I'm wondering if I would be able to gather some feedback from Candida suffers to help me in my search for a pain-free and happy life. I am brand new to this website and haven't joined any forums. I have had the following symptoms since I was in 5th grade...I'm 32 now so it's been a really long time feeling like total crap. After looking through so much info with my mother and being through so many doctors and test, my mother is ABSOLULTLY convienced that we are on to something with Candida. I am not sure...I am starting to believe that maybe it's Celiac Disease. I am really new to this and don't know where to begin. Here is my story and symptoms...I would appriecate any info....I am truly lost.

I am tired ALL THE TIME. Even after a 8 to 9 hours night sleep, I wake up and continue to be and feel exhausted all day. I have no engery at all. It takes all my strengh to do the simplest things because of the lack of engery and tiredness. It's really annoying that I can't enjoy my days.

I have headaches pretty much everyday. Doctor diagonsed me with migranes..been on Topamax for those and didn't work. I have constant facial pain, like my actual facial bone structure hurts..my husband thinks he is going to "break my face" because I make him push and rub so hard to try and relieve some pressure. I have a thick throat almost everyday and have drippage on a daily basis. I also have gained about 25 lbs within a 2 month period and I get dizzy when things move to fast.

I have always had knee pains, major pain in my shoulders(like it almost feels hard to hold my head up sometimes because the muscles are so tight and hurt so bad). People think it's stress but even after a massage, I have no relief. When I was young I was told they were "growing pains" but I am 32 and I think that they should be done by now and I still have them.

I have been dianosed with chronic sinusitus and have had sinus infections all my life--so antibotics I have been on quite a bit. I do have allergies, such as cats, dogs, mold, dust, everything outside, CORN and a few others. I have been diagonsed with ADD and Depression and have been on medication since I was about 20. Irritability and mood swings have all been equated with the ADD and Depression. I have those on a daily basis as well. I am on meds for the ADD and Depression, as well as a host of other supplements.

I did just start the SUPER-STRICT Candida elimation diet...which is basically meat, veggies, nuts and water. It's horribly limited and I am craving cheese, milk and sugar! And in a moment of weakness I just cheated by eating a bowl of Kashi Cinna.Raisin Crunch!!! I have been on this Candida diet for 6 days and was going to puke if I didn't eat something other than meat, veggies or nuts!!!

My headaches and facial pain have subsided for 3 days now but the engery level is horrible still. I am taking Probotics 3 times daily and a garlic pill to help assist in the attack of the Candida.

Has anybody been on this diet and cheated? What side effects did you encounter? Am I doomed to fail again? Will this set me back? Does this start me from step one? Have I ruined all my hard work (all 6 days worth..not much I know). If you can't notice, I am feeling HORRIBLE AND GUILTY!! I am planning to resume the diet after this one lapse....


So, that's about all I can think of at this moment. I have a beautiful 2 year old boy and a wonderful husband. I can't continue like this...it isn't fair to them and I am at a lost as to where to start. I hope that someone, anyone can help me, even if you think I don't have Celiac or Candida that would at least help me look somewhere else. I am desperate.

I thank you all in advance.

A lot of people suffer from non-celiac gluten sensitivity which there aren't really any tests that are accepted by the medical community as a whole. Few doctors even recognize this is a problem.

I suspect if you've felt like this for nearly your whole life, you either do have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. I had a lot of those symptoms too.

Check out "The gluten file" in my signature and you might want to look into testing by enterolab.com.

In general I don't advise trying to pursue a celiac diagnosis. It gives people who clearly feel a lot better getting off gluten false negatives all the time and can be pretty invasive if they do the intestinal biopsy. But most people have a pretty good response getting off gluten (and sometimes dairy too) and when they go back on they feel awful. But they'd rather believe their doctor than their own body so they mess around with gluten over and over and wonder why they don't get better.

Your nausea is probably due to ketosis, which you are probably in if you're eating nothing but meat. You could kick up your carb levels a tad and that'll probably go away. We call that "induction flu" around here. It's what happens when your body adjusts to burning fat rather than glucose.

Oh, some of your symptoms sound like hypothyroid: Sinusitis, fatigue, sleeping too much. Gluten intolerance seems to be associated with lots of thyroid autoimmune disease too.

Anyway, those are some directions you can explore if you so choose.

