Polly is celebrating her return to health after an intense struggle with yeast-related problems that made her life miserable for ten years. Here’s her story:

I am jogging. I hiked up to 10,500 feet last weekend and jogged back down. I can read the newspaper without sneezing. I can go down into my basement and look at old moldy comic books. I have energy with only 7 or 8 hours of sleep. The list goes on and on. All of these things seem small if you’re healthy, but yeast-related problems had kept me from doing the things I love for ten years. The way I feel today, it’s as if the last 10 years of my life never existed.

In those ten years, I lived in a fog of fatigue, a multitude of digestive problems, a long list of allergies that got stronger every year, asthma, bronchitis on and off for 4 or 5 years, plus a continual vaginal discharge, pain with intercourse and a complete loss of interest in sex.

I had been an athlete as a child and I loved being active. Over the years, I grew weaker and weaker until sports and hiking were out of the question. Eventually, I had to quit my job because I simply no longer had the energy to go on.

Then a copy of The Yeast Connection Handbook fell into my hands. I recognized my own symptoms and my own pain in the stories Dr. Crook told in the book.

The anti-candida program wasn’t easy, but I was so miserable, I knew I had little choice. I followed the diet and started on a regimen of Diflucan, nystatin, probiotics, and a good vitamin/mineral supplement.

I haven’t cheated much. I am feeling so incredibly good, I don’t want to take any chances.
My advice to others who have suffered with yeast-related problems? The diet is a piece of cake, so to speak, once you’ve been on it for a few weeks. If you honor yourself and stick to it very stringently, the rewards far outweigh the things you give up. It keeps getting easier, so stick with t. I have my life back and it was really worth it!

While you're here, read an excerpt from The Yeast Connection and Women's Health.