Yeast overgrowth/candidiasis/Atkins-ish diet

[vluvski]

Anyone else have it or think they might?

I’ve been reading Fertility, Cycles, and Nutrition, and can’t find any potential explanation for my “ailment” except this one, which does seem highly plausible even though the condition lacks credibility among some doctors.

Ailment= 3 weeks fertile or assumed so out of a 4.5 week cycle while we are trying to avoid as well as very poor libido during that 1.5 week window. I literally start getting egg-white mucus during my period, sometimes as early as day 2. Can we say MISERABLE!?!

I need inspiration and ideas/recipes to change my diet (permanently) to meat, eggs, vegetables, and yogurt, while eliminating or drastically reducing most carbs and sugars, including fruits and yeast breads, and still have meals my husband is willing to eat. Whole wheat bread recipes or info on grinding your own whole wheat flour could be good too. Especially ideas to keep the COST of such a diet to a minimum since it’s the carbs that tend balance out the high cost of produce.

This diet will be similar to Atkins, but I really don’t need or want to lose weight. I’m 5’6, 125-130lbs, happy with my figure, and I don’t want to start experiencing other cycle problems due to becoming underweight.

 

[puzzleannie]

I would recommend any woman with weight, frequent yeast infections, insulin resistance fertility, cycle, menopause symptoms or other problems read the Schwartzbein Principle, which gives the underlying reason for low-carbing specifically as it relates to women, hormonal imbalance, how the above problems are linked, the problems caused by using hormones including ABC, and what diet to follow.

 

[vluvski]

Thanks, puzzleannie, I’ll have to check that out.

 

[astegallrnc]

You can [watch interviews ](http://www.schwarzbe(name removed by moderator)rinciple.com/pgs/dr_schw/schwarz_bio.html)with Dr. Schwarzbein at her site and of course browse her site.

 

[archangel63]

I’m a guy and I had a nasty yeast infection creep up on me a couple months back. Very painful. Everytime I ate sugar my symptoms would skyrocket; bread too. Have you done the spit test yet? That’s how I found out I had it.

When you get up tomorrow, BEFORE you drink, eat or brush anything, work up some spit and spit it into a nice tall clear glass of tap water. Let it sit still. And watch it. If you have candida your spit will form “stands”, “tentacles” or “spider webs” down into the water within minutes. Normal, healthy spit will just disperse on the surface. I did the test will my Dad (he lives near me). My spit had long strands hanging down under it (like a jellyfish). My Dad’s spit just dispersed on the surface.

Mine came to being about 5 years back with my last contact (I’m celibate now). I was having odor “where you don’t want it”. I couldn’t get rid of it. I knew something was wrong because I was craving sweets all the time. Sugar, sugar, sugar. Feeling yucky. Total brain fog! My nails were getting brittle. My hair felt dry. I’d wake up in the morning and have mucous on my lips. I finally got what I thought was a urinary tract infection which turned out to be a nasty prostate infection. But everytime I ate something with sugar the pain “where you don’t want it” would flare about 2-3 hours later (enough time for the yeast to feast on the sugar). Very painful for a couple months.

The doctor put me on antibiotics (6 weeks) which although helping my prostate, would make my candida worse. I started digging on the net and found this website:

candidasupport.org/candidatests.html#SALIVA%20TEST

They have a product that kills candida yeast dead. I went on the product and have had great success with it so far. Still taking it. Things are clearing up, but I still have a way to go. I think the candida went systemic on me. It creeped up outta nowhere and knocked me down. I was worried. So I had all kinds of tests done for urine, blood sugar, liver, PSA, STD’s and HIV. Everything came back negative. I know I picked it up 5 years back. I just never thought it was anything to worry about. I later learned that people very healthy can end up with this. It’s horrible.

Try the Threelac though.
Also, go to a local health store and pick up some Caprylic Acid, Acidophilus, and Active Digestive Enzymes. Kills yeast in your intestines, which is where it breeds.
Drink lots of water.
Oh yeah, watch the yogurt, it’s loaded with sugar! Start drinking lemon water with meals. Avoid coffee and alcohol. No sweets at all!!! Make chicken snacks! If you eat bread, toast it. It kills the yeast. I am eating lots of chicken and seafood now. No sugar at all, no cookies, cakes, ice cream. It was so bad in the beginning I had to stop eating fruit too. I was freaking out!!! I eat lots of veggies and chicken, shrimp and crab. You’ll also find some foods tolerable. I can deal with milk. What sets me off is stuff like doritos, cakes, ice cream, sweet drinks, general tso’s chicken, sub rolls, sour dough bread…you know, the good stuff.

