Category Archives: Yeast Infection Causes

Metabolites, Mycotoxins, and Acetaldehyde – What Are They?

Mycotoxin means fungus poison in Latin, and is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by organisms of the fungi kingdom, commonly known as molds. The term mycotoxin is usually reserved for the toxic chemical by-products produced by fungi, and one mold species may produce many different mycotoxins, and the same mycotoxin may be produced by several species.

Many people are probably unaware of the effects of the yeast cells on the immune system. Yeast cells are quite complicated and have many thousands of complex reactions both within their own cells as well as with the many millions of cells in their surrounding environment. Just like all other living things, yeast cells need food to live and to multiply, as well as having the ability to produce wastes.

Related articles:

When yeast is living in your digestive system and in other areas of your body, mycotoxins are released from yeast cells which can then circulate throughout different areas of your body, for example in the circulatory system such as the blood and blood vessels, as well as throughout your digestive system, the stomach, small and large intestines, liver, pancreas, etc., in particular, but they can also travel through the blood-brain barrier and create problems in the brain and affect the way you think and feel.

Several of these individual metabolite components have been identified over time as being toxic to your immune system, causing reactions including a chronic low-grade state of inflammation. And it is these chemical reactions that can literally exhaust your immune system and wreak havoc on your brain, digestive, hormone, musculoskeletal and nervous systems.

Acetaldehyde

In 1986, Dr. Orion Truss wrote about acetaldehyde, a chemical that at toxic levels can make its way into the brain from candida. The consumption of sugar ensures that candida produces acetaldehyde in the digestive tract by way sugar fermentation. Anyone with a yeast overgrowth who also drinks beer, wine, spirits or liqueurs not only produces acetaldehyde from alcohol itself, but also delivers more sugar for the yeast production of acetaldehyde, creating a double-barreled dose. Acetaldehyde produced in the gut eventually reaches more parts of the body and even into the brain, flooding the system and increasing the risk for damage.*

*Truss CO. Metabolic Abnormalities in Patients with Chronic Candidiasis: The Acetaldehyde Hypothesis. J Orthomolecular Psychiatry. 1984; 13(2): 66-93.

What You Need to Know about Thyroid Gland Extracts

Can a yeast infection cause hypothyroidism? According to Dr. William Crook (The Yeast Connection and the Woman, 1995) it can. I have certainly noticed a connection between them both, and have seen countless female patients who have both a yeast infection and suffer from hypothyroidism. But whether a yeast infection causes hypothyroidism, or the other way around is something I wouldn’t really know, but I certainly have noticed some type of connection in many women.

This may be co-incidental when you think about it, because many experts believe that as many as 40 to 50 percent of the female population will suffer with hypothyroidism to some degree, and it is highly likely that the percentages will be equally as high when it comes to yeast infection in women. I certainly do believe that any autoimmune condition, like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, can make a person more susceptible to a bacterial, viral or fungal infection.

Dr. Orion Truss, M.D., one of the first doctors to recognize that candida yeast infections actually caused ill health in humans stated the following “When tests are done on oestrogen levels, thyroid hormone levels, or other hormone levels and in people suffering from the symptoms of candida overgrowth, the hormones are there in the bloodstream, but they are not activating any response.” Dr. Truss believed that certain toxins produced by a yeast infection in some way reduce the body’s tissues from responding normally to hormones. He was probably referring to the toxic yeast metabolites, something not really studied in depth in the days of Dr. Truss. These toxins may also directly affect the functioning of the glands themselves, such as the thyroid gland.

There certainly is a large concern amongst natural health-care professionals that conventional medicine is paying little attention to the growing hypothyroid epidemic. It has even been estimated in the USA alone that as many as 60 percent of more of the entire population suffers from hypothyroidism to some degree. Dr. E. Chester Ridgway, (Chief Endocrinologist, University of Colorado), believes this figure to be as high as a staggering 70 percent. Many of the symptoms of candida in fact mirror those of hypothyroidism, such as constipation, brain fog and poor concentration, lack of focus, and cold hands and feet. Yet the blood tests all come back within normal range when it comes to the thyroid hormones.

