How the Candida came to be - An Aesop's (sort of) tale

About ten years ago, I had a friend who had candida and I recognised a lot of the symptons, like dandruff, tiredness, infections "down there" ... Anyway, I went to my GP about it who basically said, "Bah humbug" and sent me packing. At the time, I was a total sugar addict and didn't want to give up my yummy diet of bread and chocolate without sound, scientific evidence that it would help. So I did naff all.

Fast forward a few years and my health conscious colleagues drum it into me that eating 2+ chocolate bars a day is not good for my health, so I started to wean myself off all the processed junk I was eating. I gradually replaced the cake, biscuits, chocolate bars and crisps with nuts, yogurt, cereal bars and fruit. I even started eating wholemeal bread (on occasion).

My scalp got a lot better - still flakey but I could now walk into work without people looking at my shoulders and thinking it had been snowing outside. The frequency of the UTIs decreased and my spotty face got a lot better. (Aren't I just painting a glamourous picture of myself!?)

However, the problem that did remain and has been getting steadily worse over the years is my bones. I have athritic like pain in my joints - mainly my hips. I went to the doctor and had some blood tests for virtually every condition under the sun and they came back normal.

Someone I worked with had had vega testing done which uncovered her lactose intolerance amongst other things and she suggested I have it done too. A couple of other friends/colleagues also went to the same lady and eventually, I plucked up enough courage to go too.

I wasn't sure what to expect. I was half expecting her to say 'you're fine' or that I shouldn't eat bread or milk, two things I live on! First of all, she tested my organs and I was astounded. She said that my spleen, bladder and urethra weren't perfect and I had joint inflamation. The bladder/urethra thing made perfect sense; when I was little, I was on antibiotics for three/four years due to recurring urine infections and I've been getting infections thoughout my life. It has since been discovered that the medication I was on damages the body's ability to make white blood cells. Perhaps this is connected with the inefficiency of my spleen, since this organ hosts a lot of white blood cells to fight infection.

Next she tested for food allergies. Yeast came up first, which depressed me because I wondered if I'd be sensitive to bread! Fortunately wheat and dairy were okay, but sugar, ethanol, monosodium glutamate and oranges came up. Basically everything that I'd have to avoid on a candida diet. The therapist explained that the antibiotics I was on for so many years may have been the cause for the candida.

She gave me some info about what I could/couldn't eat and suggested I buy some candigest, which helps to kill off the candida and reduces the die back reaction. She said I might get 'flu like symptoms during the die off.

I've been on the diet and taking candigest for three weeks, I'll explain more in my next blog...