It's CANDIDA again -- yeast overgrowth (in GI and ?) very hard on w/d's

I hope I'm not the Candida Queen here, but this problem is continuing to plague me.  And others have been asking me about it, so thought I'd share some things here.  And maybe get some insight from others' experiences too. 

 

After the first worst weeks off Klon, and the more acute GI stuff like diarrhea etc., I started craving sugar, overeating, and got the bloated "benzo belly".  Very strange since I had lost 25 pounds pre-w/d's.  But....I knew I'd had candida issues for a few years, and was even lab tested for it about 6 years ago, so knew it was a problem.  I knew it's hard to make candida go away completely, because we normally have yeast present, but having it suddenly resurface off Klon was weird.  As soon as my blood sugar started dropping, I knew candida was BACK. 

 

So about 6 weeks into w/d's, I went on a fairly strict candida "diet" -- which includes in a nutshell, yeast-killing herbs, probiotics, and no sugar.  For me, it also means no fruit sugar for 30 days, then slowly adding back in.  Within 5 days, this gave me my first good "window" of recovery. 

 

Since then my diet resolve has slipped a bit, then some teeth problems and several rounds of antibiotics came around, and now things are bad again.  Antibiotics are very very hard for anyone with candida issues.  They can almost cause a system crash, at least they do for me. 

 

Some think that candida overgrowth in our culture is quite rampant, even an epidemic -- with all the sugar consumed and antibiotics given (which kill the good bacteria in our gut, allowing yeast to overgrow -- and even bad bacteria too, but that's another topic).  The list of candida overgrowth symptoms is very very long, but I won't go into those here. 

 

So, enter last night when I attended a reception party, ate a plate full of tarts, cookies, strawberries, and cream puffs -- and this morning, I can barely get up!  With w/d's definitely ramped up.  Early on, I'd heard many here talk about sugar revving their w/d symptoms, and I thought that was weird.  But it's happened to me too many times lately.  Today is a good example....so no more sugar or even fruit for me for awhile.....it makes me wanna cry.  I love peaches and it's peach season!  :'(

 

Also, about 10 days ago when feeling pretty miserable with squeezing muscle problems and other w/d's, was when I re-started the diet in earnest with no fruit at all.  I felt better in 3 days -- another good window which has continued until last night.  It was really a huge window for me this time.  I know that a 6-month candida program will work the best (if I can stay on it), and here's what I do, for anyone who's interested (btw, there's a ton of info out there, and much of it conflicts, so I do what has worked for me and seems workable): 

 

1- No sugar of any kind, even fruit, for 30 days.  Or sweeteners (although "xylitol" apparently kills yeast, so I'm trying this in great moderation).  Then add back in the less sweet fruits.  Some can't tolerate dairy (has milk sugar) and some can.  Same with grains.  They should be whole grains at any rate.  Meats/fish, eggs, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, some dairy, and some grains are pretty much it for me.  After a few days, the sugar cravings actually go away.  Also, nothing fermented (e.g., soy sauce, vinegar, tofu), no yeast (e.g., yeast breads), no "funguses" (e.g., mushrooms). 

 

2- Probiotics -- good bacteria to repopulate the GI tract.  I take a powder form, but there are lots of capsules etc. available.  Eating yogurt also works, but is probably not enough. 

 

3- Candida supplements.  Whole variety of possibilities here too.  One of the best products for me is called "Candistroy" which comes with multiple herbs and probiotics.  The yeast-killers range from grapefruit seed extract, goldenseal, pau d-arco, to plain old garlic and oregano oil.  It's a long list.  They say it's good to rotate these products so yeast don't become resistant....

 

I order stuff online (my fav is www.iherb.com). 

Some of this has to be tried to see what works and what doesn't, since we're all unique. 

When slip-ups happen (like last night for me!), I just get back on it and don't worry too much. 

Some anti-fungal meds are available to kill yeast, like diflucans and nystatin.  NOTE -- they don't usually work by themselves.  Above steps still need to be taken, and the diflucans is hard on the system (esp. adrenals). 

Also, taking the yeast-killing herbs and probiotics and still eating sugar just doesn't work.  Hey, I've tried it!  There won't be any improvement unfortunately. 

 

With this said, all the above info is from my own experience and opinions, but we're all unique with different w/d needs, so none of this is a specific recommendation for anyone.  OK? 

