Candida, the silent and ignored KILLER!!!!!

Hello ATS,

I've recently been diagnosed with systemic Candida in my body, and I'm ever so grateful that I actually know what is going on with my body now and no longer have to get stressed out by why I felt so crappy all the time and couldn't figure out why.

What is Candida? Plain and simply its a yeast. It's found in each and every one of our intestines. When it is kept under control the body is fine and there are no issues. Now, when the Candida begins to grow out of control, it wreaks HAVOC on our bodies in almost every shape, way and form.

I can talk for hours about Candida so I'll try to keep this post brief and too the point; but I hope that people who read this will do their own research and possibly realize that they too are prisoners to a Candida overgrowth.

With me it started about a month ago after a shamanic healing plant journey where my intention was to better take care of my body and be given the tools and resources to do so. A few days later I stumbled upon Candida and I had an incredible urge to learn more. I haven't been to my eastern medicine doctor in quite some time so I made an appointment and voila! My body was completely overrun with systemic Candida and was causing NUMEROUS horrible side effects on my body. I had no energy, I would wake up and feel tired. I would be bloated after I ate and got heartburn. I have horrible athletes foot and fungus on my toenails all the time. Brain Fog, diarrhea, abdominal pain, hemorrhoids, inflammation all over my body, back pain, insane sugar cravings, low sex drive, poor memory and premature aging. Needless to say, it was time for something to give. The doc put me on a candida diet and some herbs to help kill the fungus; as well as a probiotic to replace all the missing good bacteria that should be in the gut and is not there at all.

For the past 3 weeks I have been experiencing crazy "die-off" symptoms, as the candida releases 70-80 toxins that are harmful to the body as it dies off. My body feels like I have a horrible flu; body aches, head aches and swollen/sore throat. This means that the treatment is working and that I will be back to normal here soon.

What I want to stress about Candida is that Western medicine pretty much IGNORES it and only throws pills at it (imagine that) which only make the Candida worse because the pills used destroy more of the good intestinal flora. The HORRIBLE American diet, which consists of nothing but toxic fillers where everything is processed and has too much sugar pretty much causes Candida in everyone who partakes in such an unhealthy diet. I've been eating clean and organic for over 4 years and my body still had it in it. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT go to a typical western doctor if you want to find out if you have candida. Find a homeopathic/eastern medicine doc who's job it is to CURE you, not throw pills at you to treat you for the rest of your life. This thread is not made to encourage debate on whether or not Western Medicine is worth the crap so please leave that debate for another post. I merely made this thread to try to open people's eyes to why they may be feeling like crap all the time and something that they might be able to do about it.


Here is just ONE of many different sources for excellent information about Candida
www.freefromcandida.com...

Peace and Blessings

a reply to: Imightknow

I wouldn't mind more information about the "toxins" released by candida. By my understanding, we live in harmony with candida. It's a natural part of our body's ecosystem. If you're experiencing major flu like symptoms, it may be well within your interest to watch them and make sure there isn't a more serious issue at hand here. I fully understand the importance of a good diet and lifestyle but there are cases where ignoring medicine can be dangerous. I'm reminded of a thread, I won't link here unless I'm asked because it's horrifying, of a woman who was diagnosed with skin cancer and was coached through the process of "removing the cancer" with black salve. Black salve is corrosive, her nose burned off and she needed thousands of dollars of cosmetic surgery. This same woman was coached by a naturopath to take an INTERNAL form of black salve, ended up sick in the hospital. These healers aren't regulated, neither are the supplements and herbs and advice available at sites like these. Please stay vigilant and don't cause yourself more harm than good, when you're looking for the best options available. I'm sorry to hear about your yeast infection, hopefully a change in diet helps.

This health.usnews.com... link has a few counterpoints to the link you've provided.


But this is a good outline of candida from a medical standpoint, it's good to know what could be caused by candida and what simply can't.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

a reply to: hearows

Thank you for your concern, I appreciate it.


