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Calling all Candida Sufferers
Started
by Karen Ericson
on April 16, 2010
niki, the best book i've found is called "the body ecology diet" by donna gates. it helped me immensely when going through my cleanse. however, it doesn't advocate a vegan diet so i just made substitutes as i needed.
Yesss, the dreaded social situations.. for me it depends on the company I'm keeping.. if they're super close friends, I will divulge the info on why all the dietary restrictions. With other friends, I'll simply say I'm on a whole body cleanse and I can't drink alcohol or eat sugar/wheat etc. If they ask why I'm doing a whole body cleanse, I just tell them that it's something I like to do 4x a year to detoxify! If they start to make fun, it's because they're envious of my motivation! :)
So, it's day 5 for me and I feel I fell a little off the wagon. I went to Starbucks yesterday morning and ordered a black tea soy latte (unsweetened)...I know us yeasties are not supposed to drink tea either because of the mold factor but I am/was a 2 cups of coffee a day drinker so I wanted to wean myself off the caffeine to avoid nasty caffeine withdrawal headache's. I start drinking the tea and it's tasting pretty damn sweet. I think the barista pumped in some sweetner without me noticing!! She must've forgotten my request.. I drank the whole thing and woke up feeling not so great today. I get the dreaded "burning" sensation in the female area.. and that's a sure sign that sugar was in that damn soy tea latte! never again. :(
I have a question for everyone..do you find that your candida symtoms are worse around ovulation time? To me, this candida monster works with my cycle/hormones.. my symtoms are almost non-existent while I'm on my period. As soon as my period is over, all hell breaks loose again.
Morning all! Day 5 and still going strong. Last night was kind of tough b/c I went to an Arbonne party and the host had all sorts of tasty treats out and everyone was having wine. Unfortunately, there wasn't even the standard veggie tray for me to snack on :-( Alas, I made do with my water. Oh, well.
Karen, I definitely can tell my cycle has an affect on my symptoms. I usually start to get the "down there" yeast infection around day 2 or 3 of my period. I'm due to get it next week so we'll see if doing this diet can avoid that happening this time around.
In other news - my rash on my face is almost completely gone and my current female area infection is for the first time EVER clearing up without the use of Diflucan. If it actually goes away without going on meds I am going to be truly thrilled.
Good idea about the co-workers Tigs. I have three vegetarians on my team at work, but none of them really like to cook unfortunately. They usually eat frozen meals for lunch I think.
Amanda, thanks, I will check that book out.
I forget to mention the biggest symptom of mine, recurring yeast infections. Probably once a month since I was 13, although they aren't half as miserable to me now as they were when I was a teenager (I'm 28 now). I've kind of just gotten used to them and figured that's just what my body does. It never occurred to me that I could make that stop. Is there anything else that could be besides candida?
Melissa - i'm so happy to hear that only after 5 days your skin rash is going bye bye AND your problem "down there" is cliearing up! Wow!! Are you taking any supplements while on your candida diet? I've been taking probiotics every single day 15 minutes before a meal or between meals. I've also been taking magnesium which totally helps with my constipation. So I feel like I'm finally cleaning out my intestines. I'm feeling a lot better, but not 100% yet. How long do you plan on being on the diet? I was thinking 3-6 months because of the severity of my symptoms.. but that just seems soooo unrealistic to me. Surprisingly though, I'm not really craving sugar at all and I'm pmsing! victory is mine! :o)
Hi Karen - I have been taking a probiotic, too. I take one in morning and one after dinner. I'm glad you brought it up b/c I'm actually really curious about how long to do this for. I'm sure once my symptoms are completely gone it will be harder to stick to since I'll be feeling so much better, but I know I need to stick it out to truly get rid of the infection once and for all. I looked at the Whole Approach website and they have you take a quiz every week to see what stage you are at. According to the quiz I've now moved to the lowest level so I guess that means I can start adding a coule things back (certain fruits, etc), but I'm really leery to do that since it's only been a week. My original plan was to stick it out at minimum 2.5 months (we are leaving on a trip to CA then). What do you think?
What symptoms do you experience? That's great you aren't having sugar cravings. The only thing I crave (and only when I'm starving) is bread. I could really go for a piece of sourdough bread slathered in Earth Balance butter. Mmmm....
I have to say I feel really great with this diet. I feel I'm having a similar experience to the superhero feeling Alicia describes in the book. I am really giddy and happy a lot of the time for no particular reason. Anyone else feeling this way?
Day 10 over here and I am having some major cravings and am really struggling. I still haven't cheated (unless you count a granny smith apple I devoured last night). I was in Chicago this weekend and we visited the Chicago Diner. Everyone had chocolate chip peanut butter shakes. I was full at the time so it wasn't a huge deal, but for some reason I can't stop thinking about that and chocolate chip cookies. Anyone have any tips for me? I can't turn back now after sacrificing for the last 10 days! It just seems like there is SO much ahead until I can enjoy a treat again...
READ ME!!!
My books "The Yeast Connection and Women's Health" and "The Yeast Connection Cookbook" arrived in the mail... finally!
Has anyone ever heard of VULVODYNIA? It means "burning vulva". (Last week when I was under yeast attack, I compared mine to the recurring vision that kept haunting Frodo Baggins in Lord of the Rings.)
It's like the yeast infection that never goes away. Sometimes it tricks you into thinking it's gone then KAPOW! Honey, it's home: in the form of a rash, burning, or discharge. It's hugely related to yeast overgrowth, but women can be genetically prone to being susceptible to infections, be it bacterial, fungal, or yeast related. Karen, I wonder if your frustrations might be rooted here?
Kicking this involves not only a candida fighting diet, which relieves the symptoms, but it also involves some serious immune system support (try a homeopath).
Either way, for any of you ladies who've been victimized by such pain for too long (WHY OH WHY US WOMEN?!) please visit www.vulvarpainfoundation.org. This site is super informative. This syndrome has only been formally recognized in the medical field since the early '80s, so it's relatively unheard of.
I hope this helps!
Cool! Thanks Tigs!!! I'll be sure to check out that site for sure.
Tomorrow, I'll be 14 days into the candida diet. I purchased "The Body Ecology Diet" book and so far, it's been THE BEST candida book i've read so far (and believe me, I've read about a dozen so far). I highly recommend this book.
I need some positive support because I feel like I've been a little bad these last couple of days. I've been having coffee every 2 or 3 days, but I've been having it with soy milk. If I don't have coffee, I get really bad headaches from the withdrawal. So, in sense, I feel like i've messed up all my hard work these past 2 weeks. : ( ALSO, today, my mother and I went to Chipotle because she had mentioned they have a vegetarian bowl (for those who don't know what chipotle is, it's a mexican restaurant). I ended up eating lettuce, rice, sauteed onions and GREEN peppers (which I know I can't have)..and on top of that, I had guacamole!!! OMG! I totally messed up, didn't I? I don't think you can have avacado on this diet. I devoured it, whole thing down the hatch in 10 minutes flat and then 10 minutes after that.. severe stomach pains.. I was feeling so sickly, it was awful. Did I totally mess up? I've been totally depriving myself of sugar these past 2 weeks.. but with the coffee and chipotle set-backs.. do I have to start this all over again? I'm so frustrated here.
I'm curious to know what you guys eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner? If you could send me an example of what a typical day of meals looks like, I would appreciate that.
Also, as far as snacks go... The Body Ecology Diet book suggests that you CAN eat popcorn! I too have been eating way too many granny smith apples!!! Yikes...
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