Candida and the Digestive Tract
The Problem with Candida
Candida albicans is a yeast, which lives largely in the human digestive tract, with the unique ability to change from yeast into a fungus. Candida albicans is strong and invasive. It attaches itself to the intestinal wall as it attempts to become a permanent resident of digestive tract. Normally it is kept at low levels in a healthy body, by the friendly or good bacteria called micro-flora. These good bacteria help digest food, synthesize vitamin K, & some B vitamins, and fight against the growth of harmful viruses, bacteria, and fungi by stimulating or stepping up the immune system’s response. They also maintain balance in the body by feeding on this yeast.
More immune system tissue is in the digestive tract than anywhere else in the body. Good bacteria are found throughout the body. Surprisingly there are over 1,000 in the mouth, 150 behind each ear, 440 on the outsides of the forearms, and several thousand make the digestive tract their home. If the micro-flora has been significantly reduced or destroyed, Candida yeast begins to overgrow, dominate the digestive tract, and results in a negative effect on the immune system.
An autopsy of a digestive tract housing Candida
When left untreated Candida grows into a plant like structure, complete with roots. As these roots gain strength they break through the intestinal walls allowing the yeast to travel to the sinuses, the throat, the reproductive organs, the lungs, and the skin. Often resulting in what is misdiagnosed as, chronic sinus infections, chronic urinary tract infections, or inflammatory bowel syndrome. Once established in the sinuses it feeds on the glucose abundant in the fluid around the brain, causing a deplete of food for the brain, this can result in brain fog, muscle pain syndromes, or cognitive (thinking) dysfunction. Candida is a living thing; like all living things, it eats and eliminates its waste products. Candida’s waste products produce a perfect environment for harmful bacteria to live. Then the waste products from years of bacterial infections, create a perfect environment for parasites.
Causes of Candida
Candida feeds on sugar. People with Candida overgrowth will crave sugar. Sugar can be from surprising sources, such as processed grains, these are all the things made from flour, like bread, pasta, pizza crust and crackers. They are not thought of as sugar, but they turn to sugar in the mouth. A diet of these kinds of food along with soda, sports drinks and alcohol all feed Candida allowing it to grow strong. In the process, it may produce hundreds of various symptoms, making it extremely frustrating for anyone to determine what is exactly wrong. Billions of dollars are spent each year on nasal sprays, creams, additional antibiotics, antidepressants, weight loss programs, laxatives and unnecessary hospital visits due to the erroneous solutions offered for this problem.
Oral birth control pills are mostly the hormone estrogen. Supplemental estrogen in the synthetic form has been found to promote the growth of intestinal yeast. Yeast infection is a common complaint of women taking birth control pills, and menopausal women, supplementing with synthetic estrogen. The use of the antibiotics, cortisone, prednisone, and chemotherapy kill the good bacteria, as do street drugs, alcohol and junk food diets. Another source that is killing good bacteria is eating meat & drinking milk where the animals have been treated ongoing with antibiotics, which is to say 99% of our non-organic meat and milk since the 1990’s, when factory farm animals became widespread.
Like any mold or fungus, Candida and its symptoms worsen in hot, humid or muggy weather, causing it to grow, and release more toxins, thus producing more symptoms. Many people digest less than 50 percent of their food, because Candida creates a digestive conflict, and robs them of their nutrition. Often it finally gets attention from the sufferer due to symptoms such as burping, bloating, gas, food reactions, allergies, constipation, diarrhea, and other digestive complaints.
The Solution for Candida Overgrowth
Now, I wouldn’t have told you all about this harmful fungus without telling you there are ways to kill it and prevent it from coming back. The tricky part is there is the only absolute test to determine whether you have it, this is a lab test of your fecal matter. Therefore an assessment of your history is often used. If you have taken prednisone, antibiotics or have the symptoms listed above, or taking a probiotic relives symptoms, there is a good chance you have Candida. A simple spit test is also helpful in determining Candida overgrowth.
There are over 32 different micro-flora, you may have heard of Acidophilus or Lactobacillus. These are the names of some. All helpful micro-flora are called probiotics. Taking probiotics for several months throughout a year can in some instances replenish the digestive tract. If Candida has been growing for a long period of time it may be necessary to kill it before replenishing the micro-flora. It is best to seek a health professional for this. The use of a supplements like oil of oregano, caprylic acid, or homeopathic blends designed to kill Candida need to be recommended and monitored by a health professional experienced with treating Candida overgrowth. When Candida is dying off, the dead plant and its necro-toxins can accumulate in the body, as the body attempts to rid itself of these toxins a person may experience flu like or ‘sick’ symptoms. I have helped many children and adults rid their body of Candida overgrowth and re-store their digestive tract. For more information and directions on the Candida spit test please contact my office.
