Do you often feel tired, foggy headed, bloated, and generally unwell? If so you might have an overgrowth of candida. What is candida? It is a form of yeast that lives in your body, mostly in your digestive system. A small amount will help you digest your food, but too much will lead to health issues.
One of the big ways that candida affects your health is that it compromises the lining of your intestines which then causes “leaky gut” syndrome. It means that the lining of your intestines has become more porous than it is supposed to be. And particulates of undigested food, microbes, and toxins leak through into your blood stream. Eek! As you can imagine, entry of foreign particulates into your blood stream is not good news. This can lead to new food allergies, autoimmune conditions, or chronic inflammation. It can trigger Crohns disease, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis.
When your body senses something in your blood stream that shouldn’t be there it goes into high alert, activating autoimmune reactions that can manifest as gas, bloating, indigestion, rashes, joint pain, fatigue, and several other issues.
Often times you may have several of these symptoms at once, and think that they are separate issues when really they have all come from the same source. Our modern lifestyles encourage the growth of candida so this is an extremely common problem to have. High stress lifestyles, drinking alcohol, consuming sugars, or simple starches, and taking birth control pills all encourage candida to rapidly multiply.
If you think you may have candida but aren’t sure you can try this simple test at home. Put water into a clear glass. Spit into the glass. Wait for half an hour and then take a look. If the water is clear then you likely don’t have candida. If you see instead, something that looks like a jelly fish, a blob with little tendrils coming off of it you likely have candida. Another telling sign can be a thick coating on your tongue.
A candida cleanse may not be enough to clear health issues associated with candida. Leaky gut, auto-immune issues, and allergies are something you should really go over with a physician who can help you re balance your gut flora, restore healthy digestion, and reverse autoimmune issues. If you’re sick of feeling “under normal” give us a call at Blue Jean Acupuncture, where we have experience treating all issues surrounding candida overgrowth.
