How long til this die-off ends??
 

I know everyone is different, and the die off is better than this time last month, but although it is improving, it isn't gone, and my symptoms are slightly better not really gone yet either.

How long will this last? Any ideas?

Many thanks!

Annajen :)

Check this out... might be helpful

http://www.naturallythriving.com/basics/cfd.php

Thanks very much, Shelbyla! I'll look at the link.

I do seem to be getting much better but it's just taking a long time. :(

Hey Annajen,

What exactly are you doing to kill off the Candida?

Hi KT12

I'm under the care of a consultant in London and am on a rotating programme of antifungals. Candicarb (capsules of golden seal, turmeric, and other antifungal powders) alternated with GSE. I'm also on Ecologic, which is a strong probiotic, along with digestive and pancreatic enzymes.

Diet-wise, I'm following the Candida Diet in "The Complete Candida Yeast Guidebook" by Dr Zoltan Rona and Jeanne Marie Martin (2nd Edition). I'm on the very limited "treatment phase" of the diet, which is basically low carb, whole grains only, and dairy limited to probiotic natural yogurts. No sugar and only occasional sub-acid fruits for the moment too.

In addition to this, in the book it points out that Barley Grass Powder and other green drinks work really well to augment oxygen in the body and so I'm also using those fairly frequently. Overall, there have been improvements, but I'm noticing them more over time and they are slow because my candida was very advanced and systemic by the time I finally found out what it was that was causing the symptoms.

I've also found that raw garlic mid-meal work and I've been sweetening drinks with ground cloves mainly, since cloves are also anti-fungal. Hopefully I will be able to gradually expand the diet slightly after a few more weeks of treatment, but I doubt I'll ever be able to go back to a high carb diet again.

Wow man, it sounds like you are attacking it head on! That's good you found a doctor in London who would even listen to you when you inquired about Candida. Most doctors dismiss it.

Anyway, if your Candida was advanced and systemic, then I would expect the die-off symptoms to last a good while. Candida is SO hard to get rid of when it's in that stage. Keep at it though, i'm sure there is a silver lining ahead somewhere.

Oh yeah, you should check out my thread. http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=404427. I posted pics of my Candida infection. Did you get any lab results back when you were diagnosed with Candida? It'd be awesome if you could share. The more evidence we have this exists, the better! Doctors are so reluctant to admit Candida affects people in many ways.

Hi KT12

The doctor in London thing wasn't pure luck. First, I had it dismissed by a specialist (consultant!) whom I had been seeing initially who correctly diagnosed that I had blastocystis hominis from food poisoning, most likely when I was in China.

Then he was also great as regards discovering that I had a lot of nutritional deficiencies, like B2 and was very helpful about monitoring my anemia with me.

After several months when I was improved but when the main symptoms were no better, I brought up the idea of systemic candida one day after I broke out in a giant rash on the first really sunny hot day last summer. I said I had read that it might be systemic candida, and that that would explain a lot about why the other symptoms were not much better. He said he didn't believe in that, there was never any proof that anyone had it, and no way was he going to treat me for something he thought was imaginary.

This made me feel really stupid initially, and later in the summer I discovered in France that I felt GREAT on raw garlic cloves, especially the super-large ones they had there. I would take them after meals, and I also felt GREAT on red beets (beetroot). I bought a book on candida and read it, decided it was at least possible or even a little likely I might have it, so I tried the diet. Most of my symptoms completely went away for the first 3 days on the diet, but then came back worse. I panicked, but then realized this might be the "die-off" in the book, so then I went back to that doctor with the book.

He still refused to believe me and we got into almost a fight over it, at which point I decided to email to the authors of the book and see if they knew another doctor who might be able to treat me. So, yeah, it's lucky I found a good one now, but I'm struggling with this side of things because my parents, with whom I'm spending Christmas, ALSO are really skeptical about this diet and are making life really difficult at the moment. :(

As for lab results, the answer is "not exactly". The initial specialist found I had food allergies to yeast (badly), chocolate, coffee and a lot of what he grouped as "fermented foods". At that point, I figured, ok, he already got THAT far, plus with the parasite it looked even MORE likely because parasites often encourage candida overgrowth in the gut. When I asked my new specialist, he did some vega testing to confirm whether I had any luck with the probiotics and/or digestive improvement and said none at the moment. He put me on strong probiotics, but when I asked him about the testing, he said the problem was what the other doctor said . . . there is not a 100% sure test for systemic candida. The second doc said he COULD test it but that all it would show would be a candida antibody test, which doesn't conclusively prove anything, and we already knew from the first guy that I was allergic to yeast very strongly, and from the diet that I had followed for 1 month at that time that I had major improvements plus die-off with it, so the second guy diagnosed it from those things.

If you know of a conclusive or pretty good test for this, let me know what you had done, if you don't mind sharing, because I would be very happy to know what is out there to discuss with my doctor.

I'm an open-minded person myself, which is why I don't mind trying new things, particularly if they get results. I also don't mind trying something, thinking "Ok, that didn't work" and trying something else. The problem is, these doctors have most of their egos completely attached to certain conclusions and outcomes, so if you try to explain that you've TRIED something that finally WORKED and it doesn't tick their boxes and they don't believe it, you can talk yourself blue in the face before anyone will take you seriously.

I even said to the first one "Ok, you don't believe this . . . prove it. Do me a candida antibody test or something to prove I absolutely don't have it" and he said he couldn't because there wasn't a test for proving you didn't have it either. He said the only people with systemic candida were dying of AIDS or cancer or something and it was a last-stage thing and since I wasn't nearly that sick, there was nothing wrong with me.

Except I still couldn't taste stuff very well because it was in a lot of body tissues, including my tongue, and the whole tongue thing was preceeded by Burning Mouth Syndrome which, I later found out, can be a sign of ---you guessed it! :D ----systemic candida. :D In my case it was a combo of that, anemia and a lot of other stuff caused by almost no digestion and absorption since the candida affected most of my glands really badly.

Anyway, enough about me. :D How are you? How long have you had it? I'll check out your thread but if you want to discuss this here or PM me, do please feel free. I am not sure if I can send PMs yet because I tried once and it didn't work and it may be because I'm too junior a member.

I REALLY appreciate your support and kindness, though, because as I said, I'm going this alone, my husband is trying to be supportive but doesn't really understand medicine all that much, my parents are being really cynical and difficult because they have never heard of it and don't trust "fad diets" etc. And I am seeing my doctor only about once per month, which is ok, but it means I'm still in the dark about a lot of things.

So, THANKS KT12!!!! XXXX

candida doctor
 

hi annajen,
i am looking for a doctor for candida in london. can you please tell me the name of your doctor?

Burning Mouth Syndrome
 

The post right before yours which was many years ago talked about Burning Mouth Syndrome. There is a lady on this web-site who might benefit from that information.
Was your yeast outgrowth as a result to a lot of previous antibiotic and prednisone use?
My friend on Lab Rats thread might like to know about this......