Candida - the search for a cure.

The Search for a Cure

I am not a doctor and my search for a cure has lasted most of my life. Maybe I'll never find a cure...

What is interesting is that Candidiasis is not a recognized disease by the medical profession. I discovered it on my travels on the net. Below is a long article that includes extensive information on Candidiasis.

In my quest for a cure I have endured the following:

1. Diagnosis by Naturopath as wheat intolerance (in fact totally irrelevant)

2. Colonic irrigation therapy (short term relief)

3. Pau’darco natural bark (very temporary relief)

4. Antibiotics (temporary relief)

5. two gastroscopy examinations (inconclusive)

6. multiple prostatitis infections (source never identified by doctors)

7. diverticulitis infection (source a mystery)

The important questions remain unanswered. These being:

1. What percentage of the population suffers Candidiasis? It is hard to know because it isn’t a recognized disease.
2. It is also hard to know how many people who actually suffer from it are aware of what they are afflicted with.

My symptoms.

Extreme bloating and extended stomach. This reaction would usually follow any meal but some meals more than others. Bloating would be accompanied by extreme sensitivity to gut region so that any pressure on the gut is painful. This requires the unbuttoning of trousers at waist. Fatigue accompanying any bloating incident.

Food most likely to trigger fatigue would be starch content.

Drinks most likely to trigger bloating would be wine,beer,fruit juice, soft drinks, tap water.

Bloating may or may not be accompanied by burning sensation in stomach. Fever often accompanied bloating. Reflux may follow bloating. Bloating can occur at the beginning of a meal, preventing me from finishing a meal. It might occur at the end of the meal or it might eventuate hours after the meal.

Bowel movement usually provides temporary relief from the bloating.

Temporary relief can be obtained from a course of anti-biotics. Temporary meaning the symptoms will disappear for a few months but eventually return.

Another treatment I use is the monitoring of morning saliva in a glass of water. If the saliva develops a distinct downward spiral in the water, there is candida in the gut.
A teaspoon of epsom salts (yes you read correctly!) in mineral water (because it tastes slightly better than tap water) is enough to kill off the candida for a day. Repetition of this procedure seems to stave off the toxic effects of candida infection.

So What Is Candida?

"Candida albicans: A yeast-like fungal organism found in small amounts in the normal human intestinal tract. Normally kept in check by the body's own helpful bacteria, C. Candida albicans can increase in numbers when this balance is disturbed to cause candidiasis of the intestinal tract, or yeast infections of other parts of the body. C.

How does Candida become a Problem?

No, you don't get it in a bakery! Candida is a natural and beneficial yeast cell that lives in the intestinal tract. It is kept in balance by beneficial bacteria that also live there. But something happens in us that changes this natural helper.The beneficial bacteria is easily killed off today by our modern lifestyle changes. Fungal yeast, when set free from the flora that normally keeps it in check, actually changes form or "morphs" to create a more aggressive, harmful type of fungal cell and develops long, burrowing legs. Without bacterial balance this Candida yeast proliferates in our intestines. This new yeast cell is able to move throughout the body, actually burrowing through the intestinal wall. It clogs systems, gets into organs, causes Candida yeast infections from vaginal to anal to penile -- anywhere on the skin but more often in moist areas. It can even cause fungal sinus infections that cannot be helped by antibiotics.
We at Candida Support have heard just about everything from our customers after more than 4 years running this website! People write to us complaining about having Candida yeast infections in their ears, in their eyes and even on their scalps -making their hair fall out! When Candida presents in the mouth and on the tongue it's called thrush. Babies often get thrush in their mouths and it goes back and forth between their mouths and their mother's nipples.
How can this Candida yeast be so active? The fungal yeast cells in your body ingest the sugars and carbs you eat and then these same yeast cells eliminate alcohols and expel a large variety of poisons called mycotoxins (myco means fungal; toxins means poisons.) These Candida toxins create problems of their own throughout our bodies -- slowly poisoning us in varied and unique ways according to our individual vulnerabilities and lifestyle choices.
from Ann Brooch, N.D. (Naturopathic Doctor)
"You're not only dealing with Candida yeast overgrowth but also the fact that Candida albicans puts out 79 toxic by-products, all of which weaken your immune system. One of the major toxins produced from Candida albicans is acetaldehyde, which is transformed by the liver to ethanol (alcohol), creating the feeling of intoxication and brain fog. There have been cases where Candida patients have been pulled over and tested positive with elevated blood alcohol levels above normal."