Candida "die-off" is common when the overgrowth of candida in the body starts to die. The side effects vary from person to person, but it is very difficult and most people can only do it for a day or two and then stray back to sugar. I have two docs monitoring me and they both say it is normal to feel as crappy as I have been when the body begins to cleanse itself from the candida. They also have me on some liver herbs such as milk thistle to help the body combat these toxins. Three of them that are the worst apparetnly are ammonia, acetaldehyde and ethanol. Unreal what a nasty b@stard Candida can be.

shamanic healing plant journey

Okay.

I'm not saying your "discovery" is bull# but it has an odor of bull#.

If you feel the need to eat, live and love nature then knock yourself out. Don't diagnose your poor health choices as a disease.

a reply to: Imightknow

While the paper I linked does describe what an active candida infection is capable of doing to the human body, as far as I'm aware, it's generally unlikely to occur in otherwise healthy people. Generally it'll be seen in immunocompromised patients. Healers have their place, but shouldn't be diagnosing folks with a potentially serious illness without proof. A standard american diet and some stress could cause a minor vaginal yeast infection, but thrush, let alone a systemic issue, requires a certain level of compromise in the system. I don't know your personal health, you said there are doctors involved and I'm wondering if they're MD or not, and if it's a more serious condition than outlined by the link. I'd totally understand supplementing medical care with diet and other natural remedies, but I'm wondering what definition of candida overgrowth we're discussing here.


Oh. Nvm. You were diagnosed with candida overgrowth, as outlined by this link, not the standard medical version, by an "Eastern doctor". Well, that's new. It sounds a lot like a scam. While folks worry about the big pharma issues they'll throw their money at a snake oil salesman. It gets tragic when it merely delays treatment.

a reply to: highfromphoenix

Poor health choices? As I mentioned I've been eating organic and pretty much paleo for the past 4 years. The candida overgrowth was most likely caused by the Diflucan that my VA docs gave me numerous times in their effort to figure out what the issue was.


Your opinion of the healing power of spirit plant medicine is of no concern to me. I used to be a skeptic, HARDCORE, as well in my past.

a reply to: hearows

I appreciate your opinion of the "scam" of Eastern Medicine. I guess the results are what does all the talking in my life, not a corrupt system that makes $$$ of treating and never curing.

Candida, like most yeasts, give off a chemical aldehyde. In particular acetalaldehyde. Our bodies have genes that break down this chemical. The chemical is also created by the body when we drink alcohol. Another fermented product. This is responsible for many a hangovers. If levels remain high, it can damage the organs and parts of the brain.

Aldehyde dehydroginase is an enzyme that breaks this down. We have a gene called aldh 1+2 that form the enzyme and these are enzymes need the mineral molybdenum as a cofactor utilizing the MOCO genes to create the enzyme. So including some foods that have moderate amounts of this mineral in them will help take away the weapons of the candida.

Foods that have this molybdenum in them are any seed or nut, but often the mineral is bound. Wheat germ has it too, as does the wheat bran but they are somewhat bound too.

Oatmeal is a good source of Molybdenum too, not the instant kind though. Having oatmeal about twice a week should help. You can just take a multimineral with it in it too. Those lucky four leaf clovers are a good source too. But they don't have to be four leaf, three leaf is just fine. Cabbage has moderate amounts of this, use it to make soups and the bad parts are neutralized.

If you can detox the weapons, it helps our body to moderate the candida so it doesn't overgrow. Then there are ways to kill the candida to keep it in check, even the caffeic acid in coffee or potatoes can help a little with that. So make sure to have coffee with that cinnamon roll. A cinnamon roll with real apple and cinnamon in it, one you make yourself with a regular yeast, not the rapid yeasts. Bread contains the excretions of yeast too, but yeast does create some useful vitamins in the right form. Waging war and killing all of these creatures is not wise, they should be there in moderation to form a good gut flora. Killing them too fast can make you feel like crap too.

a reply to: rickymouse

Thanks for the info!

I am taking a 10 strain, 30 billion probiotic in conjunction with the candida diet to make sure I have friendly flora in the gut. The anti-fungal meds I took definitely killed them all off. One would THINK a western doc would recommend taking probiotics while taking a poison such as Diflucan, but that's hoping for too much.

I have had this problem as well. I carried around a candida overgrowth in my sinuses for about 4 years. I went to doctor after doctor - all MDs and two of them specialists in internal medicine. They all said I was having cluster headaches and gave me a tank of oxygen to haul around and suck on when I got the headaches (oh my gravy - the worst headaches imaginable!). The thing was, the O2 never helped. I would just have to go to bed until the headache improved.

