A growing number of women suffer from chronic health disorders that seem to defy treatment, with problems ranging from vaginitis to migraines and depression. Now, hope is at hand in the completely revised and updated The Yeast Connection and Women's Health. Included is vital information on prescription and nonprescription antifungals, lifestyle changes, dietary modifications, and nutritional supplements—all presented in easy-to-understand language with real examples of women who restored vibrant health to their lives.

William G. Crook, MD received his medical education at the University of Virginia, the Pennsylvania Hospital, Vanderbilt, and Johns Hopkins. He is the author of over a dozen books and numerous articles in medical and lay literature.

Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, received her medical degree from Dalhousie Medical School in Nova Scotia, and her degree in naturopathic medicine from the Ontario Naturopathic College. She has practiced integrative medicine since 1979.

Elizabeth B. Crook is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and Tennessee State University. Currently, she works on behalf of women’s health issues as a consultant to physicians, nutritionists, and other health-care professionals.

Foreword
Introduction
Acknowledgments

Part 1—Overview
1.  Are Your Problems Yeast Connected?
2.  Candida Questionnaire and Score Sheet
3.  Yeasts—What They Are and How They Make You Sick
4.  Why You May Develop Yeast-Related Problems
5.  Why Women Are More Affected Than Men
6.  The Diagnosis of a Yeast-Related Disorder
7.  Psychological Factors
8.  The Yeast Connection Controversy and Why It Continues
9.  Getting Help for Your Yeast-Related Problems
10.  Special Message to Physicians

Part 2—Yeast Related Problems That Affect Women
11.  PMS
12.  Vaginitis
13.  Endometriosis
14.  Vulvodynia

Part 3—Yeast-Related Problems That Affect More Women Than Men
15.  Headaches
16.  Depression
17.  Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and Hypothyroidism
18.  Interstitial Cystitis
19.  Chemical and Mold Sensitivities
20.  Infertility
21.  Sexual Dysfunction
22.  Autoimmune Disorders

Part 4—Yeast-Related Disorders That Affect Both Sexes Equally
23.  Food Allergies and Sensitivities
24.  Asthma/Allergies
25.  Sinusitis

Part 5—Steps You’ll Need to Take to Regain Your Health
26.  Dr. Crook’s 10-Step Program to Regain Your Health
27.  Diet
28.  Prescription Antifungal Medications
29.  Nonprescription Antifungals
30.  Lifestyle Changes
31.  Eating Right
32.  Nutritional Supplements

Part 6—The Yeast Connection and Your Weight
33.  Understanding the Weight Connection
34.  Get the Weight Off—and Keep It Off
35.  An Inspiring Success Story

Concluding Comments
About the Authors
Index

"This book makes a compelling case for how a basic excess of yeast in the human body is systemically destroying our chances at healthier lives." 

If I told you that there is a fungus trapped in your intestines that produces 180 chemical toxins that are capable of shutting down your thyroid, throwing your hormones off balance and causing you to crave sugar and alcohol—all of which would also make you put on weight—would you believe me?

Chances are you would find all of this hard to believe. If this is true, why isn’t this devastating condition and its cascade of consequences making headlines? At the same time, why isn’t every high-tech research lab in the country frantically searching for a cure? Yet this problem, faced by millions of women, is kept under wraps, hidden in plain sight.

Many physicians are unaware of the extent of the problem or what to do about it. Many have even told women that their yeast-related problems are “all in your mind.” In reality, the yeast problem is so extensive and so devastating that we have updated this book and included a completely new section on excess weight and the yeast connection.

All of this expands on the life’s work of one extraordinary man. Dr. William Crook, “Billy” as his friends knew him, was an unusually kind and caring physician, exactly the type of physician you’d be delighted to find after shuffling from doctor to doctor in search of answers to your health problems. These may be problems that have plagued you, perhaps for years, with no one offering you the solutions you need—and which are available—as I said above, “hidden in plain sight.”

Billy Crook was a humble and unassuming man. He withstood a great deal of professional ridicule and ostracism, which began in 1983 when he published The Yeast Connection, his first book on candida yeast and its potential for widespread destruction in the human body. Conventional medicine did not, and unfortunately still does not, fully understand the phenomenon of yeast overgrowth. However, doctors like Billy Crook persevered and brought hope to thousands of people desperate for answers.

In my years of conventional medical training, I was taught only that yeast causes vaginitis or it contributes to a life-threatening blood infection found in patients with advanced cancers or AIDS. Fortunately, during my naturopathic training in the early 1980s, I learned more about yeast overgrowth. Thus, from the time I entered practice, I treated yeast in my patients, often with remarkable results.

One day in 1986, I had the honor of being a guest on a Canadian television show, along with Dr. Crook. The 90-minute program was all about yeast. Astonishingly, the station tabulated 80,000 people trying to call in, all clamoring to ask questions. Talk about an unmet need!

After that show, I made sure that the treatment of yeast played an even greater role in my medical practice. By 1991, I had treated more than 2,000 cases and had begun to call yeast overgrowth “Crook’s Candidiasis.”

So what is this Crook’s Candidiasis? In the simplest of terms, this condition involves an overgrowth of yeast that has been stimulated by the excessive intake of sugar and the overuse of antibiotics. These two factors cause yeast to invade the GI tract and create leaky gut syndrome, as well as a yeast allergy and other widespread adverse reactions. (These terms will be part of your vocabulary by the time you’ve finished this book.)

The insidious increase in yeast-related medical conditions is directly related to the advent of antibiotics some 60 years ago. I’m not saying that antibiotics are a bad thing. However, the pervasive use of antibiotics for viruses, for which they are completely ineffective, and in our food supply has caused a condition known as dysbiosis—an imbalance of good and bad flora in the intestines.

Billy Crook was not seeking to have a medical condition named after him, although I believe everyone should use the term “Crook’s Candidiasis” as a tribute to his lifelong research, treatment and educational efforts on behalf of sufferers.

It was Dr. Crook’s life’s dream for this condition to be accepted by the medical community, and I’m honored to continue to carry his torch, to help this dream become a reality and to help millions of women with nowhere to turn.

Please enjoy this latest edition of The Yeast Connection and Women’s Health, including the new eye-opening section on weight problems and yeast overgrowth.

This updated book is dedicated to the memory of the remarkable Dr. Billy Crook, and to our readers who have the intelligence and perseverance to take control of their own well-being and find the solutions they need to bring them back to vibrant health.

Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D.