hey-
i just stumbled across this site and thought i'd join- it's great to have a group of people who understand what i'm going through and don't just assume i'm a hypochondriac with all my problems.
my name is Aileen, i'm 26 and i self diagnosed myself with candida about 5 months ago.
when i was younger - 16 i had celiac disease, which is a severe intolerance to gluten (and though they've been studied and suspected to be connected there havn't been confirmed connections between the two).
anyhow, about 8 months ago my lips started to swell, get really red, itchy, sore- look like clown lips, i tried one thing after another and eventually i got to the point where i could get them back to normal and then a week or so later they'd flair up again (i was using tea tree oil, vitamin e oil, and a&d diaper rash ointment)- eventually through internet research i found that it was a symptom of candida which also explained other symptoms i was having- unsatisfying sleep, extreme fatigue, killer heartburn, sore muscles, stomach irritations, severely dry hair and skin and much more.
i searched more and my heart sank as i read about the available treatments, I'm far from rich- i don't even have health insurance, i can only afford to spend 30$ on groceries each week- and after having been on a gluten free diet for most of my young adult life i knew first hand how expensive it could be- not to mention bothersome, having to take my own food everywhere i went.
i kinda just figured I'd let it go, since i couldn't afford to treat it, but then i read about all the bad things that can happen when candida is left untreated... so i searched, forums and yahoo, and webmd, everything. i came across a site called global health trax that had a product that CLAIMED to treat candida without any diet. there were several products recommended but i could only afford the main product which was called threelac. I ordered it- and it came in the mail. i tried taking it the way they recommend (which is to let the powder dissolve in your mouth and then drink water) but i couldn't handle the chalky lemon taste so i started mixing it with my milk in the morning. within a week i started noticing a difference, for one thing- i wake up at 9:30 every morning now, weather or not i have to, cause I'm not tired anymore, before i could sleep for 11 hours and still not wanna get up and be falling asleep all day. then i noticed my energy level increasing - i didn't have to sit down after climbing the stairs to the second story of my house anymore, and i could workout again! one by one, my symptoms started getting better, and as the box suggests i upped my dosage of threelac, i now take two packets each morning- and after next month i'm gonna up it to a product called fivelac (which is supposed to be even better).
i don't sell threelac, i don't benefit at all if you buy it- i'm just so incredibly thrilled to have found a fix for the problems that i couldn't ever get rid of before.

and if you're wondering about my lips- they are still touch and go- now i use nystatin on then in the morning and evenings, and a&d still when they get really dry, and for my lips i only use Vaseline or burts bees chap-stick. they are still extremely sensitive to infection if they get something on them but the healing time now is just a few days to get them back to normal and not a few weeks.

i hope this helps at least one person- and i'd love to hear from anyone else who's got the lip thing (especially if you got rid of it 100%)

God Bless
--aileen