When did Candida start becoming a problem?

Nobody can say when Candida started becoming a problem for people. Marti and I tend to think it has always been with humankind but has simply become much more prevalent in modern times as our eating and living habits have drastically changed. This change has encouraged the proliferation of this problem.

The BIG Change -Antibiotics!

One thing we at Candida Support believe for sure, the overuse of antibiotics is a huge factor in the number of Candida overgrowth problems. No other single factor creates this imbalance in our bodies as much as antibiotics. They kill off our beneficial flora (or "good" gut bacteria) without affecting the yeast cells. Without the good bacteria to keep the yeast in check, our intestinal tracts are vulnerable to Candida yeast overgrowth.
We not only kill off our gut protectors this way, but our the typical American diet is top-heavy in the perfect food for the yeast: sugar and refined carbohydrates!
From Healing Well.com, the Environmental Illness Resource:
"If the friendly bacteria are disrupted by any of the factors previously discussed, Candida can increase its numbers drastically and become a more dominant member of the "intestinal zoo". When this happens it spells trouble for the human host. As Candida is a yeast, it produces alcohol (ethanol) and acetaldehyde (this is the chemical responsible for the main symptoms of a hangover) as the major products of its metabolism. In healthy individuals alcohol can be detected in the blood from exactly this source but it is at a level that doesn't cause any problems as the bodies detoxification systems can cope with it. If, however, you have an overgrowth of intestinal Candida, the levels of alcohol entering the bloodstream are going to be greatly increased. In a study conducted by doctors at Biolab in London, UK, a number of chronically unwell patients were tested for blood ethanol levels an hour after ingesting a sugar solution. The study found the patients consistently had high blood levels of ethanol which the researchers concluded came from small intestinal Candida yeast overgrowth (7)."
Today's food industry packages "convenience" foods for long shelf-life and easy sales and shipping. The types of foods that fit into this model are highly processed and made mostly from refined sugars and carbohydrates. Refined carbs are not much better than sugar as they turn into sugar at an unnaturally fast rate once ingested.

Why is my Candida so difficult to remove?

Candida is a tenacious tenant in your body - one not easy to evict. When Candida becomes systemic, it can hide where traditional Candida treatment and therapies do not always reach: like our joints, organs, sinuses and other body tissues. Candida thrives on the foods that are a large part of the typical American/Western diet. These foods, particularly sugar and refined carbohydrates, also alter our body pH towards the acidic (acidosis), which sets up a perfect environment for ill health and Candida Yeast Overgrowth.
Taking antibiotics, steroids, or oral contraceptives can also trigger the change from good Candida to bad. Even the chlorine in our drinking water - there to kill harmful bacteria -also kills our beneficial bacteria. Stress contributes to the proliferation of Candida, and heavy metals like mercury and other toxins in the body encourage this fungal overgrowth phenomenon. Candida is also easily transmitted from close person to person contact when someone is "ripe" and susceptible (weakened with illness, overly acidic, using antibiotics).
Prescription drugs like Nystatin are becoming far less effective at combating the medical condition of Candida, and the other drugs being prescribed to fight Candida yeast, like Diflucan, carry the dangerous side-effect of possible liver damage. The creams for skin and intimate areas only provide temporary relief to the itching and skin rashes produced by this fungal yeast.

