I’ve been pondering what I need to do to get rid of Candida overgrowth. I have an outline which I’ve written about before, and I’m working out the details. For about 10 months, I’ve been doing some version of the protocol: careful about my diet, coiling my abdomen daily, taking probiotics and taking supplements that reduce inflammation/detoxify my intestines.

Over time, I’ve increased the intensity of the probiotics I take. In the next few days I will begin taking an even more comprehensive probiotic. The detoxing and diet are staying about the same, only I’m occasionally having some whole grains. My diet has been so restrictive for so long that I need the extra calories sometimes.

Where to coil?

On the coiling front, I’ve begun coiling from head to toe daily. For the first two days, I used a template similar to what I did for Babesia or Lyme. But Candida is different. The key with the coiling routines is to make sure to coil the areas where the microbe lives and not waste time coiling other areas.

It is difficult to know where a microorganism lives, especially one like Candida which is the subject of so much controversy. Mainstream medicine has found systemic Candida infections in severely immune-compromised patients (people on drugs for organ transplants or patients with AIDS) but says there is no such thing in otherwise healthy patients. However, Candida is known to grow, and overgrow, in various mucosal membranes, causing problems like thrush (mouth), vaginal yeast infections, and skin infections.

If one reads a fair amount of the alternative literature on yeast infections, there are a series of symptoms that are associated with Candida overgrowth, mainly in three areas: digestive, respiratory, and neurological/cognitive. The digestive and respiratory systems can be exposed to Candida and provide media in which they might flourish. The cause of the neurological symptoms are less clear. They could be from a proximate infection (on or near nerve cells or the central nervous system). Or they could be from the toxins produced by the Candida fungi that happen to have a neurological effect. I can’t find a definitive answer anywhere.

So I put together my comprehensive list of what I think I should coil from these pieces of information. I could be missing something or I could be unnecessarily coiling certain areas.

Where Candida Might Grow

• mouth
• skin
• respiratory system (nasal passages+ears, throat, trachea, bronchial tubes, lungs)
• digestive system (esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines, anus)
• reproductive system (vagina, vulva, maybe uterus)
• central nervous system (brain, spine)
• joints (commonly listed symptom is joint pain or stiffness)
• internal organs (liver, spleen, heart, kidney and lungs though only reported in immune-compromised patients)
• brain, eyes and blood (also only reported in immune-compromised patients)

Where I’m Coiling

When I look at that list, I want to coil everywhere. But there are a few places that are not on the list: bones and muscles. So I’ve been able to remove a few coiling locations that I used for Babesia and Lyme Disease.

I’ve also decided that I don’t have to cover every inch of skin because I can see skin infections or at least notice the itching. I can also tell the difference between neurological itching, where it feels like it’s under the skin and infected skin which is at the surface and lasts much longer.

Here is the new protocol:

• each side of head (which covers brain, eyes, mouth, nasal passages, ears) + each hand (joints)
• each shoulder (joints, and the way I’m holding the coil, it also gets each side of my throat–trachea and esophagus)
• spine in 3 places to get the whole thing (which also get the back of my internal organs) + elbows
• each hip
• knees (between my knees)
• feet (by putting them through the coil)
• lower abdomen/pubic bone (for my reproductive tract, inside and out)
• chest (heart, lungs, esophagus, bronchial tubes)
• abdomen (internal organs+blood supply)

I’m doing 1 minute per location, except for the chest (2 minutes) and abdomen (10 minutes). I’m doing the extra time on my abdomen in order to get my blood supply covered and it takes about 10 minutes for blood to completely cycle through the body.

I’ll be trying this for a while. I’m thinking of the coil as a supplemental treatment, with the thrust of the healing coming from the probiotics which will hopefully outcompete the Candida in my digestive tract. I’m reluctant to take any supplements that are fungicidal (like grapefruit seed extract) because I’m afraid they’ll put the Lyme into cyst form (and prolonging the time to get rid of it).

Long-term Candida Control

After the two weeks of heavy duty probiotics followed by a month of 5LAC and a few months of 3LAC, I’d like to be done with the Candida infection. Not that these things ever work as planned. What I’d prefer is to reach a maintenance dose of PB-8 and Saccharomyces boulardii to prevent the Candida infection from coming back. Once I’ve got all my other infections under control, I’m hoping that eating cultured food on a daily basis (like yogurt or kombucha) will be enough to keep me on track without pills.

Other news: Metformin

For the past few months, I’ve been contemplating stopping Metformin. I’ve been on it for over 2.5 years now. It took the first 2 years to get my menstrual cycle back into something short of a crisis. But now, I think my digestion is better. I’m more physically active than I was. My infection load is lower. I’m not sure I need it anymore. When I spoke to my doctor, he said I should stay on it for a while longer, especially during the coiling season, when my body will be under stress. Then if I wanted to stop, we could see what happens.

At this point, my intuition is telling me it’s time to stop. I think the existing stress on my menstrual cycle is from Bartonella. I worry about my blood sugar getting too low and not being able to differentiate the symptoms from my usual ups and downs, especially now that I’m not bedridden or barely able to use my body.

The thing that pushed it over the edge is the kidney pain I’ve been having. I’m not worried about any kind of acute dysfunction caused by the metformin, or about acute dysfunction causing my metformin levels to rise. My kidneys are under enough stress from herxing that I don’t need to keep them working extra hard to excrete metformin.

The way I see it is that when a person has insulin resistance, metformin reduces stress on the body. When a person doesn’t have insulin resistance, or no longer has it, metformin is an added stress on the body.

In the meantime, I’m still taking chromium which is a much milder blood sugar regulation support, and I just started NAC (n-acetyl cysteine) which has a similar function. These should be good for the transition off metformin.

Don’t try this at home…I’ll be in touch with my doctor. But I’m going to do a trial of no metformin for the next few weeks to determine if I still need it.

Final Note

One of my personal theories is that Candida overgrowth and insulin resistance are co-morbidities. I’m not sure if one causes the other, but I think they cause a positive feedback loop. Candida overgrowth causes sugar cravings which, when sastisfied, causes excess insulin production, contributing to insulin resistance. And when insulin regulation is not working right, a person’s body has more sugar spikes providing the Candida a recurrent supply of food. Getting rid of both is necessary.

Coiling

• Bartonella, abdomen, 5 minutes; chest, 2 minutes
• Candida, abdomen 10 minutes; chest, 2 minutes; one minute each: each side of head+each hand, each shoulder, spine in 3 places+elbows, each hip, knees, feet, lower abdomen/pubic bone

Detox

• lots of water
• yoga
• nap (1 hour)
• biomat (1 hour, level 4)
• diatomaceous earth

Body

I had kidney pain this morning which continued to a greater or lesser extent throughout the day. It bothered me during yoga. Yoga was aligned to my needs today. It was lots of twists which supposedly massage the internal organs. But my kidney kept right on hurtin’. I’m feeling a little dehydrated, despite drinking lots of water and some electrolyte drinks. My bowels hurt, despite the fact that I’m going often, because they are also dehydrated.

I’ve got a pretty bad headache. The buzzing in my left foot comes and goes. I’ve got a lot of pain in my left leg, and actually, the left side of my body is aching. My back hurts. My right ear hurts. My abdomen is still swollen, though more in the front and less on the sides compared to the usual swelling. And I’m tired, even after my nap.

Some of this might be from the Lyme and some from Candida. But the two key signs of the Candida die off are acne (new pimples on my face) and lots of foul smelling gas. (My poor nose!)

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Categories: healing process, Herx reactions, using the coil machine

Tags: bartonella, candida, lyme, menstruation, symptoms

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