Candida

When Lynne and I first started working together she had many vague and troubling symptoms – fatigue, often sick with colds, flus and other upper respiratory conditions, constipation and diarrhea, chronic pain, emotional upsets – the list was pretty extensive. We worked through balancing different functions in her body including food allergies, adrenal stress, brain chemistry, etc. Everything made a positive impact, but still she did not feel quite right.

We found that Lynne was positive for candida after doing a GI Health Panel. We began an eight-step program for treating candida overgrowth. Lynne threw herself into the program and really applied all of the recommendations. She reported that she felt a gradual transformation. It was like she was uncovering the sense of her real self – back again after many years.

Even though the work was not easy, Lynne was happy that she had finally found out what was happening for her and that she had worked through the comprehensive program to successfully rebalance her body.

What is Candida?

Candida is a pervasive problem that can sap your energy and wreck havoc with your moods. Candida albicans is a yeast that normally lives in the body in the inner warm creases and crevices of the digestive tract and in the vaginal tract of women. Under stressful conditions, through the overuse of antibiotics, damage to the intestinal tract or due to immune system depression, C. albicans can overgrow. Yeast cells, particles of yeast cells, and various toxic by-products of yeast metabolism can enter general circulation and significantly disrupt body processes.

The result is chronic candidiasis, leading to a wide range of symptoms affecting almost every system of the body - especially the gastrointestinal, genitourinary, endocrine (hormonal), nervous and immune systems. Due to the effects of estrogen, birth control pills, and a higher number of prescriptions for antibiotics, women are eight times more likely to experience chronic candida than men.

Since virtually any body system can be affected, chronic candidiasis can trigger a multitude of symptoms. Patients say they feel “sick all over.” Fatigue, allergies, immune system malfunction, depression, chemical sensitivities, and digestive disturbances are just some of the symptoms that suggest candida.

Those with chronic candidiasis are typically stuck in a vicious cycle. With regard to the immune system, a triggering event such as antibiotic use or nutrient deficiency can lead to immune suppression, which allows Candida albicans to overgrow and become more firmly entrenched in the lining of the gastrointestinal tract.

Once the organism attaches itself to the intestinal cells, it competes for nutrition with intestinal cells and ultimately the entire body – robbing the body of vital nutrients. In addition, Candida albicans secretes a large number of mycotoxins and antigens. Candida albicans is referred to as a “polyantigenic” organism because over 79 distinct antigens have been identified. Because of this tremendous number of antigens, an overgrowth of Candida albicans greatly taxes the immune system.

How do I Know if I Have Candida?

The only way is to test for Candida. The more of the following symptoms you have the more important it is that you find out conclusively if you have candida and treat it with a comprehensive treatment plan.

• Chronic fatigue or lethargy
• Feeling of being drained
• Loss of energy
• General malaise
• Headache
• Decreased libido
• Numbness, burning, or tingling
• Muscle aches, weakness, or paralysis
• Dizziness, loss of balance
• Pain and swelling in joints
• Craving for foods rich in carbohydrates or yeasts such as high sugar foods, bread and alcoholic beverages
• Depression
• Frequent mood swings
• Inability to concentrate
• Feeling spacey or unreal
• Spots in front of the eyes
• Poor memory
• Erratic vision
• Nasal congestion or discharge
• Postnasal drip
• Nasal itching
• Sore or dry throat
• Cough
• Pain or tightness in chest
• Wheezing or shortness of breath

What to do

If your symptoms suggest candida, follow up with a reliable test for candida that can conclusively reveal its presence.

Candida Treatment

If you find out that you do have candida problems – what can you do about it?

There are many, many recommendations that are popular for treating candida. Over the counter quick fixes abound. Following these popular recommendations could leave you with poor nutritional choices, unbalanced mood and energy, confused, and probably still with candida.

There really isn’t any single magic bullet that can immediately eliminate chronic candidiasis and restore healthy functioning to the body. Instead a comprehensive approach involving lifestyle, stress management, exercise, diet, nutritional supplementation, glandular therapy and the use of herbal medicines can be used.

It is popular these days to treat known and suspected Candida problems with a variety of anti-yeast products and some version of an anti-yeast diet. The error with this approach is that if you really have a candida problem, using an anti-yeast product is only one of eight crucial steps that you need to take to resolve your yeast problem and return your system to optimal functioning.

To successfully treat candida problems with a nutritional approach, I use an Eight-Step Process that has distilled the many possible candida treatment recommendations down to the most effective approaches. 