Then I started having major issues with my ear. I went to an ENT (first time to ever see an ENT) and I mentioned the headaches and sinus drainage that accompanied them when he was reviewing my medical history. He sent me over to the hospital for a CT scan of my sinuses and the sinus behind my right eye was all full of stuff.

Of course, the ENT assumed it was bacterial infection and put me on a month-long round of super duty antibiotics. The ear became worse - it hurt non-stop and it got to where I couldn't hear out of it at all. So the ENT decided to put a tube in that ear. He poked the hole in my eardrum to insert the tube and yeast came pouring out. He put me on diflucan (no help at all) and gave me these wicked burning anti-fungal ear drops. The drops hurt worse than the initial problem, so I found some really good, high-quality probiotics and I take them still.

It still amazes me just how long I carried that crap around in my head and it still amazes me that none of the doctors I saw specifically for the headaches never caught the real problem. And when they did find the problem, yes, they just threw pills at it rather than recommending something as simple as a good probiotic.

And yes, OP, the die-off symptoms are almost as bad as the overgrowth itself. Hope you get better soon

a reply to: DustbowlDebutante

Thank you for the well wishes

So did you end up treating yourself for candida overgrowth as well?

a reply to: Imightknow

I saw the thread title and read it as. . "Canada, the Silent Killer!"

Annd thought to myself, finally! Those evil Canadians are getting exposed!

But instead I got an education.

Thanks for an illumative thread.

(though Canadians are still evil. . . )

Be sure to include watercress in your diet. It's the healthiest veggie on Earth.

Watercress

a reply to: Imightknow

Yes, I ended up self treating after a few days of those ear drops from hell and the diflucan that was no help at all.

I took a ton of high quality probiotics and lots of garlic supplements (garlic is an anti-fungal). It was probably a month or so before I was back to feeling good again. The die-off symptoms in the meantime, though....yes, it feels like the flu. It is awful.

a reply to: Imightknow

So by your own admission, ever since this "doctor" put you on this "treatment plan", you've only gotten sicker. Three weeks now, you say? Sounds fantastic.

a reply to: [post=19262545]DustbowlDebutante[,

Thank you, for sharing your success story with probiotic use as it gives me hope. What probiotic brands / strains would you recommend?

a reply to: AdmireTheDistance

So if you were to do 45 seconds worth of research, you wouldn't have posted that question because you would have known that it is perfectly normal. Every person's experience is different depending on how bad the Candida got. Ya I know it's NOT the easy answer western docs give, where they treat everyone the same.

a reply to: Imightknow

People swear to me that 2 spoons of quality apple cider vinegar 2 times a day with glass of water clear all candida in 1 month

a reply to: MensaIT3

I love apple cider vinegar and I have been taking braggs for years now.

Obviously I came down with a very bad candida overgrowth, so I can't attest to that. Now, if someone was on the candida diet and taking ACV then who knows? I'm still taking it now but i'm also taking numerous other anti fungal herbs such as oregano oil and Pao D'arco; so when it's gone I can't let the ACV take all the credit

That being said, implementing ACV (organic) daily will result in numerous health benefits.

originally posted by: Argosnaut
a reply to: [post=19262545]DustbowlDebutante[,

Thank you, for sharing your success story with probiotic use as it gives me hope. What probiotic brands / strains would you recommend?

I like Threelac and Ultimate Flora. The Threelac is a powder that tastes like lemon and it's pretty gentle. The Ultimate Flora (I use the Critical Care formula or the formula for just women) really packs a punch and I notice the effects immediately. But if you've got a really bad case of candida, I would start out slow so that the die-off symptoms aren't so overwhelming. My first attempt with the probiotics was too aggressive and I thought I was going to die from the die-off symptoms, so I eased back a bit and it got better soon after. Also, when candida starts dying and releasing all of those toxins, it's hard on the liver, so....maybe better not to overload the liver with all of that at once.

Just my opinion, and I'm certainly not a doctor. If you google "candida overgrowth infection" you can pull up lots of informative websites and entire forums dedicated to this health issue.