Hi shroom...I wouldn't disagree with your hypothesis. In fact I would extend it because when you have serious candida issues, it is now fairly well known that this disease is highly associative with other diseases caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses, mycoplasma etc. So when your candida gets serious, your immune system bar is lowered tremendously which eventually allows in all manner of different pathogen species into the body.
Here is some of the evidence and research on these candida pathogen association from Dr Wiliam Shaw:
Furthermore, you mention only amoeba inhabiting the intestines. It is also well known through research that candida is a dimorphic organism -- it has two distinct and differing living forms. It has a yeast form -- a saprophytic feeder, reproduces by budding -- and it also has a fungal form -- a true parasite, reproduces by spores.
The yeast form inhabits locally -- uterus, skin, intestines etc. The fungal form infects the blood, organs and tissues -- everywhere in the body in other words.
What I'm trying to say is that if you don't make specific effort to get rid of the systemic candida from both the intestines(yeast form) and the blood(fungal form) then you will probably never get rid of it or it will just keep coming back.
Eight years ago I used a multi-protocol to sucessfully cure my own serious candida issues. This protocol has also proved quite successful for other people who have candida. This protocol was particularly aimed at removing both the yeast and fungal forms of candida. Here are just the pathogen-kill protocols that I used, defined in detail:
I must also emphasize that the above protocols were only a part of my own muti-protocol regimen. The other parts of my protocol consist of more detoxing, supporting the liver/kidneys and a simple diet.
It's also interesting that 70% of the immune system's activity is devoted to the protection of the intestines/cell/blood boundariies. This would also indicate that this mucosal layer, as an anti-pathogen barrier in the intestines, is indeed critical to the body's health defence with respect to neutrophils, eosinophils etc and infections in this regions.
Once dominant and established, candida tends to form profuse and impenetrable biofilms(built with the incorporation of heavy metals) in these mucosal regions with the consequent retreat of health, lowered immune system capability, with wide invitation to other pathogen species to also join the party. Normally mucosal pH in the upper intestines should be about 8.5 but becomes quite acidic from pathogen invasion and dominance.
Then, of course, we have Methylation Cycle Blockade problems which can create all manner of problems in the body including aberrant genes causing a 70% drop in body's neurotransmitter, lymphocyte and detox performance. Candida is well known to take advantage of a weakened or immuno-compromised system.
There can be many causes and reasons for candida fungal invasion or dominance in the human body and this is made even more complex when you also consider that about 80% of the worlds population has candida already living inside their intestines anyway.
Try Methyl-Guard from Thorne Research -- they use P5P.
The above nutrient contains decent amounts of P5P, Trimethylglycine, MethylFolate and Methylcobolamine.
Might also be worth you getting a gene check for the aberrant MTHFR genes as well. If these aberrant genes are in play and there are enzyme blocks in your methylation cycle as well then this could also mean defective neurotransmitters, a rock bottom immune system and an inop detox and transulfuration system (due to nil glutathione).
Hi shroom...Like yourself, I've always believed that candida was a disease caused by a highly variable and disparate number of pathogen species -- not just one. I simply call it candida for convenience but this disease has well over one hundred highly variable symptoms such that no two people will ever have exactly the same symptoms, particularly for systemic or disseminated candida problems. Because of this fact, I had to consider how to treat and cure the candida using suitable wide acting pathogen killers that would kill different pathogen species right across the spectrum which includes candida, parasites, bacteria, viruses, mycoplasma etc.
Candida is also extremely hard to kill because it is dimorphic -- it has a yeast form(saprophyte) as well as a difficult to kill fungal fomr(true parasite). The yeast form lives locally in the skin, intestines, uterus etc while the fungal form lives in the blood, tissues and organs -- everywhere in other words. Add to this that candida produces biofilms profusely in the gut -- where neither the immune system nor anti-fungals can reach it and you have not one but several fairly conspicuous reasons why candida either never goes away or always comes back.
One of the hardest thing to achieve is complete clearance of candida(and parasites) from the intestines. To keep it a short, reasons are given here in ths doc:
Why Turpentine with Castor Oil is so Useful Against Candida
I wrote the above doc for a private parents autism group who have been using the turps/CO protocol and are trying to cure their ASD kids of serious candida and parasite issues using Kerri Rivera's MMS protocols. In this respect, the results that I have observed usng the turps/CO protocol have been very good. I've been using this turpentine/CO protocol with these ASD kids(ages 1 to 16+) for about 18 months now without any problems.
