I can not believe the way this thread on candida(yeast) has progressed. Steve Dyer and I have been exchanging words over the same topic in Sci.  Med. Nutrition when he displayed his typical reserve and attacked a women  poster for being treated by a liscenced physician for a disease that did  not exist.  Calling this physician a quack was reprehensible Steve and I  see that you and some of the others are doing it here as well.    Let me tell you who the quacks really are, these are the physicans who have  no idea how the human body interacts with it's environment and how that  balance can be altered by diet and antibiotics.  These are the physicians  who dismiss their patients with difficult symptomatology and make them go  from doctor to doctor to find relief(like Elaine in Sci. Med. Nutrition) and  then when they find one that solves their problem, the rest start yelling  quack.  Could it just be professional jealousy?  I couldn't help Elaine or Jon but somebody else did.  Could they know more than Me?  No way, they must be a  quack.    I've been teaching a human nutrition course for Medical students for over ten  years now and guess who the most receptive students are?  Those that were  raised on farms and saw first-hand the effect of diet on the health of their  farm animals and those students who had made a dramatic diet change prior to  entering medical school(switched to the vegan diet).  Typically, this is  about 1/3 of my class of 90 students.  Those not interested in nutrition  either tune me out or just stop coming to class.  That's okay because I  know that some of what I'm teaching is going to stick and there will be at  least a few "enlightened" physicians practicing in the U.S.  It's really  too bad that most U.S. medical schools don't cover nutrition because if  they did, candida would not be viewed as a non-disease by so many in the  medical profession.  In animal husbandry, an animal is reinnoculated with "good" bacteria after  antibiotics are stopped.  Medicine has decided that since humans do not  have a ruminant stomach, no such reinnoculation with "good" bacteria is  needed after coming off a braod spectrum antibiotic.  Humans have all  kinds of different organisms living in the GI system(mouth, stomach, small  and large intestine), sinuses, vagina and on the skin.  These are  nonpathogenic because they do not cause disease in people unless the immune  system is compromised.  They are also called nonpathogens because unlike  the pathogenic organisms that cause human disease, they do not produce  toxins as they live out their merry existence in and on our body.  But any of  these organisms will be considered pathogenic if it manages to take up  residence within the body.  A poor mucus membrane barrier can let this  happen and vitamin A is mainly responsible for setting up this barrier. Steve got real upset with Elaine's doctor because he was using anti-fungals  and vitamin A for her GI problems.  If Steve really understoood what  vitamin A does in the body, he would not(or at least should not) be calling  Elaine's doctor a quack.  Here is a brief primer on yeast.  Yeast infections, as they are commonly  called, are not truely caused by yeasts.  The most common organism responsible for this type of infection is Candida albicans or Monilia which is actually a  yeast-like fungus.  An infection caused by this organism is called candidiasis. Candidiasis is a very rare occurance because, like an E. Coli infection, it  requires that the host immune system be severly depressed.    Candida is frequently found on the skin and all of the mucous membranes of  normal healthy people and it rarely becomes a problem unless some predisposing factor is present such as a high blood glucose level(diabetes) or an oral  course of antibiotics has been used.  In diabetics, their secretions contain  much higher amounts of glucose.  Candida, unlike bacteria, is very limited in  it's food(fuel) selection.  Without glucose, it can not grow, it just barely  survives.  If it gets access to a lot of glucose, it blooms and over rides  the other organisms living with it in the sinuses, GI tract or vagina.  In  diabetics, skin lesions can also foster a good bloom site for these little  buggers.  The bloom is usually just a minor irritant in most people but  some people do really develop a bad inflammatory process at the mucus  membrane or skin bloom site.  Whether this is an allergic like reaction to  the candida or not isn't certain.  When the bloom is in the vagina or on  the skin, it can be easliy seen and some doctors do then try to "treat" it. If it's internal, only symptoms can be used and these symptoms are pretty  nondiscript.     Candida is kept in check in most people by the normal bacterial flora in  the sinuses, the GI tract(mouth, stomach and intestines) and in the  vaginal tract which compete with it for food.  The human immune system  ususally does not bother itself with these(nonpathogenic organisms) unless  they broach the mucus membrane "barrier".  If they do, an inflammatory  response will be set up.  Most Americans are not getting enough vitamin A  from their diets.  About 30% of all American's die with less Vitamin A than  they were born with(U.S. autopsy studies).  While this low level of vitamin  A does not cause pathology(blindness) it does impair the mucus membrane  barrier system.  This would then be a predisposing factor for a strong  inflammatory response after a candida bloom.    While diabetics can suffer from a candida "bloom" the  most common cause of  this type of bloom is the use of broad spectrum antibiotics which  knock down many different kinds of bacteria in the body and remove the main  competition for candida as far as food is concerned.  While drugs are  available to handle candida, many patients find that their doctor will not  use them unless there is evidence of a systemic infection.  