A question I get asked all the time, what is candida yeast infection? In this article I will cover everything you need to know about yeast infections.

What is candida?

Fungi (singular: Fungus) is a group of organisms that is widely present in our world. Fungi include molds (for example, bread mold), mushrooms and yeasts (for example, yeast used for baking). Like our own cells, and unlike the bacterial cells, the fungal cells have a nucleus that contains the genetic material – the DNA.

Yeasts are fungi that have only a single, egg-shaped cell which can be seen only through a microscope. They have a rigid cell wall. Yeast cells are larger than bacterial cell. In nature, yeasts are mainly found associated with plants or animals but are also present in soil and water.

Like the yeast that we use for baking (baker’s yeast), candida is also yeast. This fungus thus has an ability to grow in two forms – as single cells or as filaments. Normally existing as single cells, under certain conditions of temperatures or pH, candida can grow as filaments like the bread mold.

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Candida is normally present on the skin, mouth, vagina, and gut of healthy people. It is a “commensal” which means that it benefits from living on/in our body without affecting us. It is also an “opportunistic pathogen” which means that when it gets an opportunity it can grow into a disease causing filamentous form, multiply in large numbers and cause disease.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are more than 20 types of candida that can cause infections in humans but most commonly are caused by Candida albicans. However, infections by non-albicans candida are now on an increase according to a review article from 2001 by the Canadian researcher G. Garber.

Candida Yeast Infections

When a yeast overgrows anywhere in the body, it results in a yeast infection. Normally it is both our immune system and our microbial flora (the microbes that live on or inside our body) that prevent yeasts from growing out of control. However, if we have any illness that impairs our immune system, we can become susceptible to candida infections.

People with AIDS can easily get candida infections as their immune system is already compromised due to AIDS. Cancer patients who receive chemotherapy or people on corticosteroid therapy also have chronically weakened immune systems which can make them prone to infection by this yeast.

Anything that causes an imbalance in our microbial flora can also give candida an opportunity to grow uncontrolled. Antibiotics usage is a major reason for causing imbalance in our natural microbial flora. Antibiotics either kill a certain type of bacteria or reduce the number of bacteria. As the microbial checkpoint is compromised by antibiotics, candida can grow and invade our tissues.

In a very interesting 2013 mouse model study, Pande, Chen and Nobel from USA found that in candida there is a very large change in the candida cell when it passes through the gut – genes are triggered that change the way it looks and functions to help it live like harmlessly in our gut. They say that “our results indicate that the ability of a commensal organism to produce disease is not merely a consequence of impaired host immunity”. This could also mean that certain changes in the gut can also make the organism change from commensal to disease causing type.

Although candida infections generally are thought of as women’s infections, nothing could be farther from the truth. Anyone, a woman, a man or a child with a compromised immune system or microbial imbalance can get it. Candida can cause oral (mouth, throat) and genital (vaginal, penis) infections. In cases of severe immune compromise, the infection can become invasive and affect blood, heart, brain, eyes, bones and other parts of the body. In hospitalized patients, candidaemia – a condition where candida gets into the blood stream – is common.

Although not studied in details in humans, candida can also grow in the gut and may cause gut-associated issues. However there is some scientific evidence emerging from studies in mice that is increasing the interest in research on gut-infection by candida in humans. Research on mice by Sonoyama and colleagues from Japan showed in 2005 that gut colonization by candida promotes food-sensitivity partly because of increased permeability of gut mucosa. Another study from 2011 by Sonoyama and group from Japan showed that colonization of gut by candida worsens inflammation in the gut, causes allergic diarrhoea, and also caused inflammation of other tissues in mice.

We will address different issues caused by candida yeast infection in separate posts that will give you more detailed information on each of these including signs and symptoms, risk factors and strategies to control and eradicate them.

Why are candida infections becoming so common?

