You re also more open to candida if you are taking antibiotics or anti-inflammatory drugs. That leaves an opening for Candida albicans. It s an opportunistic organism. When there s no competition, it will grow. Usually the fungus occurs on the skin or in the mouth, respiratory tract, or vagina.
Many women know candida simply as a yeast infection.
Many people find relief by drinking a tea made with pau d arco bark, says Kathleen Head, N.D., a naturopathic doctor in Sandpoint, Idaho, and senior editor of Alternative Medicine Review. A supplement will work as well, she adds. If you read up on pau d arco , you re likely to come across references to its cancer-fighting properties. Although it s true that lapachol was studied by the National Cancer Institute and found to reduce tumors in rats, there s no evidence that it s effective against cancer in humans. Still, there are anecdotal reports of cancer patients who have had positive results after taking the herb, which doesn t cause the side effects associated with the isolated compound lapachol.