 

--adelia

Hi Adelia, I have had low level yeast infections off and on throughout my benzo cold turkey. It's interesting though, I am looking at my neurochemistry book right now, and it says in black and white, "the most common precursor for GABA and glutamate is glucose! I can tell you that through out my benzo w/d I have never needed sugar more. I have noticed that eating a piece of dried pineapple, which is really sweet, and drinking some fruit juice makes me feel ten times better. I can not live without sugar in my diet, so maybe I am the exception. It could be that your suffering a hypoglycemic crash and need some serious protein, or you possibly need a thyroid hormone adjustment. Try a couple of soft boiled eggs or maybe a piece of cheese the next time you feel bad. Mebooboo

Hi MeBoo,

 

I was thinking about you the other day, wondering how you were doing.  Yes, the brain does need glucose, doesn't it.  That's one of the main reasons we eat food, as I recall.  To keep a constant supply of glucose to the brain.  Unfortunately, candida eats blood glucose too, which I think is what can cause the hypoglycemia in my case.  I also read, I think in Wikipedia's "benzo withdrawal syndrome", how benzo w/d's mess up carbohydrate metabolism (via messing up the hormones, which regulate carb/sugar metabolism).  (If anyone wants a reference, I can look it up.  Otherwise, it's IMO.) 

 

That's a good tip, to eat more protein.  Seems like that's all I do these days....protein protein until it's coming out my ears.  When I'm on the candida program though, I have no more hypoglycemia, funny how that's works. 

 

Many people can't seem to live without sugar in their diet, so I'm sure you're not the exception there.    I heard the other day that 100 years ago, each person used to eat something like 10 teaspoons of sugar per year (that's about one modern-day soda).  Now, it's about 7 pounds! 

adelia

Hi Adelia, well it's been 9 months and 10 days since my valium - soma  cold turkey, and I am doing pretty good. I just had lunch which consisted of a small piece of chicken breast with dressing on top, some pinto beans with salsa on top and a few home grown tomatoes sliced up, then a half a piece of dried pineapple, I then went and layed out in the sun for about 15 minutes, its about 98 degrees. I hiked this morning, loaded up on grape juice, V8, orange juice mixed with a pineapple, mango, banana blend. I guess I'm a juice head, but that's just how I roll. I love having a whole advocado for breakfast and maybe a banana at mid morning. I still have the "sensation" in the late afternoons, but it's getting barely noticeable. I no longer feel the sense of a panic attack starting when I go to bed at night. I have occasional pin and needle sensations on my upper thighs still. Do you have anything like this? When I was tired the first 5 months of my withdrawal I used to take about 4 500 mg Orange Juice Jr. tablets a day. You can get these at your health food store and they are really tasty. Hang in there, and keep plugging away with your healing. Mebooboo

My name is WW and I am a juice head too....my poison is fresh OJ, ....I don't even care if it's pure valencia or a varietal mix...I'll binge on a quart of the "juice" and no one can stop me. My husband says my "habit" is using up the food budget...but I can't stop ...maybe it's a citrus addiction because I crave the 'cados too and ever since "BooBoo" turned me on to the Grapefruit (the hard stuff) ..my habit has only increased.

I hope I'm not the Candida Queen here, but this problem is continuing to plague me.  And others have been asking me about it, so thought I'd share some things here.  And maybe get some insight from others' experiences too.

 

Adelia, your if your the queen I am right behind you. Always have had a problem with yeast. I am sure most of mine were related to all the Cipro I have taken over the years. I did notice it kick in and get worse with Klono though. I know it is in my intestines that's for sure. Still have some problems with that even off K. Other than my intestines I have done better with other places it gets. My Chiropractor said I had as much in my sinus's as I did anywhere else. He did a Candida cleanse with myself my husband and my son years ago simply by removing any and all sugar in any form from our diet. Do you know how hard it is to find food without sugar? It's almost impossible. We could not even have any sweetners. So I pretty much lived on grapefruit and you know once you go a while with NO sugar they taste sweet. Anyway it worked, I felt much better for a while, husband said to hell with this I need some chocolate the first week into it. Son lost a bunch of weight. I have tried everything to keep it out of my system it can cause lots of problems. I have been some what better because I could not eat any sugar or have anything with sugar in it during my tapper. The only thing I am getting any sugar in now is what is maybe in foods I eat. I really do think Klono made it worse for sure. I have no idea how to stop it from coming back and back again, if you find a way be sure and let me know. It's not just sugar that creates it either certain foods will make me worse. I can eat potato chips and I know the next day it's running around my body. Birthday cake is the worse ...Nasty stuff it is and makes you feel bad to.

