Conquering Yeast Infections Naturally (Revised)
By: Dr. William Wong, ND, PhD.

Yeast infections seem to be every where these days. They are seen by themselves, usually after antibiotic use, and they are had accompanying other long term diseases such as Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue. Some believe the yeast infections are the cause of Fibromyalgia and CFS, while other see them as only taking advantage of a weakened immune system to proliferate and spread in the intestines and through the body. Yes through the body. Once it spreads yeast can be found in the lungs and sinuses, in the internal organs and as two autopsies of Fibromyalgia patients found, even in the brain and its fluid!

Men and women treated with low-dose, long-term antibiotic use for acne all have systemic (body wide) yeast infections, also known as fungal infections. But yeast infections do not only come from long term antibiotic use; one course of antibiotics is all that is needed for most folks to show signs of a die off of the good bacteria and yeast in the body and an increase of the bad. Not all of the blame falls on the shoulders of antibiotics, Corticosteroid drugs, birth control pills and cancer chemo therapy agents are also contributors to the epidemic of systemic yeast infections. Women seem to be the hardest hit by yeast infections, with the predominance of the vaginal variety. But where there is a vaginal yeast infection there is a body wide fungus infestation behind it! Yeast is an opportunistic infection; and we all have yeast, good strains and bad in our bodies. Both strains live primarily in the intestines where if the balance of food and fiber is right, the good strains of yeast along with the good strains of bacteria keep the bad strains from colonizing the body.

When antibiotic medications have to be used, they not only kill off the germs they are meant to destroy but they also kill off the good bacteria and yeast that are in charge of digestion, maintenance of the intestinal lining, food absorption, immune system boosting, and bad bacteria control. Some sure signs of the die off of good bacteria are the diarrhea, vaginal burning and itching and rectal itching that often accompanies antibiotic use. Odd thing is, while the drugs kill the good bacteria and yeast it does not do much to get rig of the bad! Without the good guys to keep the nasties from growing in number, the bad yeast and bacteria grow unchecked and colonize first the intestines and then the rest of the body!

Well, that's no sweat, modern medical science tells us, they have other drugs to kill the yeast, like the old Nystatin and the new Diflucan! What they don't tell you about is the race. Yes, when you take those drugs there's a race going on inside you body. Those drugs will kill the fungus but they will also kill your liver! So it a race to see which dies first, the yeast or your liver (which you can't live without)! That's why physicians have to monitor your liver function closely while you are on anti fungal drugs; they have to be ready to yank you from them the instant they see the liver getting in trouble.

And, as it usually happens, the liver will begin to show signs of strain way before all the strains of bad yeast are gone. What happens then? Well, with the weaker strains of bad yeast dead, that left more room for the stronger drug resistant variety to take over all the space inside you actually making things worse than they were before you went on the drugs! To add insult to injury, you now also have to heal a damaged liver! By now I hope you folks are getting my drift that drugs are not the way to eliminate fungal infections.

So what can be done naturally to get rid of yeast and restore the bodies natural balance between the good and bad bugs (excuse me, micro flora) inside of us? Let's look to nature for the answer.

The first thing we have to acknowledge is that a fungal infection is the sign of a weak immune system. Fungal inflections are the bodies' fallback position for immune support when the immune system is weakened or fails. How can this be? Well all of those yeast buds are producing three things in your body. The first is alcohol, which you don't need. It's the alcohol from fungal infections, which causes the dopiness and brain fog so often seen in chronic yeast infection patients. Your body is a waking beer factory taking the carbohydrates you eat and converting them into 14% ethyl alcohol all the time, every day! Serious systemic yeast infection patients have failed breathalyzer tests without ever having taken a drink.

The second thing the bad yeast produces are B Complex vitamins. These are essential to immune system and liver function, without them no energy is produced, blood gets weak, and nerves don't work. The third thing they create is Beta Glucan a powerful immune enhancing nutrient. Fermentation is how the bad yeast makes these products. They take in blood sugars and carbohydrates and ferment them into these products. All these fermentation processes are anaerobic which means that they take place with out oxygen, because most of the fungus types that invade the human body live off of blood sugar (glycogen) not oxygen as the good bacteria and yeast do.

If the bad yeast performs a good function why get rid of it? Well aside from creating a myriad of problems on it's own yeast infections are implicated in worsening a range of diseases from ear infections to Lupus and infertility! Also the immune system will never heal while in a weakened state and while it is trying to cope with an infection that has taken over most of the dark and moist areas of the body!

