How To Cure Candida

Hello. I'm Dr. Gemma Newman, and I'm a GP and broadcaster, and today I'd like to help you with a few top tips to improve your health.

Now, candida is a type of fungal infection, and most commonly it can affect your nails, your skin, your mouth, or your vagina, because candida tends to grow in moist areas. So I'm going to go through each in turn, and give you advice about how to get rid of it in each of these areas. So, first of all, the skin.

Now, if you have a candida infection on your skin, it can lead to a red rash or scaly skin, and sometimes also very sore areas in skin folds, such as beneath the breasts or in the armpits. If you have any of these symptoms, it's important to go and see your doctor, as you may need an anti-fungal cream. There are a few things you can do though to reduce your chances of getting it again, or to reduce the severity of your fungal skin infection.

Number 1 is to keep the skin clean and dry. Now that's very important to reduce the amount of candidal fungus that can grow on the skin. Number 2 is to wear light, loose, cotton clothing.

Again, this reduces your propensity to sweat, and therefore reduces your risk of fungal infection. If you're overweight, it may be worth thinking about losing some weight, as if you have excess skin folds, and skin touching skin, that's more likely to make you sweat, and more likely to make you have a fungal infection. Other things would be to reduce sugary foods in your diet.

So, things like malt and yeast and other types of sugar, some people say increase the chances of fungal infection. So that's the skin dealt with. Now, where else can you get candida? Under your nails, or in your nails.

Now, this can be more resistant to treatment. You can try some anti-fungal treatments over the counter from your pharmacy, but most likely, especially if it affects more than one or two nails, you're going to need anti-fungal tablets. These you have to get from your GP.

Your GP will also insist on getting fungal nail clippings to send to the laboratory to make sure they can confirm the diagnosis for you. Where else can we get candida? Well, as I said, we can also get it in the mouth. Now, if you have a candida infection in the mouth, again you are going to need anti-fungal treatments to get rid of it, this time in drops or in a suspension form.

This is much more likely, especially in babies, or if you have dentures, or if you have a low immunity. So it's always worth going to see your GP if you're getting these kinds of infections regularly, so they can rule out other causes. One of the more common causes for recurrent fungal infections, for example, is diabetes.

Lastly, the other most common place for a candida infection is the vagina. Now, it's more commonly known as thrush, and it can affect an awful lot of women at some stage in their lives. It's much more common if you've had a course of antibiotics, as this kills all the natural bacteria in the vagina, and makes way for fungal infections to come in.

Things you can do to improve vaginal thrush would include washing with an unscented moisturiser. Don't scrub the area, as this can cause minor abrasions which can increase your chances of thrush. It's also important to make sure that you don't over-wash the area, for the same reason.

You have to make sure that you are well-lubricated during sexual intercourse, as any minor abrasions during sex can make thrush infection in the vagina more likely. Thrush infection is also more common in pregnancy, and it's always worth going to see your GP if you suspect thrush during pregnancy. Don't forget, there are other causes of increased vaginal discharge, or itch, or redness, or soreness, so you should really go and see your GP if you think there may be another cause for your problems, such as a sexually transmitted infection.

So, good luck with curing your candida, and I hope that you feel better soon.