Question about Candida

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What can you tell me about Candida Albicans? I have seen a Naturopath who wants to treat me for it, but I would like to do more research before I jump into treatment for something I'm not sure about. I have read quite abit of information and also talked to several people who are also being treated for Candida. Yet there is alot of information that suggests that it is not a real condition. Does anyone have any evidence or personal experience with it that could help me understand it better?

-- (trigger@montana.net), August 01, 2001

Answers

My best advise is do a search on Google. Thousands of entries. I'd also review with the medical person what it is they want to do, what therapies and dietary changes they advocate. When it will cease, too. Some of these guys seem to want you to make the Mercedes payments for the next couple of years for them.My biggest worry would be that the pseudo-medical community (chiropractors, naturopaths, etc.)seem to see this as their catch-all ailment. Candida albicans is real and can be a big problem, bit its blamed for everything from night sweats to the stock market slump. Be educated, that's your best weapon.

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), August 02, 2001.

Candida Albicans is plain old skin yeast..causes diaper rash & thrush in babies, sometimes will become a large problem via being blood- borne infection... Many folks who are immunocompromised will get really nasty yeast infections, mostly of the throat..women often get vaginal yeast infections....yeast IS Candida Albicans..plain old yeast....non-traditional medical people love to "diagnose" this as the disease of the century. For someone to have a systemic yeast infection, they must have: high fever and a semi-comatose state. I am sooooooooooooooo tired of folks getting ripped off by believing these weird off the wall diagnoses...Folks go to a traditional medical doctor because they have fatique, joint pain, whatever..after numerous tests, no specific disorder is identified..There are zillions of viruses running around the world and many simply cannot be named..A virus cannot be cured by anything..period...Viruses do whatever they want for as long as they want. Some folks, upset that they still are ill and a regular doc cannot cure them, go to other sources of "medicine" and are told they have..tah dah.....Candida Albicans..for more than a few bucks, somebody is happy to treat anything...I mean no disrepect to you at all....please do not think so....Ever since medicine has become a hot topic in the magazine, etc. everybody and their brother thinks they can diagnose diseases. I cannot tell you how many folks over the last 15 years have come into my office and announced to me that they have "candida" because their neighbor told them so. or they insist they have strep throat because they read about it in a newspaper and now their throat is scratchy..one guy two years ago had a wart on his finger and told me he was going to sue me for malpractice because his chiropractor told him he had West Nile Virus and I was incompetent for not picking that up! Please save your hard earned money..if you do not like your regular doctor, find another one, but stay away from folks who want you to believe you have a "systemic yeast infection"..if you are well enough to post on the forum, you do not have that! God bless.

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), August 02, 2001.

Yogurt, applied and ingested.

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), August 02, 2001.

Lesley, I agree with you 100%. We see many people who've diagnosed themselves (at the store where I work). Here's what I don't get; they start taking pau d'arco, or Tanalbit, seriously clean up their diets, and usually feel much better in a matter of a few months. Do you think that removing yeasted breads and fermented and pickled foods, and all sugars is the reason? After all, they have to eat something, so now they're eating more fresh veggies, etc. But.....customers swear they can't live without the supplements. I've never believed that so many folks could possibly have candida! I think it's the same with the "Eat Right for Your (blood) Type" diet. How could you help but feel better when you change your diet for a MUCH healthier one?!

-- Cathy in NY (hrnofplnty@yahoo.com), August 02, 2001.

Anyone who eats good nourishing fresh food and cuts out the garbage is definetly going to feel better...if someone has a viral illness, most viruses last up to six weeks and then end..so, if somebody believes a diagnosis, goes out and changes their lifestyle, etc...they will feel much better! I like what little money I have personally, and would not waste it on un-necessary supplements...spend it on organic veggies if you do not grow your own already, or fresh oranges, or fresh anything! Our American culture wants to believe that you need to do more than eat right and exercise..you MUST take all those expensive supplements..the folks that came up with that marketing idea are zillionaires by now.

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), August 02, 2001.


Oh no, Lesley! Now I have to worry about the West Nile Wart???? (toungue planted firmly in my yeast infected cheek)

Actually, for about three years I had a skin condition kind of like this stuff. It was tinea versicolor. They checked me for diabetes, aids, and something else that I can't remember. The doctor said he could put me on a medication that would make it go away, but it was really hard on the liver, etc, and suggested I try some other avenues first. Pretty rare for an MD, he told me it was most likely diet related and we talked about that for a bit. He couldn't determine what might be causing the trouble from what I told him. I tried Tea tree Oil, and fungicides, both with about the same effect....not too much at all. Then I did the "Eat Right for your blood type" diet, and voila!! it went away and hasn't come back. I always ate pretty healthily, but I switched from wheat flour to oat flour and cut out bananas, tomato, and all other nightshades. It has been gone completely for the two years that I have pretty well followed that diet. Note the pretty well. I became a lot less dogmatic about it after about three months and I am pretty sold on that diet.

At any rate, there sure is a lot of snake oil out there, and the price tags on some of it are astounding. The best answer is always to eat as well as you can and then address things from there. Let us know what you decide about this, trigger.

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), August 02, 2001.