The incidence of fungal infections is increasing at an alarming rate. There could be several reasons for this:

1) Increased usage of antibiotics which causes

• Imbalance of natural microflora by antibacterial antibiotics which allows candida to grow excessively and become chronic
• Increased resistance of candida to antifungal treatment

2) Antibiotic usage in animal farming which we consume unintentionally through poultry and meat. This also causes imbalance in our natural microflora

3) Unhealthy eating habits: Not eating a varied and balanced diet leads to general deficiency of vitamins and minerals. Such deficiencies do not allow our immune system to function optimally. In a 1997 review article on nutrition and immune system, R.K. Chandra from Canada describes how even mild deficiency of micronutrients like zinc, selenium, iron, copper, vitamins A, C, E and B6 and folic acid compromises our immune system. On the other hand, excess nutrition and obesity also reduce immunity. A reduction in immune function allows disease causing fungi apart from bad bacteria to grow and colonize our bodies. Also as described earlier, it is likely that our unhealthy eating habits by themselves provide the cues to candida to change from commensal into pathogenic form.

4) Deficiency of Vitamin D: A recent 2015 study by Lim and colleagues from Singapore and the Netherlands found that people with candidemia had vitamin D deficiency. In their studies on candida infected mice they found that when these mice were treated with low vitamin D doses, they had lower numbers of candida cells infecting their body. Mice treated in this way also survived better compared to untreated mice. On the other hand, too much vitamin D was also found to be bad for the mice.

More and more people are becoming deficient in vitamin D due to lower exposures to sunlight as more people have their jobs indoors and spend much less time outside in the sun. Lack of knowledge, about how sunscreens also prevent production of vitamin D, leads to people sunbathing for a long time and still end up becoming vitamin D deficient. It is important to know your skin type and give yourself optimum exposure to sun without putting yourself in danger of skin cancer.

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Treat The Cause Not The Symptoms

Antifungal and anti-inflammatory agents that are generally prescribed for candida infections are likely to treat only the symptoms of candida. Once these are stopped, candida is likely to return with vengeance. To get rid of candida you need to be aware of what is actually causing candida to take root in your body as a pathogen. You need to listen to your body, pay attention to what causes or does not cause your infection to flare up. Elsewhere on this site you will find articles that will give you more detailed information on the things that you need to be aware of in relation to candida – tips on where to start looking, what steps to take and things to try out. Once you learn to listen to your body, it will guide you to take the right steps in the right direction in your fight against candida. The only other thing that you will need is a strong will to beat candida!

In The Clinic – Recognizing The Yeast Infection Patient

A case of candida well taken is a case half solved. Once you have seen a few thousand of cases of yeast infections, you will begin to see a few common threads running through many of these cases. Are you a health-care professional? Then here are many key points which will assist you in determining a candida case.

Here are forty good tips on how to recognize the yeast infected patient:

1. Candida sufferers can typically have symptoms that are particularly worse in damp, or moldy places or weather that is damp, humid or rainy.
2. Candida sufferers may appear anti-social or develop “people or relationship allergies”; some may have fewer friends than a healthier person would have as they become increasingly reactive to foods and their environment over time.
3. Candida sufferers may appear anxious, talkative and some can prove to be quite difficult to manage in the clinic. Some, especially when chronic, are not the easiest of patients to get along with, and quite a few fail to come back for follow-up visits, this may be generally due to any unmet expectations from the patient or a degree of inexperience on the practitioner’s part.
4. Candida patients may well be referred to you by another practitioner because they are not responding to treatment or have become a “problem” or “hyper-reactive” patient.
5. Candida sufferers can commonly have hay fever, sinus and asthma. ALL asthmatics who have been using an oral (inhaled) steroid should be considered as having a yeast infection.
6. Chronic candida sufferers can be extremist, perfectionist or addictive in their behavioral, dietary and lifestyle patterns. They can be the most health conscious of all patients who eat better than you, yet may feel absolutely terrible. He or she may be quite obsessive about foods yet react to just about everything they eat. A super-sensitive patient? Think yeast infection here.
7. Some candida patients only eat at home, or eat out rarely. Chronic candida sufferers have problems eating out and react to foods, preferring to stay at home and eat in.
8. The candida patient may feel lousy all over; their quality of life can be poor, even after many different types of treatment.
9. The cause can’t be established – both by the conventional doctor and by the natural medicine professional, especially if there are digestive problems.
10. Candida sufferers may be taking multiple skin and digestive drugs at the same time as the yeast infection condition began to set in. Be sure to be very attentive when it comes to case-taking to clearly establish any possible cause and effect of their prescribed drugs & yeast infection, even if it was many years ago.
11. The candida patient may feel that no one is listening or that no one can help her, they may even be taking Diazepam, Prozac, Zanax or another drug to treat depression or anxiety. Because the doctor couldn’t find any cause and felt the problem was in the patient’s head rather than in their digestive system. Are you listening to your patient?
12. Candida sufferers in many cases (too many for me to remember over the years) have had a history of multiple rounds of antibiotics. Suspect any antibiotic prescribed patient to have candida, many typically have and especially after they have been treated multiple times. In most all cases, these patients are completely overlooked and develop candida as a consequence. Some sensitive patients have never been well since taking only round of an antibiotic, even if it was prescribed twenty years ago. Ask the questions, and take a really good case history.
13. Suspect candida in any person who was treated years ago for acne after 6 – 12 months on an antibiotic.
14. Candida sufferers are typically allergic to some of the most common foods such as dairy products (milk in particular), bananas, eggs, breads/gluten, peanuts, oranges, corn, and pineapple.
15. Candida patients can be the ones who especially buy those “hypo-allergenic’ cleaning aids because they react to all conventional cleaning products. They may also buy special cosmetics or make-up because they have found that their skin reacts to just about everything. Check them out carefully, don’t you find it interesting that they also have a digestive problem, and have had so for several years which remains unresolved? Suspect a candida yeast infection.
16. Candida sufferers are often intolerant or allergic to perfumes, odors, fumes, fabric shop odors, cut grass, cats, dogs or other animals, tobacco smoke, chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, fly sprays, smog, molds, dust mites, dust, pollen, and potentially any other airborne substances.
17. In my opinion, candida patients are the ones who are the most likely to feel unreal or spaced out for absolutely no know medical or psychiatric reason in my clinic. Is it any wonder they are labeled as crazy by their doctor? If you are told by enough medical professionals that you are “nuts” if they can’t find a medical reason why you feel strange, you may even believe this yourself and take a drug such as an anti-psychotic, antidepressant or a mixed cocktail of psyche drugs like the many chronic yeast infected cases I have seen over the years.
18. Candida cases are those GI or digestive system cases you just can’t seem to get right, in spite of everything you throw at the patient. You have recommended a detox, a colonic, or the patient tried the FODMAP diet, paleo diet, Blood-Type diet, Atkins diet, South Beach diet, GAPS diet, or any one of fifty different kinds of diets, they may have tried a strict diet, a low allergy diet, or the patient went on a retreat, the patient went gluten-free, the patient went on an even stricter diet, and all to no avail. Within weeks the patient started to go downhill again. Suspect this person to have a chronic candida yeast infection, dysbiosis, parasites, etc. Patients with candida often have a yeast infection along with other bugs.
19. The patient will have been to see many different practitioners with little success; we sometimes call them “doctor-hoppers”. Some will only visit you one time because they are so used to “giving practitioners a try” and then move onto somebody else for advice. I’m always suspicious of any patient who has seen up to half a dozen practitioners in any one year, especially the patient who is quick to speak out of turn about a doctor. If they speak like this about a doc, they’ll probably speak about you to another doc.
20. The patient may have several different products to solve digestive problems, this could range from just a pro-biotic and a few parasite, liver or stomach products right up to three dozen or more products targeted at many different symptoms they will have be experiencing over the months or years leading up to their visit to your rooms.
