You medical doctor may well prescribe an antifungal drug if he or she suspects a fungal infection, and a drug of this nature will only be prescribed if a fungal infection is diagnosed after a swab is returned positive. Here are the four common “zole” drugs your doctor may prescribe but I’d also like to mention another drug called Nystatin which doctors may recommend for yeast infections, especially natural medicine doctors. Nystatin was popularized in the 1980’s by Dr. William Crook who wrote extensively on its use for candida yeast infections. It is important for you to remember that you do have options when it comes to Candida yeast infection treatment, and don’t have to resort to these pharmaceutical Zole drugs either. There are many natural medicine options to pharmaceutical drugs, options that don’t include side-effects. Keep reading yeastinfection.org, the internet’s best resource of information on yeast infections.

Before I continue with this article, you should know I've recently compiled a list of science-backed ways to get rid of candida yeast infections. You can download my free Candida Report here if you haven't yet.

Here are the four key antifungal pharmaceutical drugs:

1. Intraconazole – Weakest
2. Ketaconazole –  Medium
3. Fluconazole –    Strong
4. Fungizone –      Strongest

1 – Itraconazole (Sporanox) appears to be at least as potent as ketoconazole and some say may be as good as fluconazole, but not in my opinion. It needs stomach acid to be absorbed, so it should be taken with food. The dose is 200 mg per day. If not enough drug is being absorbed, blood levels may need to be checked so the dose can be increased. An Itraconazole oral solution is more effective and puts higher levels of the drug in the blood than the capsule.

2 – Ketoconazole (Nizoral) is taken at 200 or 400 mg once per day. It also needs stomach acid to be absorbed, so it should be taken with food. Antacids should be avoided. It may not be well absorbed in people with digestive problems or who cannot eat very much.

3 – Fluconazole (Diflucan) is taken at 200 mg the first day, then 100 mg once a day thereafter. Treatment typically lasts from ten days up to two weeks for oral or skin candidiasis and three weeks for esophageal infection (or two weeks after symptoms clear up, whichever is longer). The dosage may be increased to 400 mg daily whenever the reduce serving does not work. I have found this drug to be quite hard on the digestive system, particularly the stomach and liver and can make some who take it quite nauseous indeed.

Studies suggest that fluconazole is more effective than ketoconazole, and I can vouch for the effectiveness of Diflucan in the clinic, it certainly works for many, but is not always successful because like most drugs the causes are never really addressed adequately by the doctor. Some doctors still prefer to treat aggressive fungal infections with other drugs in order to save the potent fluconazole for later use, if necessary.

You will definitely need to consider an effective probiotic for many weeks, 2 times a day – when you wake up and when you sleep, after you take this drug. Resistance to fluconazole is well documented, and once it develops, then treatment options are very limited. In addition, I highly recommend that you naturopath prescribe you a liver supplement for three weeks to clear any Diflucan drug residues from your liver. It will make you feel much better, try it and you will see, this is my experience after having seen many hundreds of women over the years who have been treated with this strong anti-fungal drug. A good herb to take after Fluconazole is St Mary’s thistle, ask your herbalist. Imagine now how ridiculous it is for a woman to take Diflucan once per week for years on end, this is exactly what one of my patients did. Yeast is clever and will develop resistance, and over time will become increasing virulent in strength and more difficult to eradicate.

4 – Fungizone This potent drug is also known as amphotericin B, and is injected directly into a vein via injection or the patient is placed on an intravenous drip in the hospital system. It is used to treat severe disseminated candidiasis when other systemic therapies fail or when the infection is likely to be very aggressive. This drug used to be the standard treatment for systemic or serious fungal infections and the treatment phase lasted for 8-12 weeks, but often gave quite severe side effects including extensive kidney damage and anemia. People are now usually given amphotericin B until they start to improve, usually for only two weeks, and then they are switched to fluconazole at 200-400 mg per day for about ten days. If you have had any intravenous anti-candida treatment then listen up, make sure you book in to see your Naturopath or nutritionally orientated doctor for some cleansing and rejuvenating treatments. You will pick up much faster and reduce your chances of a recurrence of any yeast related problems. Ask for a liver and bowel detoxification program as well as an extensive probiotic treatment regime. Just do it, you will be glad you did.

I’ll leave you with these wise parting words:

“Doctors give drugs of which they know little, into bodies, of which they know less, for diseases of which they know nothing at all. Voltaire