Sounds like you're going through some major die-off reactions. These are typical in the beginning of your exclusion diet. STAY STRONG!!!! It will definitely get easier. Give it a couple weeks and you'll be feeling so much better that you will never want to eat sugar or dairy ever again!! Definitely good to stay away from nuts as well, although, a little unsweetened almond milk or almond butter is okay every once in a while....
You'll get through it...perhaps not putting so much stress on yourself to stick to the diet 100% at first might help. I had to talk smaller steps. It's definitely possible.
Coconut oil seems to help a lot as well...
Good luck I hope this helps!!

Thank you for your words of encouragement. being new to this site and "chatting" it's nice to know that there are people who are kind and willing to share their information. It is so helpful to know that there are people out there willing to help me in my quest to feeling good and "normal" again.

Isn't it!?!? This forum has SAVED me!!
I'll be seeing the best holistic doc in northern cali soon. I'll definitely keep you posted as to what she has to say! Stay strong!!

I can identify with the "being tired ALL THE TIME" even after "a good night's sleep" and it's been since I was a child. I know the ones who have already adviced you know a lot more about it than I do, but I'll share my experience for what it's worth. My thyroid has been tested every time I complain to a doctor about being tired. There's nothing wrong with it. I've been LC for 5 years - that made some difference in energy level, but still, I wanted to sleep all the time. Well recently I got yeast infection. Never had it before (that I knew of). I got medication for it and also started on "Candida Ceanse" probiotic and also Activia yogurt approximately 10 days ago. I don't know if it's just coincidence or what, but besides the burning & itching symptoms of the yeast infection being gone, I am not nearly as tired. I can actually stay awake until 9 PM without a nap!! I wonder now if I've had it all along, but just not as obvious of symptoms presented. Anyway, I'm staying on probiotics! And LC is the best way of eating there is!
OH! - Here's what I was gonna' tell you too. I'll probably get beat with a wet noodle for this, as everyone here preaches against the bars; but they don't stall my weight loss, and since weight loss is not necessarily your primary focus here; maybe you could try Atkins bars, just for a sweet treat. However, for some, they are just like candy and just stir up the carb craving. But for me, they are a replacement for the desire for cereal and also someting sweet. I get mine a little cheaper at Vitacost.com.
Good luck.

Honestly, it sounds like it could be either Candida, Celiac, or gluten intolerance. I've been reading a lot on mercury poisoning lately, and those symptoms overlap as well.

I'm also on a yeast-free diet now; even skin testing showed that I'm allergic to yeast, so I shouldn't eat anything with yeast regardless. However, I'm also completely off grains. While I'm still not feeling well, primarily because I haven't identified some of my food allergies, my arthritis symptoms have improved quite a bit, so obviously something I was eating was contributing to it. (Allergies may be something else that you should consider.)

Are you also totally milk-free? While I might eventually go that route, for now I'm allowing butter and heavy whipping cream. While it might not be the best choice for "cheating," I put some berries in my Magic Bullet along with some heavy whipping cream and blended them, and that helped a lot with my craving for sweets without being as bad as yeast, processed sugar, and gluten.

You said you were a bit bored by your diet. I would like to recommend 2 cookbooks that I am intending to get that sound really gourmet and have no grains, or dairy at all

The First is "Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient" and the second is "Bones: History and Lore" both by Jennifer McLaggen.

Seriously, there is a world of good food out there that has nothing to do with grains and sugar.

Thank you Adorablema! I am going to look into these right away! If you do get them and try some recipes, let me know what you think and I will do the same!

I'm 32 and have the same problem. However, I've had some success dealing with this disease.
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"I have been diagonsed with ADD"
-- This is caused by B-1 deficiency. Get a nice B-complex vitamin, like a natures made liquid softgel from the supermarket. Tell me if you notice a difference within 2 hours.

"and Depression"
-- This may be caused by Selenium Deficiency. Selenium kills candida. Selenium can also be used to treat depression.

"I did just start the SUPER-STRICT Candida elimation diet"
-- Diet and Exercise help, but you can't cure this with those alone.

"I have headaches pretty much everyday."
-- Cut out the nutrasweet (diet-coke, equal in the coffee, etc...), the headaches should magically disappear and never return.


"I am taking Probotics 3 times daily and a garlic pill to help assist in the attack of the Candida."
-- Garlic will kill candida. However, if you have a pound of yeast, 1 little pill might not be enough (Garlic has Selenium and Sulfur). Too much, and you might smell bad (better to smell bad then to have add and depression, though)(you might get a "herxheimer reaction" as well).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herxheimer_reaction


Apparently, the most common cause for Candida problems are Iron Deficiecy and Selenium Deficiency. Zinc seems to increase Iron levels (and help with PMS).

