What Candida Is, How to Know if You Have It, and How to Ditch It
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Do you have unexplained health issues? Have you heard about candida and wondered what it is or if you have it?
Welcome to the club. This information can hopefully help you get the information you need to feel better.
So–have you ever wondered if you were totally crazy. Not like, “I feel a little crazy today”, but more like, “Am I totally going off the deep end?!”
It's easy to feel like that when you've gone to doctors over and over for health symptoms that don't seem to make any sense. Every prescription, cream, and over-the-counter med they give you just takes more money from your pocket without giving you more than a short-term fix (if it even gives you that!).
They begin to suggest it's all in your head–and you begin to wonder if it really might be–if you just might be crazy….
Well, I'm here to tell you that you aren't crazy.
As far as I know anyway ;.)
Candida Symptoms
Do you suffer from one or more of these symptoms:
- acne
- anxiety
- arthritis
- asthma
- athletes’ foot
- brain fog
- cold hands or feet
- colds
- colic
- constipation
- cradle cap
- cravings for sweets
- cysts
- diabetes
- diaper rash
- diarrhea
- dizziness
- eczema
- fatigue
- food sensitivities or reactions
- hay fever
- headaches
- heart burn
- heart palpitations
- hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)
- hypothyroidism
- insomnia
- irritability
- joint pain
- lack of appetite
- migraines
- mood swings
- muscle aches and pain
- oxalate intolerance (candida and other fungi produce oxalates!)
- panic attacks
- poor memory and concentration
- pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS)
- psoriasis
- rashes and dry red or white patches
- respiratory problems
- sinus congestion
- thrush (white coating in mouth or vagina)
I've personally had friends who experienced severe manic depressive episodes and also massive hair loss from this. It's no joke.
I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on T.V. . .but if you've answered yes to more than one of these, I'd ask if you might have candida.
What is Candida
Candida is a toxic, yeast-like organism that 90% of people have in their digestive system. Most of the time it's not an issue because it's generally kept in check by good bacteria. The trouble starts when candida begins to grow out of control and can quickly start a myriad of problems. Kinda sounds like a fuzzy little green creature in a bad sci-fi movie from the 70's, doesn't it?
Now, I don't want you to think candida is the cause of every illness known to man. It's not. But, it's enough of a menace to deserve a substantial amount of consideration–much more than it gets in mainstream medicine.
What Things Can Cause Candida?
Some of the common causes for candida overgrowth are:
- antacids
- antibiotics
- anti-inflammatory drugs
- anti-ulcer medications
- carbohydrates
- environmental toxins
- foods with starch
- foods with yeast
- hormone replacement therapy
- oral contraceptives
- over-the-counter medicines
- prescription drugs
- radiation
- smoking
- steroids
- sugar in all forms
These other posts on my site have a little more information that might be of interest.
An easy way to check for candida is by taking a Candida Symptom Assessment Questionnaire. Here's another symptom assessment you can use. Your results might surprise you!
How to Ditch Candida
If your tests are positive, your next step is to take your health back and run up and down the street yelling, “I'm not crazy after all!”
Um. Scratch that idea.
1. Remedies
Instead, you can start by addressing candida with natural remedies, foods that fight candida, and quality probiotics rather than creams, drugs, and prescriptions. In fact, candida has been shown to become resistant to those medications. (source)
While there are a lot of supplements that fight candida, Grapefruit Seed Extract is one that we've used on and off over the years. I've taken up to 3 drops twice a day to get rid of issues.
2. Diet Change
The next step, and even more important, is to change your diet. Yeah. I said the word “diet.”
What you eat is one of THE most important changes you can make.
Candida thrives on unhealthy foods like sugar and starchy carbohydrates. Those foods make it grow like crazy and create chaos in its wake. Chaos from the inside out ends up almost destroying some lives.
To get rid of candida, you need to change what you eat. From loads of sugars and refined starches to foods that won't feed candida and will let your body heal.
But that doesn't mean you need to never eat a sweet treat again.
Everyone like sweets–you can still have them, but you just need to choose other types of sweets.
If you're like me, then this book, The Sweeter Side of Candida, is a great book for you.
As mentioned above, you can also eat some (or all!) of the foods on this list of foods that fight candida.
3. Address Mold in Your Environment
If you're continually breathing in mold – mycotoxins and mVOCs, your body can struggle even more with candida.
Find out if you have mold overgrowth in your home, address it, add get good air purification.
I use Austin Air and can offer a nice discount on their products. Just reach out to me at adrienne {at} wholenewmom {dot} com and we'll take care of you.
Feeling Bad When Going Off Sugar
Please note that as you work on getting rid of candida, you may experience candida die-off. It's important to do what you can to prevent that or manage it to make your healing process more manageable.
This post on candida die-off should be of help as you try to ditch this horrible beast.
A GREAT Candida Dessert Book: The Sweeter Side of Candida
Here's more on the candida recipe cookbook mentioned above. Check out these delicious recipes!
- Feet in the Sand Coconut Ice Cream–so yummy!
- “Best” Almond Butter Buckeyes – Sooo good too.
- And… Shortbread Caramel Cookies. They're kind of similar to a Healthy Twix Bar!
These, and 67 more finger-licking treats can be found here.
For recipes that will help you stay healthy, lose weight, and fight candida,this book is for you!
This cookbook is *not* only for those who suffer from candida. It's for anyone who wants to lose weight and/or stay healthy.
What do you think? Do you think you might have candida?
What are you doing / going to do to get healthy?
This is great information, Adrienne! How could I have missed it the first time round?? I had SO many of those symptoms (not to mention almost ALL of the causes). I’m going to share this post on my “Living Well with Candida” Google+ board! Thank you! 🙂
Thanks! You’re a doll!
