Testimonial
American Jane Jones, 35, lives in Kent, England and has struggled to manage recurring Candida infections since her teens.
The first time I got thrush I was only 15 and had no idea what it was. I had a white vaginal discharge and terrible itching – I thought it must be something to do with my periods, or that I’d catch something from a toilet seat. I kept it to myself for a few months until it became really bad. I finally broke down in tears and told my mum, who took me to a male gynaecologist. It was an awful experience, as he seemed to think I was sexually active – which I wasn’t. It made me feel dirty. As I now know, although thrush can be transferred to a sexual partner, it’s not necessarily caused by sex but by an overgrowth of the Candida fungus in the system.
After that first time, the thrush kept on coming back. My mum took me to a couple of female doctors who prescribed the same standard medication, which was Monostat 7 (I was living in America at the time). This was effective at first, but I think I became immune after a while, as I had to take it so often. The doctors also gave me the same advice: don’t wear tight jeans, tights or synthetic underwear, avoid perfumed bathing products that can irritate the vagina and always use protection if you are sexually active. The treatments were very focused on the vagina and on curing the symptoms. Nobody ever mentioned dealing with Candida throughout the entire body.
A few years later many of the medications I was using became available over the counter so I didn’t have to keep going to the doctor and it became easier to self-treat the condition. But the thrush still kept coming back, so I never felt free of it. I remember getting it badly when I was at university. The discomfort and itching were sometimes so severe I thought I’d go mad. I used to scratch myself until it hurt because the pain was better than the itching. I didn’t confide in anyone about it. In a way I tried to pretend it wasn’t there. I was shy around boys, and the boys didn’t help my confidence. Whenever I had an outbreak I felt embarrassed and ashamed, even though there was nothing to be ashamed of. But psychologically it does get you down – you start to feel as if it’s somehow your fault.
After university I went to live in London and then got married. During this time I started to feel generally tired and unwell. I was still having thrush all the time, but didn’t relate the two – my doctor thought I might have glandular fever. I was reading up on the subject at the time and learnt that Candida overgrowth can have more widespread effects on the system, from bloating to chronic fatigue and digestive problems. I started to think that maybe I didn’t simply have vaginal thrush; perhaps there was something going on in my whole body. I realised that when the Candida is really bad I don’t just have thrush – I feel ill, tired and slow, like I can’t think straight. One of the worst things is having no energy. I’m usually quite energetic, so feeling so tired for much of the time is very frustrating.
At this time of my life I was so unhappy that I let the Candida get me down. It was as though thrush was taking over my body, and I didn’t feel like myself any more. I also thought the treatment I’d been having was simply addressing the symptoms of the problem, rather than the root causes, and that’s why it kept coming back.
I decided to consult a nutritional therapist, who suggested I follow a strict anti-yeast diet. I was advised to avoid all fungi and products with fermented ingredients, such as bread, cheese and alcohol. At the same time I was, I was also taking a probiotic supplement, acidophilus, to help maintain my body’s ”good” bacteria and keep the Candida in check, and natural supplements such as garlic. My diet was something that I knew I could control and it was great to be able to do something practical, even though it was quite hard to stick to. I had to cut out all sugar, which feeds the fungi, so even seemingly ”healthy” food such as fruit was out, as well as things you wouldn’t think of, such as peanuts, as they contain a naturally occurring fungus.
I followed the diet for three months and it helped tremendously. I was symptom-free for about four years. Over that period, I gradually returned to eating normally – enjoying fruit, chocolate and sugary foods. I carried on taking acidophilus tablets regularly but I almost forgot about the Candida. Then, about two years ago, I went through a stressful time, took two courses of antibiotics and within a couple of months, started to get thrush again. (I now know it can also be associated with stress, low immunity and using antibiotics, which can disrupt the balance of natural flora in the body.) I used Canesten cream and pessaries or Diflucan tablets and it cleared up. But it started to come back more regularly, and became so frequent I went to my GP to check my symptoms weren’t connected to anything more serious.
I was tested for diabetes and liver disease, which can both be characterised by recurrent thrush, but fortunately I didn’t have either. I cut fruit and sugary foods from my diet again and started taking allicin powder capsules and vitamin C. I’d read about the curative anti-fungal properties of allicin in a book on garlic and found out that Candida albicans was one of the most sensitive species. I started on 1080mg allicin powder a day for about 4 weeks. At the same time I even tried aromatherapy, which is quite controversial as the treatment involves douching with essential oils and thrush sufferers are normally advised to avoid anything that may cause irritation. But I felt I had nothing to lose. Everything I’ve tried has had some kind of positive effect, though nothing has managed to keep Candida away for good until recently. It has now been 12 months since I started on allicin capsule and I now take just 180mg a day – this seems to prevent the infection from returning, my life is now much more settled and I feel fit and healthy for the first time in years.
