Candidiasis (Candida)

How do I treat Candida using essential oils?

My uncle died of brain cancer. His death was an ugly death, filled with pain killers and not knowing his loved ones. After his funeral, we all went into the basement of the community church to eat and to grieve. We ate white dinner rolls, big glasses of milk, ham, cherry Jell-O, and fudge-covered brownies. I talked with my aunt, who is struggling with many systemic yeast symptoms, while she put a spoonful of the bright red Jell-O to her mouth. I told her how she was one of the few grown-ups that I could tell really cared for me as a child. Tears filled her eyes. At that moment I was thinking how ironic it is that as we grieve the death of her husband, I stand by as she continues to walk down her road of ill health. I write this piece on Candida albicans in an attempt to inspire healing in all the people who are struggling or watching their loved ones struggle with avoidable health problems and addictions to food.

Many people struggle with systemic yeast overgrowth, also known as Candidiasis or Candida. In the 1986 publication of Trowbridge and Walker's "The Yeast Syndrome," it is stated that "one-third of the total populations of all Western industrialized countries are affected." Due to prolific use of antibiotics, steroids, and synthetic hormones, as well as increasingly nutrient-poor diets, increasing pollution, chronic infections, genetically modified foods, food allergies and exposures to heavy metals, the number of people who have yeast overgrowth health problems increases each year. Donna Gates, author of "The Body Ecology Diet," estimates that over 80 million people suffer from Candida. This number includes only those people who are showing symptoms of the overgrowth. It does not include the millions of people whose bodies are seemingly handling yeast overgrowths without symptoms.

This overgrowth of yeast in the human body is known by many names. The following are some the more commonly used names:

• Candida
  
• Candida albicans
  
• Candida Related Complex
  
• Systemic Candidiasis
  
• Candidiasis Hypersensitivity Syndrome
  
• Thrush (oral or vaginal)
  
• Moniliasis
  
• Polysystemic Candidiasis

Candida albicans is the specific name for a strain of normally peaceful, yeast-like fungus naturally existing in limited amounts in our digestive tract from our mouth to our rectum. In a biochemically balanced individual, millions of Candida albicans exist. The yeast is kept in check by a properly functioning immune system and plentiful gut bacteria. Candida albicans are actually a harmless parasite, the presence of which, in controlled balance within the body's ecosystem, does not cause any problems. However, if the number of harmonious bacteria is decreased, the immune system is weakened, or your biochemistry is imbalanced, yeast proliferation can easily occur. Consequently, Candida albicans can shift from a yeast form to a mycelia or fungal form and begin invading the entire body. This phenomenon is called candidiasis.

Treating Candida Fungal Infection with Essential Oils

Candida is difficult to treat after it becomes a fungal infection. Successful treatments require long-term maintenance and support to heal and restore the body to optimal cellular and digestive health. Young living essential oils are superior in treating Candida infections because of their ability to cleanse the cells and restore receptor site function.

At Optimal Health Network, we have chosen a custom blend of four essential oils, safe for long-term use, that gently heal while killing off the fungal infection. Bergamot, lavender, lemongrass and eucalyptus create a synergistic effect that kills the fungus, eliminates the toxic byproducts, supports the healthy flora and repairs the colon and other affected tissue.

Young living essential oils are the highest grade therapeutic oils available on the market today. We only recommend this brand for internal use because of their ability to ensure organic farming methods and no chemical solvents being used in processing.

Use of this Candida essential oil blend in the colon will allow for rapid absorption into the bloodstream to carry the healing essential oils throughout the body to eradicate the fungus.

Daily use of these oils is recommended for three weeks. Follow up with using these oils twice a week for several months after this three week period to ensure the infection does not return

Bergamot breaks down mucus and toxic by-products produced by Candida and assists the body to repair damaged tissue. Of the citrus oils, bergamot is the most aggressive in treating intestinal infection and specifically Candida. Bergamot also is uplifting emotionally and is often used to relieve anxiety, stress and tension.

Lavender regenerates tissue while fighting off fungus. Lavender improves mental functions, balances hormones and reduces inflammation.

