Candida

[Lexi]

I have been battling with Candida for about 6 months now. I have wrote for advice several times. I tried Candex, but don't seem to be having much success with it. My Doctor prescribed the generic for Diflucan, but I have yet to take it because I am afraid of the side effects. I am wondering if I should just go ahead and take it, but keep taking the candex with it. It seems better to go the natural way, but my husband thinks I should just take what the doctor prescribed because it would be stronger. Or, should I try Caprylic Acid this time? But what I am wondering is if Candida weakens your immune system even more?? I have been sick constantly! I have had flu bugs, stomach bugs, teeth problems, terrible muscle pain, and many other Strange ailments. Is this all because of the Candida?

[AliB]

Hi Lexi.

You haven't given any more info about your situation - your diet etc., so it is difficult to make any kind of real suggestions, but I would say that unless you change your diet to make the environment uncomfortable for the Candida or any other pathogenic microbes, anything you take will be only a temporary knock-back to the beasties.

The problem with drug-based treatments is that they are not usually a total success. Many find that although they feel better for a while, eventually the Candida comes back with a vengeance, and any further treatment with the same drugs does not necessarily have the same success because the beasties become resistant to them. That is probably why the Candex isn't working. The same thing happens with antibiotics which is why we are getting so many drug-resistant bacteria around now.

If, however, you change your diet you are then limiting their food source so they have no choice but to die back. They may initially go in search of other food but if you can stick at it you should be able to get the upper hand over them eventually. Supplemental aids can help but you need to take a many-pronged approach to battling Candida. The supplements on their own will not be enough and if you are still consuming foods that will feed them, once you stop the supplements, it will all just come back. Taking the treatments or supplements without changing your diet is counter-productive and a waste of time and energy.

I know its tiresome, but there is just no easy way around it. Things like antibiotics have robbed many of us of a decent gut flora - flora which ordinarily would have protected us against these microbes. It is only by changing our diet that we can hope to restore the gut flora, but that does not happen overnight sadly - if it did, I would have beaten them years ago. It is only now that I have finally realised the damage that the modern drugs and foods have been doing to my body all these years.

I follow the Specific Carbohydrate Diet but I also incorporate some good Candida protocols into my diet like Coconut oil (a natural source of Lauric and Caprylic Acid), which destroys them by breaking down the cell structure so they can't become resistant to it (see the links below). 'Healing by Bee' is a good Candida-diet based website and Bee is a fountain of knowledge on all things Candida.

I know what it is like - I have been battling the beggars myself for the last 40-odd years but through now being gluten-free and following the SCD and making sure that my diet contains little sugar and is low-carb and devoid of anything processed or mucked about with, I am finally getting to grips with them. I had a Colonic recently and that cleared a lot out but I will go back for another 3 or 4 sessions just to make sure.

I am sure that having a sluggish digestive system is a big contributor. If your body can't get rid of the waste and toxins fast enough then the beasties get the chance for a great feast. They then produce plenty of toxins of their own which contributes to the problem and your body starts to 'back up'. The toxic by-products then start to come out in other ways, contributing to other health issues.

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