Go to that site and read. I found it incredibly helpful.

And do the spit test first thing in the morning!

 

[Cat]

I am a microbiologist and I work in a modern, accredited microbiology laboratory in a hospital. I’ve done this kind of work for over twenty-five years.

We (laboratory professionals and doctors) don’t accept the existence of “yeast overgrowth.” We consider this a “quack” diagnosis. There simply is no such condition. Quack “health practitioners” continue to spread this untruth around, and the internet has made it even easier for them to do so.

If you truly have a systemic yeast infection, you will be at death’s door. When we see someone with yeast in the bloodstream, they are often cancer patients or HIV patients in their final days.

Diet has nothing to do with yeast infections. Eating too much sugar doesn’t create a yeast infection. Eating yogurt doesn’t create or prevent yeast infections.

The normal vagina will often have small numbers of yeast present, but they are far outnumbered by the massive amount of normal bacterial flora in the vag. Yeast infections start because yeast is an opportunist, and will take any opportunity to overgrow the normal flora. Some of the common causes of vaginal yeast infections are:

antibiotics–if you are being treated for a strep throat or other infection, you could kill off the normal flora in the vag and give yeast a chance to overgrow.

soaps, lotions, perfumes, body-washes, DOUCHES, change of laundry detergents, etc–these may change the pH of the vag, which allows yeast to overgrow.

immunosuppressed–for example, sickness, depression, etc.–when your immune system is lowered, the normal body defenses are “sick.” Normally they keep yeast under control , but if the body defenses are on the fritz, yeast will seize the day and grow.

Have you gone to an OB/GYN for testing? There are plenty of Catholic OB/GYNs around who will be happy to work with you. They will test you for yeast infections of the vagina, not with spit, but with a KOH or wet prep (viewed under a microscope) or a yeast culture. It doesn’t sound to me like you have a yeast infection, which produces a cottage-cheesey vaginal discharge that often smells like bread yeast.

Have you ever considered the possibility that you might have an ovarian cyst or some other condition that is causing your cycle to go haywire? PLEASE get it checked. Don’t try to diagnose or treat yourself.

And please don’t buy products at the health food store without getting them OKed by a real doctor. These products are not required to be approved by the FDA because they are classified as “foods,” yet many of these products are dangerous. PLEASE, for your health’s sake.

I certainly have no problems with a low-carb diet, but please, PLEASE consult a registered dietician. Although cutting back on carbs is a good idea for adults who are not active, low-carb diets can be dangerous for women. It would be best to be advised by a dietician (a REGISTERED dietician, not just someone with no certification) and possibly be monitored by the dietician and or your doctor.

Good luck. Hope you’re feeling better soon.

 

[archangel63]

We (laboratory professionals and doctors) don’t accept the existence of “yeast overgrowth.”

So what? You guys are not gods.

We consider this a “quack” diagnosis.

There was a time when doctors use to drill holes into peoples heads to let the demons out too. You guys do not know everything.

There simply is no such condition. Quack “health practitioners” continue to spread this untruth around, and the internet has made it even easier for them to do so.

Thank goodness for the internet. Well the quacks helped me in this case, and the medical community just made me sicker. I disagree. I was treated for everything to get rid of this condition. My urologist kept saying prostate infection, yet no bacteria could be found in my tests. The medical community has been in denial to people with candida. I got it from an infected partner. His “smell” should have warned me (yeasty/vinegary), but I was foolish back then. Only a short while after I had been with this person, I too had contracted their smelly odor “down there”. That was 5 years ago. I never got rid of it. Over this past 6 months, I lost my job, I was having insomnia for weeks, not getting enough rest, not eating right. I wore my immune system way down. I felt a prostate infection coming on (I’ve had at least a dozen since I was 21), and then the stinging burning redness “up front” started (which I had never had with prostatitis). I had never gone through such pain in that area ever. My urologist put me on 6 weeks of sulfameth/trimethoprim. It didn’t put a dent in my condition. I also did a full series of Cipro and Levoquin before this. Nothing could stop it. That was when I decided to watch what I ate to see if it truly was candida. I left sugar out for a week and started getting better. Then one night I decided to have sweet and sour chicken. That night the tip burned and stung so bad…and yep, cottage cheesy discharge (smelly too).

