Re: horrible

I touched on this in my article "Confused About Candida?" When we look at the list of  conditions and symptoms that candida is associated with, it looks like it can cause most anything and everything. That is true. It can cause, contribute to, or maintain many conditions. Conversely however, it's not responsible for everything, as there are heavy metals, chemicals, emotions, and toxic lifestyles that can also play a role, big or small. What they all have in common is driving inflammation in the body.

Candida can drive a lot of inflammation in the body via MMPs, enzymes, and especially cytokines like Th17. Correcting fungal candida can drive down inflammation quite a bit, but other factors can increase it as well. I think this creates a lot of confusion around candida and people start thinking that candida can never be addressed effectively. I don't believe that to be true.

This brings us to another important piece of the puzzle that doesn't usually get addressed and is most likely what is causing your neurologically-related symptoms, a damaged Blood Brain Barrier (BBB). Both the BBB and Candida become problematic due to the use of antibiotics. Antibiotics, by destroying all the 100 trillion+ bacteria in the body within a short period of 5 to 7 days, create a massive release of bacterial components, especially LipoPolySaccharides (LPS), into the body. These substances incite an inflammatory cascade throughout the body that affects cells near the BBB causing increased permeability of the BBB. Like a leaky gut, you end up having a leaky BBB. This however is much worse than a leaky gut, as inflammation in the body is upregulated in the brain anyhwere from 10x to 1000x. This upregulation is designed as a protective response, but thanks to antibiotics and the blindness of those who prescribe them, it becomes the basis of lifelong inflammation and neurodgeneration. Antibiotics "prime" the brain for chronic degeneration. All it takes to keep this going is something that drives inflammation in the body.

This brings us back to fungal candida and your great results with the Plan. Correcting the fungal candida greatly reduced the levels of inflammation and you felt great. The BBB issue was still present in the background. Eating the foods you've eaten and the liquids you consumed (all known pro-inflammatory substances) raised the levels of inflammation in the body and this was upregulated in the brainn due to persistent BBB damage. Obviously, an anti-inflammatory diet like the one in the Candida Plan is best for everyone.

Following a protocol to repair the BBB and taking something like curcumin (1 to 2 grams, 4x/day) to reduce inflammation can be a more pro-active approach in correcting this type of imbalance.

I've found the best alcohols to be Kettle One vodka and high-grade Anejo tequilas.

If there are emotional/stress issues present, these need to be addressed as well, because they can also drive inflammatory responses in the body. The world we live in is very pro-inflammatory with all the toxins and stress. We can bemoan this fact, or we can use it as guidance to direct us to methods and ways to counteract it.