Candidiasis Candidiasis is basically a twentieth century disease, resulting from
medical developments like antibiotics, birth control pills, ulcer medications,
and estrogen replacement therapy (HRT). And it can be triggered at a
very young age, when children are first being treated with antibiotics
(ear and throat infections). Everyone has candida, a form of yeast ( Candida Albicans ), normally confined to the lower bowels, vagina and the skin. In healthy individuals with strong, functioning immune systems, it is harmless and kept in check by "good" bacteria, called Bifidobacteria and Acidophilus. But if the balance of the intestinal environment is altered by a compromised immune system or other factors, then opportunistic candida proliferates, infecting other body tissues. The candida becomes pathyogenic, transforming from a simple yeast into an aggressive ( mycelial ) fungus that can severely compromise one's health. This condition is known as "candidiasis". According to James Braley, MD, medical director of Immuno Labs, Inc., in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the fungal form of candida appears to permeate the gastro intestinal mucosal lining and breaks down barriers to the blood stream. " When the fungal form of the candida occurs in the body, allergic substances can penetrate into the blood more easily, where they form immense complexes, and even promote food allergy reactions, " Dr Braley says. Since their symptoms are often interrelated, he emphasizes that candidiasis should usually be treated together with food allergies. Candidiasis can affect areas of the body far removed from candida colonizations in the gastro intestinal tract and vagina. It's symptoms cover a broad spectrum and the condition can cause a number of diseases ranging from allergies, vaginitis, and thrush ( that is a whitish fungus in the mouth or vagina ), to an invasion of the genital-urinary tract, eyes, liver, heart, or central nervous system. At it's most destructive, candidiasis is involved in autoimmune diseases such as; Addison's disease and Aids. Other symptoms of candidiasis, according to Dr Braley, include digestive problems such as bloating, cramping, gas and diarrhea, respiratory problems, coughing, wheezing, earaches, central nervous system imbalances, generalized fatigue, and loss of libido. Symptoms of Candidiasis There is a wide array of candidiasis symptoms depending on individual age, sex, environmental exposures, and immune systems. These include, but are not limited to:
Causes of Candidiasis Since many of it's symptoms are shared with other conditions, candidiasis
must be diagnosed by examining predisposing factors in a thoughrough
personal medical history. Leon Chaitow, N.D., D.O., of London England,
decribes the likely candidate for candida overgrowth as someone whose
medical history includes: As Leyardia Black, ND, of Lopez Island, Washington, points out, " Candidiasis is basically a twentieth century disease, a disease resulting from medical developments like antibiotics, birth control pills, and estrogen replacement therapy. It can be triggered at a very young age, when children are first being treated with antibiotics." DR. Chaitow agrees, " Fully thirty five percent of women using birth control pills have associated causes of acute vaginal candidiasis, and there are undoubtedly many others who have less pronouced evidence of yeast overgrowth as immune competence is gradually compromised by the hormonal onslaught." Murray Susser, MD, of Santa Monica, California, points out that since yeast infections enter the body easily through the vagina, and yeast festers in estrogen, women of child-bearing age are more vulnerable to candidiasis. Also, women who have been pregnant are susceptible, since hormonal changes encourage candida overgrowth. When men develop candidiasis, antibiotics, high sugar intake, or immune suppression from illness, toxins, and stress, are usually the root cause. Frequently, candidiasis is caused by a combination of factors. As Dr.Chaitow explains, " All too often more than one influence is operating. Over a few years, a patient may have had several series of antibiotics for a variety of conditions while using steroids as well, perhaps in the form of the contraceptive pill. If the patient, most commonly a young woman, also happens to be living on a diet which is rich in sugars, then the candida is very likely to have spread beyond it's usual borders into new territory." As Dr. Chaitow points out, when the immune system is completely suppressed, as in Aids, yeast proliferates freely and colonizes the body and blood stream, leading to septicemia (blood poisoning). In less drastic but more prevalent cases, the immune system is temporarily suppressed and T-helper cells (lymphocytes which pass into the blood stream to help fight infection) are destroyed. Such immune suppression can be due to any number of factors, such as poor diet including ingestion of pesticides and preservatives, alcohol use, chemotherapy, radiation, exposure to enviromental toxins, antibiotics which injure or destroy the T-cells, and stress. Consequently, conditions are created for opportunistic infections and yeast to grow. Antibiotics According to Dr. Sausser, antibiotics may be the single greatest cause
of candidiasis, because antibiotic treatment for infections is non desriminatory,
killing the "good " intestinal chemistry-balancing bacteria,
as well as the " bad " infection-causing bacteria. Antibiotics can cause the altered inbalanced intestinal environment that candida requires to change into it's mycelial form. Dr. Chaitow explains, " Candida puts down minute rootlets which penetrate the tissues on which the yeast is growing. When this happens to be the inner wall of the intestines, it breaks down the barrier which exists between the closed world of the bowel and the body. Toxic debris, yeast waste products, and partially digested proteins are allowed into the blood stream, resulting in allergic and toxic reations." Healthy bifidobacteria and acidophilus intestinal colonies can usually withstand one or two short episodes of antibiotics without serious harm. If, however, use of antibiotics is frequent or prolonged as with a course for acne treatment or an infection, then the spread of candida becomes inevitable. " A vicious cycle may develop as a result, antibiotics alter the balance of intestinal flora and suppress the immune system. An individual with suppressed immune function is much more susceptible, not only to candidiasis but to bacterial infections, which are then treated with antibiotics, which, in turn, increase the growth of candida and so on," says Dr. Chaitow. Diet According to Dr Susser, sugar in the diet can greatly contribute to