So what is needed to both cure the yeast infection and raise immune function to the point where the yeast infection is not needed as a last ditch stand for immunity? The answer is to introduce good bacteria into the gut and allow it to proliferate. But, that's easier said than done. There are hundreds of strains of good bacteria. Some are transient that means they go in one end help digestion and go out the other without staying implanted in the intestines. There are other stains that go in and look to stay by colonizing the intestinal walls, and reproducing themselves. These colonizing good bacteria also help digestion but the do much more. In an almost magical way, these good bacteria change the lining of the intestinal wall into factories for immuno supportive substances. These colonies of good bacteria clinging to the inulin or FOS from which it feeds, create good yeast and between the two they produce IGA-1.

With all of that said, now let's get to brass tacks. In curing a fungal infection the natural way, several other beneficial things will follow suit, you will:

1. Boost immune function dramatically.
2. Reduce Cholesterol
3. Defend against colon cancer
4. Prevent constipation, flatulence and abdominal bloating
5. Improve skin conditions
6. Increase tolerance of dairy products
7. Assist in fighting chronic urinary bladder infections
8. Decrease sensitivity to allergens.

Need any more convincing? There is only one caveat, this program will begin to produce results within two weeks but, it will take months or years to drive the bad yeast out of all of it's crooks and nannies and replace it with good bacteria. But, long before that you will feel stronger, be healthier, and fight off disease faster!

What to do:

1. Anti-Candida Specific Probiotic like Dr. Wong's Essentials™ Armoured Acidophilus™: 1 teaspoon daily. This supplement of good bacteria specialize in driving out the bad and creating the changes in the intestinal lining that turns it into an IGA-1 factory.
2. Molybdenum: 150 mcg. 2 times a day. This mineral stops the production of alcohol by the bad yeast in your body. This will end the brain fog and in many patients also controls the external itching from the candida infection.
3. B - Complex vitamins. 1 to 2 tablets or capsules a day. Find a balanced formula where most of the vitamins are in the 50, 75 or 100-mg strengths.
4. Now to the most important part of the program - don't forget to keep it up even though you're feeling better. You've had the candida for years, expect it to take years to be completely rid of it from every crevice of your internal self.

With candida there ain't no quick fixes. In the interim you will be healthier, stronger and more disease resistant for the effort. It's worth it!

Revision:

Updates To The Anti-Yeast Therapy:

As many of you know I have been very disheartened by the charlatans' hawking most of the coral calcium supplements. I’ve gone from a firm believer to heavy critic of the folks who put these together. Many of these folks are about as honest as snake oil salesmen and it pains me to see slime like this in the nutritional industry.

Since the coral is SO expensive many sellers of coral calcium have taken up the practice of mixing calcium carbonate (the same ingredient as is in TUMS) into their coral and indeed most of what is in these very expensive supplements is calcium carbonate. If you wanted to buy TUMS you could have done it for a lot cheaper than what you spent on the coral. My advice is to stop using it.

Nuff Said on that. Through the work of Dr. Tom Revis DC, ND, I’ve discovered that plain old Cream of Tartar powder, yes the spice, will not only alkalinize better than the coral ever could. (You can test your saliva with Litmus paper to see the difference), but the Cream of Tartar powder also kills yeast all by itself! What a great combo to help with the battle! Most folks need between 1 to 2 tablespoons of the powder daily depending on the severity of the infection. You can mix it with water or just plop the powder in your mouth and swallow water to wash it down. (Don’t breathe in while the powder is still dry in your mouth as some of the still dry powder can go down the wrong way). You can divide the tablespoon into 3 teaspoons to take less at one shot. Expect to have the runs for the first few days using the Cream of Tartar as the initial die off of yeast happens.

So take the cream of tartar then at a seperate time take the Armoured Acidophilus™ (1 tesapoon daily with or with out meals) and the Inulin powder (one teaspoon 3 to 4 times a day) as well. These days I’ve been using the Inulin from Dr. Wong's Essentials 100% Chicory Inulin (www.docsprefer.com). It is significantly less expensive that the stuff I used to use as it is from chicory and not artichoke hearts, yet all of the studies done by the German researchers from the University of Leipzig who first successfully used Inulin used the Chicory kind, so why spend more when the chicory Inulin will more than do the job and for a lot less money!

Most docs and patients who have used this program have put a considerable dent in their Candida Infections in 30 days without the problem of compliance to a restrictive diet. The program will work regardless of what you’re eating!

Be well and God bless,
Dr. Wong
Jan 2006