Dear Readers,
Now that my dang email is back, I am overwhelmed by the number of people who wrote in to offer their good words to the woman whose severe yeast infections weren't taken seriously by her doctor. If the world's ever saved, I'm betting it'll be done by a bunch of East Bay women who started by curing their own candidiasis. Here's what some of them said.

Hi Carol!
Here's a reply to the woman who wrote about her yeast infections. I certainly sympathize with your Candidiasis! I have struggled against it for the last 5 years, and now am finally getting it under control. There's a good book titled "The Yeast Syndrome" which should help you as much as it helped me. When I became infested, I had no idea what was wrong, and neither did my doctor! It sounds to me as though you have more than a localized yeast infection, but actual Candidiasis, which is a system-wide infection. You can have a yeast infection anywhere from your toes to your scalp, but it all springs from the intestines. Of course taking antibiotics doesn't work - they kill off all your friendly flora in your intestine except for the yeast, which then has room to grow and spread and make you even sicker. A small amount of yeast is present in everyone's body, you can't eliminate it completely, but when it is dominant, the toxins thrown off by its lifecycle give your immune system a heavy load to deal with. This is why most Candidiasis sufferers have multiple opportune infections, colds, flu, fungal skin nfections, etc. Other unpleasant side effects can include depression, loss of libido, digestive problems, weight loss or gain, and "brain-fog" - caused by too many toxins in your blood stream. Things you can do to get better: stop eating sugar, simple starches, drinking alcohol (all of these feed the yeast), take lots of acidophilus and lactobacillus supplements (to give the yeast some competition for space in your intestine), drink lots of Pau D'Arco tea (an antifungal), stay out of bakeries and breweries (lots of yeast spores in the air), avoid moldy environments, and if all of these don't help, consider going back to the doctor for a system-wide antifungal medicine. These antifungals can be very hard on your body, but if you have an extreme case, may be the best way to kick start your recovery. One thing to note: you will feel worse before you feel better, once you start these treatments! Because the toxins thrown off by the yeast cells are what is making you ill, the more yeast you kill the more toxins enter your bloodstream. After a while, the balance will tip in the other direction, and you will improve. Good luck to you!
--Compadre in Candida

And three more, including this useful bit of info, perhaps one of the single most important things we learned in the 1970s -- cotton crotches, ladies! Cotton crotches!

*One thing I have never seen in regards to yeast infections is the kind of underwear worn. I had recurring yeast infections as a teenager, when I wore nylon undies. I switched to cotton undies and have not had one yeast infection since - that's for the last 30 years or so. It might be that simple for some other women to cure their chronic yeast infections.

*This is in reply to the woman who had the yeast infection. I got one nine years ago due to a doctor who did not bother to tell me about any symptoms of an antibiotic he had told me to take (for an ailment which had no symptoms at all: he just told me I had to.) When I complained to him about the resulting yeast infection, he didn't take me seriously at all. After going to five different doctors, none of whom helped me, I went to the local health food store and got some goldenseal and echinacea capsules. They completely cured my yeast infection! (And they're mucho cheaper than Monistat, which did NOTHING, by the way.) Do get the herbs in pure pill form. The liquid goldenseal etc. which you mix in water and drink is less potent and tastes terrible.

*I've been dealing w/ recurring yeast overgrowth for years. I don't get the full body problems, just vaginal yeast. I've gone to the Berkeley woman's health center for gyn needs, & have had MANY negative experiences w/ the doctors who come through there, I'm very sorry to say. All they do for yeast 'infections" is sell an overpriced prescription version of monistat ($45). I now take oral acidophilus supplements. I was finding that the week after my period stopped was when I kept getting yeasty, month after month. I began to theorize that it was about vaginal PH. A normal vagina has an acidic PH, whereas blood, & yeast are base in PH. So I began to figure that if I could make it through that week w/o letting my yeast multiply, I could make it through the month w/o springing for another $15 box of monistat. This has been working! I sometimes insert an acidophilus capsule vaginally right after my period ends. I'm not 100% yeast free, but I've only had a problem once in the past 5 month, which for me is a HUGE improvement over last year's once a month schedule. Just wanted to share what I've come up with, maybe it could be of some help!