Candida Overgrowth Treatment
Candida overgrowth treatment (Candidiasis) usually takes more than just a visit to your doctor, health provider or candida specialist. In order for the treatment to be effective, the root cause of the overgrowth must be clearly identified, as each case may require a completely different treatment. In many cases, the key to a complete cure is what you need to stop doing, rather than what you need to take.
5-Step Plan Summary
- Cause: Find the cause (before treatment).
- Colon Cleanse: Candida oxygen colon cleanse, week 1-2.
- Diet: Candida diet, week 1-8.
- Probiotics: Candida targeted probiotics, week 1-4.
- Antifungals: Antifungals, week 5-8.
The order of the steps matters.
Additional steps the treatment also covers include:
Candida Overgrowth
Before we discuss the candida overgrowth treatment, it is important to understand what is candida overgrowth and how it affect your body.
Candida overgrowth is a common fungal infection caused by a yeast-like fungi called candida. In a healthy state, the good bacteria in our body control the growth of candida. Certain situations such as antibiotics, medication, low immune system and others can disrupt this balance. Candida as an opportunistic organism changes into a more aggressive fungal form that can spread and cause symptoms all over the body.
Candida overgrowth:
- Can cause symptoms in the entire body (e.g. oral thrush, skin, genitals, digestive).
- May also affect your well-being and mood.
- Known to cause strong cravings for sugars.
- Linked to many underlying medical conditions (e.g. diabetes 4, a weakened immune system 5, IBD 6).
- May cause leaky gut (increased intestinal permeability).
- Known to cause vaginal yeast infections in women. Candida in men can affect the penis and is also very common.
Candida Treatment : Treat The Cause, Not The Symptoms
Our approach to candida overgrowth treatment is holistic. This means that rather than trying to fix individual symptoms, we look at each patient as a whole. We gather all the symptoms you may have along with other contributing factors that are unique to you, such as your medical history, lifestyle, environment, individual preferences that are important to you and others.
The goal is to reveal and treat the root cause of the problem in order to help the body to naturally balance the candida overgrowth. The right candida overgrowth treatment has to be tailored to you. The one plan fits all doesn’t work here. The plan is designed to:
- Identify the root cause of the candida overgrowth in your body.
- Remove “obstacles” that prevent your body from naturally healing.
- Create an environment in your body that naturally reduces the excess levels of yeast and candida.
Special consideration is given in this plan to both effectiveness and safety.
Step 1 – Identify The Cause Of The Candida Overgrowth
Timeline: Before you start the treatment
The most important step in the candida overgrowth treatment is to find what causes the excess candida overgrowth in your body. Candida overgrowth can be caused by different reasons, each may require a completely different treatment.
Certain medication, antibiotics, high sugar diet, uncontrollable diabetes, hormonal issues and chronic stress are common causes of candida overgrowth. As long as the cause of your candida overgrowth is not addressed, you won’t be able to cure the candida problem for good. In many cases, the excess candida yeast overgrowth may become chronic and evolves.
- To check if the top causes of candida overgrowth apply to you: top causes of candida overgrowth.
Step 2 – Oxygen Candida Colon Cleanse
Timeline: Week 1-2
Accumulated waste buildup in the colon is one of the main reasons many people can’t get rid of their candida overgrowth issues. This is very common, especially considering that the majority of the candida overgrowth occurs in the colon. Constipation, digestive issues, gas, bloating after eating, foul body odor are all common symptoms of high accumulated waste buildup.
Oxygen colon cleanse (Oxy-Powder) is designed to naturally detoxify and cleanse the colon from waste buildup that can feed candida. This can also help to prevent and minimize many of the candida die off symptoms. Learn more.
Step 3 – Candida Diet
Timeline: Week 1-8
The idea of the candida diet is simple.
- Foods To Avoid: You avoid foods and beverages that can feed candida, especially processed foods, alcohol, high carb foods and drinks, rice, bread, pasta and hard to digest foods such as beans and legumes. This includes whole grains. Try to minimize these as much as possible. Other foods to avoid are common allergens especially dairy, wheat, gluten, soy and peanuts.
- Foods To Eat: You eat moderate amounts of avocados, fresh sprouted raw nuts and seeds, high quality wild fish, eggs and meat together with non-starchy vegetables, and greens.
- Food Sensitivities: Keep the diet simple and clean. You have to make sure your body agrees with these foods and that you do not have sensitivities or allergies to them.
- Fruits: Fresh ripe low sugar fruits in moderation such as berries can be great for breakfast. Always eat fruits by themselves on an empty stomach.
Moderate protein, moderate healthy fats diet that is lower in carbs work best for most people.
Candida Enzymes
Adjusting to the candida diet usually takes time, especially with foods your body may not be used to.
Systemic & digestive enzymes complex (in our candida protocol, we use VeganZyme) can help with the transition to the candida diet, by improving digestion and nutrients absorption of the foods. Especially if you already have digestive issues.
Once you feel better, and the candida symptoms start to clear, you can start to add additional foods slowly and see how you feel. This usually happens after week 4.
