In women, the symptoms will include any of the following; itching, soreness, swelling, unpleasant smell, and yellowish yogurty discharge. Other symptoms include, food allergies, chronic fatigue, digestive problems, weight gain, skin rashes, low sex drive, immune disorders, joint and muscle pain, headaches, menstrual irregularities, and depression.

Although not life threatening, yeast infections can lead to other problems like infertility if not checked early. Yeast infections should not be treated in isolation because often they are a sign that there is an imbalance in the body that is leading to these infections. In an ideal situation the body should be able to self regulate and keep these under control. Usually this imbalance can be brought on by stress, consumption of white or refined sugar, over refined food, chlorinated water, contraceptive pills antibiotic use and sufferers certain diseases like of diabetes are more prone.

A well balanced diet rich in vitamin D and Zinc is promoted by some doctors. Although it can be treated using pharmaceutical drugs, this is just but a temporary solution. It is importantly to target the problem from the root by helping your body to self-regulate. These drugs, like Nizoral and Diflucan, will actually kill off the good fungi that you need in your body as well as over load your liver. Their side-effects are not worth the fast results you will get.

But prevention is better than cure. Here are some of the simple ways you can adopt in order to be yeast infection free. They are simple and inexpensive and once implemented will be part of you. What's more, they will make you healthier overall and help you avoid other diseases.

* Avoid refined white sugar, including lots of candy
* Eat healthy well balance meals all the time
* Filter you water to remove chlorine. It kills the good fungus in your body and creates an imbalance and acidity in the body
* Reduce or avoid the use of antibiotics
* Limits foods containing these chemical colorings, flavorings, preservatives, stabilizers, emulsifiers; they stress out your immune system
* Avoid wearing pantyhose and tight fitting trousers and jeans
* Choose cotton underpants as they breath and whip away sweat form your body
* Use mild soap to bath that is without perfume
* Sanitary napkins are better than tampons for your period

A number of health researchers have found that yeast infections can be eliminated in a natural way. Here are a few of the ways that you can use to get rid of yeast infections without spending much while avoiding recurrences and bad side effects from expensive pharmaceutical drugs.

* Yogurt contains friendly fungus. Include yogurt in your diet everyday if possible. For the less squeamish you can also use plain unflavored yogurt to treat an active infection.
* Douching with vinegar will provide immediate relief from the burning and will usually suppress the bad fungus. The vinegar should be diluted and used once a day.
* Some herbal solutions of sage, raspberry can help stop the problem. Talk to your natural herbalist.

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