Candida

[Skittles]

Anyone diagnosed with candida and like to share your story with me please?

[foam]

I've got antibodies to it, most people with a leaky gut do

[Laura Wesson]

Anyone diagnosed with candida and like to share your story with me please?

I probably had a candida problem.  I was on long-term antibiotics, which can really mess up your gut flora, and I was eating a lot of sugar because it helped me have more energy when I was sick from allergies.  I saw an allergist who thought I might have dysbiosis.  He suggested antifungals, quitting the sugar, taking probiotics, etc. 

I started drinking pau d'arco, an antifungal tea, 3x/day.  A few hours after starting the pau d'arco, I got sick, and I stayed sick for about 7-10 days.  I was very wiped out, I felt unreal, my mind was hazy.  Then it cleared up.

I don't have an allergy to the pau d'arco, so I think this was a dieoff reaction from candida.  I've tried pau d'arco sometimes in the past when I was eating right and nothing happened. 

So I think there is such a thing as having a candida overgrowth in the gut.  But it's part of a larger picture, where gut microorganisms interact with the immune system. 

Gary Huffnagle has done research on gut flora and the immune system.  He gave rats an artificial Candida overgrowth in their guts, and observed that they developed inhalant allergies, when control mice didn't!  Apparently Candida produces prostaglandins that influence the human immune system. 

I also quit eating sugar except a very small amount with my morning caffeine and I've been eating lots of vegetables - lots of fiber is good for the gut flora.  And I've been lacto-fermenting fruits and vegetables. 

[mygutleaks]

I would recommended checking out the forum, Open Original Shared Link

 

It is more specific and Able900 created a strict diet that does work very well.  for me personally, I was diagnosed 2+ with C albicans via a CDSA stool test, and my doc prescribed Nystatin.  after many months on it, I am finally improving.  if you don't have access to a doc, they have suggestions on that forum - you can do a candida protocol 100% without ever stepping in to a doc's office.  however, I think Nystatin is good stuff - just make sure you take 3m units/day.

 

-MGL

[Dugudugu]

How can I find out if I am having candida?

[Laura Wesson]

How can I find out if I am having candida?

For me I figure I have too much candida if I drink pau d'arco, a candida killer, and I get sick (dieoff reaction). 

And if I drink pau d'arco and I don't get sick, I think I don't have much candida. 

[1desperateladysaved]

You can find a self assessment on line.  If you found you might have it there are ways to discourage its growth.  I know these from past experience with me and my son.  I got many of them through a book put out by Canary Connect.

 

Avoid sweeteners

Avoid yeast products

Avoid white vinegar

There is sugar in fruit, so do more vegetables and less fruit.

Take a probiotic:  There are some bacteria that are particularly good at ridding yeast problems find them and take them.

 

All of these, and probably more, were not totally effective at getting rid of the yeast infection.  My son ended up taking an anti-fungal recommended by an osteopathic doctor trained in Functional Medicine.  I had to cut out gluten, stop eating food I was intolerant to, begin enzymes, and finally showed signs of candida detox.

 

The doctors can do a stool tests to determine if yeast is a problem.  There may be other tests, but I am not aware of them.

[maggiesimpson]

Hi, skittles.

 

I am new to the anti-candida diet. I was just diagnosed with it last week and started the beginning of the diet a week ago. Looking at the symptoms for it, I think I have a lot of overlap between gluten intolerance and candiasis symptoms. I'm one of those people whose stomach would get bigger throughout the day as I ate or drank anything. I have constantly itchy skin and scalp.

 

This diet is limiting and takes some getting use to. I've already lost 9 lbs on it. On one website I found a cleansing diet and tried to start that, but I was absolutely starving because plant protein is not enough for me. That diet said to start with the allowed veggies, some oils, and herbs and seasonings. There are different diets all over the web. I had to add in animal protein. Eggs have to be antibiotic free (I would think the same would be true for chicken, but I haven't switched to that, yet). Pork is not allowed. I think that is due to the amount of toxins from the pigs overeating, but don't quote me on that. There are a few nuts that are allowed. I can have unsweetened almond milk and herbal teas. The only veggies not allowed are those with a high glycemic index or startch. So, no corn, carrots, potatoes, or certain squash. Then, the hardest ones for me have been no fruit (avocados are ok, and small amounts of lemon and lime are allowed to add flavor), and sweeteners. Only stevia and xylitol are allowed.

