body and this is why he doesn’t prescribe them.
Natural antifungals such as garlic, various acids (caprylic acid for instance), oregano oil, grapefruit seed extract, black walnut, etc. can be effective for killing yeast. The only problem with killing the yeast is you just kill it, it doesn’t reverse your digestive, gut flora, and additional problems that you may or may not have (such as liver damage, thyroid issue, adrenal fatigue, etc). So you could get in a situation where you just kill the yeast over and over and over with antifungals (or rx drugs) and this doesn’t address overall fundamental basic problems within the body.
So my recommendation is go to a naturopathic doctor who can heal these various organs and get you on an individualized plan for recovery. Most people on this forum can’t afford good medical care and so they go the treat yourself route. This is problematic because they don’t often have overall/holistic medical knowledge and could set back their progress because they aren’t aware of a different and ongoing problem. So in other words, they just worry about the yeast but not the big picture. A naturopath will heal multiple organs at once.
The only problem with naturopathic doctors is they are expensive. You’ll have to purchase supplements, vitamins, antifungals, probiotics, etc. and could spend a few hundred bucks per month (for awhile). The good thing though is you will get better much faster (if they are good) and they can potentially address whatever additional problems/complications that may arise in your treatment. Another problem is they vary in their knowledge and effectiveness…so finding a good one who has treated yeast (and other) problems for 20-30 years is quite important.
Western medicine does have its pluses though. You can do all sorts of testing (for cheap if you have insurance). The prescription antifungals have cured some people with light infestations. Some of their testing though doesn’t indicate any problem whatsoever(like thyroid or adrenal health) and they may not have a drug to treat you. Western doctors prescribe drugs only pretty much, eastern doctors do not typically. Thats the difference.
And for digestive problems, there isn’t many drugs out there to help you…
-raster