My blog is on the move!

Hi everyone.  As many of you know I’ve run this blog for many years now and a while ago I collected all my findings and experience and put it all together in one easy-to-use (I hope) website.  The idea was to save you all scrolling through my posts on this blog to find the info that you need.   The website is http://beatcandidayeastinfections.com/  But I still love using this blog and a lot of people get in touch via it.  However keeping both going at the same time is a bit confusing so my techie friend is helping me to put the blog onto my website.  I’m hoping you guys wont even notice the switch as I’m told it will be smooth and ‘invisible’.  But as I’m never confident as far as computers are concerned I wanted to warn you all!  The move is happening over the next few days so if you have any problems with this blog just go over to How To Beat Candida & Yeat Infections and click on ‘candida blog’ .  Just give me a few days as there’s nothing to see there yet!

love, Katie xx

ps my website will be getting a new look too which I’m really excited about.  I’m a busy bee at the moment but hopefully it will all be worth it and much easier for you all

Giving up sugar can help us look younger!

I spotted an article this morning in a UK newspaper (Daily Mail) explaining how giving up sugar can help people to stay look younger for longer.  Sounds good to me!    To read more go to http://bit.ly/HfhInD . What do you think?  I gave up sugar for years while I  had candida and now I am careful not to eat too much of it.  Do I look younger than my age?  Well people tell me that I do but I’m not convinced!     I’ve posted also this on Twitter so let me know via Comments or Twitter if giving up sugar is helping you to fight the signs of aging!

Follow me at https://twitter.com/#!/KatieCandida

love, Katie x

http://www.beatcandidayeastinfections.com/

Sunshine Can Help To Fight Candida!

Many of you will already know of the health benefits derived from sitting in the sunshine for 15 – 20mins every day.  
These include increased levels of vitamin D and higher serotonin levels, especially if you remove your sunglasss for the period.   Now higher levels of serotonin leads to an improved sense of wellbeing which I guess you dont need telling as we all know how the sunshine can make everyone feel more cheerful.  But it also has been shown to help to kill off candida.  Some studies have shown that serotonin has anti-fungal properties and has been shown in labs to kill yeast and candida.  If you live in areas which get less sun then you may want to consider supplementing with Vitamin D (I take krill oil) and 5HTP.   If you want to learn more about 5HTP and its benefits go to my website at http://www.beatcandidayeastinfections.com/boost-your-immune.htm and scroll down. 
Right I’m going to have a coffee and sit in the sunshine!

Bye Katie x

Candida Tests

Hi everyone.   I am carrying out research into the different methods of testing for candida as I’ve been asked by quite a few people about the tests that I use.  I’ve just created a poll which is on the right hand side (and on the Candida Test page) I’d be really grateful if you could answer the quick question.   I’m going to write more about the different tests shortly.  If anyone can recommend a particular test please let me know so I can include it!  Bye Katie x

Blog is 1 year old!

Well I cant believe that one year on I am still blogging.  Its quite depressing really! But at least I know why.  Its just over a year ago that my contraceptive pill was changed and the candida went nuts.  It took until Spring this year to figure that link out and its taken several months for my body to regain its own cycle.  I have sticking to the candida diet 90% of the time and only taking pau d’arco to reduce the candida levels.  I have regular healing and acupuncture (which I strongly recommend) and so now I should be better… but I’m not.  Unfortunately my stress levels have been off the richter scale thanks to my job and its going to get worse before there’s any hope of it getting better.  I feel so stressed that I am losing my mind.  The other night I burst into tears trying to explain to my (long suffering) boyfriend how I feel about my job and I was frightened by the avalanche of tears and upset inside me. I felt I could cry for a week and still not get all the tears out. Isnt it awful that a job could do that?  I am trying to count my blessings and gain some perspective. After all there are millions of people on this planet with more stressful jobs than me.  I dont want to say too much about my work as I dont know who reads this.  But I work in an office with mostly women.  I earn good money but I get masses of stress and responsibility.  My (male) bosses are totally incompetent and there is a lot of bullying, harassment and bitching in the office.  Although I’ve taken legal advice I would rather find another job than quit and take them to court for constructive dismissal. But I have been applying for jobs for ages with no luck. I’ve been offered jobs which fell through, got to the final selection process, even agreed a start date for one and then the business was sold.  Several psychics tell me I am not meant to leave yet.  I can figure that one myself!  Anyway sorry to moan.  Suffice to say that all this stress is affecting my hormones and the candida.  I have more spots than when I was a teenager!  Worse I have to take painskillers each night (every 4 hrs) to be able sleep with the stomach pain.  Its like my tum is so sore and bloated and it pushes on my bladder so I have to get up every hour (at least) to see if I need to pee. Thank goodness the painkillers block this and I can sleep.   Its irritable bowel I presume.   I could tell that this stomach problem was ‘brewing’ a few weeks ago – it sort of follows a pattern. But interestingly my healer thought my chakras were ‘great’ which makes a change and my acupuncturist thought my pulses and tongue were also ‘great’ so I took it all with a pinch of salt as I knew I am far from ‘great’.  I bet by the next time I see them they will identify problems!  Acupuncture is now every 3 weeks and I think its helping more than anything apart from the diet.  But if anyone new is reading this please be aware that I have my candida levels under control.  If you havent then please read my blog entries from last summer to see how I’ve got here.  I cant help thinking that if I had another job I would be better by now.

