[healthenclave]

Well Fungal cells walls have ergosterol which we humans don't and that is a particular target site for many anti-fungals.

In some cases the fungal treatment is longer than usual eg: Nail infection, because it takes very long for the drug to reach the site. The treatment is around 3 months +

In most common opportunist fungal infections a few doses of anti-fungal does cure and treat the infection.

Also most Healthy individuals don't get infected with Fungus in the First Place even if they eat what ever crap with Anti-fungal substances (in your case lemon with pesticides)

Because our body defense is usually good enough to ward off fungal infections in the first place. Actually a very handful of fungal species are able to infect Healthy people.

And the article is a little Sensationalist as the disease is endemic and common to SW USA.

[graycat]

> In some cases the fungal treatment is longer than usual eg: Nail infection, ...

I believe I got that and roughly beat it! It only took a few years!

Doing some rough carpentry, I dropped a 2 x 4 on my left big toe. No big pain. But later it appeared that I had cracked the nail. Later the nail began to crumble -- likely a fungus among us!

Eventually the nail crumbled its way nearly all the way back to the white part.

I got some anti-fungus cream, generic, big tubes, from Wal-Mart. So, I'd put a tablespoon of this cream on the nail, wrap up the toe with a piece of paper towel, secure it with whatever tape was handy, and f'get about it until after a shower, etc. and then repeat the procedure.

More than once the nail grew out again but was infected with the fungus. We're talking years here!

Finally I got lucky and the nail grew out apparently healthy.

Then there was another problem: The inside edge of the nail was a long way from growing out so grew against flesh giving me an ingrown toenail. Okay, been there; done that! So, slathered on some Wal-Mart generic triple anti-biotic cream, wrapped it up, and waited months until the end of the nail grew out past the flesh. Yes, the end of the nail was ugly with blood and dead flesh! Ah, soap and water! But there was no bacterial infection from the ingrown nail, and no fungus infection.

Now the nail is nicely grown out with little or no evidence of crumbling from a fungus infection.

So, I killed the fungus with just topical medicine and not some internal medicine that might damage my liver.

But, given the slow rate of nail growth, a case can take years!

The anti-biotic cream seems to be strong stuff: Once got some on my socks, washed my socks, and too soon saw sewage bubbling up in my backyard. Yup, the anti-biotic cream had sterilized my septic tank! So, flush a box of Rid-X or whatever, and the septic tank has been healthy ever since.

[healthenclave]

LOL glad you have your toe nail back. The treatment would have been much faster had you taken Oral Anti-Fungal Meds.

I understand your concern but if you read the side effects even Aspirin has a TRUCK LOAD of 'em. But most of the serious side effects are extremely rare.

On a related note people complain about Side effects of Meds all the time (and Rightly so) but continue to live un-healthy lifestyles (smoke, loads of Alcohol, Trans Fat, etc) which is a little Ironic :)

[uxp]

> On a related note people complain about Side effects of Meds all the time (and Rightly so) but continue to live un-healthy lifestyles (smoke, loads of Alcohol, Trans Fat, etc) which is a little Ironic :)

I really hate this argument. Life is not binary. That statement is not ironic.

I might want to be a healthy individual, but I'm not required to go on a raw food vegan or paleo diet in order to do. Griseofulvin or it's friends, however, is designed to cure an infection, and taking it does not require me to quit eating sugars, carbs and alcohols or stop smoking, rock climbing or breaking the speed limit on the highway.

[caf]

Aren't topicals that are absorbed through the skin also broken down by the liver?

[graycat]

I don't know.

Or maybe after all the topical I used, enough was absorbed that in effect I had internal medication. Or, I used enough topical to kill all the fungus in my shoes, socks, etc. so that the next time the nail grew out there wasn't any fungus. It does appear that there was some infection on other nails on the same foot. I never put topical on those other nails, but they have cleaned up, as they have grown out, along with the nail on the big toe that finally grew out healthy.

For a liver, supposedly one of its main roles is to get rid of molecules it doesn't like to see, possibly including anti-fungus molecules.