Isn acidophilus as effective as nystatin?
No. Acidophilus is what people call a “probiotic.” The theory is you introduce “good” bacteria into the gut to fill in the space that the bad bacteria and yeast used to occupy. Unfortunately, this does not work in practice. Laboratory studies actually show that acidophilus helps yeast to grow. In my experience, patients often have some slight improvement when they start acidophilus, because it clears another bad bug called “clostridia.” Then, the patient gets worse as the acidophilus is continued, because the acidophilus is helping the yeast grow. I do not recommend it long term (more than 2 weeks).