STEP 1 – IDENTIFY AND ADDRESS ANY PREDISPOSING FACTORS

Eliminate – if possible, barring absolute medical necessity - the use of antibiotics, steroids, immune suppressing drugs, and birth control pills

If possible, do a GI Health Panel which will give us a comprehensive digestive analysis of what is happening overall in your gastro-intestinal tract.  The GI Health Panel will evaluate digestion, intestinal function, intestinal environment, and absorption. In addition, it will tell us if you are sensitive to gluten grains and status of the functioning of your local gut immunity. Plus, we will know if several parasites or other gut pathogens are giving you problems. This panel will help to identify any underlying gut factors responsible for Candida overgrowth so they can be treated and lead to a GI environment that is favorable for eliminating  Candida.  It will also help to distinguish if your symptoms are related to Candida or if the might be related to other conditions such as small intestinal bacterial overgrowth or a “leaky gut” syndrome and thus require different treatment to resolve your symptoms.

STEP 2 – PUT AN ANTI-CANDIDA DIET IN PLACE

Hypochlorhydria – An important step in treating chronic candidiasis is improving digestive secretions. Gastric hydrochloric acid, pancreatic enzymes, and bile all inhibit the overgrowth of Candida and prevent its penetration into the absorptive surfaces of the small intestine. Decreased secretion of any of these important digestive components can lead to overgrowth of Candida in the GI tract. Therefore, restoration of normal digestive secretions through the use of supplemental hydrochloric acid, pancreatic enzymes and substances which promote bile flow is critical in the treatment of chronic candidiasis. Restoring proper levels of gastric acid by supplemental hydrochloric acid is often essential in chronic candidiasis.

Pancreatic enzymes - As well as being necessary for protein digestion, the proteases serve several important functions. The proteases are largely responsible for keeping the small intestine free from parasites (including bacteria, yeast, protozoa, and intestinal worms). A lack of proteases or other digestive secretions greatly increases the risk of having an intestinal infection, including chronic candida infections of the GI tract.

Eliminate basic candida promoting foods.

Eliminate known food allergies. If possible test for delayed food allergies. 

STEP 3- PROVIDE NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT

Basic vitamins, minerals, and supplement support

STEP 4 - USE APPROPRIATE ANTI-YEAST THERAPY

Ideally, use a nutritional and/or herbal anti-yeast supplement to help control yeast overgrowth and promote a healthy bacterial flora. Typically, several different types of anti-yeast therapy nedd to be used.

If necessary, use prescription anti-yeast drug appropriately through a physician.

STEP 5 - SUPPORT AND ENHANCE IMMUNE FUNCTION

Considerable evidence shows that attaining better immune function is absolutely essential in those with chronic candidiasis.

Recurrent or chronic infections, including chronic candidiasis, are characterized by a depressed immune system. What makes it difficult to overcome chronic candidiasis is a repetitive cycle: a compromised immune system leads to infection, and infection leads to damage to the immune system, further weakening resistance.

Those with chronic candidiasis are typically stuck in a vicious cycle. With regard to the immune system, a triggering event such as antibiotic use or nutrient deficiency can lead to immune suppression allowing Candida albicans to overgrow and become more firmly entrenched in the lining of the gastrointestinal tract. Once the organism attaches itself to the intestinal cells, it competes with the cell and ultimately the entire body for nutrition – potentially robbing the body of vital nutrients. In addition, Candida albicans secretes a large number of mycotoxins and antigens. Candida albicans is referred to as a “polyantigenic” organism because over 79 distinct antigens have been identified. Because of this tremendous number of antigens, an overgrowth of Candida albicans greatly taxes the immune system.

Restoring proper immune function is one of the key goals in the treatment of chronic candidiasis..

STEP 6 - PROMOTE DETOXIFICATION AND ELIMINATION

Those with candida usually exhibit multiple chemical sensitivities and allergies, an indicator that detoxification reactions are stressed. Therefore, the liver function of someone with Candida needs to be supported. In fact, improving the health of the liver and promoting detoxification may be one of the most crucial factors in the successful treatment  of candidiasis.

STEP 7 - USE PROBIOTICS

The intestinal flora plays a major role in the health of the host and the elimination and control of problems with candida and proper re-seeding of the beneficial bacteria in the gut is crucial for success.

STEP 8 – HEAL THE GUT MUCOSAL LINING

Eliminating candida is a necessary but useless step unless you also work to restore optimal functioning to the gut. Providing nutrients to heal the gut mucosa, decrease intestinal permeability, reduce GI inflammation, support the immune functions of the GI tract, and restore full digestive capacity is the most important stage of successfully eliminating candida, preventing its return and restore you to optimal health and vitality.

If you really want to be rid of all the problems candida can cause, anything less than this Eight-Step Process is not likely to give you the successful and permanent results you are looking for.

Read about candida testing.

Find out how to impliment my Eight-Step candida recovery approach in a Treatment Plan Program. We can work together to achieve more optimal health and wellness through the use of a natural, nutritional approach.

And give me a call at 434-263-4996 or email at maryann@evenstaronline to get started.

Be Well ,

Contents © 2009 by Mary Ann Copson and Evenstar. All rights reserved.
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