candida overgrowth. When sugar is eaten, intestinal fermentation creates
a toxin called Acetaldehyde which affects all of the body's physiological
functions, including digestion and hormonal processes. Yeast thrives
on sugar in order to grow, therefore, a high-sugar diet is one of the
predisposing factors for candidiasis. Candidiasis patients should also stay away from all alcohol since it
is composed of fermented and refined sugar. It is also more toxic than
sugar and feeds yeast. According to Dr Susser, alcohol suppresses the
immune system, disturbs the whole adrenal axis, and you can say ampirically
that it makes anyone with candida worse. A medical test has been developed in which, after an overnight fast, the individual is given 100 grams of pure sugar. Blood samples taken both before the sugar loading, and an hour after, are mesured for alcohol. An increase of alcohol indicates yeast "auto-brewery" intoxication. Another connection between alcohol and candidiasis has been found in a study of 213 alcoholics at a recovery center in Minneapolis. Test and questionaire results indicated that candidiasis is a common complication of alcoholism due to the combination of high sugar content in alcohol and the inability of alcoholics to assimilate nutrients. Additionally, female alcoholics with candidiasis were significantly sicker than non alcoholic women with candidiasis. Many of the symptoms exhibited in alcoholism such as insomnia, depression, loss of libido, headaches, sinusitis/post-nasal drip, digestion and intestinal complaints, overlap with those in candida overgrowth. Obviously, drinking alcohol increases levels of sugar in the system. But other habits of alcoholics are also at fault. Many alcoholics tend to be smokers and so are at risk for respiratory infections which are treated with ... antibiotics !
Treating Candidiasis Successful treatment of candidiasis first requires the reduction of factors which predispose a patient to candida overgrowth. Secondly, the patient's immune function must be strengthened. Diet, nutritional supplements, herbal medicine, ayurvedic medicine and acupuncture are some of the choices alternative physicians use to accomplish these ends. Diet : Dr Black states that some of her patients are very sensitive to yeast and do better staying away from yeast containing foods. To test for such sensitivity, she takes patients off all yeast containing foods for a week. Then she adds such foods back in the diet, one at a time. If the symptoms reappear, then clearly yeast containing foods should be avoided. Similarly, Dr Braly employs a rotation diet when he suspects food allergies. On this regiment, patients avoid certain suspected allergic foods and rotate non allergic food every four or more days. They are then later reintroduced to the suspected foods after three to six months to see if symptoms are provoked. Molds are another aspect of candida sensitivity. These include food molds found in cheeses, grapes, mushrooms, and fermented foods, and also environmental molds found in wet climates, in damp basements, in plants and outdoors. Molds and yeast can also exchange forms. Therefore, the ingestable molds of cheeses and fermented foods should be avoided. Avoiding food yeast and molds does not attack the candida yeast itself, but is an attempt to ease stress on the immune system caused by substances that can trigger allergies. Dr Susser also advises patients to avoid yogurt because of it's high sugar content, despite it's high concentration of lacto-bacilli, which suppresses "bad" bacteria and keeps other organisms under control. He finds that freeze-dried acidophilus supplements in capsule form are more effective in combating bacteria than even unsweetened raw yogurt. Candida growth can also be fostered in the diet through consumption of meat, dairy, and poultry products due to the heavy use of antibiotics. Traces of antibiotics given to dairy cows can later show up in milk. Meat eaters should make sure that meat is free of antibiotic contamination. Organic (hormone and antibiotic free) meat and poultry should be consumed whenever possible. For candidiasis patients, sea food (free of mercury toxins) and vegatable protein are preferable since they are not only antibiotic free, but lower in fat. According to Dr Chaitow, both bifido-bacteria and acidophilus should be supplemented during candidiasis treatment to help repopulate the bowel, and for antifungal activity. This "good" bacteria supplementation is called "Pro-biotics". Dr Chaitow also recommends that other pro-biotic products such as lactobacillus vulgaricus, be used to assist the colonizing activities of bifido-bacteria and acidophilus. Nutritional Supplements According to Dr Chaitow, a general nutritional support program is frequently
needed to help build up immune function and digestive efficiency, which
may have become severely depleted or compromised after months or years
of chronic candidiasis. Specific nutritional supplementation can be helpful
in rebuilding weakened immune function. Recommended supplements include
individual B Vitamins which increase antibody response and are used in
nearly every body activity, Vitamin C which stimulates adrenaline and
is essential to immune processes, Vitamin E the lack of which depresses
immune response, Vitamin A which builds resistance to infection and increases
immune response, and beta-carotene a Vitamin A precursor which increases
T-cells. Herbal Medicine Herbs are often used to kill harmful yeasts and shore up immune function.
