Don't Let Candida Win

In my last post I quickly mentioned candida and oral thrush. If you are like me you have never heard of it before or have a clue what it is. First, let me remind you I am not a doctor or any type of medical professional. I am just a girl who went through it and knows how very unpleasant it can be.

Here we go...

I love this description by the MindBodyGreen website (http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-8376/10-signs-you-have-candida-overgrowth-what-to-do-about-it.html): Candida is a fungus, which is a form of yeast, and a very small amount of it lives in your mouth and intestines. Its main job? Helping out with digestion and nutrient absorption. 

Great Website for Health Information

The real problem develops when there is an overproduction of candida. Candida can break down the wall of the intestine and penetrate the bloodstream — releasing toxic by-products into your body and causing leaky gut. This can lead to many different health problems, from digestive issues to depression.

You get the idea, this is no joke and no fun!

Candida overgrowth can present itself in many different forms..for me it chose to present itself in my mouth. The infection had taken over. Ew. My tongue developed this horrible white coating, I developed canker sores, and it was so swollen and painful. My primary care doctor told me I had strep and gave me the normal prescriptions for treating strep, in addition I was given an oral lidocaine swish to help with the pain.  By the next day I was still in so much pain, even worse, and I could barely talk. I definitely couldn't eat and even drinking was painful. My mom did some googling and discovered a diagnosis called oral thrush. I found a local ENT (ear, nose, throat) Dr. who took my insurance and was able to get in that day. He put a camera down my nose, checked my mouth, and finally I had a proper diagnosis. He confirmed I did indeed have a really bad case of oral thrush. He put me on a different swish and stopped the other medicines which were actually causing the thrush to get worse! Once home I started looking into more options to help the healing process along. A friend of mine suggested I check out a site, earthclinic.com.  What an awesome site. It gave me lots of natural suggestions to help with the healing process; such as baking soda peroxide switches, turmeric for the swelling, apple cider vinegar to help with healing my digestive tract. These are just a few that I tried.

Lots of natural healing ideas for all sorts of problems

So now what...first thing, you have to change your diet. There are lots of different books and diets out there find one that works for you. Low sugar is most important! Candida feeds off sugar, don't feed the bad stuff. Small meals help your poor digestive tract that is already working overtime. I also found a Holistic Treatment Practice that had history in dealing with oral thrush and candida. They put together a very specific supplement regiment for me to take. I won't share what it is because everyone's body and diagnosis is different and I don't want you to try something without the proper understanding of the product. I will tell you that a probiotic and prebiotic are very important!!  Also switch up your foods and the pre and pro biotics every couple of weeks. Candida is sneaky and they have a way of adapting to their surroundings!  So what once helped, no longer will. 

I stayed home a lot that summer. People would ask me what happened and I felt so embarrassed to tell them. I didn't want to go out and see people. My tongue was in pain and I could barely speak and yeah I felt yucky. I mean come on who wants to talk about everything I just told you. While everyone was enjoying their summer, I turned to online blogs and social media to do research and also not feel so alone. That is why I have decided to share my story today. You are not alone ever. There is probably someone out there going through something similar. Feeling like I had support, even just in my online friends world helped me cope. 

Well this quote fits perfectly!!

Present day... I still have my struggles, but slowly I am healing up. My stomach is still sensitive to certain foods and drinks. I still have to eat small meals or it takes down my digestive system. Sugar is my ultimate kryptonite! I keep it as low and as natural as possible. I buy mostly organic foods, because who wants to fill their body with bad stuff now that you are cleaning it up. 

Keep away!!
Sugar for me is from fruits and occasionally honey or agave to bake 

I learned a lot about myself going through this, mostly I learned I am actually pretty bada**.  It was not fun, but I fought back and still fight back every day and I want you to fight back too. Don't get me wrong I had and still have plenty of boohoo me days, but I try to not let them bring me down too long. Sometimes I wish I could eat regular like everyone else, but wishing and feeling bad doesn't change the fact that I can't. 

I love this quote,
 because it is the truth!

Most important please BE PATIENT with yourself!!  Depending on how severe the case it could take a very long time to heal. Look at me going on 6 almost 7 months and I am still healing!!! Don't let the candida bring you down, you need to beat it down!!

Thank you for taking the time to read this post about something that is very personal to me and had such a huge impact on my life.