I LOVE this post! You are exactly right about candida. If our gut is not healthy, we can not be healthy.
Below is a link to my facebook page where I share health information also. I also found fantastic products that have helped thousands of people get rid of candida and get their health back. You can read about it on my page. We have probiotics that are the best in the world. My friend had terrible psoriasis all over her body and our probiotics got rid of her psoriasis.
https://www.facebook.com/restoredhealthnaturally
OUCH! I just scored a 340!!! YIKES! I guess I need to look into this more!
Our bodies naturally have yeast, in small amounts it’s not harmful. It’s overgrowth that leads to problems. Dr. LeAnne Deardeuff in her book “Inner Transformation Using Essential Oils” talks about yeast and offers a simple “saliva test” for candida. “First thing in the morning before you eat or drink anything, fill a glass with clean water, work up some sliva and spit into the glass on top the water. Check it every 15 min. for an hour. If it remains a blob on top the water, it is a good indication you don’t have candida. If the spittle spreads out, develops long trendils hanging down, sinks to the bottom of the glass or creates specks in the middle of the water, there is a good chance you have a yeast overgrowth.” Her book is about cleansing for better health, and includes a whole chapter on getting rid of yeast.
Hi Adrienne, great post… I’m reposting on my FB site hopefully, it will get you some more hits. I was wondering, in your experience, how effective is that questionnaire with men? It seemed a bit grated towards women though I did see a couple male specific. I’ve done a little reach on candida also… scored 214 on the quiz. So, pretty sure I’m guilty… Though I’ve been eating paleo/WAPF for over a year. Beginning to see that candida is a #$%&* to eradicate.
Hmmm.. I don’t have experience with it but I will say that I think the folks at Whole Approach are really sharp. I don’t follow their protocol anymore and have thoughts about other things like heavy metals and more (like I don’t think their probiotics are the best) but I overall think they are good folks.
Have you read my heavy metals post? I have soooo much more to share. I am working on so much — sorry I can’t get it out as fast as I would like.
I have had a white coating on my tongue that started with a sore throat, after antibiotic and almost all of the liquid nystatin it went away, I then used my travel toothbrush again while out of town and it came back on my tongue again and this time I have been so run down and chest pain in the bronchial area even after finishing the nystatin liquid again nothing impoved… I now need a inhaler and finally going to the dr monday. So scared that it is something more than just candida. I tried gargling and drinking apple cider vinegar with water a couple times a day… No improvement and visited the bathroom in result.
I don’t eat a lot period, so my diet is not consist of a lot of sweets.. Not anymore than ever in the past.
Hope I find out what this is….
Hi April. I am not a doctor and can’t medically advise, but if the nystatin took it away that makes sense that it is candida. I read about getting rid of or sanitizing toothbrushes if you have it bad. Sometimes people needed to go to great lengths to get rid of it. I can’t speak to the bronchial pain so that sounds different. However, now that I am thinking and reading a little on the web, it sounds like you might have an underlying condition that is allowing the yeast to proliferate in your mouth. Whatever your definition is of “a lot of sweets”, if it were me I would personally get off of them totally and limit starchy foods but not eliminate them. Again, it’s not medical advice – just what I would do if it were me right now.
Sigh. I scored a 334. I know it. I have struggled with a candida diagnosis for 20+ years. No diet has helped long term and my pregnancies made it worse. Much worse. I know I gave candida to both of my children and I am working hard to help them not have to suffer like I have. I pray my husband finally gets it soon for them as he doesn’t take my food restrictions seriously.
Unfortunately, probiotics and fermented food cause an extremely violent reaction in my body and my list of foods I can eat is getting slim. I am now allergic to chicken, turkey, and pork and very likely sensitive to beef and maybe all meat. Not a fan of that.
I am going to look into some homeopathic remedies to add in gut healing and am looking for an extremely knowledgeable dietary consultant to help me identify all the foods I can’t tolerate (as the list has grown since last tested) and create a customized gut healing diet similar to GAPS. While I have used many diets to control candida I haven’t used them to heal the lining of my leaky gut and rid my body of the huge candida imbalance I have.
I tell people constantly that they have candida and people just give me the deer in headlights look. Hopefully this article helps many, many people. Best wishes.
OH My Lauren. Did you see the Heal Your Gut course on my site? It’s in progress right now but I wonder if that would be helpful for you. Did you see my series on Fermented Foods? Take a look at it and get back to me. I would be interested to hear what you think. Take care.
I scored ridiculously high on the assessment, and want to start some natural treatments, but I’m nursing – is it safe to use the herbs mentioned while breastfeeding?
I would check them out 1 by 1 if I were you. I can’t medically advise. Are you on a candida diet?
No, not yet.
Well, again, I am not a doc but I would do that first. If you follow my blog you will get only stuff that is candida friendly. I have some grains but if you watch them typically you can do OK and that way you don’t need to worry about the nursing. I might be able to help if need be. Look up a few herbs you’d like and let me know. I think the diet on Whole Approach is quite good – they have stages listed out for you. I should get something like that on my blog.
So I just took the quiz… and I am in shock. OMG. I think I need to dig into this a lot deeper!
I bet I beat you :).
You may have but my score was a 327 and was purposefully conservative in my answers. Definitely a reason for me to look into this more!
Wow. Mine was about there too. I really encourage you (not medical advice) to do so. Hope it helps.
Mine was up there to mine was 357 and the fatigue all the time is really sucks bcause im a kid still and its hard to do simple exercise like walking,my stomach feels reallly weird and probioctos helps said WholeBodyResearch
Thanks for the information. It makes me wonder.
Did you take the test?