Related Topics:
- Candida Diet: Foods To Avoid, Foods To Eat.
- Enzymes For Candida: Best Enzymes.
Step 4 – Probiotics To Restore Healthy Gut Flora
Timeline: Week 1-4
Candida overgrowth is usually a result of gut flora imbalances between candida to the friendly organisms that normally control candida from overgrowing. Probiotics supplements work by populating the intestines with beneficial organisms that can help to restore these imbalances.
Using probiotics supplements for candida and yeast infection is very popular, although most products on the market are not specifically designed to treat candida overgrowth. For this reason, the preference is to focus on candida targeted probiotics.
Candida targeted probiotics (In our candida protocol, we use Latero-Flora) are probiotic strains that are specifically effective against candida, and can naturally balance the overgrowth and help to restore a healthy gut flora function. The fact that a probiotic strain is effective against candida is not enough; it also has to be safe. Many people are surprised to learn their probiotic supplements caused side effects such as bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal pain and even acne! Learn More.
Step 5 – Antifungals
Timeline: Only when needed, week 5-8
Antifungal supplements contain ingredients that directly or indirectly can kill candida and yeast in your body. While this can be very beneficial in certain cases, antifungals are not always needed. In many cases, once the root cause of the candida overgrowth is addressed, the body can naturally balance the infection by itself.
Antifungals usually bring the most benefits in cases of “stubborn” candida and yeast infections symptoms that are still not fully resolved after the initial 4 weeks of the candida overgrowth treatment (Step 1-4 above).
Antifungal supplements can also backfire if not used correctly. One of the biggest problem we see with antifungal supplements for candida, is that many of them are too aggressive, toxic, and in some cases contain harsh chemicals. Even natural ones. For this reason, it is very important to only use Antifungal supplements from a trusted source that guarantees their effectiveness and safety.
- Mycozil is our preferred choice for this exact reason. It is one of the most potent natural antifungal supplements we tested, yet it is also very gentle and safe.
The list of natural antifungals is very extensive. Many popular teas, oils and herbs have natural antifungal properties. For this reason, pay close attention when you include any of these. Common antifungals include: tea tree oil, oregano oil, goldenseal, garlic (allicin, aqueous garlic extract, garlic oil), grapefruit seed extract, olive leaf, berberine, pau d’arco, caprylic acid (from coconut oil), echinacea and astragalus.
To learn more about antifungals for candida:
- Antifungals : the complete experts guide.
When Quick Relief Is Needed
Topical candida and yeast infection creams do not always work. The reason is simple. When you have yeast infection on skin, mouth, tongue, genitals (vaginal yeast infection and penis) and other areas, these are already irritated. Applying a cream on the infection, even natural one, can cause more irritation.
For this reason, we always advise to pay extra attention when trying new creams for yeast infection. Safety comes first.
Ozonated olive oil (o2-zap) is one natural remedy we have had an excellent success with to treat yeast infection on skin, oral thrush, vaginal yeast infection, male yeast infection and other fungal infection on skin and nails.
What makes it such a good fit for yeast infections, is that Ozonated olive oil has a unique ability to reduce the yeast infection on one hand, while helping to soothe skin irritation and accelerate wound healing at the same time. Ozonated olive oil is also backed up by science as a safe and natural effective alternative in these cases. Learn More.
Candida Overgrowth Test
Candida overgrowth tests often present challenges to patients and health practitioners in getting an accurate candida diagnosis. One of the reasons for this is that it is normal to find candida in the body. People’s tolerance and response to the candida overgrowth may be completely different in terms of symptoms and the way they feel.
For this reason, healthcare professionals usually rely on multiple factors to test for candida overgrowth and yeast infection issues. 7
- Existing candida and yeast infection symptoms.
- Medical history of the patient.
- Physical examination.
- Laboratory tests such as candida stool test, saliva test (not the spit test!), blood test, urine test, candida antibodies test, skin test, vaginal discharge test, and others.
FAQ
How Common Is Candida Overgrowth
- Vulvovaginal candidiasis, often referred to as a vaginal yeast infection, affects 3 out of 4 women in their lifetimes.1
- More than 40% of affected women will have 2 or more episodes.2,3
- Yeast infections in men is also very common
- Conventional medicine offers topical, vaginal and/or oral antifungal treatment. This symptom-based approach does not always address the cause of the infection, which is usually in the gut.
- As a result, many candida cases are not fully resolved by the conventional medicine approach.
Probiotic Foods For Candida Overgrowth
Consuming fermented and probiotic foods during the initial candida overgrowth treatment is not recommended. Common examples that are highly available at the health stores are live cultured yogurt, Sauerkraut, Kimchi, Kombucha tea and others. With Yogurt and other dairy based fermented foods the concern is usually sensitivity to dairy. In addition, stability, quality issues, and contamination risks make fermented foods risky when you already have a compromised gut flora issue.
So unless you make your own homemade fermented foods and know for a fact they have worked for you personally in the past, counting on these foods as a good and safe source of probiotics for candida overgrowth may not provide the best results and can even cause digestive issues such as gas and bloating.
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