Yeast and chronic inflammation

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Yeast and chronic inflammation

_http://www.naturalnews.com/032071_chronic_inflammation_yeast.html_

(http://www.naturalnews.com/032071_chronic_inflammation_yeast.html)

by: Dr. Carolyn Dean

(NaturalNews) While reading Blinded by Science, an amazing book that you

can download for free on the internet at http://www.blindedbyscience.co.uk/

until April 30, 2011, I realized that most of the work I've done for the

past 30 years has been ignored by science. I beat my head against the brick

wall of medical and scientific complacency because people continue to suffer

from the following conditions, and the best that doctors can do is offer

them tranquilizers!

1. Yeast overgrowth

2. Magnesium deficiency

3. IBS caused by poor diet and lifestyle

4. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies

5. Undiagnosed hypothyroidism

6. Underdiagnosed Adrenal fatigue

7. Heavy metal toxicity

In this article I focus on...

Yeast Overgrowth

I studied yeast overgrowth after medical school during my naturopathic

training. It made sense to me that people who take antibiotics kill off good

bacteria as well as bad bacteria and set up an hospitable environment for

yeast to overgrow. But for some reason, medicine chooses to ignore yeast

overgrowth.

Candida albicans is a fungus living in our intestines that produces 180

chemical toxins that can be absorbed through the intestines into the blood.

Just think of what 180 toxins can do to your immune system. Any " foreign

chemical " in the blood stream will create an inflammatory reaction that can be

measured by various blood tests. These toxins are capable of making you

feel dizzy and fatigued, shutting down your thyroid, throwing your hormones

off balance, causing you to gain weight and crave sugar and alcohol. It's

associated with PMS, loss of libido, painful intercourse, infertility,

numbness, tingling, MS, Crohn's, colitis, IBS, acne, Lupus, insomnia,

drowsiness,

white tongue, breath bad, body odor, sinusitis, bruising, sore throat,

bronchitis, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, spots in front of eyes,

and dozens more symptoms.

Medicine, by ignoring yeast overgrowth and just thinking it's a pesky

vaginitis, doesn't realize how deeply yeast is involved with our current

epidemic of inflammation.

Inflammation is a 'hot' topic. An Internet search on the word turned up an

overwhelming 43.4 million hits. Journals of inflammation, inflammation

research associations, and drug companies are all scrambling to find a drug to

treat this scourge. Inflammation is the body's first defense against

infection, but when it goes awry, it can lead to heart attacks, colon cancer,

Alzheimer's and a host of other diseases.

How can a simple infection lead to heart attacks and cancer? That's

exactly where inflammation begins; it's the first response of your immune

system

to an infecting organism or foreign material that trips a switch leading to

a " cascade " of biochemical events. Fluid floods the infected area along

with a dozen different chemicals including white blood cells and histamine

-all capable of producing the signs of inflammation - redness, swelling, and

pain.

To the great detriment of the health of our society, this fungus is

growing rampant in a large proportion of the population - both men and women.

It's one of the many diseases of civilization - the culmination of the side

effects of drug and food technology and the disservices of our stressful way

of life. The miracle of antibiotics has its downside as an underlying cause

of yeast overgrowth. The refining of sugar and wheat has its downside by

creating a simple food source for yeast. The tremendous levels of stress

hormones that flood our bodies daily, hourly, and every minute in our sped up

world also make us prey to yeast.

Candidiasis (yeast overgrowth) has been around for decades, ever since we

began to use antibiotics but neglected to replace the good bacteria that

are destroyed along with the bad. Yeast itself, a cousin to molds, has grown

in human bodies since Adam and Eve. Candida albicans is the main yeast in

the human body; it lives there happily enough, kept in check by beneficial

bacteria in the intestines. These bacteria make small amounts of vitamin K

and B12 and help digest excess sugar that gets past the small intestine. A

very special group of bacteria also make lactic acid, which protects the gut

and vagina against yeast.

Candida is one of the 400 organisms that make their home in our mouth,

digestive tract, vagina and on our skin. For the most part, yeast get along

with their neighbors. When you begin taking antibiotics, however, the whole

delicate balance is lost. Antibiotics don't discriminate, they wipe out

most of the good along with the bad bacteria leaving yeast unharmed.

In the absence of competition, yeast colonies grow into all the empty

nooks and crannies of the large intestine and even the small intestine. It is a

scientific fact that when yeast cells reach a certain critical mass they

change from a round budding stage to a thread-like tissue invasive stage.

They are running out of food and looking for more, so they pack their bags

and emigrate to the small intestine from their main home in the large

intestine.

In the small intestine, the yeast threads poke microscopic holes in the

intestinal lining. Such a phenomenon is called " leaky gut " - a superhighway

to the blood stream with nothing to block toxins trickling across the gut

lining. Instead of absorbing life-giving nutrients through an intact

intestinal wall, yeast's chemical by-products (all 180 of them), the

inflammatory

products they produce, undigested food molecules, bacterial toxins, and

other chemicals take a one-way ride. The holes are not necessarily big enough

to allow yeast to get into the blood stream, so the blood is not infected

with yeast, but it carries hundreds of waste products that cause

inflammation from head to toe.

When yeast, bacterial, and food toxins hit the blood stream they trigger

widespread inflammatory reactions by either directly attacking tissues or

creating allergic reactions along with the production of histamine. Some of

the yeast toxins like acetaldehyde, alcohol, zymosan, arabinitol, and

gliotoxin have been named by mycologists - people that study fungi but rarely

do

they extend their discussion to the human suffering caused by these toxins.