Hi jameskeep37...Use the turpentine protocol as defined here:
You can use the lower maintenance dose every other day. But if this lower dose causes a full laxative effect then cut it back and only use half the castor oil dose -- keeping the turpentine dose the same. This dose should not have a full laxative effect but should only help to loosen the stool.
The full laxative dose will have the greatest beneficial effect because it expels candida, parasites(both large and small) and biofilms rapidly from the intestines. Only use this protocol once a week.
Both the above turps protocols will only act to get rid of pathogens from mainly the intestines -- so you will still have to take other protocols to get rid of the fungal candida form in the blood, tissues and organs. For this you should use Lugols Iodine, Alkalizing and Borax or equivalent remedies that can be absorbed into the blood and to act there. If you don't get rid of the fungal candida form from the blood then the candida will just keep coming back by re-populating the intestines with the candida from the blood.
Here is one of the few competent research assessments, in terms of health, that I have seen for turpentine:
The Essential Oil of Turpentine and its Major Volatile Fraction (α- and β-pinenes): A Review
From this research, pinenes have strong anti-oxidant action. But, strange to say, both the reduced and oxidzed forms appear to have positive and beneficial effects on the human body as well, which is most unusual.
shroom...Yes, I absolutely concur. It is certainly a pleasure discussing the best way to defeat candida with such a knowledgeable man as yourself. I guess that's how we all learn.
Here are some things that I have learned from the research over the years.
First and foremost, candida is a dimorprpic organism. It has two completely different living phenotypic states. It can live as a saprophytic feeder as a yeast(inhabiting locally in the skin, uterus, intestines) and it can also exist as a fungus or as a true parasite that inhabits the blood, tissues and organs. So you should regard the systemic or disseminated form as a candida infection that embodies both these two differing phenotypic forms of the same organism.
So if you just take stuff to clear the candida out of the intestines only -- you will fail. Because the fungal form in the blood, via spores, will simply be excreted by the liver into the intestines to continualluy re-infect this region. Hence the candida never goes away or it always returns. Alot of candida sufferers make this strategy mistake.
Second point. It is extremely hard to completely remove candida(both the yeast and fungal forms) from the intestines. For all the reasons -- please see this document;
Why Turpentine and Castor Oil are so Useful Against Candida
The above document rationally concludes and proposes that no oral nutrient or enema is capable of acting sufficiently throughout the whole area or length of the intestines. Therefore there is a middle region in the intestines that is simply unreachable and untouchable by both oral nutrients or enema. This is also yet another reason why the candida never goes away or always comes back. This is also another very good reason to use the turpentine/castor oil protocol which will act quickly, due to its laxative effect, against candida and parasites throughout the whole intestines.
I have also found that just using chitinase against candida has two problems. First, it only really acts in the intestines (it does not act on the fungal form in the blood). I also fail to see chitinase working adequately because it only dissolves chitin or hemicellulose. But what if the candida is entrenched within biofilms? Biofilms are made of fibrin(not chitin) which is a protein. So for the chitinase to be able to act properly on the candida cell wall -- first your must destroy the outer protein biofilm cage in order to actually reach the hiding candida. In other words I think that taking chitinase with protease ezymes(serrrapeptase, lumbrokinase, nattokinase or even bromelain, papain) would be much more effective than just chitinase alone. There are some good products -- such as Theramedix CDX 84 -- that take the above into account and contain very high amounts of both hemicellulose enzymes and protease enzymes -- these products are therefore very useful because they act to both remove biofilms and kill the candida in the intestines at the same time. But, nevertheless, if you use this enzyme approach, then how are you going to get rid of the fungal form in the blood, tissues and organs?
That's really why you have to use a focused multi-protocol approach to get rid of candida that acts both in the intestines and in the blood as well to get rid of both the yeast and fungal forms of candida.
shroom....Funny that you mention quorum sensing. I'm going to take this even further -- which would confirm your own result concerning multi-pathogen associations associating with candida. And it may even shock you:
Evidence that candida biofilms are shared by other pathogen species:
53. Adam B, et al, Mixed species biofilms of Candida albicans and Staphylococcus epidermidis. J Med Microbiol; 51(4); pp 344-349; April 2002.
http://jmm.sgmjournals.org/content/51/4/344.short
Thein ZM, et al, Community lifestyle of Candida in mixed biofilms: a mini review. Mycoses; 52 (6); pp 467-475, Nov 2009.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0507.2009.01719.x/abstract
There's more detail about this in my book on candida -- Candida: Killiing So Sweetly