Fungal troubles.

A few questions to ask whenever somebody comes in with fungal troubles.

Here's a set of general questions:

• When did you last do a course of B-complex with lots of B6? Find the B-complex with the most B6 (25-40 mg is good), and take one a day, for a few months.
• Why is your immune system compromised? Lots of stress (depletes B6)? Good diet? Enough sleep? Help the basics, and do a good multivitamin for a few weeks, too.
• For how long have you been taking the pill? Contraceptive pills deplete B6 ... so you get itchy, in an unpleasant way. Also do live culture yogurt douches, or vinegar sitzbaths.
• When did you last do probiotics - lactobacillus and all its pals? Do 2-3 capsules a day for a few weeks, or do milk products with lots of live lactobacilli - yogurt, sourmilk, and whatever else is found your way. Those sensitive to milk can make their own kefir on coconut milk and similar.
• For how long have you been eating loads of sugar every day? That includes straight-out candy, but also ice creams, cookies and cakes, sweetened sodas, etc. etc. Help your liver, to make the sugar cravings go away.

And, if large-scale candida growth is suspected:

• How much simple carbs do you eat? Those show up as blood sugar immediately, in large quantities, which helps candida growth. Go on a protein+veggie+nuts+oils diet for a few weeks, your problem might disappear.

For external fungi I've found few salves as effective as those made with the green parts of thuja (Thuja spp.) or cypress (Cupressus spp.). Foot fungus can also disappear if you douche it with acids - pee on your feet in the shower, before you shower ...

Nail fungi are more troublesome, because the nail is so thick - but thuja helps there, too, if you file the nail down to as thin as you can stand it. Or vinegar footbaths.

I'm certain that I've forgotten lots, but those are good to start with if you're plagued by fungi. Feel free to add things in the comments.

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Related entry: Foot fungi.