Oral candida cleared with diet…and a baby bonus
by Sue Kira, Naturopath & Clinical Nutritionist
Client name and identifying information changed
Tim came to me feeling rather embarrassed about his oral thrush (candida), as he felt that he had picked it up from his new girlfriend via oral sex, which may well have been the case. I mentioned to him that if his system had been in good balance then he would have coped better with any infection as the organisms wouldn’t have been able to take hold.
He not only had the typical white tongue of candida infection but he also had white sore patches throughout his mouth and said it felt like it was also down his throat, and even his anus was a bit sore. Apart from these issues, Tim felt rather fatigued most days and craved sweet foods a lot (and fed those cravings and the fatigue with lots of chocolate bars).
After testing his bowels with a comprehensive digestive stool analysis, it appeared that he had quite a rampant infection throughout his digestive system, one that wouldn’t have taken hold from just one night with his girlfriend – so he could stop blaming her for his demise.
He was rather pleased about that, but not happy about the level of infection he had in his body. He understood quite well what was going on as he had done quite a bit of research before seeing me and he knew what could happen if left untreated. But what he didn’t know, until he saw the results of the tests, was how bad it was.
With this information, Tim was ready to do what was necessary to combat the infection. He knew from previous experiences that he was particularly sensitive to taking herbal antimicrobials but was ok with probiotics, so we didn’t use any herbs to treat the infection, just diet and probiotics.
I did put him on some Saccharomyces boulardii species, a strain of yeast that likes to eat candida, plus another multi-strain probiotic to help re-establish his good bacteria, which according to his stool tests he had nearly none, and the diet would continue to provide plenty of good bacteria.
Tim followed the anti-candida diet to the letter before I saw him again, and he kept in touch via email to let me know how he was going. His candida infection cleared within six weeks which was great, but his three-month follow-up stool test indicated quite a high level of candida organisms still in his body. This highlights the need to re-check levels before thinking that all is all clear because symptoms disappear.
This helped to keep Tim motivated to continue with the program for another six months and then re-check his levels. I had previously told him that some people can take two years to regain proper balance, some only a few months. Because his initial levels were so bad, so I didn’t expect to see a quick turnaround.
After six months, his next stool test showed all good bacteria was back in balance and his candida was nearly back to normal levels, so he was encouraged to continue with the diet for as long as possible.
Twelve months later everything tested perfectly and Tim looked and felt great and was excited to tell me that his now wife was expecting their first child. They had both been on the diet together and it seemed they were so healthy that they fell pregnant easily and soon afterwards had a healthy baby.
This might seem normal to most people, but I learnt later that his wife previously had endometriosis and was told that she may never be able to conceive naturally so they never used contraception.
The diet must have also helped her, which was awesome for them. A couple of years later I received an email to let me know they just had their second child and all were happy and healthy.