The Healthier Life
Recieve valuable daily health tips and advice FREE by email
The Daily Health
Nutrition and Healing
Search our database of articles.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Keyword Search
 
Digestive Problems

Candida: How To Cure Your Symptoms


Date: 01/08/01
 
An overgrowth of Candida, a yeast that lives in your gut, can result in a serious condition called candidiasis - which causes a range of symptoms including chronic fatigue, thrush, abdominal bloating, depression and, if left unchecked, can also result in irritable bowel syndrome. If many of the symptoms and factors listed below apply to you, it is likely that you're suffering from candidiasis...

An overgrowth of Candida, a yeast that lives in your gut, can result in a serious condition called candidiasis - which causes a range of symptoms including chronic fatigue, thrush, abdominal bloating, depression and, if left unchecked, can also result in irritable bowel syndrome. Although the condition mainly affects women, men are also at risk of developing candidiasis.

It is scandalous that conventional medicine still refuses to recognise Candida as a serious medical condition other than thrush. Especially as it can easily be cured simply by following a low-carbohydrate diet and taking nutritional supplements which stem the overgrowth of yeast.

Candida has now reached epidemic proportions because of the large amounts of sugar and refined carbohydrates we typically consume in our diets. This, in addition to the widespread use of antibiotics, the contraceptive pill and HRT, all increase your risk of developing a yeast overgrowth (W.G. Crook, The Yeast Connection, Professional Books, 1984).

The spread of Candida produces harmful toxins in your body and has a serious effect on your health. Candida albicans is a single-celled yeast (a kind of fungus) that is just one of several hundred species of micro-organisms living in your gut. Normally it poses no problem to your health, and is kept in check by beneficial gut bacteria, such as Acidophilus.

However, when the balance of your natural 'gut flora' becomes upset, due to poor diet, medication or prolonged stress, Candida can run riot throughout your body - causing candidiasis - with disastrous results.

The fungus changes from a single-celled organism to a thread-like 'mycelial' form, which penetrates your gut wall and enters your bloodstream. This makes your gut 'leaky', so that incompletely digested food molecules can enter your bloodstream and set off allergic reactions.

In your gut, Candida ferments sugary foods to produce carbon dioxide, which causes bloating and flatulence. It also produces alcohol and other chemicals that irritate the lining of your gut, so that it goes into painful spasms and is less able to assimilate food, leading to constipation or diarrhoea. These effects make Candida a major cause (although not the only one) of irritable bowel syndrome. And as it spreads through your body, Candida also produces increasing quantities of toxic by-products, which can cause a host of physical and mental symptoms (see the box opposite).

The debilitating condition that conventional medicine arrogantly refuses to accept!

Because the symptoms of candidiasis are so varied, for years conventional medicine has largely put patient's symptoms down to hysteria or malingering. Even today, whilst Candida is acknowledged as the cause of thrush, many doctors continue to ignore the fact that candidiasis is a 'real' medical condition.

Even those doctors who are more open-minded are likely to do no more than prescribe the anti-fungal drug Nystatin, perhaps with an antispasmodic, such as Lomotil, to reduce intestinal cramps. But both these drugs have side-effects such as blurred vision, dry mouth, and nausea -- and fail to get to the root of the problem.

If you suspect that candidiasis may be the cause of your health problems, you may want to get this diagnosis confirmed by seeking the advice of a qualified nutritionist or complementary health practitioner. A special low-carbohydrate diet and regime of nutritional supplements can provide relief within just days. It can take several weeks, however, to clear your system of the yeast and its toxins, re-balance your gut flora and repair your gut lining properly.

Deny Candida its favourite food by avoiding carbohydrates

Because Candida feeds on sugars, and all carbohydrates are digested to sugars, you can only defeat it by keeping to a low-carbohydrate diet and completely avoiding all sweetened foods, honey, fruit juices, dried and fresh fruit. Also avoid milk and dairy products (with the exception of organic butter), because of their high content of the sugar lactose and antibiotic residues.

