I have been struggling with a candida problem for about 6 years now. Sometimes I think I have it cured, but then get a relapse every now and then even though I maintain a fairly strict diet. I have had some successful with quite a few of the things evry mentions, caprylic acid, oregano, GSE, probiotics etc.
I am just undergoing a bad relapse but dont know why. However there are two things that I am still confused about even after masses of research and reading over the last 6 years, and I would love to know what others think.
1. Most antifungals are also antibacterial. People with Candida are trying to kill off fungus and encourage good bacteria, and are usually taking antifungals and probiotics at the same time. But I am wondering how this can work? Surely by taking antifungals which are also antibacterial the good bacteria are going to be killed off as well? And we are therefore wasting our money buying expensive probiotics that are just not going to survive? The anti bacterial antifungals cannot discriminate between pathogenic bacteria that need to be killed off and the good friendly bacteria that we desperately need to be healthy.
2. Am I right in saying that candida needs an acidic encironment in which to flourish (ie less than pH7)? So we are all trying to alkalise our bodies. However, I have an outbreak of vaginal thrush currently and most people seem to reccomend curing it by applying an acid of one sort or another ie apple cider vinegar or similar. But how can applying an acid kill off the candida if it prefers acidity? I am confused! I was also told by several 'experts' when I first became ill to avoid all vinegars because these feed yeast / candida, but perhaps this is incorrect?
If anyone can clarify / answer these points I would be most grateful!
Cream of Tartar
EC: Looks like iFlora is a probiotic formula. Search for it on iherb.com.
Treat for Fungus Infection
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Back to my problems. 3 months ago: I've got a white tongue, with bumps on the side of my mouth. I usually wake up congested, but it clears before 10am. Often I feel congested, and that makes me want another cigarrette.
I played the watch the clock game, and cut my smoking to 1 ciggarettes/day (after 7 pm)(back up to 3). I cut my drinking to 1 day per week. I started running 2 miles per day. It didn't help with my problems, although I lost 20 pounds.
I THINK that I have this thing figured out... I will post a follow-up in a few months, if I'm cured.
******
Studying Ted's "anti-infectives", first I tried going alkaline (borax and baking soda). This cleared my lungs, but made the bumps in my mouth worse.
Now I've gone in reverse, with the Apple Cidar Vinnegar only, and the bumps in my mouth are disappearing.
So here's my theory. There is a mayo-clinic study from a few years ago that says that most chronic sinus problems are caused by a fungus. As I had a yeast-like taste in my mouth, it was probably Candida. I went to the doc, and got some fluconazole, since the baking soda seemed to be clearing my lungs. Success on clearing my lungs... at least temporarily.... however, the bumbs in my mouth seemed to be getting worse.
It appears that these bumps are a "secondary infection", probably bacterial or viral. Since one problem was cured, I switched to 2 TBSP or Apple Cider vinegar, 2x per day. I had an immediate outbreak of Lichen Planus on my fingers, which appears to be dissapearing completely after a week. Additionally, the bumps in my mouth are 50% reduced.
There was a new study that came out last week that said men have cleaner hands than women, and are less likely to get skin infections, due to their hands are more acidic.
This lichen planus stuff kind of looks like warts, with a dark(blue) center. Since I've been taking ACV... the center of this stuff is red, like it's healing.
******
So I think I had Candida with a secondary infection, and the secondary infection(Lichen Planus) is cured by ACV.
I need some time to completely cure this stuff... but I think I did this in reverse. First start with the ACV to cure the secondary infection(Lichen Planus), then clear the yeast infection (Baking Soda or Borax or Flucon-azole).
******
On the white tongue... listerine doesn't help, biotene mouthwash doesn't help. Flouride toothpaste doesn't help. Brushing my tongue with either Baking Soda or Borax or Both and/or combining Hydrogen Peroxide, will turn my tongue completely red.
It will turn white again within 2 days... I've got some kind of infection. This stuff seems to help, though. I've been very impressed with that 20-mule borax stuff, in spite of the fact that the white tongue comes back.
Borax is not to be feared, just follow Ted's small dosage. His dosage is well reasoned.
