Hi 20lbstogo and peteranac
Having a tough day today here. I totally agree with 20lbstogo---I sometimes wish this were already all better. I can't wait to get back to normal too.
Glad you're feeling a little better, peteranac! Easing in the antifungals is a good idea. Try to rest if you need to, though, and don't set yourself a really punishing schedule over the holidays.
As for me, my energy levels are good now, but I'm still having some other problems with mineral and blood ph balance I think. When I first became sick with candida and anemia, my sense of taste was badly affected and after a long time I figured it might be permanent.
Then once I tried the GSE antifungals, for 3 days it was PERFECTLY NORMAL. I mean, I could taste everything just like before I was sick. Normally now it comes and goes, some days it is stronger, others weaker and there is no obvious pattern to it, except that if I take an iron tablet (ferrous gluconate 300 mg) after a long time without iron tablets, it's way worse and for about 3 - 6 hours after the tablet I can barely taste anything. I have no idea whether it is due to die-off or what exactly.
Today was an iron tablet day and I'm kind of feeling discouraged because although I see the doctor tomorrow and we can chat it through, it's a complicated problem. I think it may have to do with biochemistry, candida, and how iron and other minerals work with blood ph (which can be affected by both medicines and candida).
Anyway, to answer your original question, 20lbstogo, I started with the candida diet and then, according to my book started to use Grapefruit Seed Extract as my main antifungal, rotating it over the course of a week with other main antifungals such as maximized capryllic acid, berberis (an herb), garlic, and some gentler ones such as apple cyder vinegar, aloe vera etc. This caused bad die-off for the first few weeks, by which point I managed to see the doctor.
He said these were all good, but first put me on a week of Ozovit (hydrogen peroxide with salts to clean the gut) and then that on a rotation of try called Gold Seal [formerly called Candicurb--- and which had a combination of cayenne, turmeric, taheebo (pau d'arco extract)] and GSE, alternate days. In addition he put me on strong probiotics and also digestive enzymes.
After I started that, the die-off was worse again for awhile, but then improved somewhat. If I overdo this and take the medicines he gave PLUS drink 3 cups of pau d'arco tea then I can really feel it still on some days. Overall, though, most of my symptoms are improving, albeit slowly.
Anyway, the good news is, most symptoms are improving except the taste thing still really upsets me a lot. The fact that it completely went away for the first 3 days on GSE (all my symptoms did, in fact, but that was before the die-off set in) means it is reversible, but I have no idea how to reverse it exactly. I notice other symptoms with it, though, such as very hyper dry skin and my finger tips get very very dry, so it seems like there is almost an acid-type reaction afterwards which may be affecting this too---like no skin oils, dry eyes etc. I'm on a very low dose of iron, though, as compared with other anemic people I spoke with, who never reported side effects or taste issues once they started taking iron tablets.
I didn't know then, though, that I also had candida and I think somehow the mix is what is messing up my biochemistry.
If anyone has ever run into anything similar, it would be great if they could share, since I'm pretty down about it all.