Originally published August 27 2008
Candida Misdiagnoses: Identifying the Three Different Types of Infection
by Kal Sellers
(NaturalNews) Candida often gets lumped into one, rather vague category, which is seen abstractly as some saturation of the blood by this strain of the fungus we call yeast, which causes all sorts of problems from skin diseases to chronic fatigue to auto-immune and behavior disorders.
Even though just about everyone is talking about candida, no one seems to be talking very intelligently about it and, as one might expect, no one is having much success with it. The most successful diets for it actually leave you feeling awful and not healthy at all.
It seems that probably we have misunderstood the condition.
I have written two articles previously on NaturalNews.com exploring two elements of candida and today we are going to summarize those two and add a third element.
I am not going to revisit those other articles in detail, but rather will recommend that you select all articles by author at the top title of this article and look back for the two previous candida-related articles.
I will revisit these in brief.
The first kind of candida is a simple candida overgrowth. It may overgrow in the bowel and escape to the blood, it may get into the blood in other ways. It shows up in the blood in enough quantity that it could be called an infection. It makes the person sick.
Usually, this kind of candida problem is acute and when things stabilize, the body takes control of the situation and it is contained and normalized. This first appeared when antibiotics were first used routinely for infections.
While this form of candida is very easy to treat and can be cured totally in 3 days to two weeks, this is nevertheless what people are envisioning still when they talk about and attempt to treat other types of candida problems.
My first article, "Candida Control in Two Weeks" was precisely about this kind of candida and two weeks is actually the upper limit of how long I would expect it to take.
My second article appeared in response to dozens of questions from people suffering with "candida" but a very different kind of candida problem.
This time, candida was addressed as an allergy, rather than as an infection. True, it meets some criteria of infection too, but the immune system does not attack it, it actually just overreacts to its presence. Probably, the immune system is reacting to several other kinds of irritants and microorganisms as well because the immune system is sensitized for one or more reasons.
This type of candida problem is characterized by exhausted endocrine glands and immune response. Candida is a misnomer and candida is treated like it is the cause, which is not true. It may have participated in causing the problem, but alone there is no way. Likewise, treating it as a candida infection is delusional.
Rather, the damaged endocrine system and immune system must be addressed. My second article, "Candida Conundrum: Is it Allergies?" addresses this subject and type of candida problem.
Then, believe it or not, I started getting questions from people suffering from the third type of candida, which is what this article is about more specifically.
This kind of candida is by no means justifiably diagnosed as candida either. This is where the "candida" gets embedded in the skin. It probably is a fungus, but it is not certain which fungus it is and it also bears earmarks of an overreaction by the body discussed in the second article.
Embedded fungal growths appear as pustules or dermatitis or some persistent skin condition, frequently on the hands or face, which causes itching, discomfort and breakouts. Sometimes the sweat and skin will smell bad when this embedded fungus is present.
When the fungal growth gets into the skin, just like when it gets into the toenails, it survives because it can create a barrier from the blood/immune system when it gets there. Thus the treatment has to take this into account.
The treatment is both topical and internal. Topical treatments do not kill the deep skin fungus and internal treatments do not get to the upper skin. You have to do both and it takes a while (several weeks) to get the fungus to fully die off.
There are actually several effective treatments that I have encountered, but I will give you the one that I use most, which uses only whole herbs, which is my favorite.
The external application is for sale from Wind River Herbs (www.windriverherbs.com) , though it is not in their regular catalog, so you must call or email them to get them to sell it to you. It is called Miracle Splash. This product is worth an article itself, but for now we shall be content to say that it is highly useful for topical application for deep or superficial problems of all kinds and often relieves pain instantly on contact (something quantum about its action, no doubt).
I generally recommend applying the miracle splash to any affected area three times per day and skipping days if the skin gets sensitive (it does have cayenne in it, so it can be a bit hot).
For the internal product, we are thinking about dissolving the barriers the candida or other fungus builds for itself to contain itself from the blood. We are also clearing the lymphatic system of pus build up.
This process takes some time. We will also use herbs that draw to them the toxins and pus and infection, as well as herbs that heal the skin, repair the activity of the lymphatic system and feed the systems of the body that will be affected by the detox process.
As detoxifying formulas go, this one is not strong... unless you are using it for embedded fungus. In that case, it is very profound. It can cause a little discomfort as the fungus dies off.
I have always been a little suspicious of fungal "die-off" and have felt, instead, that it was just normal cleansing crisis and that the "die-off" was announced when the symptoms occurred to make the practitioner look smarter.
After using this formula, however, I became satisfied that die-off is quite real, at least sometimes. This formula causes it and it can be quite a strong experience.
The simple formula contains the powdered form of 8 herbs:
* 8 parts ginger root
* 5 parts slippery elm bark powder
* 3 parts plantain leaf
* 2 parts oregano leaf
* 2 parts beet root
* 2 parts turmeric
* 3 parts elecampane root (you may use burdock root if you cannot find elecampane)
* 2 parts marshmallow root
If ever there were an important time to get raw, whole, organic herbs of the highest quality, this is it, so choose wisely to get the most potency out of this formula.
This should be mixed together and then stirred into water each day, two times per day. Generally, I use two teaspoons per dose. I would expect to have noticeable results in two or three days, but would continue until the condition is gone totally and then add one week beyond that.
These herbs are harmless (indeed, many of them are food grade in any quantity), so they will do no harm, and as far as I am concerned they will do much good for almost anyone.
Thanks for reading.
Until next time,
Kal Sellers, MH
About the author
Kal Sellers, MH currently operates KalsSchool.com and teaches a 2-year curriculum for Natural Medicine, via live teleclasses.
Kal is a Master Herbalist and holds several other certificates and licenses for hands-on healing modalities. He maintains a current practice in the Atlanta area.
Kal and Traci have six children, the last four of which were delivered at home. They live now in Powder Springs, GA where they teach live classes on food and medicine. Kal is also a full time Chiropractic student.
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