They are used in teas, dried in capsules or tablets, or taken in suppository
form. Herbs which contain berberine (an alkaloid found in the berbercia
family) have proven particularly useful anticandida agents. These include
Goldenseal, Oregon Grape, and Barberry. Dr Braly's first line of attack on candidiasis is caprylic acid, only after which, if there is no improvement, will he use drugs. Since caprylic acid is readily absorbed into the system, it should be taken in enteric or sustained release forms. Dr Braly also likes Goldenseal Root extract, standardized to 5% or more of it's active ingredient, hydrastine, 250 mg twice daily. In a recent study Goldenseal seemed to work better in killing off candida than other common anticandida therapies, adds Dr Braly. Other fatty acids derived from olives (oleic acid) and castor beans have also been found to be useful. Dr Susser point out however, that caprylic acid is far from a panacea. " It's most useful," Dr Susser says, " when you combine it with a good diet, allergy care, the right nutrients, acidophilus, and other treatments." Garlic, a well-known folk remedy, is a particularly effective antifungal agent. It has been shown to be effective against some antibiotic resistant organisms and can be taken in capsule and deodorized form. In cases of vaginal candidiasis, it can be used as a suppository or douche. Pau d'Arco Bark, obtained from a tropical tree native to Brazil, has long been used to treat infections, intestinal complaints, and genital ailments (cystitis, prostatitis). It is reported to be an analgesic, an antiviral, a diuretic, and a fungicide. However, many products claiming to contain Pau d'Arco have only trace amounts, or even none of the herb. These products also may use a part of the tree other than the bark, or may have been damaged in production and shipping. When purchasing products with Pau d'Arco, be sure that they contain lapachol, an organic compound known for it's antibiotic action. Ayurvedic Medicine According to Virender Sodhi, MD (Ayurveda), ND, Director of the American
School of Ayurvedic Sciences, in Bellevue Washington, Ayurvedic medicine
considers candidiasis to be a condition caused by ama, the improper digestion
of foods. Dr Sodhi attributes candidiasis to the widespread use of antibiotics,
birth control pills, hormones, and to environmental stresses, as well
as to society's addiction to sugar in the diet. Dr Sodhi begins dosage with a quarter teaspoon of herbs, about thirty minutes before each meal, with dosage increasing gradually to 8 to 10 teaspoons of herbs a day. He also uses acidophilus, and recommends that his patients cleanse toxins from their systems using the pancha karma program, which involves dietary modification and the use of herbs. Results from Dr Sodhi's approach usually occur within 4 to 6 months. Acupuncture William Michael Cargile, BS,DC, FIACA, Chaiman of Research for The American
Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, has successfully used
acupuncture on patients with candidiasis. He advises, " I would
start by using meridians which influence genital function, spleen, and
stomach. These are yin meridians and they correspond to areas of immune
system enhancement. You want to normalize the metabolism of the cells
in that part of the body." But Dr Cargile adds that treatment is "a
waste of time" if the patient doesn't also pay attention to nutrition,
which he calls " a significant solution ". Dr Cargile gave her a gargle solution of Tea Tree Oil which reduced the pathogens. He had her change her diet and douche with liquid acidophilus, and gave her acupuncture treatments through meridians which reached the larynx and throat. " After three treatments over a period of three weeks, she was 90% better," he states. " She had no oral candida like before, and was well on the road to recovery. Recovery : Although self-help is therapeudic for candidiasis, a health regimen should be undertaken with the guidance of a practitioner who understands the condition and is willing to try a variety of treatment options. Recovery from chronic candidiasis seldom takes less than three months and is usually well advanced by six months, but it can take longer to recover completely. Medical studies show that until bowel candida is under control, local manifestations will continue to appear (such as vaginal thrush). Local treatment alone (for thrush, or other symptoms ) is not enough. www.liferesearchuniversal.com/immune.html |
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