Candida is the common name for an overgrowth of yeast organism known as Candida Albicans. Candida appears with many varying and seemingly unrelated symptoms, it can affect almost every part of the body.

Because of the wide range of symptoms and, until recently, the lack of positive diagnostic tests available to the public, “Candida” has become a popular term for any collection of symptoms of no identified cause. However, Candida is a serious disorder. It is not simply a fungal infection, which should be treated with anti-fungal medicines but should be recognized as a chronic condition caused by a disturbance in the internal environment of an individual.

To treat Candida effectively it is important to understand the reason behind the overgrowth of yeast in order to rebalance the internal environment and treat the cause of the disorder. This book introduces you to a thorough diagnostic and drug-free treatment program, as well as tips on how to adapt your life-style comfortably to treating Candida.

Contents
Introduction

Part One

• The yeast environment
• Population explosion
• Your body's defence system
• The hormonal connection
• Blood sugar and your diet
• Mercury amalgam dental fillings
• The ravaging fungus
• Candida and traditional Chinese medicine

Part Two

• Diagnosing candida
• A treatment programme
• Adopting a candida-free lifestyle

Useful addresses
Further reading
Index

How to cope successfully with Candida The Drug-Free Way

Disclaimer: The aim of this book is to provide general information only and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your doctor or any other health care professional. The publisher and author are not responsible or liable for any diagnosis made by a reader based on the contents of this book. Always consult your doctor if you are in any way concerned about your health.

How to cope successfully with Candida The Drug-Free Way

Introduction

It is amazing how many wide-ranging symptoms may simply be the result of an overgrowth of the yeast-like fungus called Candida albicans.

This organism exists in all adult human beings, forming part of the naturally occurring and beneficial flora in the intestines. When there is an overgrowth of this microscopic organism, however, it can lead to many varying and seemingly unrelated symptoms, such as I depression or anxiety, abdominal bloating, excessive pre-menstrual symptoms, migraines, feelings of mental fogginess, muscle aches, dandruff and athlete's foot, to name just a few.

Doctors refer to Candida infection as 'intestinal candidiasis' when the overgrowth is limited to the gut, and 'systemic candidiasis' when the overgrowth extends to the rest of the body. Another, older name used by doctors for Candida infection is moniliasis. It is also commonly known as thrush.

Candida overgrowth can become a very serious disorder, and is becoming more and more prevalent in modern times.

Candida infection is a very controversial topic, with complementary practitioners and orthodox doctors hotly debating its very existence. The problem is that, while thrush is a common and well- recognized medical disorder resulting from a Candida yeast infection, unfortunately the more serious condition of a severe yeast over growth throughout the body is barely recognized in medical circles. This may be because, frequently, pharmaceutical drugs can actually cause the disorder, as we shall see later in this book.

All in your head?
Commonly, a patient consulting her doctor with a multiplicity of symptoms is treated for each symptom individually. Unfortunately, rather than the person becoming well again, to her and her doctor's frustration she continues to sink deeper and deeper into ill health. After a while there may come a time when the sufferer begins to doubt her own sanity, as she may be accused of inventing the illness. She may even be told, 'It's all in your head.' The sufferer is usually certain that something is not right, yet there seems to be no diagnosis to validate her feelings of ill health. This is tremendously upsetting and degrading for a person who is already suffering deeply from a chronic and invasive illness. If this has happened to you, take heart: there is a diagnosis and a treatment regime for this condition, and people do get better again!

When the yeast population in the gut overgrows, it affects almost every part of the body and causes such a wide range of symptoms that Candida has become something of an umbrella term for any collection of symptoms of no identifiable cause. In the past, Candida has been referred to as 'the missing diagnosis'. Because of the wide range of symptoms and the lack of positive diagnostic tests available, this gap provided fertile ground for individuals of limited medical training to hop on the bandwagon and begin 'diagnosing' Candida for almost any condition or illness.

This, understandably, upsets the orthodox medical community, whose ethics demand concrete evidence to prove the existence of disease conditions. Recently, however, although there has been more and more evidence to prove that Candida is a far more wide spread problem than was previously believed, most conventional doctors still seem to dispute its existence.

Candida overgrowth is a serious disorder, and it must be recognized that it is a disease of an internal environmental disturbance, and not simply a fungal infection to be treated with anti-fungal medicines. We shall see later in this book how the yeast population is unable to grow out of hand in a healthy body because it is kept in check by the body's immune system and intestinal bacteria. When the body's defence systems breakdown, however, or when the environment becomes favourable for the yeast to grow, it is able to proliferate and grow out of control wreaking havoc.

A growing problem
Candida infection is a big problem. A recent study in the UK showed that 75 per cent of women are affected by vaginal Candida infections, with 40-50 per cent of these women having recurrent episodes of infection.

Although there are thought to be up to 400 species of this yeast, it is specifically Candida albicans that I will be discussing in this book. Candida albicans accounts for 90 per cent of Candida infections - and is considered the most vicious strain of this particular yeast - family. As 'Candida' is the name that most people use when discussing a Candida albicans infection, for the sake of convenience I shall simply refer to it as this throughout the book.

How to use this book
This book is divided into two parts. Part One goes into some depth in discussing how and why Candida develops. It is important for you to know what causes the overgrowth of yeast, so that these elements may be eliminated before any treatment programme can begin. Part One goes on to discuss in some detail the symptoms of this disorder, and how Candida affects the body.

Part Two focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of Candida. It includes a self-diagnosis chart and a list of recommended laboratory tests required for an accurate diagnosis. This section of the book also has a chapter discussing a thorough treatment programme, and tips on how to adapt your lifestyle comfortably to treating Candida.

Please note that this is a guide to overcoming Candida, and does not by any means act as a substitute for professional treatment. I strongly recommend that you should be treated by a qualified therapist of your choice. A list of professional practitioner bodies is given in the last section of this book.

Let us now move on to understanding the nature of this illness by examining the yeast known as Candida albicans.

About the author
Jo Dunbar was born and brought up in Cape Town, South Africa. Ever since childhood, she has had a fascination with herbal medicines, but thought that herbalism was a medieval concept, until per chance whilst backpacking around England, she discovered the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, who directed her towards the only college of herbal medicine available at the time. After many years of hard study, she now has a thriving herbal medicine practice and retail apothecary in Surrey.

Jo is also involved in supervising dissertation research for BSc degree students at The College of Phytotherapy. She completed her own studies at that institution in 1999, and immediately went on to study a Master of Science degree at the University of Westminster where she focused on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Jo can be contacted through The National Institute of Medical Herbalist.