Introduction
Candida, also called thrush, is a common yeast infection. Yeasts are small organisms which float around in our atmosphere and live on trees. Yeasts are practically everywhere. Yeasts like warm moist climates; if they land on a sweaty part of the body or a crease or fat fold etc. then they can start to grow. This causes a skin infection that is often red, itchy or discoloured. Candida is the most common form of yeast that can live on the skin. It is not dangerous but can irritate people. This article discusses this common problem.
What is candida?
Candida is a common yeast. It is found in nature and is typically not harmful to the body. In some people, candida can start to live on the skin, mouth, ears or in the gut and start to cause problems.
Who gets candida
Normally, somebody who gets candida is completely normal and it does not mean that they are sick somewhere else in their body. However, somebody who is getting older or taking medication that suppresses their immune system might find it easier to get candida. Finally, some women with iron deficiency or estrogen dominance (this means too much estrogen balanced against the other sex hormone, progesterone) might be more prone to thrush.
Further reading
- Iron deficiency
- Estrogen dominance
How does Candida cause disease?
Candida is ubiquitous in nature and our body typically tolerates constant exposure quite happily without problems; we usually do not see the small amount living on the skin. However, if candida is able to establish itself in the body too well and grow, it can cause local symptoms as well as release toxins into the body.
In women, candida infection of the vagina is quite common following a course of broad spectrum antibiotics; the antibiotics diminish the protective good bacteria at the vagina allowing the candida to colonise. This can lead to redness, pain, swelling, fluffy white discharge and painful urination.
In the gut, candida can establish itself if the proportion of protective good gut bacteria is altered. Candida likes to feed on sugars and release toxins, which may breach the intestinal lining leading to leaky gut syndrome; a term used to describe an immune reactivity state of an irritable bowel.
After entering the blood, toxic components of candida can lead to a chronic inflammatory immune response in the body. This typically causes sugar craving, fatigue, brain fog, emotional lability as well as general poor health. It may contribute to ADD and depression.
Gut candida often releases a toxin leading to pimples on the chin in women and a fine redness around the base of the nose; patients often describe it being worse after eating sugar such as chocolate or being stressed.
Candida infestation is linked to autism, multiple sclerosis, depression and chronic fatigue; it should be noted that this is an association and the science is not otherwise clear.
Who is likely to have Candida?
In any clinical manifestation, Candida seems to be found in high estrogen patients. High estrogen could result from impaired liver excretion of estrogen (typically causing painful, delayed periods called estrogen dominance) or from the oral contraceptive pill, pregnancy or being obese; in which case excess fat cells are able to create estrogen from circulating testosterone.
Estrogen excess patients often present with painful periods, PMS symptoms, breast tenderness, migraines, emotional lability, melasma (facial pigmentation) and weight issues.
Candida is often present in the setting of gut dysbiosis or an altered gut microbial environment; this can present as bloating, fatigue, altered stool (Constipation or diarrhoea), gluten intolerance to name a few. Gut dysbiosis itself is often associated with estrogen excess as bad bacteria can impair the liver’s ability to get rid of estrogens.
How is candida diagnosed?
In a simple case of vaginal thrush, a candida infection can be assumed from the history and examination.
For patients presenting with gut symptoms, estrogen excess or a chronic inflammatory disease, an integrative medicine doctor may perform gut DNA testing to establish the presence of gut candida.
A blood test measuring antibodies (IgG) against Candida may also help the diagnosis
How is candida treated?
The most important thing in treating to Candida is to establish why it is there in the first place. Addressing the liver health, estrogen balance and gut function is essential in avoiding a recurrence.
Simple vaginal thrush may be treated with an antifungal, boric acid or vaginal probiotics. Gut candida is a more complex treatment; the estrogen excess, dysbiosis, diet and liver needed to be treated at the same time as using antifungal medications.
Natural therapies are often used to support the eradication of candida: Berberine, curcumin, olive oil, grapefruit, pumpkin, thyme, oregano
Milk Thistle, Echinacea Purpurea extract, Echinacea Angustifolia, Goldenseal, Shiitake extract, White Willow Bark, Garlic, Grape Seed extract, Black Walnut (hull and leaf), Raspberry, Fumitory extract, Gentian, Tea Tree oil, Galbanum oil, Lavender oil, Oregano oil.
Binders such as Cliver’s compound help with the detox of candida eradication
Summary
Candida of the gut is especially common in high estrogen conditions such as estrogen dominance; whereby a woman’s estrogen levels are not counterbalanced by the right ratio of progesterone
Often, if the liver is congested or impacted by an unhealthy population of the ‘wrong’ bacteria in the gut, estrogens will be reabsorbed into the body and lead to higher estrogen
This can promote candida
Candida loves sugar and produces toxic byproducts due to that sugar; this can cause chronic fatigue, acne, chin pimples, rashes, brain fog and depression to name a few.
References
de Oliveira Santos GC, Vasconcelos CC, Lopes AJO, et al. Candida Infections and Therapeutic Strategies: Mechanisms of Action for Traditional and Alternative Agents. Front Microbiol. 2018;9:1351. Published 2018 Jul 3.
doi:10.3389/fmicb.2018.01351
R AN, Rafiq NB. Candidiasis. [Updated 2021 Aug 13]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021 Jan-.