A similar lack of attention is being paid to toxic mold that threatens the

Gulf states after the Katrina devastation. Any home still standing that

was flooded will be covered in mold, and that mold and its toxins could be

deadly.

Acetaldehyde is produced when yeast digests sugar. It is a particularly

potent toxin that can damage all the tissues in the body including the brain.

It is also produced when you drink alcohol, breathe the exhaust from cars,

and smoke cigarettes. What most people don't know is that yeast also

produces alcohol in the body - enough to make some people feel drunk and give a

positive reading on a breathalyzer test. When alcohol breaks down in the

body, it produces acetaldehyde. If you have yeast overgrowth and also drink

alcohol you are hit with a double dose of acetaldehyde hangover or brain fog.

In actual fact, most people with yeast overgrowth can't touch alcohol

because it makes them feel so rotten.

Acetaldehyde readily combines with red blood cells, proteins, and enzymes;

travels to all parts of the body; and even passes through the blood brain

barrier. It damages the structure of red blood cells making them unable to

squeeze through tiny capillaries to convey oxygen to needy tissues.

Acetaldehyde also blocks the attachment of oxygen to red blood cells. Your

brain

uses 20 percent of all the oxygen that you inhale but stiff red blood cells

cut down that amount considerably leaving you gasping for air and feeling

whoozy. Acetaldehyde damages nerve cells, induces deficiencies of an

important nerve vitamin, B1 (thiamine), the energy and neurotransmitter

vitamin, B

3 (niacin), and vitamin B5, which is crucial for normal brain function.

Zymosan causes inflammation and has been directly associated with

psoriasis. Arabinitol attacks the immune system, nervous system, and the brain.

And

gliotoxin disrupts the DNA in white blood cells killing them outright.

Other toxins account for the long list of symptoms attributed to yeast

overgrowth and that are eliminated when yeast is brought under control.

Researchers have also proven that Candida antibodies cross react with all

tissues in

the body that have been tested. That type of cross reactivity sets the

stage for autoimmune disease.

Weight gain is very common in yeast overgrowth. Our bodies create pounds

of fluid retention in an attempt to dilute the inflammatory toxins that

yeast produces. Over time, tissue toxins and fluid build up lead to cellulite

and weight gain. The gas produced by yeast can cause abdominal bloating

that can increase your waist size up to six inches from one meal to the next.

Antibiotics are fed to beef cattle to increase their weight. Antibiotics

given to humans can have the same effect.

The Yeast Questions

The following questions can help you decide whether you should look

further into yeast overgrowth as a cause of your inflammation and chronic

symptoms.

1. Have you taken several courses of antibiotics in the past?

2. Have you been on the birth control pill?

3. Do you react to the smell of damp moldy places?

4. Do you crave sugar and bread?

5. Do you feel drained to the point of exhaustion?

6. Do you have symptoms of intestinal gas, bloating, and cramping (IBS)?

7. Are you troubled by constant vaginal infections?

8. Are you bothered by itchy burning eyes?

What's the Cure?

The treatment for yeast does not lie in a pill as many have learned. Even

if your doctor is one of the few who recognizes yeast overgrowth, the most

common treatment recommended is a week or two of very powerful antifungal

medications.

Most doctors don't understand that yeast overgrowth requires a

multi-pronged attack. Information on this approach is freely available at

_www.yeastconnection.com_ (http://www.yeastconnection.com/) and what follows

is in a

very abbreviated form.

1. Diet: avoid sugar, wheat and dairy as well as fermented foods, and

alcohol. I have found that reducing sugar intake is one of the most important

ways to control hypoglycemia, diabetes, and intestinal yeast. Reduce your

sugar intake by supplementing your tea, water, and other beverages with

Stevia.

2. Probiotics (good bacteria): the best ones are acidophilus and bifidus.

Obtain products that guarantee 2-10 billion organisms per capsule to the

expiry date.

3. Antifungal supplements: garlic (eat one or two cloves a day), oil of

oregano (take 2-3 capsules per day) and grapefruit seed extract (take two to

three capsules per day) or take a formula that includes caprylic acid, pau

D'Arco, black walnut, beta carotene, and biotin.

4. Exercise every day, at least 30 minutes, to move the lymph circulation

that clears toxins from the body.

5. De-stress with prayer, meditation, breathing exercises, and/or yoga to

reduce the amount of natural cortisol that stimulates yeast overgrowth.

6. Work with a caring physician. Download a comprehensive physician's

packet to take to your doctor from _yeastconnection.com_

(http://www.yeastconnection.com/) . The last step of the program is

prescription antifungals

from your doctor, but only if you also continue steps 1-5.

It is mainly through diet and lifestyle change that you can overcome yeast

overgrowth-but you can overcome it and reduce the amount of inflammation

in your life with some effort and support.

About the author:

Dr. Carolyn Dean is a medical doctor and naturopathic doctor. She has been

in the forefront of the natural medicine revolution for over 30 years.

Dr. Dean is the author / coauthor of 22 health books (print and eBooks)

including The Magnesium Miracle, IBS for Dummies, IBS Cookbook for Dummies,

The Yeast Connection and Women's Health, Future Health Now Encyclopedia,

Death by Modern Medicine, Everything Alzheimers, and Hormone Balance.

Dr. Dean is Medical Director of the Medical Anti-Aging Clinic and Pharmacy

in Dubai Health Care City and Medical Director of the Nutritional

Magnesium Association.

Dr. Dean has a free newsletter and a valuable online 2-year wellness

program called Future Health Now! and a telephone consulting practice. Find out

more at _www.drcarolyndean.com_ (http://www.drcarolyndean.com/)

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