The Candida Doctor Vacuum

There seems to be a huge problem with Candida in our modern times. It's a funny "glitch" in the medical system. The medical doctors most often don't have the understanding to diagnose Candida. In fact, there is no medical specialty that deals with fungus in the human body! It's simply not taught.
Candida overgrowth in the body is not a "disease" that they can trace to a familiar pathogen.
Unfortunately, most people in western cultures rely on the modern medical model and take this type of problem to their M.D.s -- only to find frustration. We encourage anyone facing the conditions of Candida to seek a qualified natural healer who understands candida yeast overgrowth to work with them on their journey to regain wellness. We also encourage these practitioners to try ThreeLac for themselves, as they will find a far better Candida treatment in it than anything else they have been using.
Candida Treaments fall into 4 main categories

• Antifungals
• Enzymes
• Probiotics
• polysaccharides

Category 1: Antifungal Products

This group of products relies mostly on antifungal agents in its ingredient base. You will know them by specific label ingredients like caprylic acid, oregano oil, grapefruit seed extract, Pau D'Arco, olive leaf, coconut oil, garlic, black walnut, etc. These antifungals will send you into a spiral of "die-off" (so it seems like they are working!). This would actually be a good thing if the yeast were truly being eliminated for good! The problem with antifungals is they don't finish the job.
The Candida organism eventually builds an immunity to these antifungal ingredients. (This happens in much the same way insects becomes immune to insecticides.) There are even very expensive clinics that use a complex system where practitioners rotate antifungals every few days so that the yeast overgrowth can't adjust.
There are also synthetic, chemical antifungals like Diflucan, sporanox and Nystatin. They sometimes give temporary relief but neither do these drugs "finish off" the Candida -- they're not designed to do what is really needed, which is to restore balance in the body. Chemical antifungals also are very hard on the liver and are being made in ever-stronger doses. Diflucan, at it's inception, came out in 50mg tablets. It now comes in 200mg tablets! You can hear your liver run for cover! The 150mg tablets are 3 for $125.00! The synthetic antifungals are prescribed by doctors who learn about them from pharmaceutical reps.
One other type of antifungal is colloidal silver. This is a solution in which silver is suspended in water. Colloidal silver is an interesting product that has many uses. Topically it can help with nail fungus if you have enough of it to soak your nails every day. Internally we don't think it lives up to its claims. We own a "micro generator" and make our own micro particle colloidal silver for testing against Candida and other uses. Antifungals work only if the Candida infestation is relatively new and weak. By the time most people would have gotten as far as searching on the internet... it's too late.
With a name like anti-fungal you'd think this would be the just the thing to fight Candida yeast overgrowth, but we find them to be quite innefective at controlling Candida symptoms.

Category 2: Enzymatic Products

Enzymes work on the cell wall of Candida and can attack it most anywhere in the body. It's another good idea in theory. Certain enzymes do dissolve the type of cell wall common to these fungi
Candida is much too vigorous to be defeated by enzymes alone. The problem is that the "fungal factory" deep in the intestines keeps churning out new yeast cells. Enzymes by themselves can't effectively curtail this activity.
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Category 3: Probiotic (acidophilus) Products

Some probiotic products offer huge numbers of bacteria or are blended with herbs, enzymes or antifungals to make them "candida fighters".

Many probiotics are poorly designed.

With any probiotic you need to be sure of two things;

· 1. The friendly bacteria in them must be alive and kicking

There have been many studies of late regarding acidophilus-type flora -- perhaps you've read some of them. These studies find that most acidophilus you buy is dead or largely dead.
From a ConsumerReports study on probiotics: "• All products contained the major groups, or genera, of probiotic bacteria labeled, but seven supplements--four pills and three liquids--had far less than the amount claimed at the time of manufacture."

· 2. The bacteria must have some sort of guaranteed delivery system that gets them through the stomach without being digested and into the colon where they are needed. Always check the labels, most do not have any delivery system at all.

Category 4; Polysaccharide Products

There are some new products on the market touting the benefits of mushrooms. New scientific research has shown these mushrooms contain polysaccharides. These polysaccharides are sometimes called phytonutrients, glyconutrients or essential sugars.
The essential sugars are: Mannose, Galactose, Fucose, Glucose, Xylose, N-acetylneuramic acid, N-acetylgalactosamine and N-acetylglucosamine. A study of the ingredient labels show that these sugars are derived from a group of mushrooms that over 5,000 years of history are believed to be very healing. (These sugars are also found in lesser amounts in Aloe Vera).
There are many claims to a proven cure available on the net but I am extremely skeptical of these claims. I will not endorse any product.

Note:
Since posting this article, I have been diagnosed with diverticulitis which explains all the symptoms that I've been suffering for many years.