21. The patient will have gone through stages of feeling reasonably fine, thinking that their health is finally turning the corner, only to discover that within days or weeks they begin to feel terrible all over again. Suspect candida if the patient constantly relapses, this is because bugs lives in cycles, more sometimes, less other times.
22. The patient comes to you with a long history of one chronic complaint, e.g.; sinusitis, bronchitis or perhaps diarrhea. Suspect candida.
23. The patient may have a strong carbohydrate craving, or even a “subconscious preference” for a food like chocolate, biscuits, sweets/candy, ice cream, pastry or cakes, etc. Suspect candida.
24. The patient has “strong sugar cravings”, especially after the evening meal. This can be a real red flag for you, and in some cases can point you straight towards the cause – a yeast infection.
25. The patient may have followed a particularly restrictive diet for some years and as soon as they go off track they crash.
26. The patient was taking antibiotics, even though it may have been several years ago it was for several months in a row. Suspect Candida, regardless whether it was one or twenty years ago.
27. The patient only took limited antibiotics year ago, yet has not felt really well since.
28. The patient who received chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy for cancer many years ago and has never been well since.
29. Chronic candida patients most often have food allergies and leaky gut syndrome and are best placed on a low-allergy diet for some time.
30. Some candida patients don’t always turn up for repeat or follow-up visits, some expect a quick fix and others have been to see so many practitioners that they become disillusioned quite quickly.
31. The woman who has a long history of taking the birth control pill or has had multiple pregnancies.
32. A person with a long history of taking a steroid medication like cortisone, prednisone, hydrocortisone or other anti-inflammatory or immune-suppressive steroidal treatments.
33. A female patient who is frequently troubled by abdominal pain (undiagnosable), vaginal infections, premenstrual tension, menstrual irregularities, menstrual pains, pain or discomfort during sex, a loss of interest in sex.
34. A male patient who is troubled with jock itch, prostatitis or impotence.
35. Any patient who is persistently troubled by athlete’s foot or a fungal infection of the toenails (thickening, discoloration or splitting).
36. Any patient with any fungal infection of the skin (like ringworm) which may include blisters, peeling, dry scaling or skin color changes.
37. The patient may have a digestive problem which has baffled the medical profession and has had scans, x-rays, endoscopies and more all to no avail.
38. The hypoglycemic patient (low blood sugar) who only partially responds to a very strict diet, and frequently relapses. These cases can have you truly baffled and in some cases you may never suspect candida. The patient may well have the typical signs and symptoms of hypoglycemia – fatigue, sudden hunger, weakness, trembling, lethargic and a weakened mental state, headache, cold sweats, dizziness, rapid heartbeat/tachycardia, numbness, irritability, blurred vision, and more symptoms.
39. The heartburn patient (you have excluded a helicobacter pylori infection, haven’t you?), the arthritis patient, the hemorrhoid patient, the bronchitis patient, the asthmatic patient, the sinus patient, the ear/nose or throat patient, etc,. These can all be potentially patients with a yeast infection underpinning the problem. The candida patient may not necessarily come to you complaining of a yeast infection as it may be masked or hidden and underpinning their primary complaint such as sinus or hay-fever. It is up to you to work this out with careful case taking.
40. The patient who comes to your room with a medical file as thick as a brick, with an extensive array of completed tests including hospital and specialist doctor visits spanning twenty years plus. These can be the kind of patients who you think you can never help in a million years. You certainly can, but you need to break through to them. The only problem is that the longer they have been unwell for, the more health care professionals they have seen over the years and the more “baffled” the practitioners have been about this patient, then harder they will be to break through to. You don’t need so much the clinical medical experience  as you would the counseling and behavior modification experience to break through to this person. The standard medical approach didn’t work for the past 20 doctors, why would it for you, you need to do things differently with these patients. You will likely have a ONE HOUR shot at breaking through to this person, so it better be a good one then. If this patient has seen more doctors than you have had hot breakfasts, always suspect an underlying and completely unresolved digestive problem, and candida won’t be far away. And, if that’s the case, do me a favor and get this patient to complete a comprehensive digestive stool analysis including parasitology. It will be the best few hundred dollars this person has spent and may well help to entirely solve this case. I have helped many hundreds of “impossible” cases just like this for this reason.

Regardless if you are a person suffering with a yeast infection or are a health-care professional who treats patients with yeast infections, you are certain to get a lot of useful information from my book Candida Crusher, be sure to get a copy.

Have you completed my yeast infection self-evaluation test ? It is the best yeast infection survey online, it took me ages to make and you can evaluate men, women and children. And, if you have any questions you can’t find on my You Tube channel, feel free to ask me and I’ll try my best to answer your question on You Tube. Please subscribe to my channel. Let me know if you want me to mention your name, location, etc, or if you wish to remain anonymous. My book Candida Crusher is now available through candidacrusher.com