Some people think Candida is just a fad diagnosis.
Actually, "Candida" is a common fungal infection. It can affect the mouth, skin, intestinal tract, and female organs. Occasionally the prostate may be affected.
In addition to causing infections such as vaginitis, thrush, jock itch, and athlete's foot, Candida can release toxins causing fatigue and impaired thinking or even trigger allergies with itching and skin rashes.
Diagnosing Candida involves taking the patient’s history, examining the body, and doing a few laboratory tests. While at times helpful diagnostic tests can be misleading a simple trial of therapy with antifungal agents usually sorts things out: reduced signs and symptoms of fungal infection confirm their presence.
Treatment strategies include getting rid of sugars and yeasty foods that encourage Candida growth, taking generous probiotics to crowd out the fungus, killing Candida with antifungal agents, and at times allergy desensitization in difficult to control cases.
Here is something important you may not know: While primitive cultures rarely have intestinal Candida overgrowth, people living in modern cultures must deal with frequent Candida overgrowth related to the excessive use of antibiotics, the birth control pill, diabetes, high sugar and high refined carbohydrate diets, prolonged use of acid limiting medications, oral and inhaled steroids, and the persistent use of allergy triggering foods.