Lemongrass feeds healthy flora while regenerating connective tissue and strengthening vascular walls. Lemongrass purifies the lymph system and reduces fluid retention.

Eucalyptus Globulus fights Candida, and other often related intestinal infections, while promoting rapid healing.

Lifestyle

In my book, Ten Days to Optimal Health, you will find a multi-step, ten-day program that will help your body heal from Candida. By working with your body in ten-day increments, you increase your awareness of how you feel in your body when you feel great, without feeling imprisoned by the changes. You can do anything for ten days, yes? In this way, you will more easily be able to choose foods and activities that bring about healing because you have set yourself a reasonable goal, and you feel better. Ten Days to Optimal Health is a clinically proven, easy-to-follow, program that does assist the body back to full health.

Buy Ten Days to Optimal Health

More on Candida

Candidiasis and its relationship to the human body can be hard to understand. Perhaps a parallel example will offer more insight into this complex illness. For example, take household molds. Mold is another type of fungus. Mold loves damp and dark places and causes disintegration of organic matter. If you have ever tried to remove mold from your bathroom walls or a pile of damp clothes that you left lying in the basement, you are aware of the fact that mold becomes part of the walls or material and is very difficult to remove. Unfortunately, a fungal overgrowth in the body is also tenacious. Whether it is Candida albicans or any of its related species, fungus causes a weakening of the cellular structure that is quite difficult to "remove" from those tissues.

Now that you have a visual, let us draw an important connection back to the human body. The above description explains why people with an overgrowth of yeast can become very ill and are often difficult to treat: many of the tissues and cells become weak and infested. In the fungal state of Candida albicans, the organism can produce rhizoids, very long root-like structures. Rhizoids can penetrate mucosa or intestinal walls, leaving microscopic holes and allowing toxins, undigested food particles, bacteria, and yeast to enter the bloodstream. Once this process has started, many psychological imbalances begin to develop. It is not uncommon for a person to experience depression, anxiety, fatique, restlessness, lack of memory, and irritability. It takes a dedicated person to stop the process and heal the body when the yeasts proliferate at this magnitude.

Another very important factor that must be emphasized is that you can have a Candida albicans overgrowth for over two years before your body is symptomatic. If you are a person who, like most, eats a diet consisting mainly of bread, pasta, bagels, oats, cereals, potatoes, popcorn, corn, squash, sugar, honey, coffee, diet soda, soda, maple syrup, fruit, carrots, sweet potatoes, dairy, fruit juice, vegetable juice, processed foods, or any of the many other foods that are high in carbohydrates, you are most likely supporting a yeast overgrowth, even if you are not symptomatic! As the Candida albicans grows out of balance in the human body, it can take over the intestinal tract, vagina, and sinuses. It can dig its way into every organ of the body as the immune system becomes weakened from its toxins. Eventually the overgrowth transforms molecules into metamorphosing hormonal molecules, disrupting cellular communications. Interference of the intricate balance of the nervous system causes many sleepless nights.

Candida can cause cravings for carbohydrates and other foods that one's system is intolerant to in order to feed itself. You may think that all of this is hard to believe, but for the many people who live with yeast overgrowth day in and day out, the meddling of Candida is a painful reality. It is my opinion that many people have an overgrowth of Candida, but it isn't until the liver and other organs become so tired of dealing with the toxicity from the Candida albicans that overt symptoms prevail.

There are at least 77 different known Candida albicans toxins. Ethanol is one. It is produced when yeast has lots of food. Excess ethanol can cause symptoms of alcohol intoxication. Yes, even if you do not drink alcohol, you may be struggling with an alcohol addiction. Why do you think so many people are loathe to give up their carbohydrates?

Acetaldehyde, another yeast toxin, can damage organs, disrupt fatty acid oxidation and production of collagen, cause abnormal behavior, memory loss, distorted thinking, mood swings, depression, impaired intellectual functioning, and emotional disturbances. These toxins explain many of the symptoms that people get as well as the difficulties mainstream medicine has in treating Candida. When you are being poisoned by your own intestinal bacteria, drugs will not help, and even extreme measures such as surgery are not productive.