The toxicity of  the anti-fungal drugs does warrant some caution.  But if the GI or sinus  inflammation is suspected to be candida(and recent use of a broad spectrum  antibiotic is the smoking gun), then anti-fungal use should be approrpriate  just as the anti-fungal creams are an appropriate treatment for recurring  vaginal yeast infections, in spite of what Mr. Steve Dyer says.  But even in patients being given the anti-fungals, the irritation caused by  the excessive candida bloom in the sinus, GI tract or the vagina tends to  return after drug treatment is discontinued unless the underlying cause of  the problem is addressed(lack of a "good" bacterial flora in the body and/or  poor mucus membrane barrier).  Lactobacillus acidophilus is the most effective  therapy for candida overgrowth.  From it's name, it is an acid loving  organism and it sets up an acidic condition were it grows.  Candida can not  grow very well in an acidic environment.  In the vagina, L. acidophilius is  the predominate bacteria(unless you are hit with broad spectrum  antibiotics).    In the GI system, the ano-rectal region seems to be a particularly good  reservoir for candida and the use of pantyhose by many women creates a very  favorable environment around the rectum for transfer(through moisture and  humidity) of candida to the vaginal tract.  One of the most effctive ways to  minimmize this transfer is to wear undyed cotton underwear.    If the bloom occurs in the anal area, the burning, swelling, pain and even  blood discharge make many patients think that they have hemorroids.  If the  bloom manages to move further up the GI tract, very diffuse symptomatology  occurs(abdominal discomfort and blood in the stool).  This positive stool  for occult blood is what sent Elaine to her family doctor in the first  place.  After extensive testing, he told her that there was nothing wrong  but her gut still hurt.  On to another doctor, and so on.  Richard Kaplan  has told me throiugh e-mail that he considers occult blood tests in stool  specimens to be a waste of time and money because of the very large number of  false positives(candida blooms guys?).  If my gut hurt me on a constant  basis, I would want it fixed.  Yes it's nice to know that I don't have  colon cancer but what then is causing my distress?  When I finally find a  doctor who treats me and gets me 90% better, Steve Dyer calls him a quack.  Candida prefers a slightly alkaline environment while bacteria  tend to prefer a slightly acidic environment.  The vagina becomes alkaline  during a woman's period and this is often when candida blooms in the vagina.  Vinegar and water douches are the best way of dealing with vaginal  problems.  Many women have also gotten relief from the introduction of  Lactobacillus directly into the vaginal tract(I would want to be sure of  the purity of the product before trying this).  My wife had this vagina  problem after going on birth control pills and searched for over a year  until she found a gynocologist who solved the problem rather than just writting  scripts for anti-fungal creams.  This was a woman gynocologist who had had  the same problem(recurring vaginal yeast infections).  This M.D. did some  digging and came up with an acetic acid and L. Acidophilis douche which she  used in your office to keep it sterile.  After three treatments, sex  returned to our marraige.  I have often wondered what an M.D. with chronic  GI distress or sinus problems would do about the problem that he tells his  patients is a non-existent syndrome.  The nonpathogenic bacteria L. acidophilus is an acid producing bacteria  which is the most common bacteria found in the vaginal tract of healthy women.   If taken orally, it can also become a major bacteria in the gut.  Through  aresol sprays, it has also been used to innoculate the sinus membranes. But before this innoculation occurs, the mucus membrane barrier system  needs to be strengthened.  This is accomplished by vitamin A, vitamin C and  some of the B-complex vitamins.  Diet surveys repeatedly show that Americans  are not getting enough B6 and folate.  These are probably the segement of  the population that will have the greatest problem with this non-existent  disorder(candida blooms after antibiotic therapy).   Some of the above material was obtained from "Natural Healing" by Mark  Bricklin, Published by Rodale press, as well as notes from my human  nutrition course.  I will be posting a discussion of vitamin A  sometime in  the future, along with reference citings to point out the extremely  important role that vitamin A plays in the mucus membrane defense system in  the body and why vitamin A should be effective in dealing with candida  blooms.  Another effective dietary treatment is to restrict carbohydrate  intake during the treatment phase, this is especially important if the GI  system is involved.  If candida can not get glucose, it's not going to out  grow the bacteria and you then give bacteria, which can use amino acids and  fatty acids for energy, a chance to take over and keep the candida in check  once carbohydrate is returned to the gut.  If Steve and some of the other nay-sayers want to jump all over this post,  fine.  I jumped all over Steve in Sci. Med. Nutrition because he verbably  accosted a poster who was seeking advice about her doctor's use of vitamin  A and anti-fungals for a candida bloom in her gut.  People seeking advice  from newsnet should not be treated this way.  Those of us giving of our  time and knowledge can slug it out to our heart's content.  If you saved  your venom for me Steve and left the helpless posters who are timidly  seeking help alone, I wouldn't have a problem with your behavior.    Martin Banschbach, Ph.D. Professor of Biochemistry and Chairman Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine 1111 West 17th St. Tulsa, Ok. 74107