In addition, cut out all foods that contain yeast, or have been fermented or pickled, since these encourage the growth of Candida. These include yeast extract, stock cubes, most bread, alcoholic drinks, cheese, black tea, and anything containing vinegar.

Eat plenty of salad, fish, poultry, meat and fresh vegetables (apart from the starchy ones like potatoes, parsnips and carrots). Try to obtain organic poultry and meat to avoid antibiotic residues.

When preparing meals, include liberal amounts of garlic, ginger and extra-virgin olive oil, and herbs such as rosemary, thyme, marjoram and lemon balm - which have strong anti-fungal properties.

Stop Candida in its tracks with effective nutritional supplements

If you are currently taking antibiotics, steroids, anti-ulcer medication or oestrogen for other medical conditions, talk to your doctor about how you might safely reduce or stop these. Start taking grapefruit seed extract (sold as 'Citricidal' by Higher Nature -- one capsule or ten drops in water, three times a day) to kill off the yeast. Alternatives are caprylic acid, which is derived from coconuts, or olive leaf extract.

Replenish your beneficial bowel bacteria by taking a supplement of Acidophilus that guarantees at least 2 billion viable organisms per capsule (this should be kept in a refrigerator).

Taking aloe vera juice, a tablespoon three times a day, will also help the good bacteria settle in and aid the healing of your gut lining - which can become damaged, irritated and 'leaky' as a result of Candida overgrowth.

Other supplements that aid this healing process are butyric acid (a fatty acid found in butter) and slippery elm (obtainable from herbalists as powdered bark). Take N-acetyl cysteine (500-1000 mg daily) which boosts your body's production of the amino acid glutathione and has powerful healing effects.

Fighting Candida is a battle you are guaranteed to win, simply by banishing carbohydrates and sugary foods from your diet, and by re-establishing healthy bowel flora with potent natural supplements. Be prepared for some worsening of your symptoms, headaches or nausea, for a day or two - this is a good sign, as it means your body is successfully eliminating large quantities of dead yeast cells and their toxins from your body, and that you're on the road to recovery.

Supplementing with milk thistle will help your liver break down these toxins, as will drinking plenty of water (drink at least two litres a day). You'll soon notice your symptoms disappearing and your 'brain fog' lifting - leaving you free to enjoy all that extra energy!

Are You Suffering From A Yeast Overgrowth?

If many of the symptoms and factors listed below apply to you, it is likely that you're suffering from candidiasis:

Bloating and discomfort, especially after meals.
Griping pains in your lower abdomen.
Constipation or diarrhoea.
Fatigue or muscle weakness.
Muscle or joint pains, or arthritis.
'Brain fog', feelings of unreality or memory loss.
Thrush, athlete's foot, ringworm or fungal infection of your nails.
Urinary tract infection or vaginal discharge.
Depression or tearfulness.
'Low' immune system and frequent infections.
Sensitivities to foods, tobacco smoke, chemical odours or perfume.
Antibiotics taken for more than one month or more than four times within 12 months.
Prednisolone or other steroid drugs taken for more than two weeks.
Anti-ulcer drugs (e.g. Zantac, Tagamet) taken for more than two months.
Birth control pill or hormone replacement therapy for more than two years.
Cravings for sugar, bread or alcohol.
Symptoms worse on damp, muggy days or in damp, mouldy places.
Does your doctor treat your gut like a medical experiment?

If you're fed up being treated like a guinea pig by your doctor, then get The Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Gastro-Intestinal Solutions Handbook instead.

This 232-page book is your guide to diagnosing, treating and eliminating your symptoms using the most effective treatments gathered from doctors and researchers reporting from around the globe.

Click here to find out more

Back to top

Click here to send to a friendShare thisPrinter friendly version



Post your comment

Name
 

Comment
(please add your comment
up to 1000 characters)
 

Email Address
(we will not publish this)
 




 Registered Office - Sea Containers House,
7th Floor, 20 Upper Ground, London SE1 9JD.

Agora Lifestyles Limited is registered in England and Wales
with company number 3303666 and VAT number GB 629 7287 94.

Copyright 2008 © Agora Lifestyles