It takes only one dose of antibiotics in your lifetime to raise your yeast levels and create imbalances in your body. If you last took a course of antibiotics when you were ten years old, a poor diet and high stress levels will continue to feed the yeast over time until you begin to feel symptomatic.
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| What Do You Get Yeast Infections From |
North America, especially the United States and Canada, and pockets of Europe, have the highest numbers of people with candidiasis because Western medicine's standard protocol is to use antibiotic therapy for common infections.
A vicious cycle starts with the use of antibiotics. For example, you have a cold or the flu and you visit your doctor, who prescribes antibiotics. The problem starts right there because colds and flu are viral infections, not bacterial ones, which is what antibiotics are designed for. Antibiotics are useless against colds and flu, yet many doctors prescribe them anyway. When you take the antibiotic it kills both good and bad bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract, as it cannot distinguish between them. Antibiotics do not affect Candida albicans, so without friendly bacteria like Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacteria, which keep the Candida albicans under control, the candida now multiplies.
There is no question that antibiotics have saved thousands of lives, but we've pushed a good thing too far by overprescribing these medications. Overuse also creates "super germs" that are resistant to common antibiotics, so germs that could once be killed off have now become life threatening.
As I mentioned, it takes only one dose of antibiotics to raise your yeast levels. Think about how many times you've taken antibiotics - not to mention the antibiotics you ingest from consuming dairy and animal products. The majority of antibiotics manufactured today are given to cows and chickens because they are infested with infection due to their poor housing conditions. So unless you are eating antibiotic-free and hormone-free animal protein, you are ingesting these drugs and hormones when you eat these foods.
CANDIDA'S TOXIC BY-PRODUCTS
Once candida is in an overgrowth state, the body has to deal not only with the overgrowth but also with the toxic by-products, or mycotoxins, that Candida albicans puts out - "79 at latest count," according to C. Orian Truss, MD - all of which weaken your immune system and attack the body.
Mycotoxins are neurotoxins that destroy and decompose tissues and organs. They are so powerful that they upset the very communication of cell interactions, disrupt RNA and DNA synthesis, damage and destroy neurons, are carcinogenic, and cause ataxia (lack of coordination) and even convulsions. These pernicious yeast toxins confuse body systems, which accounts for the cross-wiring problems of the immune system whereby the body attacks itself, as in those with autoimmune diseases.
Candida toxins commonly get through the gut lining when it becomes leaky and enter the bloodstream, where the liver can detoxify them. However, if the liver's detoxification ability is impaired due to inadequate nutrition and toxic overload, these toxins will settle in other organs and tissues, such as the brain, nervous system, joints, skin, and so forth. Over time, chronic disease will occur.
One of the major toxins produced from Candida albicans is acetaldehyde, which is transformed by the liver into ethanol (alcohol), creating feelings of intoxication, brain fog, vertigo, and a loss of equilibrium. Acetaldehyde also alters the structure of red blood cells and the transportation pathways of materials that are needed to feed the dendrites (nerve cell extensions), causing the dendrites to atrophy and die off. In addition, acetaldehyde creates a deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B1), a vitamin that is critical for brain and nerve function and essential for the production of acetylcholine, one of the braids major neurotransmitters. This deficiency brings on emotional apathy, depression, fatigue, insomnia, confusion, and memory loss.
Acetaldehyde also depletes niacin (vitamin B3), which is key to helping the cells burn fat and sugar for energy. Niacin plays an important role in the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that affects mood and sleep, and in producing a coenzyme that breaks down alcohol. In addition, acetaldehyde reduces enzymes in the body that help to produce energy in all cells, including brain cells.
Gliotoxin, another mycotoxin, deactivates important enzymes that move toxins through the body and also causes DNA changes in the white blood cells, which suppresses the immune system. As your immune system continues to weaken from fungus and mycotoxins, more infections arise, and you end up at the doctor's office again - being prescribed more antibiotics and perpetuating the vicious cycle. To find out more, you can check out What Do You Get Yeast Infections From.