Well I hope I havent depressed you all with this entry!  Love to you all, Katie x

Stress and Candida

Things have been quite tough recently with work and other problems.  I know we all are get hard times but I seem to be my own worst enemy as I find it really hard to eat the right foods and get enough sleep when I am so stressed out.  A lot of my problems are to do with work and living quite far away from family and friends.  I am going to dig out some mediation CDs and see if that helps my mind to switch off.  I was considering having a psychic reading to get some insight into what I am supposed to be doing with my life but I’m too scared! I am worried that I am vulnerable at the moment and anything the psychic says will really stick in my head.  For example if he/she says “you wont get a new job til next year” then I will be panicking wondering how I am going to last until then!  I am in the tricky situation of being really unhappy with my circumstances but knowing that they could be a lot worse which means that if I change anything… I could end up even more unhappy especially if I moved to a worse office.  Hope that makes sense! I’m sure my hormones are still unbalanced and affecting my thinking too.  Sorry this post is a bit down tonight.  Hopefully things will seem better soon love Katie x

hello!

I’m finding that this little blip is a lot easier to deal with.  I’m taking a lot more probiotics than previously as my aim is to beat this once and for all. In the past I’ve been so keen to get to the end of the 8 weeks that I havent really had a plan to beat it forever apart from trying to stick to the anti candida diet and keeping my fingers crossed! Not a good plan as I realised this year. I had a tremendously stressful period. I wont go into all the details but it was a nightmare and I thank God that all my loved ones are ok which is the main thing.  I have found a fantastic cook book which I recommend called ‘Cooking Without Made Easy’ by Barbara Cousins. Its full of recipes without dairy, gluten, yeast or sugar.  It even includes cakes!! Perfect for candida sufferers and also anyone who is intolerant to gluten.  We are having fun trying out the recipes!  I think Dr Mercola’s view that trying to zap the candida with anti fungals is not really the long term solution.  I am trying to boost my immune system through vitamins, healthy eating, lots of sleep, aromatherapy massages, chill out time (a new one for busy bee me!) and of course probiotics.  I understand that most of the immune system is in the gut so an imbalance of gut will adversely affect the immune system. I understand this better now. I am keeping on the diet as I’ve managed to lost a half a stone!! So I want to lose another half a stone so that I look nicer in my bikini this summer.  One of the perks of the anti candida diet!

But one of the negatives is other people’s attitudes. Does anyone else have any ideas on this one? I dont tell many people about candida or the diet as its supervised by my naturopath and they think anyone who isnt a ‘proper’ Doctor is a crank.  My limited diet makes office parties and meals an absolute nightmare.  I have heard rumours that the women in the office think I’ve got an eating disorder as I avoid the junk food that they eat!! Mind you I also avoid their obesity so I’m not complaining too much!  So do I tell them and risk getting called a crank? I’ve tried it and totally regretted it so I tend to keep quiet and try to avoid eating in front of people… and I wonder why they think I’ve got an eating disorder! he! he!  I wish I knew someone else who has candida.

I’m back!

Hi everyone! Sorry I disappeared without an update.  I had all the all clear before Christmas and I was able to enjoy all my favourites (apart from red wine) over the holidays. I kept off red wine as I was warned it is really bad for candida sufferers. But everything was fine.  I kept taking the threelac and everything was going great… Then I hit a mega stressful period and my mostly ‘good’ diet when out of the window.  Not surprisingly my health dipped and now yes you’ve guessed it – the candida is back.  I am working hard to reduce my stress and reintroducing a healthier diet and lifestyle back into my life.  I’m interested in Dr Mercola’s view that taking anti candida formulations ultimately leads to resistant strains.  He advocates probiotics and an anti candida diet. Take a look at this video.

It certainly makes sense to me. I’d love to hear from anyone else who is using probiotics to improve their health.  I’m doing my own research into the different types especially L. sporogenes and best dosages. Any tips or thoughts would be appreciated! I’ve got to look at this as a life long health plan!

Hi everyone! This is my first post. I’ve suffered…

Hi everyone!
This is my first post. I’ve suffered from candida on-off for 3 yrs now but I did suceed in having 18mths of being candida-free so I regard this latest bout as a ‘blip’. My heart sank when I heard the diagnosis and I couldnt bear the thought of another 2/3 mth restrictive diet. So I thought ‘right I’ll do my own thing and beat this once again’. It occured to me that my approach might help someone else so I’ll be explaining everything in this blog. I am a bit worried as what works for me might make someone else worse (the last thing I want to do) so please please try to see your Doc or if he or she is as useless as mine then try to find a good naturopath for professional advice before copying me. The other thing to point out is that my approach is actually a combination of several methods which are not ‘new’ or ‘unique’ to me. But I’ve done a heck of a lot of reading and research on this one plus I’ve managed to beat it several times so I know a bit about it. I also know (or at least I hope I know) why previous attempts have failed and why its back now. So hopefully you can learn from my mistakes too! Feel free to leave comments as support is appreciated!