While I have had a few health issues that have started springing up over the past few years, it seems to have really kicked into high gear in the past year and a half, since the birth of my daughter. I started having issues with UTIs, catching every cold that was floating around, developed endometriosis, and then my colds started turning into infections (eye, sinus, ear, lung) at the drop of a hat.
Being a mother of three with a husband who works 45 hours a week, and then volunteers at our church another 20-30 hours a week, I just couldn't afford to keep living that way. Not only did I not have the time to be sick, but I also was having a harder time recovering from each illness even while taking antibiotics.
I started to try natural solutions because I know deep down in my soul that the Lord has put those things on the earth to help us heal from our infirmities. I did a food sensitivity test, hoping that if I avoided those foods my gut could heal and I could boost my immune system. I tried going vegetarian. I took vitamin supplements and probiotics. Nothing worked...
Finally I was talking to a friend and she mentioned
Candida. Well I haven't really heard anything about candida, so I started doing a little research. I found this AWESOME website
http://www.wholeapproach.com/ . I started reading about candida, what it is, what symptoms of overgrowth are and realized that my symptoms matched perfectly!
If you follow the link to the Whole Approach you'll discover that Candida is a type of yeast that exists in our bodies all the time. Usually we have nice strong immune systems that keep it from causing any damage, and so it usually poses no real danger. However for some people, like me..., whose bodies are thrown out of balance by taking birth control, steroids, or antibiotics, your immune system gets weakened and the yeast quickly multiplies and starts attacking the body. This can be manifested in many ways. For me I had recurrent infections, frequent headaches, trouble losing weight, mental fog, fatigue, among other things...
Now, the
solution in dealing with candida is simple but challenging. First off you have to change your
Diet. The candida cleanse diet requires to go off all sugars and most carbohydrates, along with eliminating yeast, caffeine, fake sugars, and foods that are known to have high mold contents. Next you need to take an antifungal supplement. Now there are all sorts of kits they sell online for buku bucks. I dont have a lot of extra money to throw at something like that, so instead I went down to our local health food store and found a homeopathic treatment made by Aquaflora
http://www.aquaflorainc.com/ . Along with taking a good antifungal, you want to supplement with a really good probiotic to help boost your immune system. Now in order to find a really good probiotic you need to head to the refrigerated section of the health food store. Grab the highest potency one you can find. I actually found one that had 100 billion active cultures! The total cost of the two products was around $50. At first I wasn't very happy it was so expensive but when I realized the thousands of dollars the insurance company and myself have paid on medical bills I figured this was WAY
cheaper!
Now the trick with a Candida cleanse is that you get a little worse before you get better. This is known as the Herxheimer reaction, or Die Off. As the candida is being killed and starved to death it causes the body to experience headaches, nausea, cravings, etc. Don't give up when this starts happening!!! These symptoms mean that what you are doing is working! "They" say that the die off symptoms vary from lasting 2-10 days. I think the more strict you are with the diet and supplements the faster it dies off. For me the die off only lasted 3-4 days. After the die off symptoms stopped I started feeling so much better! My head was clearer, I had more energy, I felt good!
Now for me, this euphoria only lasted for a week or so. Oh no!!! So I started researching again, making sure I was doing the diet right, and stumbled across some more info... This time I found a link to a website about Adrenal Issues. Low and behold people with adrenal issues have symptoms very similar to candida overgrowth symptoms!!! In fact those of us who suffer from Adrenal gland problems have chronic fatigue, have problems with getting and healing from infections, and are even prone to being very passive and have trouble standing up for ourselves and saying "No." All of which I have been struggling with for some time!
As it turns out, the diet to help treat Adrenal issues is the same as the candida diet!!! Score!!! Mainly you need to go sugar and caffeine free along with eliminating high carb foods. Now in order to help rebuild adrenal strength "they" also suggest supplementing with high doses of vitamin B5, otherwise known as pantothenic acid, along with other B vitamins, vitamin C, and other plant extracts. So I went by the health food store and picked up a good Adrenal Gland Support supplement to add to my daily regime. After a few days of taking the Adrenal Gland supplement I started feeling better again. YEAH!!!
The moral of my story is that... Yes you can feel better! Whether you are like me and struggle with Adrenal and Candida issues, or you have other health issues, you can take your health into your own hands. Keep searching for answers! Keep trying new solutions, until you find what works for you. It isn't easy! It is so hard to say no to the foods that everyone else is enjoying, but you are more important. It is SO worth it to finally feel healthy, strong, and have energy again!!!