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Reader Theories
For me, change in diet has really helped out the most so far, but I know it will take a long time for my body to get balanced again. I am far off from that point. This is what I understand from the research I've done. Candida overgrowth is due to decreased levels of good bacteria in the body. I am focusing on increasing the level of good bacteria in my body while simultaneously decreasing the levels of fungus in the body. This means I don't want ANYTHING anti-bacterial. Yes, ACV will kill fungus but it will also kill bacteria. So to me, ACV is a BIG no. You would think yogurt would be off-limits because it is a dairy product, but since it contains good bacteria that should help boost the levels of good bacteria in the body, the good outweighs the bad and yogurt is a big YES. Anti-fungals are good. This includes oregano oil, oregano juice, garlic (raw AND capsule form), calendula tea, among many many others. I have also read chamomile has anti-fungal properties. Probiotics are definitely a yes. Make sure to buy the best kind, most likely found at the health food store. You keep them in the fridge to make sure the bacteria is still alive. Probiotics with dead bacteria are no good. Fruit juices are a no, because usually they contain a ton of sugar. In fact, most fruits are a no because of the sugar they contain naturally. I know this is a frustrating problem as I am having to deal with it myself due to overuse of antibiotics. I had been so sick for several months and the fog is just starting to lift. I just try to remind myself that my body is basically an ecosystem and ecosystems take much time to rebuild after devastation of one of it's inhabitants (bacteria). If anyone would like to contact me to discuss candida issues and exchange theories and possible remedies, please do email me! Remember two heads are often better than one! :)
Reader Theories
Supplements
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EC: hypot = hypothyroid
ACV, Baking Soda, Magnesium, Vit E
Hydrogen Peroxide
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For herpes, I was clued into l-lysine some years ago, and it is great. Foods high in L-lysine are listed on the internet, and also foods high in arginine, which is in chocolate, nuts, popcorn, brown rice and other foods. Arginine is used in labs to GROW the Herpes virus, so those chocolate and nut snacks can give you an attack! I have purchased l-lysine over the internet and also at some grocers and health food stores, and just keep it handy. Often when I want to eat some chocolate, I pop some l-lysine soon after and no problem. It is a harmless amino acid and resets the balance in your system.
Candex is very good for Candida but so expensive, I am happily taking the H2O2 and wanted to check increasing the dosage from 8 drops in an 8 oz glass of water 3X a day and here is all this information for me! My Mother and Grandmother died young of breast cancer and I began researching things that cure cancer as I realize the AMA is not chock full of 100% doctors, and found ESSIAC. The herbs can be purchased pre-measured from the Herb Products Company in Hollywood. I am 62, teach yoga and breathing techniques, doing them myself daily and am very healthy!
Ann
Lugol's Iodine
Dr, Tulio Simoncini, from Rome says that Candida causes a lot of trouble in the human body and says Sodium Bicarbonate is the solution. But dont be afraid, the human body is very strong also. Put a lot of coconut, coconut oil, Palm oil, garlic and Neem in your diet. About Neem, You can see in YuTube. See, also about Pau Darco, a great enemy of cancer and Candida. See also about Propolis Thank You, Earth Clinic and everybody
Cream of Tartar
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The technical name for Cream of tartar is potassium bitartrate which is not exactly the same as straight tartaric acid. It is formed during the cold stabilization process in wine making and happens when the potassium that naturally occurs in grapes binds with the tartaric acid which also naturally occurs in grapes. Thus diluting (neutralizing) the tartaric acid and making a white crystalline substance called potassium bitartrate.
Let's also note that cream of tartar is a food grade substance which is regulated by the US FDA. It is widely used in baking, as well as some sodas and lots of other foods. If it were that toxic to the consumer, I sincerely doubt the Food and Drug Administration would allow it to be freely used in foods available to everyone!
Boric Acid
Boric Acid is a systemic poison. It is used as an insecticide! Actually works great. Kills roaches almost as soon as they ingest it. It is highly absorbable through mucos membranes - such as the vagina. The lethal dose is approximately 15 grams. On-line recommended doses for vaginal yeast infections vary between 1 and 2 capsules as suppositories per day for 14 days. Wikipedia references 600 mg per day as a suppository for 14 days - which if you care to do the math adds up to 8.4 grams. If you double this number to get 2 capsules for 14 days the result is a whopping 16.8 grams which goes well beyond the LETHAL DOSE! 00 capsules hold between 540 and 1090 mg! I would NOT recommend using Boric Acid to anyone I cared about!
Probiotics
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Probiotics
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Caprylic Acid
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Hydrogen Peroxide
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I had crippling rheumatoid arthritis in 1985, where all the joints in my right arm were locked up and would not move. I was in constant, horrible pain and got no sleep for over 3 months. I began drinking extremely dilute amounts of the 35% HP DROPS in PURE WATER (NOT Tap Water!!)I also had candida albicans, and my cholesterol level was 465 as tested by my MD friend. Within 1 week the pain in my joints on my right arm was GONE and I was sleeping like a baby! Within one month I had free range of motion in all joints--from my fingers to my shoulder. My cholesterol was down to 289 and the candida symptoms were greatly reduced. By the end of the second month, my cholesterol was 155 (normal and safe) and all symptoms of candida albicans infestation were GONE. That was 28 YEARS ago, and I have had NO reoccurances of any of the above problems. I call that a "CURE!"
H2O2 amounts taken: Begin first day with ONE DROP H2O2 in 8 oz. PURE WATER. Second day: two drops H2O2. Third day: three drops H2O2...and so on until you reach 10 drops per day. Now, if the taste is too bad, split the HP drops into 5 in the morning, and 5 in the evening--near bed time. Work back taking 10 drops twice a day, THEN split it into THIRDS, AND begin taking 7 drops THREE times a day, or whatever you can handle. Slowly work back up to taking 10 drops THREE times a day. Don't go much higher than that, or you might want to stay at 7 drops, three times a day. Let your body determine your amount.
ALSO, do NOT drink any H2O2 water 45 minutes BEFORE OR AFTER EATING A MEAL OR TAKING SUPPLIMENTS! You may throw up (vomit.)
ALSO, take 500 mg. of Vitamin C once a day to neutralize any free radical formations that may have occured. The oxygen in the H2O2 attacks the iron in the blood and causes that reaction. The Vitamin C will clean it up, and Selenium may also be substituted for the Vitamin C.
MY SKIN CANCER (Melanoma) "erased" with topical application of 35% Food Grade HP: I had several dark mole-like formations on my forearms come up after being out in the Texas sun a lot. They itched, and my doctor friend said they were Melanomas and that I should see a professional about them. I knew what HP would do for them, so I took a nail file and GENTLY abraded the surface of these dark bumps, and then I applied straight 35% Food Grade HP to the spots with a Q-Tip (cotton swab on a stick) UNTIL THEY TURNED WHITE IN COLOR. I did this 3 times a day for a week. By the end of the week, they had turned to powder or dust, and were FLAT and GONE! There was no itching, NO pain, and they left a slightly lightened spot on my arm where they used to be. They never came back again, and that was over 20 YEARS ago!
ARTHRITIS IN MY KNEES: 17 years ago, I developed rhumatoid arthritis in both knees. I began the HP method by washing my knees with soap and water to remove any body oil, then MISTED them with a 3% solution of HP that was diluted down from 35% Food Grade HP (12:1) with PURE WATER. I wore shorts and then misted my knees, then waited until they were dry, then misted them again while I watched Television or did Computer work. I did this for at least 30 minutes at a time, and I did 4 HP misting sessions a day. My knees were back to NORMAL WITH NO PAIN in ONE WEEK!! I was so happy! I told my friends who had similar problems, and they said that they tried SOAKING their finger and elbow joints in 3% Food Grade HP by pouring the 3% HP solution into a shallow bowl and soaking them for 30 minutes 3-4 times a day. When finished, they would pour the 3% HP solution back into a one gallon plastic jug. The last soaking, they put it in the refrigerator for safe keeping overnight. The next day, they would remove the HP jug from the refrigerator and let it sit out until it had warmed to room temperature, then use in in the bowl to soak their joints until the evening. Worked great!! If you make up one gallon of 3% solution and keep it in the refrigerator, it should last at least one month before you need to make another gallon of it.
IN DALLAS, TEXAS, I found 35% Food Grade HP at "Roy's Natural Market" 6025 Royal Ln. Ste 130
Dallas, TX 75230-8857
Phone: (214) 987-0213. They have been selling HP for many years, and it is about $16.00 (US) for one quart, which will last a long time when you are spraying it.
Enjoy being pain-free!
Garlic, Dandelion, Turmeric, Cayenne
I hope this helps you, Angie.
Love and Blessings,
Kathy
Garlic, Dandelion, Turmeric, Cayenne
Garlic, Dandelion, Turmeric, Cayenne
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Thank you all for the wonderful imputs. :)
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Best, Dave
Cream of Tartar
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WARNING!