If you truly have a systemic yeast infection, you will be at death’s door.

And is it not possible to have just enough of a touch of it that it just makes you feel like dirt?

When we see someone with yeast in the bloodstream, they are often cancer patients or HIV patients in their final days.

It doesn’t have to show up in your blood stream to mess you up. You can still have a yeast problem that’s really bad, that can drag you down enough to ruin your quality of life. There are studies all over the net about candidiasis and how many times it hits perfectly healthy folks with stable immune systems. I do not have cancer, HIV or diabetes. The Threelac and Caprylic Acid I took worked better than 3 different types of antibiotics.

Diet has nothing to do with yeast infections. Eating too much sugar doesn’t create a yeast infection. Eating yogurt doesn’t create or prevent yeast infections.

Diet has everything to do with how you recover once you have one. I did Diflucan and Nystatin (heck, I even tried Monostat) and neither one worked at all compared to Threelac, Active Enzymes, Acidophilus and Caprylic Acid (and leaving sweets out of what I eat now). I just need to stabilize what’s going on in my intestines…and then eventually I should be fine. I’m finally feeling better. My symptoms are disappearing finally.

And please don’t buy products at the health food store without getting them OKed by a real doctor. These products are not required to be approved by the FDA because they are classified as “foods,” yet many of these products are dangerous. PLEASE, for your health’s sake.

Read the testimonials at the site I put up. I have more sites I can send you to that value this supplement. And can introduce you to lots of other candida sufferers who will tell you about all the doctor visits they went to and were turned away (as healthy) only to go on Threelac and a no sugar diet and actually get their lives back and have good health again. Also, many products that the FDA okays are deadly as well (between side effects and rushed approvals). Every drug commercial on TV warns of horrifying side effects. They still aren’t sure the long-term effects of Prozac, but let everyone gobble that drug up. Should I start naming all the drugs that have been removed from store shelves because they were approved at one time by the FDA.

Don’t let homeopathy freak you out or threaten your profession…doctors know alot, but they don’t know everything.
I found that out with candida.

Go here and read about why the medical community overlooks this very real illness:

fungusfocus.com/parasites/pcandida_info2.htm

 

[puzzleannie]

CAT has some great points, which is why I recommend you read the Schwartsbein books, as she will advise you diet alone is not the answer, you have to be evaluated for underlying conditions, most of which have a hormonal connection and be properly treated for them after reliable diagnosis. And you can’t just treat on aspect of a problem that has multiple dimensions. you also cannot try to self treat with OTCs unless you know for sure what their drug interactions and side effects are. anti-fungals are some of the most commong drugs that interact unfavorabley with other things.

 

[vluvski]

Thanks for the different viewpoints. Both Schwarzbein and the yeast-aware folks are showing up on quackwatch, so it’s probably going to take some searching, and even some trial and error, to come up with a sound nutrition plan.

Cat, not to worry, the only supplements I take (prenatal vitamins, acidophilus, flax oil) were recommended by my NFP-only physician who has diagnosed my vaginal yeast infections twice. She also advised me that too much sugar and sweeteners can in fact contribute to frequent yeast infections.

It basically comes back every cycle, sometimes worse than others. I’ve all but given up on getting rid of it for good! I don’t use harsh soaps, don’t douche, have a chaste husband and chaste marriage, do my kegels after every intercourse. I’m not on antibiotics, haven’t been for years, and have no reason to suspect a compromised immune system. My blood sugar is well within reasonable limits, and I really don’t consume THAT much sugar anyway. I’ve had the work-ups for hyperthryroid symptoms, but not for cycle-related hormones.

 

[Princess_Abby]

Is your hubby also treating himself for a yeast infection? You could be passing it to him and then he re-infects you every phase III or whenever it seems to come back. Is he on acidophilus? People can have yeast infections without realizing so even if he’s not symptomatic, it could be a problem.