What I have noticed with some patients is that when they started the Candida Crusher Program, within three to four months many of their hypothyroid signs and symptoms were gone, completely gone.

I’m not for one moment saying that all hypothyroid patients respond to yeast infection treatment, but some certainly do, and some magnificently. Once I started noticing this, I would include a thyroid glandular and the results are amazing to say the least. If you have a yeast infection and can relate to hypothyroidism, seek the advice of a health-care professional with experience in glandular therapy, you may benefit from Armour therapy. I would prefer you seek this treatment before a medical doctor decides to place you on Synthroid, a synthetic thyroid hormone replacement drug.

The Differences between Adrenal and Thymus Gland Extracts

Your thymus gland is located under your breastbone, centrally, and close to your thyroid gland. It reaches its maximum size during early childhood and plays a large role in immune function, particularly with the developing child. The thymus is responsible for the production of T-lymphocytes, as well as the production of various hormones that are particularly important in the developing child in the years ahead. This process may be to some extent so since there is some sort of interaction involving the thymus gland along with the thyroid gland, two hormone generating glands within quite proximity to one another. Important research in 1986 discovered that the thyroid plays a significant role in modulating the activity of the thymus gland. (J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 62:474–478 1986)

Unlike other important hormone producing glands in your body, with age, the thymus gland is the only gland which is actually replaced by fat and connective tissue, so why would there be a direct link between its atrophy (shrinking) with age and a yeast infection, when the vast majority of adults with normally small thymus glands have in fact no yeast infection?

In my clinical experience, the adrenal glands are the most important glands to boost before you even start to look at other glands such as the thymus when it comes to those who have a chronic yeast infection. Whilst the thymus is an important gland due to its link with the production of white blood cells, notably T-lymphocytes, it is a gland more relevant to the infant’s immune system rather than an adult’s immune system that has been affected with a yeast infection. Although I have experimented with thymus gland extracts with yeast infected patients over the years (and in some cases did certainly notice a good level of improvement), I simply haven’t found the same consistent level of amazing recovery in those suffering from a yeast infection when taking thymus gland extracts compared to those taking adrenal gland extracts, particularly when the patient took a porcine extract as opposed to bovine.

Thymus glandular extracts are generally sourced from calves. Bovine thymus extracts can be found in capsules and tablets as a dietary supplement. The best porcine adrenal nutritional supplements are those that also contain hypothalamus, pituitary and gonad in addition to cortex of the adrenal gland.

It makes more sense to me to begin with an adrenal gland extract for several reasons. For example, a top quality adrenal glandular supplement is composed of several glands including the adrenal cortex, hypothalamus, pituitary and gonad, rather than just the thymus gland. It incorporates the most important glands involved in the HPA axis, the hypo-pituitary-adrenal axis, which is the main system set up by the body to counter any stressful event, and a chronic yeast infection certainly is a stressful event.

Thymus gland extracts work primarily by inducing a higher output of white blood cells (lymphocytes), and have no effect on the body’s stress regulation mechanisms, and there is a lot more to overcoming a yeast infection than just boosting white blood cells. This to me is typical of a medical approach to candida treatment, let’s boost a person’s immune system but forget about the fact that they may have been suffering from the stress of having a yeast related health complaint, sometimes lasting on/off for years.

HPA treatment makes more sense; you are supporting an entire system, and not just certain specific cells.

By balancing the body’s underlying stress-axis, you are doing the person the world of good, but even more so if you help them understand the importance of improving their diet and lifestyle which will keep their HPA axis in fine form for many years to come.

The Connection Between Candida Yeast And Addictive Behavioral Patterns

It is not that uncommon to find a patient who comes to my room with an addictive type of behavioral pattern, and this is something I have witnessed with many chronic digestive cases especially with a digestive disorder like a chronic candida overgrowth. The addiction can be to sugar, alcohol, biscuits, or a lifestyle pattern that in time may contribute to a yeast overgrowth like staying up consistently late each night, not chewing foods properly, worrying too much and not relaxing enough because of work addiction.