My favorite remedy for candida is Huang Lian Su, a chinese herb available at Chinese pharmancies, but not where I am currently living, which brought me to your site. I did take some GSE--grapefruit seed extract--before heading to the grocery to get other remedies to try, and realized as I was shopping, that the symptoms were already subsiding. So GSE might be at the top of my new list of favorite helps for candida.
The toxicity issues around cream of tartar as documented in the "nay" article were very surprizing, and I will never use it again. The levels recommended by someone else posting on this page sound potentially extremely damaging, when compared with the information that follows in that entry. I hope you will remove the suggestion of cream of tartar as a remedy given the extreme hazzards, and the poor public awareness of these hazzards.
Thank you,
Joanne
Xylitol, Bentonite Clay
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There are a few remedies here that have some obviously unintentional errors. First, colloidal silver should never be mixed with bleach, however it is safe to mix it with hydrogen peroxide. Second, although lemons are acid they are converted to alkaline by the body and are highly beneficial.
I also wonder at times if the people who critize the Atkins diet have ever read the book. Atkins does not ever recommend a no carb diet, he recommends a low carb alkaline diet. Prepackaged food, refined grains and sugar put profit before people and that message is Atkins real contribution.
Thanks Earth Clinic...
I think your great.
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I purchased it and I took one 350MG tablet daily as per directions. It did not cure my athlete's foot like I wanted, but I felt less hungry, less tired, and my stomach felt better. I also lost weight without serious effort. I've been taking it for two months now.
Warning: I experienced two things while taking this: stomach discomfort and a slightly yeasty odor coming from my body for a week or two.
The yeasty smell rubbed off on my washcloth and towels. I discovered by accident that putting a capful of hydrogen peroxide (the regular kind from the pharmacy, not the food grade kind) in my bathwater stopped this. It stopped me from emitting the yeasty smell and from transferring it to my wash cloth and towels.
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I've had thrush candida now twice since (in about a decade) and it's very easy to get rid of with a few drops of Red turkey st john's worth applied internally (i.e topically internally). A canadian herbalist told me about this rememdy and it's an unusual one. She just had nothing else in the house and it made logical sense to her 'cos of it's constituents. it worked for her and it worked for me.
good luck.
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WARNING!
Therefore, in all fairness I think her feedback is reflecting the reality of this condition (which can cause desperation, confusion, and some trial & error). It also reflects the reality that human beings can have different reactions to different methods depending on many variables (e.g. body chemistry, allergies). I appreciate her willingness to share what has worked FOR HER. Any person that reads an individual's experience/comment online hopefully should see it for what it is: that person's experience, not FACT. I thank her for the possible resources (which we are free to check out or research elsewhere) and I think people need to remember to take responsbility for using common sense and do enough research to make their own sound decisions.
As a side note, it also would be nice to see some possible healthy solutions or other suggestions for what information is being looked at as incorrect (e.g. diet, how to get healthy balance on the anti-yeast diet which is extreme & restrictive, even borderline crazy depending on where you get your info. & who you talk to). However, as mentioned before, it's tough to weed through it all when much of the information provided differs, sometimes significantly.
Dietary Changes
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WARNING!
Dietary Changes
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WARNING!
Normally the cause of candida issue has very much to do with maintaining a proper pH alkalinity rather than acidity. While Apple cider vinegar is alkaline forming, it is also antifungal, yes. And apple cider vinegar is and does indeed used for treatment of candida. Malic acid the major component of apple cider vinegar is antifungal and therefore anti-candida.
Eating low sugar died it a sensible way to go as sugar is what fuels candia, but this is only half the story. The other is eating more foods that are alkaline forming. Certain processed foods can also trigger candida as well because of high heavy toxic metals.
Dietary Changes
★☆☆☆☆
WARNING!
Normally the cause of candida issue has very much to do with maintaining a proper pH alkalinity rather than acidity. While Apple cider vinegar is alkaline forming, it is also antifungal, yes. And apple cider vinegar is and does indeed used for treatment of candida. Malic acid the major component of apple cider vinegar is antifungal and therefore anti-candida.
Eating low sugar died it a sensible way to go as sugar is what fuels candia, but this is only half the story. The other is eating more foods that are alkaline forming. Certain processed foods can also trigger candida as well because of high heavy toxic metals.
Dietary Changes
★☆☆☆☆
WARNING!
