Candida is a parasitic yeast fungus that can affect the mouth, throat, intestinal tract as well as genitals. Normally harmless, this fungus can wreak havoc on your immune system if you are lacking enough good bacteria to neutralize it. Those with Celiac Disease and other forms of intestinal disease or disorders are prone to this fungal attack in the intestines, and without much knowledge of your body, it can continue on and get worse. If you suffer any intestinal problems, you may disregard your candida as the run-of-the-mill gastrointestinal symptoms you normally suffer. Whether you have a wheat allergy or intolerance, Celiac Disease, IBS, dairy intolerance, colitis or Crohn's, you could be wondering what you ate that is leaving you with chronic symptoms. This can drive you crazy if you are certain to be on top of your diet like a dominatrix with a snappy whip.
Symptoms include: headaches, night sweats, diarrhea, brain fog, mood swings, bad breath, heart burn, muscle pain, or chronic cough, allergies or sinus infections.
Half of these symptoms are also related to every other intestinal dysfunction that affects the immune system. And be honest, pretty much everything we eat plays one role or another on our immune system so we could blow most of that off as a "bad burrito" or food poisoning... or "man, I guess I should lay off the onions". Long, lingering and chronic symptoms tend to become a part of you and you just get used to it and blow them off. Allergies, headaches, heart burn... everyone deals with that, so why be such a hypochondriac and force your doctor to investigate something so common?
Once candida begins to weaken your immune system, this creates a neat environment for it to spread and multiply like early 20th century immigration- and you are Ellis Island. Come on in fungus! Just sign your name here while I continue to take antibiotics and eat nasty crap so you can breed!
Men & women get candida in the same numbers. Prolonged use of antibiotics and other medications can leave you prone to candida, as well as pregnancy and long term unhealthy diets. It is often overlooked and requires testing to diagnose, but a study revealed that more than 70% of Americans have this.
If you have been wondering why your headaches persist, or why you continue to have intestinal discomfort despite being gluten-free, this could be your answer. Maybe not, but it's a proactive and good idea to go and get checked.
You can simply handle this issue by eliminating carbs, starches and sugars from your diet and taking a GOOD probiotic.
After a few weeks you may find yourself saying "hmm... I haven't had a headache in a while. and weird, I have more energy". Go figure, you just killed off a ton of fungus in your intestines and are now able to digest nutrients.
Time to put your complaints aside and assume that because you are gluten intolerant or have intestinal disease that you will just "deal" with the unsavory side effects for the rest of your life. "Oh, I hate the brain fog and chronic fatigue and I can't eat this because it makes me jittery and the medications for indigestion don't work...". If you are reading this, then you're not allowed to make excuses anymore. Or complain! You now have a new avenue to approach and possibly solve all of those problems for good.
Now put your gluten free pizza down and stick a vegetable in your mouth.
(Heaven forbid)
Try this saliva test. It's a simple at-home test that can determine if you have candida. When you wake up in the morning, before you drinking anything or brushing your teeth, work up some saliva and spit it into a clear glass of water. Within 1-30 minutes, look in the glass. If there are strings coming down from your saliva, or if the water turned cloudy, or if your saliva sank to the bottom, then you may have a candida issue. You've got nothing to lose by following a grain, starch, dairy and sugar free diet for a while. In fact, whether you have candida or not... following that diet is sure to clear SOMETHING up. Like deform your stomach from the permanent shape of a birthday cake.
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