 

I am on an antifungal and take a high quality probiotic. I will soon be adding some essential oils to that regimen. My SIL works with them and is putting together some stuff that is specifically meant for getting rid of yeast and cleansing the liver, so it does not get overtaxed. I have been feeling some mild candida die-off symptoms, but nothing too bad. I also have a serious lack of energy and strength right now.

[Laura Wesson]

Gary Huffnagle writes in The Probiotics Revolution about the kind of diet that is good for gut flora.  He's a scientist who studies how gut microbes interact with the immune system.  I trust his thoughts on it because he's science-based.  There's a heck of a lot of speculation around about Candida, people self-diagnosing themselves with Candida, etc. 

It's gut microbes in general that are important, not just Candida. 

Gary Huffnagle advocates a lowfat diet, he says starchy vegetables are OK as long as you are getting plenty of fiber and not much sugar (better to eat potatoes rather than potato starch for example).  The fiber feeds good bacteria. 

I try to keep my fructose consumption down by eating very little sugar and not much fruit.  I think fructose tends to encourage Candida because it isn't absorbed into the body as quickly as glucose is, so it hangs around in the small intestine and feeds unfavorable microbes like Candida. 

As for tests, I don't know whether stool testing for Candida is valid.  I do think that getting sick after taking an antifungal suggests a Candida problem and that would be a good way to explore if you have a Candida problem - just try killing it with pau d'arco, caprylic acid, nystatin, etc. and if you don't feel bad initially while taking a Candida-killer, you probably don't have a problem. 

The advantage of that is that you can kill any Candida you have while deciding whether you have it

I haven't found any scientific support for the idea that avoiding carbs in general is a necessary part of an anti-Candida diet. 

[foam]

Candida releases a compound that causes you to produce pro inflammatory cytokines, some bacteria do this too, apparently streptococcus thermophilus widely used in Yoghurt's is one of these. Other bacteria do the opposite, bacterial balance and having the right species is about the only thing that can modulated your immune system, that's why they are so important (and the right diet to feed the right species).

 

Ginger is probably the most powerful and most tolerable way to drink an anti fungal. If you blend a full ginger into a litre of green juice, it'll mess up your candida for a good couple of days, it kills candida out to 20cm in petri experiments, which is just as good as the best anti fungal drugs like amphotericin b (except ginger will stay in your gut).  I've done a 30 day course of Diflucan and that stuff messes you up but it's not as effective as ginger or the anti parasite drug mebendazole which is also strongly anti fungal.

[Juliebove]

For me I figure I have too much candida if I drink pau d'arco, a candida killer, and I get sick (dieoff reaction). 

And if I drink pau d'arco and I don't get sick, I think I don't have much candida. 

That stuff did a number on me.  I think I am allergic to it.  Made my tongue increasingly numb each time I took it.  Foolishly I kept on taking it until the numbness began to spread down my throat.  I think that was the third dose.  Never again!

[Laura Wesson]

That stuff did a number on me.  I think I am allergic to it.  Made my tongue increasingly numb each time I took it.  Foolishly I kept on taking it until the numbness began to spread down my throat.  I think that was the third dose.  Never again!

That's weird.  Anyway, if one candida killer doesn't work for you, you can always try another.  Nystatin is a good one. 

I'm reluctant to take diflucan because it's absorbed and it's hard on the liver. 

[foam]

Yes Diflucan is a very harsh drug and from the papers I've read is almost worthless against Candida but it does work well against some other fungi, It certainly didn't work for me. 

 

Apparently the food grade antifungal Natamycin is much stronger and more effective than Nystatin and safe at pretty much any dose as it's not absorbed, However Natamycin is really only used as an anti candida in Europe where you can get it in 100mg capsules. Elsewhere you probably have to buy it from a Cheese making supply shop and divide it up yourself.

 

This one has a lactose filler but probably wont matter at doses in the milligrams

 

 Open Original Shared Link

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

Open Original Shared Link

[Laura Wesson]

Candida releases a compound that causes you to produce pro inflammatory cytokines

Candida makes prostaglandins that change the host's immune system: see Open Original Shared Link

I've also read that fungi can cause reactions via the innate immune system. It seems our bodies don't want to allow a decay process to start, so we have built-in immunity that wards off fungi - but that built-in immunity can be very irritating and pro-inflammatory.