AngelM
Senior Member
- Messages
- 150
- Location
- Oklahoma City
I've read little in this forum about the scourge of Candida. Is candidiasis a symptom of ME/CFS? A separate issue? How does it fit into the current "gut issue" conversation? Is it a piece of the ME/CFS puzzle, or not?
Decades ago when I was sick all the time, with no clue what was wrong with me, I picked up Dr. Cheney's The Yeast Connection. At that time, Cheney was being publicly ridiculed as a quack by the medical establishment. Even so, I read what he had to say about Candida. And to my surprise, much of what he said in his book applied to me. But good luck getting a doctor to listen--especially prior to the year 2000.
What I knew was that yeast made me physically sick. As a young adult, I'd had my share of vaginal yeast infections-- I knew what an overgrowth of yeast felt like--even when it was going on in in my gut. But when I described to my physician that I felt like a vaginal yeast infection had invaded my entire body, he rolled his eyes. I felt lucky to walk away with a script for one Diflucan tablet, which anyone who has experienced systemic yeast knows is like giving a fireman a water balloon to put out a forest fire. I remember begging and pleading with the doctor for one more pill, and being refused every time. He never bothered to explain that his reluctance was rooted in the fact that too much Duflucan (or any medicine, for that matter) can cause liver or kidney damage.
Certainly he never explained ways to avoid recurrent yeast infections. I think he believed that because I did not have an MD after my name, I could not possibly understand what was going on in my own body. What did I know? I was in my twenties. He was an old man with a medical degree. I finally became so frustrated after years of being ignored that I tried "The Turpentine Cure." (Note: Turpentine should NOT be taken internally.) I was desperate and turpentine seemed radical, though mildly dangerous. But I remembered that in my grandmother's time, people took turpentine and sugar as a cure for all kinds of ailments. And my grandmother lived to be 103. So I figured that if the turpentine didn't kill me, the candida would. So what the Hell. Actually, "the turpentine cure" did offer relief, but that could have been a coincidence. I didn't try the cure more than a few times--the taste of turpentine was beyond disgusting.
One very important lesson I learned as a result of reading about and experimenting with the radical turpentine cure is that with any detoxification process, you will usually feel worse before you feel better. I'd never heard that before. With yeast overgrowth, the Candida cells die off and spend some time in your bloodstream and kidneys before they are eliminated from your body--a process that can make you feel very sick. I didn't like the sound of that. But then I remembered that anyone who has ever detoxed from drugs or alcohol will tell you how miserable it is to stick it out to the end because your body feels sick as it goes through the process of getting clean. And that made me wonder about how many times detoxification protocols, like methylation, are abandoned before they have had a chance to work. I'm pretty sure I've quit after only a day or two of starting detoxification because I began feeling a little sick.
Which leads me to my next question: If all of the above is true, how long do we stick with a detoxification protocol before we know for sure it is making a positive difference in our health. With severe CFS, when we are already feeling as if we are knocking on death's door, how do we get past the feeling worse part of detoxification when there are no guarantees; only the hope that we might begin to feel better. If alcoholics need help and support to detox, how can we be expected to do it by ourselves?
Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I could better explain the detox process. What is detoxification? Why is it necessary to our health? How does it affect our bodies? What can we expect as we go through a detox protocol? How do we mentally prepare for "feeling worse before we feel better? When and how do we know when it is time to call it quits? Are some detox protocols easier to go through than others? Is detoxification worth it?
Decades ago when I was sick all the time, with no clue what was wrong with me, I picked up Dr. Cheney's The Yeast Connection. At that time, Cheney was being publicly ridiculed as a quack by the medical establishment. Even so, I read what he had to say about Candida. And to my surprise, much of what he said in his book applied to me. But good luck getting a doctor to listen--especially prior to the year 2000.
What I knew was that yeast made me physically sick. As a young adult, I'd had my share of vaginal yeast infections-- I knew what an overgrowth of yeast felt like--even when it was going on in in my gut. But when I described to my physician that I felt like a vaginal yeast infection had invaded my entire body, he rolled his eyes. I felt lucky to walk away with a script for one Diflucan tablet, which anyone who has experienced systemic yeast knows is like giving a fireman a water balloon to put out a forest fire. I remember begging and pleading with the doctor for one more pill, and being refused every time. He never bothered to explain that his reluctance was rooted in the fact that too much Duflucan (or any medicine, for that matter) can cause liver or kidney damage.
Certainly he never explained ways to avoid recurrent yeast infections. I think he believed that because I did not have an MD after my name, I could not possibly understand what was going on in my own body. What did I know? I was in my twenties. He was an old man with a medical degree. I finally became so frustrated after years of being ignored that I tried "The Turpentine Cure." (Note: Turpentine should NOT be taken internally.) I was desperate and turpentine seemed radical, though mildly dangerous. But I remembered that in my grandmother's time, people took turpentine and sugar as a cure for all kinds of ailments. And my grandmother lived to be 103. So I figured that if the turpentine didn't kill me, the candida would. So what the Hell. Actually, "the turpentine cure" did offer relief, but that could have been a coincidence. I didn't try the cure more than a few times--the taste of turpentine was beyond disgusting.
One very important lesson I learned as a result of reading about and experimenting with the radical turpentine cure is that with any detoxification process, you will usually feel worse before you feel better. I'd never heard that before. With yeast overgrowth, the Candida cells die off and spend some time in your bloodstream and kidneys before they are eliminated from your body--a process that can make you feel very sick. I didn't like the sound of that. But then I remembered that anyone who has ever detoxed from drugs or alcohol will tell you how miserable it is to stick it out to the end because your body feels sick as it goes through the process of getting clean. And that made me wonder about how many times detoxification protocols, like methylation, are abandoned before they have had a chance to work. I'm pretty sure I've quit after only a day or two of starting detoxification because I began feeling a little sick.
Which leads me to my next question: If all of the above is true, how long do we stick with a detoxification protocol before we know for sure it is making a positive difference in our health. With severe CFS, when we are already feeling as if we are knocking on death's door, how do we get past the feeling worse part of detoxification when there are no guarantees; only the hope that we might begin to feel better. If alcoholics need help and support to detox, how can we be expected to do it by ourselves?
Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I could better explain the detox process. What is detoxification? Why is it necessary to our health? How does it affect our bodies? What can we expect as we go through a detox protocol? How do we mentally prepare for "feeling worse before we feel better? When and how do we know when it is time to call it quits? Are some detox protocols easier to go through than others? Is detoxification worth it?
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