 

M  wishing I could sick my face in a piece of birthday cake...LOL

Hi BooBoo (JuiceHead)  --that's cute.  Yes, I still have the pins and needles. It's worse in my legs for whatever reasons.  Sometimes it's not so bad, it comes and goes now.  Which is good. 

wow, your juice blends sound deeeelicious.  Wish I could have some.  It's just too much sugar for me.  But sure sounds good.  I do vegetable juice now.  I know, seems like a far second, but I'm liking it now.  I "indulge" with a carrot in it, which is pretty sweet to me now.  Carrots are my new dessert!  (I know, that's so sad.... :'(

 

Hi there Wonder Woman...ah, another juice head?  I know, that stuff can get expensive.  I don't miss orange juice so much now, as GRAPEFRUIT juice!  I"m with you on that.  Last winter when I had a cold, I downed a couple quarts of it in two days or so.  That was so good! 

 

Hi Lito -- thanks for sharing your experiences.  Yes, the candida diet is just plain miserable.  There's no way around it.  No sugar in anything, not nohow.  Not even sweeteners.  Some even say no carrots, tomatoes, green peas, and beets.  And some say...granny smith apples are okay, and some say no to that too.  It definitely requires doing a lot of cooking our own food, doesn't it?  Because you're right.  So hard to find anything without sugar (even ketchup!) or not fermented. 

 

The most maddening part, is that there's so much disagreement on exactly which foods to avoid.  The "no added sugar" is the easy part, it's all the other stuff like which fruit and sweeteners, etc. 

 

And I wouldn't mind sticking to the insane diet, if it just worked!  Like you said, it doesn't really seem to get rid of the yeast, and then after so long, you're back to eating whatever anyway, then it gets worse again.  I read the other day somewhere and it made a lot of sense -- yeast lives naturally in our bodies, so it's impossible to ever totally get rid of it. 

 

Well, that was just the icing on the (birthday) cake!!!! Yes, I'd love some of that cake too.  Although those wedding tarts just about put me under. 

 

Anyway, a few years ago, I used to do the diet two or three times a year.  Knowing I'd go off it in between.  So then after Christmas and New Year's sugar, I'd get on it in January for a few months.  Now I'm beginning to wonder if I should probably just stay on it for a very long time, if I can.  Or the best I can.  At least, keep taking all the yeast-killing stuff and probiotics for when I mess up, and try to keep it under control.  If that's possible.  I agree with you though, the benzo stuff made it much worse.  More than I've ever experienced.  And to feel so bad after eating something sugary is discouraging.  But an eye-opener, huh?

 

One thing is certain though.  Some of us can get very ill from it.  It seems from taking lots of anti-biotics.  Like you said.  I had so many in my early 20's, I got allergic to penicillan.  I think they're harder on some of us, than others. 

 

There's a good book I found last year called:  "Healing Multiple Sclerosis".  The author was diagnosed with full-blown MS in her late 20's I think, and after some time of suffering, decided to try to heal herself.  She basically did it on a candida program.  Seriously!  Guess how long she stayed on the diet?  TWO YEARS.  So I kind of follow her program.  She is now a naturopathic doctor and helps others heal their diseases.  Pretty inspiring. 

--adelia

 

That is inspiring. I find that since I can't "use" food the way I would like too (for enjoyment) that I do seem to be able to "fill up" on life instead. It seems like I can feel "full" just looking at something beautiful or listening to music. I think when we know what we are doing is working then it is easy to do. So I bet when you start feeling the Candida Diet working for you, it won't be hard because you will feel good, and that is what all of us seek right now.

Thanks for your lovely words WW.  Your outlook is very inspiring.  I'll hang onto those words!  Maybe I'l even eat them..... since I can't eat much else right now.  I once had a "neurobehavioral" doctor who said that looking at beauty, at something beautiful, could make our minds feel different...influence our neurotransmitters.  I know that looking at beautiful colors makes me feel GOOD.  And nature, and sunsets, and....peaches.  Soft ripe fragrant peaches.  Oh geez.   

adelia

I know that looking at beautiful colors makes me feel GOOD.  adelia

 

Maybe this is why you paint with such beautiful colors!