Re: Questions about herbal drugs for yeast

[Guest guest]

Hi Daisy,

These are not necessary herbs, but you can find them at a natural health food store and online.

It is this method that was most effective to get rid of yeast proliferation for me:

-anti-yeast diet (no sugary foods, no sweetened anything even yogurt, fruit, juice, fermented foods (cheese, beer, wine, alcoholic drinks, etc.), mushrooms (fungal), nuts (peanuts are notoriously for having fungus on them), snacks with yeast for added flavor, supplements with brewer's yeast or selenium derived from yeast, breads, high carb foods, dairy (may cause excessive mucous). Stick to vegetables and good proteins. Drink alot of water to flush out the toxins.

-minimize exposure to chemicals (household cleaning supplies and food preservatives and dyes)

-take oral probiotic supplements (Natren's Mega-dophilus works best for me www.natren.com)

-douche with a solution of acidophilus diluted with water twice a day when it's really bad, once a day as it gets better

-probiotic vaginal capsules (suppositories) overnight (Natren sells one that's a 7-day kit and it comes with oral capsules too) or Yeast-Gard homeopathic anti-candida suppositories.

Boric acid capsules (vaginal suppositories) also work very well for me, but the acid is irritating to VVS tissue. I heard that you could use Desitin or oil on the VVS tissue to prevent irritation from the melting boric acid, but I haven't tried it yet. You can get boric acid capsules from a compounding pharmacy or from Vitanica (www.vitanica.com) which sells suppositories of herbal/boric acid called Yeast Arrest. It contains boric acid, calendula flowers and oregon grape root.

Other probiotic brands that have worked well for me are:

-Garden of Life (use only orally): Primal Defense

-Renew Life: Flora Smart (it's actually a kit)

The above two brands are non-refrigerated probiotics.

-Jarrow Formulas probiotics are "OK", not the most effective for me, but they are cheaper than Natren's. They are the refrigerated kind.

-Kyolic's acidophilus is OK; it's a non-refrigerated kind, relatively inexpensive and it's convenient for travel.

Yogurt is cheaper than probiotic supplements, but from my experience, taking oral probiotics was much more effective than eating live-active-culture plain yogurt. For me, eating yogurt works better for "maintenance" than battling an active yeast infection.

If you purchase probiotics, make sure that if it's the refrigerated kind, that it has been kept refrigerated. Ask the store manager about how they receive and store their refrigerated probiotics. It should be shipped and delivered to the store or to the consumer in a cool package. It should also have live active cultures; Natren guarantees its potency.

If you have systemic yeast (symptoms of allergies, skin irritation, forgetfulness, brain fog, etc.), taking Oregano capsules internally helped. Garlic supplements helped too, but Oregano was more potent. (They also stink and can be irritating if you have IC.) Take capsules, instead of tinctures or essential oils of Oregano to minimize the taste. Candidastat (oral supplements) from Vitanica (www.vitanica.com) also helped.

Homeopathic oral anti-yeast remedies helped me too, especially to prevent another recurrence after I finished treating an active episode. It alone does not do enough to treat active yeast infections.

Also, I only take homeopathics in tablets and tiny pellets and herbs in powder, tea, glycerine tincture or capsule/tablet form. Alcohol-based homeopathic and herbal tinctures bother me. Some of them have a high alcohol content (up to 50%) and some of them use brandy, which I feel does not support my body in trying to eliminate yeast.

Supplements that I feel that they didn't do much for me are:

-FOS by itself (Fructooligosaccarides which help the intestinal lining to grow more "good bacteria")

-Capyric acid by itself

-Enzymatic Therapy's Acidophilus Pearls (non-refrigerated acidophilus pellets)

-Kolorex (anti-fungal herb from New Zealand)

I hope you get over the infection soon!

Lily