We've sponsored 2 seminars on the blood type diet, of course the owner of the store is trying to sell D'Adamo's line of supplements. Honestly, everyone I know who follows the diet says they feel much better. I'm a B+, and I'm supposed to do well on rabbit, lamb, etc., but I'm a vegetarian. All the foods I live on seem to be the ones that I should avoid, so I've not tried the diet myself.

-- Cathy in NY (hrnofplnty@yahoo.com), August 03, 2001.

See, that's what convinced me to try it, I talked with a good friend in Washington and he said he had started the diet three months previously and he felt better than he had since HS. He was 41 or so at the time. He was an AB and had been eating lots of pork and ALL things that he shouldn't according to the diet, he lost 25 pounds and kept it off and stopped being really strict, but still following it pretty well. The last time I talked with him...six months ago he was still doing great. Another friend, similar story, except for he didn't lose any weight, and he didn't need to. I highly doubt that it's perfect for everyone, but it really seems to do a good job for me. The hardest part for me was the cheddar cheese, and the nightshades, but all other health things pointed to knocking out nightshades for me anyway. I don't eat peppers or eggplant at all, but I eat some tomatos and potatos now. Not much, but some. Oh, I'm A+...luckily supposed to be a vegetarian! The MD thought that perhaps I should cut out all quick carbs...I tried for two weeks, and I just about fell over from weakness. Then with this diet, switching from wheat to oats made a big difference.

As far as the supplements go, it seems silly. If you are eating along the lines of the diet pretty well, why do you need the supplements? More $$$ for D'Amato??? I'd say give the diet a try, avoiding obvious things that you have a problem with if they are reccommended and see how you feel after 2 months. It may not work for everyone....not much does! :grin:

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), August 03, 2001.


I respectfully disagree with Lesley. Conventional physicians don't look for Candida and therefore fail to diagnose it. I had this experience with my mother last year. The conventional medical establishment not only failed to pick up on the massive yeast infection she had going ( an infection that had sapped her strength to the point she could barely walk even with a walker) it failed to identify it even after she perforated her colon and required surgery. Conventional medicine told us there was nothing more to be done and that she would have to be allowed to die and gave us a timeline of a few weeks to a month. It was not until we managed to contact a holistic physician with an open mind that knew enough to perform the proper stool analysis (the type provided at the Great Smokies lab) that we found out my mother was fighting a massive infection of Candida albicans and Candida glabrata. This, coupled with serious nutritional support and various holistic remedies such as undecyclenic acid, saved my mother's life. She can now digest food normally again and no longer suffers from the uncontrollable diarrhea that plagued her for so long. It is physicians that refuse to keep up with current research and refuse to help individuals find the answers that force individuals to try to diagnose themselves. I agree that good balanced nutrition is essential for good health, but it will not magically cure everything. And because a therapy might be classified as alternative, it is not necessarily snake oil. You must do the research to decide what you want to try and to protect yourself from those therapies that have no proof regarding their efficacy. However, when research proves a therapy indeed has sound basis, to reject it out of hand and ignore the science that backs it up is ignorance of the highest order. It unfortunately is this sort of ignorance (practiced by all too many physicians) that costs lives. If I had allowed the medical establishment to have their way, I would have had to bury my mother. May I remind you that not too long ago, the idea that germs caused disease was heresy of the highest order because the medical establishment just knew that the treatment of choice was leeches. There is sound scientific basis for many of the alternative treatments such as the use of certain herbs, accupuncture, massage therapy, chiropractic care and so forth. The truely enlightened physician keeps up with the research available. When no physician can be found that will help, can one blame people for trying to help themselves. I would like to add that one of these holier than thou conventional physicians threw away the test kit provided for my mother the first time because he just knew that there was no basis to any of this. He then turned around and told us that her stool had been tested, not bothering to tell us he was referring to the in house hospital lab that could not provide the analysis that the Great Smokies lab could. It was not until we insisted on reading her file and talking with the nurses on duty that we found out he was trying to sabotage the efforts of the holistic consultant we had called in. This after agreeing to work with this consultant as per our wishes. No, I'm afraid I do not have lots of points to give to the regular medical establishment. All too often they tell the patient its in their head when they can't find the reason for a symptom, rather than putting forth the effort to really do their job or referring the case if they really have no clue. Candida is real and those suffering from the systemic forms of it are not necessarily so sick they are in the hospital. They are often the walking wounded among us that "just don't feel good" and no physician cares.

-- Sandra Nelson (Magin@starband.net), August 07, 2001.

Sandra, did your mother have a diagnosis of IBS? I have two sisters and a brother who have this, and some of what you said sounds familiar, so I was just curious. Thanks, and thanks for relating your story. I am glad your Mom is doing okay!

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), August 07, 2001.


I suggest using Miracle II Soap and Neutralizer.

Use the Neutralizer on the Inside on the body to detox and restore the body to an alkaline level. Drink the neutralizer in water or juice about a 1/2 oz or more per day.

Bathe in Miracle II Soap and use this neutralizer liquid also, to spray on any affected areas on the body. There is a neutralizer gel, which, is also good to rub on the affected skin fungus.

It works....I have heard great things about it. I also use it every day, and have seen many wonderul healings occur.

These products are called "first aid kits" in a bottle. They are great emergency treatments for everything you think of.

Hope this helps.

-- Sue Graumann (nflii@webtv.net), August 11, 2001.


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