Do you have some age spots (Tinea Versicolor) as well, or patchy red spots? Try some Selsun Blue on those (Selenium Sulfide).
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I'm thinking 400-1200 micrograms of Selenium to treat Selenium Deficiency in humans (divided doses).

ps. Selsun Blue works on Celiac Rashes as well (But may dry out the skin)(too much may cause peeling)
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If you want to get tested for something, test for Selenium deficiency and/or Hypothyroid. It seems Suzanne Somers doctors, Abraham and Brownstein have a nice protocol for treating thyroid problems, curing PMS(impossible?), etc... It would seem that this same protocol may kill candida as well (iodine, selenium, b-complex, Magnesium, low-dairy, vitamin c).

*******
Selenium Deficiency is supposedly not a problem in the US. I don't buy it.
http://www.saanendoah.com/map1.html


Here is a scientific study on some other stuff that kills candida. Notice the Peppermint Oil, which is a treatment for IBS.
http://www.springerlink.com/content...85/fulltext.pdf

Coconut Oil is listed. The juniper oil is a little interesting, as that provides the taste for Gin (perhaps the most fun way to treat a yeast infection) .

Thanks, Danaus. A lot of that was totally new to me.

Wow Danaus! Thanks so much for that info! I was on Selenium for years and years for depression, which didn't help all that much. Maybe I was taking to low of a dose? As far as the ADD goes, I am on 300mg of Wellbutrin for that. I wonder if I were to add the B-complex if they would contradict each other or cancel each other out? As far as the headaches, all I drink is water and I don't use anything but real sugar. I don't buy anything with Splenda or any other sweeteners. The Selsun Blue to use on age spots....isn't that a hair shampoo? I have a few "dark" spots on my face so would I use the Selsun to wash my face? That is the first time I have ever heard that! This is awesome info!! Thank you so much!

Interesting stuff. I have ADD and I'm don't think I've had it all of my life. I used to focus just fine, and while lc helps I just can't seem to shake it completely.

I also have fatigue that is pretty debilitating, and depression some of the time. So this is all pretty neat to hear.

[QUOTE=my arthritis symptoms have improved quite a bit, so obviously something I was eating was contributing to it. (Allergies may be something else that you should consider.)

I just wanted to say that I read a while back that LCing lowers the c-reactive protein which leads to inflammation which leads to arthritis. My arthritis symptoms are better when I LC too. So if you want to say you're allergic to something, it might just be carbs. Tee Hee, anywhere but here people are going to say "Wha..."

Here is a guy who did some nice research on Selenium, Zinc, and Candida. He cured his candida and his hypothyroid went away.
http://www.ithyroid.com/candida.htm


Here is some more info:
http://pquadros.com/Candidiasis%20F...s)/CANDID_1.HTM

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/...asis-000030.htm

I read an aricle about different candida strains causing different vitamin b deficiencies. Since the brain fog/ADD cleared in two hours, the b-vitamin helped alot.

Sub-cortical Dementia can be caused by vitamin b deficiencies is known, so b-deficiency is the cause of the brain fog.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia


http://www.curezone.com/forums/am.asp?i=1313479
"It is known that yeasts of the genus Candida requires thiamine for growth, and produce pyruvic acid, best to use Benfotiamine"

Vitamin B1 Deficiency Symptoms

A lack of sufficient thiamine in the diet can cause loss of appetite, poor digestion, chronic constipation, loss of weight, mental depression, nervous exhaustion, and insomnia. It can lead to muscular weakness, leg cramps, slow heartbeat, irritability, defective hydrochloric acid production in the stomach and consequent digestive disorders. In case of insufficient supply of thiamine in the body, the heart muscles become lazy and fatigued, and the auricles or the upper chambers of the heart lose their strength and gradually enlarge. This may lead tto a condition known as hypertrophy of the heart. Prolonged gross deficiency can cause beriberi, neuritis, and oedema. Lack of vitamin B1, can slow down circulation to the scalp to the extent that hair may fall and new hair may grow very slowly. Deficiency of thiamine can be induced by excessive use of alcohol, dietary sugar, and processed and refined foods."

Cracking of the corner of the lips, is called Angular Chelitis. It is caused by B-2 defiency and/or Candida.