Stress is often a key factor. Meals can be delayed or perhaps skipped in favor of high carbohydrate snacks. These patterns can continue for months depending on the person’s age or even for several years. It may be a pattern a young person goes through when they are perhaps twenty years old for example. They leave home, get a job and live in an apartment and hang around their friends a lot. This may include studying, part-time jobs, and all too frequent partying. It may be a male or female who works as a shift-worker at a factory, or a busy single mother with kids who works as a part-time nurse. It may be a taxi driver or an airline pilot or airline traffic controller. It may be a middle-aged woman trying to take care of her aged mother and her teenagers at the same time.

In many of these instances, their diet may leave a lot to be desired including alcohol, sweet foods, coffee with sugar, take-away meals and considerably less time or motivation to focus on nutritious well balanced home cooked meals. Whenever there is a person with a chronic case of candida, then there will often be a chronic case of a faulty diet and/ or lifestyle underpinning this.

I like to point these things out because it may be you reading this right now with a somewhat dysfunctional lifestyle or dietary habit preventing you from having a great digestive system and optimal health. Stressful patterns and hit and miss diets are a classic way to cause dysbiosis and eventual yeast overgrowth. With a stable life and a nutritious diet comes a stable digestive function.

No secrets, remember, just plain common sense.

Can a Yeast Infection Cause Abdominal Pain?

A lot of my patients come to me complaining of a myriad of different symptoms. While most women are familiar with the tell-tale signs of a vaginal yeast infection – itching, discharge, burning – many people don’t associate other symptoms with yeast infections. This is particularly true when it comes to abdominal pain.

Vaginal Yeast Infections and Abdominal Pain

The most common symptoms of vaginal yeast infections are the aforementioned itching and discharge. There are some other symptoms and they’re less common. These include soreness and pain during sexual intercourse, a rash around the vaginal area, burning during urination, and abdominal pain. The abdominal pain tends to be focused around the lower abdominal quadrants. If you should have the signs of a vaginal yeast infection accompanied by this type of pain, you may want to seek medical attention. While you may definitely have a yeast infection, abdominal pain is also a sign of bacterial vaginitis and other forms of vaginal irritation and can often be misdiagnosed as a yeast infection (and vice versa).

Related articles:

Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Abdominal Pain

Irritable bowel syndrome is often one of the signs of a systemic yeast infection. IBS is almost guaranteed to cause you some sort of abdominal pain, whether intermittent or constant. A lot of my patients complain of cramping and severe pain as well as discomfort associated with bloating, gas, and constipation, and diarrhea. You can often find relief by following the Candida diet and using probiotics to restore intestinal health. You’ll also want to learn to relax and avoid stress, as stress will contribute to intestinal spasms and discomfort with IBS.

Leaky Gut Syndrome and Abdominal Pain

Leaky gut syndrome develops when conditions like a yeast infection create damage in the lining of your small intestines. When this happens, toxins from your digestive track are able to slowly leak into other parts of your body. A lot of mainstream doctors don’t believe in the existence of leaky gut syndrome, so you might not get a diagnosis until you see an alternative practitioner. Regardless, the symptoms are vast and varied, ranging from joint pain to total immune dysfunction – but abdominal pain tops the list. If your leaky gut syndrome is caused by Candida, you’ll again want to get on a good diet, antifungal, and probiotic regime.

Other Causes of Abdominal Pain

You don’t need to have a formal diagnosis to have abdominal pain related to Candida. A lot of the symptoms of Candida yeast infections can stand alone and cause discomfort. Consider things like constipation, diarrhea, symptoms that look like food allergies or intolerances, urinary tract infections, heartburn, and any of a number of stomach complaints.

Make sure you talk to your doctor or naturopath if you have unexplained abdominal pain. It may be something simple or it may be caused by something more complicated, like a yeast infection. The sooner you get a diagnosis, the sooner you can start the right type of treatment. Canxida remove by canxida health can help with your abdominal pain, visit canxida.com to order canxida supplement.

Related articles: