Real Health / What's Candida? [Symptoms & Treatments]

What's Candida? [Symptoms & Treatments]

August 13, 2024 Dr Livingood

What is Candida?

Thousands of people are hospitalized and diagnosed with candida or candidiasis yearly. Candida overgrowth causes numerous health problems. Whether it’s a candida infection in the mouth (thrush) or yeast overgrowth as far as women’s health is concerned (vaginal yeast infection, urinary tract infection, or vulvovaginal candidiasis).

Candida itself is not necessarily the issue. There are two forms of candida and one is helpful for you:

The Yeast Form is fine. You need it in your gut to manage and balance out the digestion of your food.
The Fungal Form is a form that you want to identify and get rid of. Think mold and mildew on a rotting floorboard or a wall. That’s what happens in your gut, and it causes problems in your digestive tract.

There are 150 species of yeast and, as I’ve said, most aren’t a problem. We need them. The problem with yeast is when you get too much, it becomes an issue. Candida albicans is one of the most harmful types of yeast. The primary source of candida Albicans in America is sugar. People with candida issues oftentimes crave carbohydrates and are sugar burners. If that is you and you have a sweet tooth, you probably have candida overgrowth.

What Causes Candida?

1. Antibiotics

There are good bacteria, bad bacteria, and fungi all sitting inside of your gut. An antibiotic is like an atomic bomb for your digestive system. It wipes out all the good AND all the bad, creating problems and imbalances with these organisms over time.

2. Heavy Metals

Amalgam fillings and vaccinations put heavy metals into the system that cause imbalances in the digestive system and throw off the symbiosis of the gut organisms.

3. Medications

Medications cause imbalance and throw off the digestive system. Many medications have side effects warnings for digestive distress. The most common include antacids corticosteroids, HRT, testosterone, and human growth hormone. Birth control, quite possibly the worse culprit, causes gut issues and is a precursor to candida.

4. Lack of Probiotics

Next is a decreased amount of good bacteria, probiotics. If you have a small amount of those good bacteria in your system, you’ve got issues. Or if you’re not regularly ingesting these good bacteria, it causes problems.

5. Sexual Transmission

Candida (yeast) infections can be transmitted through sexual contact.

6. Stress

Chronic stress taxes your gut and can lead to an overgrowth of candida. Extra stress is related to a lack of sleep and lowered immunity at which point your body can’t fight off the fungus inside of your system and it becomes a problem.

7. Alcohol

No surprise there. Since yeast is used in its formation, it’s going directly into the system and fueling that fire.

Do I Have Candida?

Some “out of the gates” warning signs to know if you have candida are:

A white coating on the tongue
Bad breath
Frequent UTIs
Yeast infections– Both women and men deal with these.
Skin and fungal infections– Fungal infections on the feet, nails, or folds of your skin.

These are the outside easy warning signs to spot to know if you have a candida problem, the obvious ones. However, there is a lot that happens internally and physiologically that points to having a potential candida problem.

8 Risk Factors & Signs of Candida Overgrowth

1. Weight Gain

If you are experiencing weight gain, you may have a candida problem. Candida feeds off of sugar which quickly puts a lot of weight on a system. It was Jacob Teitelbaum, an MD from Dallas, who said that the average weight gain is about 32.5 lbs for people that have chronic fatigue syndrome related to candidiasis. It is suggested that 10 to 15 million women alone have this candida overgrowth problem.

2. Toxicity Issues

Candida releases over 80 known toxins into the system that can weaken the body’s defense systems, making toxicity go hand-in-hand with candida.

3. Leaky Gut

Leaky gut syndrome has become very popular in the last several years, as we understand more and more about its effects. Candida creates finger-like projections that grow into the mucous membrane of the digestive tract causing the membrane to widen and create leaks. Undigested proteins cross the membrane, get into the blood, and then they cause a lot of autoimmune-related problems. Thyroid issues, fibromyalgia, several autoimmune issues, and rheumatoid arthritis— are a few of the conditions that are associated with a leaky gut problem caused by candida.

4. Allergies and Sinus Infections

Candidiasis can lead to frequent allergies and sinus infections.

5. Fatigue

An overload of candida in the body takes away all of your good energy, minerals, and nutrients and blocks them from getting into your system. This causes fatigue and malnutrition.

6. Hormone Imbalance

The gut is so heavily related to balancing hormones. As candida goes up hormone imbalances follow.

7. Food and Chemical Sensitivities

If your system is very sensitive to foods you put into it, or things that go on your skin, candida can be the connection.

8. Autoimmune Disorders

If you are dealing with an autoimmune problem you need to take a good look at candida due to its effect on the gut microbiome. The gut microbiome makes up 70% of your immune system.

10 Natural Solutions For Candida or Candidiasis

1. Olive Leaf Extract

This supports the immune system and immune function. Powerful components of the olive leaf destroy invading organisms. Olive leaf does not allow those things to replicate and cause an infection in the first place. In fact, New York University did studies showing how HIV patients we’re having a lot of success from not allowing the HIV infection to further itself along just by the use of olive leaf extract. You definitely want to put this in your arsenal when it comes to candida.

2. Caprylic Acid

Caprylic Acid is a fatty acid found in coconut milk, coconut oil, and breast milk. It helps protect against funguses like candida and works to break down and digest its cell walls. It boosts the immune system by benefiting flora in the gut. If you take calcium caprylate with it, it will help absorb the caprylic acid be more effective.

3. Betaine Hydrochloric Acid

This ties into acid reflux and stomach digestive problems in general, but is very good against candida as well. When you have proper hydrochloric acid in the stomach, it helps to digest, break down, and extract nutrients and minerals out of food. In addition to candidiasis if you struggle with B12, anemia, or acid reflux issues, taking HCL is something to look at. There are simple tests you can do to see if you have enough HCL in your system.

4. Berberine

Berberine inhibits the growth of candida, microorganisms, funguses, protozoa, and bacterias. It’s an alkaloid that has been shown to break down the yeast membrane of candida.

5. Grapefruit Seed Extract

Not to be confused with grapeseed oil extract, grapefruit seed extract is very powerful and healthy for the entire GI system. It helps maintain healthy gut flora and helps balance the microbe in the gut. If you commonly deal with frequent UTIs, you may want to look at adding grapefruit seed extract.

6. Coconut Oil

It seems like we can use coconut oil for almost everything! Joint health, weight loss, oral health, etc. It is also a very good, gut-friendly fat. Research shows its immune supporting properties help balance gut flora. It’s a great option for candida.

7. Vitamin C

80% of your vitamin C is actually stored in your adrenals, so if you are dealing with a lot of fatigue issues caused by candida vitamin C may be your key supplement to add. Vitamin C can be a remedy to help restore the adrenals and fatigue issues. It is also very good for your entire immune system. I recommend taking 2,000-3,000 milligrams of vitamin C on a daily basis until your stools are a little bit loose. Vitamin C is water-soluble, so if you get too much, it will just go right through you. So you don’t want to take too much of it. Maybe go right up to that threshold where you do have a loose stool, and back off a thousand milligrams. That’s a good daily amount.

8. Fermented Foods

You probably do not get enough fermented foods in your diet. These are loaded with friendly bacteria that get into the system and balance out the gut. So if there is big candida overgrowth, and you throw in a bunch of good bacteria, it’s going to help suppress that candida in the system and get everything working the way it’s supposed to.

9. Sugar Detox

Remember, the thing that feeds candida in the first place is sugar, so I recommend a sugar detox. If you can starve the candida, you will get to the cause of the problem, it will begin to die off, and you’ll get it under control. But again, some of this candida and yeast is a good thing. You don’t want to get rid of all of it, but you do want to get it under control. Grab my free book to get access to the sugar fast.

10. Honorable Mentions

A few other natural remedies worth trying include wild oregano oil thanks to its immune supporting properties, apple cider vinegar, and tea tree oil. For women’s health concerns, boric acid vaginal suppositories are an excellent feminine health remedy

Sum Up

Many of our lifestyle factors are driving the candida fungus into where it doesn’t belong. Like the sugar detox, there are simple things you can do to get this under control, start losing weight and decrease the amount of candida you have. To strengthen your immune system and the beneficial bacteria in your gut, candida needs to be addressed.

There are specific candida killer and supplement products that I use to attack this quickly if you have a big problem with it and need to get it under control. Then over time, use lifestyle products such as sugar detox, fermented foods, and vitamin C so it’s always kept in check. If you’ve never done a candida cleanse or sugar detox, I would highly recommend that to see what happens and how it starts to make a difference in so many different areas of your body.

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What's Candida? [Symptoms & Treatments]

What is Candida?