Hey all, I'm a 21 year old male who has been suffering from a handful of symptoms for about 2 years now. Up until a few weeks ago, I thought it was simply anxiety as I had gotten so used to the symptoms and anxiety was the one that affected me the most in my day to day life.

Nonetheless, here are some of my symptoms:

-Anxiety, severe for a week after drinking alcohol, moderate levels normally

-Severe fungal folliculitis on back and butt, have cleared this up to moderate with dandruff shampoo

-Brain fog, fatigue, lack of motivation

-Severe dry mouth after eating, very watery eyes and shortness of breath

-Sensitivity to lots of different foods, sick feeling directly after eating

-Constipation and bowel troubles

-Cravings for sugary things like skittles and carb-loads like pasta

-Athletes foot, toenail fungus, bunion

-Varicocele (not sure if related)

-Hair loss (not sure if related)

-Sexual dysfunction/ED


tldr; took 3 rounds of Antibiotics , developed severe anxiety and folliculitis among other symptoms, suspect candida or other health problems.

Long story: (please, please read it. I will love you forever)

Please allow me to provide a little backstory. When I was 14 my doctor prescribed me doxycycline, an antibiotic, for my acne. It seemed to work okay so I eventually went off it when I was about 16. My doctor gave me no warnings against the dangers of Antibiotics or even how to safely use them. He just gave me them and kicked my butt out the door. Pretty pathetic attempt at treatment if you ask me.

Fast forward a few years to sophomore year of college. My Acne started coming back, most likely due to a poor diet and stress. My doctor suggested I go back on the Antibiotics , but still didn't instruct me how to take them safely. As a naive teenager, I went on to drink heavily while on this medication, sometimes on an empty or relatively empty stomach. Basically, I thought I was invincible like most teenage boys.

This is when my anxiety problems began to surface. I started to suffer from panic attacks while walking down the street. As soon as I walked into class I would experience severe anxiety, and I was super anxious just sitting there in class. I couldn't talk to anyone and presentations were a disaster. I just didn't feel right. Still, to this day, I experience this at some level. To put it in perspective, I get OCD about the way I move my arms while walking down the street.

I didn't realize the alcohol or antibiotics were correlated with these symptoms at the time. They weren't causing them, as I believe the root cause lies somewhere else. However, I would suffer from week long hangovers that lasted until the next weekend. Rinse and repeat. I also picked up a dipping habit to cope with the stress/anxiety and was dipping a 1/2 tin a day of tobacco. In retrospect, that was probably just making it worse, but I was addicted to that after awhile.

I finally stopped taking the antibiotics and tried to limit my drinking because I realized that they were probably doing the damage. Keep in mind that my diet was great during this whole ordeal. I lost a total of 25 lbs and was working out at least 4 times a week! My symptoms began to get a little better as I limited my drinking, but they were still there and something just felt off. No way were a few beers here and there causing me this many psychological problems! (Or so I thought).

I did start to get better over the summer because I didn't drink as much alcohol. I still didnt' feel 100%, but better for sure. My diet wasn't that great anymore either; I was eating a lot of sandwiches and as a result, lots of bread. I was also still dipping here and there. I developed a bad habit of biting my fingernails to cope with my anxiety and also had this huge wart on my finger that I couldn't for the life of me get rid of (it's gone now). I think I might've accidentally ingested something fungal by accident maybe as a result of my fingernail biting habit and that's when the folliculitis became a problem.

I thought it was Acne at first, but it began to multiply all over my back, butt, and upper thighs (nowhere else). I was finally able to control it with extra strength dandruff shampoo, but I still have it here and there. Back in its early stages, my doctor thought it was bacterial folliculitis so he prescribed me MORE ANTIBIOTICS and I was desperate and still relatively unaware that they were the culprit so I took them for 2 weeks. The areas got really itchy and began to disappear a bit so I kept taking it and thought they were working.

Eventually, I finished the treatment and my folliculitis came back rearing it's ugly head, only this time it was 10x worse. This is when I finally did some research and figured out that it was probably fungal. This was what first led me to suspect candida.

I ended up researching the fact that drinking feeds candida and began documenting my drinking and how I felt after. I tried this for a few months and I've come to the conclusion that I should quit drinking entirely until I get this whole thing sorted out.

Here is what happens when I drink:

Saturday: 2-6 drinks, usually beer
Sunday: feel okay, generally not hungover
Monday: feel like absolute death, extreme anxiety, really really watery eyes, brain fog
Tuesday: same as monday
Wednesday: same but to a lesser degree
Thursday: starting to feel better, sometimes a drastic improvement out of nowhere in the middle of the day
Friday: Feel probably 80%
1 week: feel way better
2 weeks: feel almost like myself again

What the hell is going on here? This happens without fail even if I consume something as little as 4 drinks, and I'm a big guy!

I suspect one or more of the following:
-Candida overgrowth
-Liver problems (enzyme issues?)
-Parasites

I don't know where to start besides the obvious. I have quit alcohol completely and I'm going on a no yeast diet but I want to know exactly what to do here. I am willing to dedicate the next year to curing myself if I need to. I want to be normal again.

Do I need to cleanse my liver? Colon? Other organs? Go on the diet? Get tests done first? I'm lost.

Also, if you have any other questions feel free to ask. I apologize for the length of the post, but I really need opinions on what to do. Are there any tests I should have done? Bloodwork?

Thanks.