Hey Everyone,

Hopefully my post will help someone who is, or might be suffering from Candida. For me, I had no idea I had Candida until I was 25 years old, but I suspect I had had it since I was a child. I had many symptoms of Candida, such as IBS, chronic fatigue, problems focusing, fuzzy headedness, cravings for yeasts and sugars, etc. But the one symptom I had that was above all others was bad breath. If it weren't for that symptom, I don't know if I would have ever known I had a Candida infection. Basically, this is my story below, the short version.

1. First became aware of my bad breath when I was about 7 or 8 years old (my father actually told me my breath was bad and taught me how to brush my teeth, a great father son bonding moment.:?) I didn’t pay much attention to it though cuz I was so young, and my dad never said anything to me about it again.
2. When I was 15 or 16, my friend sat me down and told me that I had bad breath often and I should go to the dentist and have a check up to make sure there wasn't any problem. Of course I went to the dentist and was told there was no problem with my teeth or gums.
3. After my friend told me about my bad breath, I became very self-conscious about it.
4. I spent the next 10 years focusing only on my mouth thanks to the advertising gimmicks of the toothpaste, mouthwash, and dental industry. I thought that my bad breath was coming from my mouth (which I found out later it wasn’t)
5. I endured most of my teenage years and early twenties dealing with bad breath. People I knew and strangers would make comments about it, and I could tell by their body language (holding hands to nose when I was near, moving away from me, etc.)
6. When I was 25 years old, I finally decided enough was enough. I wasn’t going to stop searching until I found the cause of my bad breath. Up until that point I had only focused on my mouth, buying product after product of useless toothpastes and mouthwashes and internal breath fresheners, etc…
7. I researched everything I could find online about bad breath. THANK GOD FOR THE INTERNET!
8. I discovered that after the mouth, the second largest reason for bad breath is the digestive system.
9. I went to a gastroenterologist (a doctor that specializes in the digestive system).
10. The doctor did an endoscopy on me (where they stick a tube down my throat [esophagus] all the way down into my stomach and take pictures to make sure everything is ok)
11. The doctor found white patches on my esophagus.
12. The doctor took a sample and sent it to the lab to be tested. The white patches turned out to be a Candida infection. See my pictures below. These are actually MY pics!






13. Candida is a fungus. If it is in your esophagus, it causes bad breath. Since the infection is in your esophagus, it doesn't matter how much you brush or floss your teeth, or use mouthwash. The bad breath comes from deeper down. You can brush your teeth all you like, but it won't do any good.
14. The doctor prescribed me Biozole (a generic version of Fluconozole. Biozole is cheaper but it’s the same medicine).




15. I took the Biozole for 2 weeks.
16. I went back to have a second endoscopy to make sure Candida was gone. See pics below.





17. The Candida was gone.

After this, I noticed a change in people’s behavior. No longer were people holding their noses when I was near them, nor were they moving away or covering their nose when I would speak to them. I asked my mother to smell my breath at different times of the day repeatedly for about 2 weeks. She would smell it sometimes in the morning, sometimes after a meal, sometimes in the evening. During the whole 2 weeks she said she couldn't smell anything. No bad breath.

So, that’s my short version story. I found out I had a Candida Infection because of bad breath. After I was treated, the bad breath disappeared. Nowadays, I just try and make sure I lead a healthy life. I eat better than I used to, lots of whole foods and yogurt (with live active cultures, not that crap they sell in the grocery with tons of sugar), I take vitamins, minerals,and probiotics, and I drink plenty of water and get plenty of rest as well as exercise. I do not eat bread anymore, or any products that contain wheat flour, white flour, or yeast. I also don’t eat any mushrooms as they are a fungus. I take good care of my mouth, I have very good oral hygiene (but since oral hygiene was not the cause of my bad breath to begin with this is a mute point)

Anyway, if you have any questions feel free to message me or reply to this post. If you think you are suffering from Candida, I encourage you to get tested for it by a doctor. If it hadn't been for my doctor who did the endoscopy, I don't think I ever would have found out I had a Candida infection.