Greetings to all from Alaska,

First of all congratulations to all of you for your success. I have been reading the forums and it is very encouraging and the information is great..

But, I am needing a little help...I am having difficulty with sweetners. It seems that I break out in Hives every time I use one. I have tried Slenda, Stevia,Equal and Sweet N Low..Does anyone have any suggestions. It makes it really hard to low carb with regular sugar involved but It is obvious that I cannot use these products as I have had some pretty serious reactions.

Help!!!

Thanks

Humm, that is a strange reaction since the various sweeteners have nothing chemically in common with one another. I got hives from yeast die off. Have you tried simply eliminating sugar completely for any time and see if you get the hives? What I'm thinking is that it might be the lack of digestable sugar and subsequent yeast die off that is causing your hives, not the sweeteners themselves.

Thanks for the response,

I haven't tried that yet, but I will to see what happens. I break out mostly on my face. And it gets very swollen and itches and burns and peals. It has taken over a week to get back to normal...But that is the same reaction I have to other foods I am allergic to...Salad dressings, sauces, and spicy food...

Most of these foods contain vinegar which can cause a candida flair up. Look around there is some good info about candida around here. Feel free to poke around my journal. Me and others in there are fighting it now. Hope you find the problem.

Liz

I scored a 266 on that little quiz. I have had these symptoms for a little over 6 months. Should I run to the doctor or what?????? Thanks Ellen

heh Alaskagirl,

sounds to me like severe food allergies due to the candida. When I first got tested for Candida my doctor pinpointed about 30 different food allergies, I felt like crap. He put me on my first diet and anti-fungal regime (Caprystatin) for about a month, I went back and the allergies had reduced by 80%, it was quite dramatic.

Sounds to me like you may need to cut out the sugar and sweetners all together until the candida has died off a bit. This is only guess work though, good luck.

I go to a homeopath who uses a Bio-Electric Function Analysis test, he can pinpoint the allergies in the body really accurately and also where the Candida is, test for thyroid problems that sort of thing, this is in New Zealand of course, but I'd definiately recommend it if you can find someone near you who does it.

see ya,
Row

Ellen, (This is what I've done, you do what you feel you need to do!)
I scored a 295!! I've been to various doctors over the years for various things and so have many women here fighting candida. My test results alway came back normal. You can go to the doctor you've been seeing and show them the quiz you took. I hope they listen, many won't acknowledge it even exists!! If I were to go to a doctor with this myself, I would go to my Gyno. She's the one that told me I had a vaginal infection I didn't even know I had. What I did was start reading every thing I could to learn what is was and how it worked and how to regain the balance in my body I had lost. You can get a prescription to get rid of the overgrowth, but it all doesn't go away. I resides in us naturally and it's everywhere! If you don't regain a natural balance in your body, it'll just overgrow again. That's what I decided to work on. If you want to take baby steps, which is fine, the first thing to get rid of is sugar and white flour. Then learn what supplements you need to take to get on the road to rebuilding your immune system. Candida reeks havoc on it. That's why you get the allergies. Your immune system starts attacking the wrong things. Let us know what you decide to do. Here are some web sites with lots of information to get you started.
Candida Page
Is Candida Yeast Harming Your Health?

I was just so relieved to finally know what was causing everything that was wrong with me!! Is always beneficial to know the face of your enemy!! Keep in touch.

Liz

I am going to read as much as I can here and then decided what to do. You know what I did today. I stuck out my tongue looked in the mirror about 2/3 is coated in a fine film of white. I could rub it off with my tooth brush. Funny thing, I had my teeth cleaned about 2 weeks ago. The hygenist suggested I brush my tongue because the was a "film" on it. I assumed it was from the awful ketosis breath I'd been experiening since starting Atkins. Yikes! thanks again Ellen

That could be yeast in your mouth. A severe case is called Thrush. I've got a little bit now. A flare up from my anti-fungal herbs. I upped the amount last night and woke up with a fuzzy tongue!! You'd think hygenists would know about this, being they are in mouths all day!! I wish Atkins would include more about it in his book. Most people are looking to lose a lot of weight when they turn to him, so you know their bodies haven't been taken care of. Cut all those carbs out all of a sudden and you get a big yeast die off. Those poor people who do Atkins for 2 weeks and still feel horrible need to know that's most likely what it is and what they're doing with their diet is the best thing they could be doing!! I wish you well and let me know what you decide to do!!

Liz

hi Alaskagirl,

One thing that comes to mind ... were all of these sweeteners in the powdered form?? Powdered sweeteners ... whether it's the bulk kind in a box or jar that you measure spoon for spoon same as sugar, or if it comes in little individual paper packets ... uses dextrose and/or maltodextrin as the filler. These carbs are refined from corn and sometimes barley. I was experiencing intestinal symptoms, and mild rashes from using powdered sweeteners similar to what happens when I eat the whole grains. I really don't use a lot of sweeteners anymore, but I tend to go for liquid forms, since the filler is usually just water, sometimes a little glycerin. Some brands of stevia powder use inulin (chicory root extract) as the filler .. this is a fiber that has good benefit for the intestinal tract, helps to promote good bacteria growth, and improves calcium absorptioin. Still hard to find though, since it's fairly new.

just a thought

Doreen