Hey Guys,
Wow, there's a lot of interest in this topic I can tell. Let me try and cover everyone's questions and concerns in one post.
1.) Yes, here in Thailand itraconazole is available over the counter, as well as ketoconazole. While voriconazole is available here in Thailand, I haven't seen it in any of the pharmacies I've been to. Perhaps they only stock it in the hospitals, or maybe I just haven't noticed it in the pharmacies because I haven't been looking for it. Voriconazole is a hard core anti-fungal, and I believe if you are going to take that one, you really need to be under the care of a doctor. It is for like people who are
seriously immunocompromised (i.e. Aids or cancer patients). In regards to posaconazole I have never heard about that one and I don't think it's here in Thailand yet.
2.) I totally agree that everyone should be searching for a doctor who specializes in Fungal infections. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be that many, and the ones who are might be located far away from the patient. I think there have been enough people on this forum whose doctor has dismissed them or looked at them like they were crazy when they mentioned Candida. But that doesn't mean you should give up hope. I have always promoted that people be tested for Candida if they can find a doctor who is willing.
3.) I don't know about meowkity. Perhaps the clotrimazole lotion she rubbed on her chest and neck cleared her tongue, and perhaps it didn't. The odds of that working are very low though. Clotrimazole is rarely absorbed into the bloodstream. If you see the skin chart below while you read this, it will make sense. Basically, the quote below is saying that clotrimazole is only absorbed into the skin in micrograms (mcg), not milligrams (mg). To put it clearly, it would take 1,000 micrograms to equal 1 milligram. You guys are taking 200 milligrams of Fluconazole internally. That would equal 200,000 micrograms. You can see for yourselves in the quote below, but there is nowhere near 200,000 micrograms of clotrimazole cream being absorbed into your skin. But if you don't wanna read the quote, you are basically absorbing only 1 microgram of clotrimazole or less. Needless to say, you are far better off taking the Fluconazole capsule rather than the Clotrimazole cream.
http://www.rxlist.com/lotrisone-drug.htm wrote:The following information was obtained using 1% clotrimazole cream and solution formulations. Six hours after the application of radioactive clotrimazole 1% cream and 1% solution onto intact and acutely inflamed skin, the concentration of clotrimazole varied from 100 mcg/cm3 in the stratum corneum, to 0.5 to 1 mcg/cm3 in the reticular dermis, and 0.1 mcg/cm3 in the subcutis. No measurable amount of radioactivity ( < 0.001 mcg/mL) was found in the serum within 48 hours after application under occlusive dressing of 0.5 mL of the solution or 0.8 g of the cream. Only 0.5% or less of the applied radioactivity was excreted in the urine.
4.) To Harry_2K, if I recall correctly, you got your Fluconazole from an online pharmacy, correct? I have said many times, you cannot be certain what you order from an online pharmacy is real or not. The United States FDA found that 24 online pharmacies were selling counterfeit drugs. You can see the names of the websites that were selling fake presciptions at
http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/ ... 108904.htm. Also you can see the video below about it (sorry there is a 15 second commercial for soap before the actual video.)
<embed src='
http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews ... r-dest.swf' FlashVars='linkUrl=
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id= ... &salign=tl' allowFullScreen='true' width='425' height='324' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' pluginspage='
http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer'></embed>
5.) I'd have to disagree regarding generic brands being inferior to brand name drugs. The reason brand name drugs are so expensive is because the drug companies have to pay for all the marketing they do, not because the drug is better. The companies that make the generic drugs don't have this overhead, so they can sell the drugs at a cheaper cost. There have been many studies that show generic drugs to be just as effective as brand name drugs. I think the reason some drugs are effective for some people while not effective for others is really because not everyone responds exactly the same to the same treatment. Which leads me to.........
6.) I had a Candida infection in my esophagus. That is what caused my bad breath. But before I found that out, I went through all these things to try and cure my bad breath:
- I bought therabreath - (spent money, it did nothing)
- I bought oxyfresh - (spent money, it did nothing)
- I bought breathrx - (spent money, it did nothing)
- I bought special tongue cleaners - (spent money, it did nothing)
- I bought internal breath fresheners and chewed all kinds of gum - (spent money, it did nothing)
- I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed - (insurance covered it, it did nothing)
- I had my tonsils taken out - (insurance covered it, it did nothing)
- I was a vegetarian for 2 months - (no money lost but time wasted, it did nothing)
- I took PPIs (proton pump inhibitors) for GERD/Acid Reflux (insurance covered it, it did nothing)
- I tried charcoal capsules - (spent money, it did nothing)
- I had deep cleanings by my dentist (insurance covered half, I paid the rest, it did nothing)
- I was diagnosed with Candida, I took BioZole (I was cured)
Obviously, not all of you have bad breath caused by a Candida infection. But as you can see, I tried many different things before I found my cure. All of you will probably have to go through the same thing. It's all trail and error. I pray that some of you will be cured by antifungal medicine, because I really do think Candida infection is more common than doctors would have you believe. If you do indeed have a Candida infection and the antifungal medicine cures you of your bad breath then that's really great! If you take antifungal medication and you are not cured of your bad breath, then chances are your bad breath was not caused by Candida. But at least it's one more thing you can cross off your list! And the more things that are crossed off your list, the more time you can spend on finding the cause!