Candida Advice

Hey guys I hope this is an appropriate topic for this website, I saw some others posting similar topics here with responses. So for the last few years I have been struggling with something that no doctor has been able to figure out. However, today I went to an infectious disease physician and he told me that there is a high probability of me suffering from Candida Albicans. The thing is, perhaps most ironic is that I thought this early on and so did another doctor.

So he prescribed me Diflucan and I limited my sugar intake for a couple weeks and I do not believe there was any difference in my symptoms. However, he told me that I probably have a pretty significant case and the without a strict diet it was probably enough for it to stay alive. He recommended a couple diets that I wrote down and cannot remember at this exact moment. Do not think that will be a problem as there is a lot of information online.

This brings me to my question, as many have mentioned there is a ton of crap on the Internet and obviously a lot of scams. There are hundreds of supplements, books and miracle cures on the Internet promising to cure Candida Albicans. I looked up on the diets he mentioned today and it had Yams (sweet potatoes), carrots and some other stuff that I believe contains yeast which is supposed to be avoided right? Anyway, I would love to get some advice and hear from anyone that has been through this.

My symptoms:
1.) I wake up just about every single morning with a ridiculously dry mouth and the top of my tongue is sometimes nearly pure white.

2.) I have debilitating brain fog that seems worse when eating sugary foods such as candy. The brain fog is always present which made me think I had something more serious. The only way to explain it is that I feel somewhat intoxicated all the time.

3.) I have all kinds of pelvic/abdominal issues such as constipation, pain, stomach aches and other related symptoms you might expect.

4). I am suffering from chronic fatigue. I feel tired much more than I believe I should, even on easy days that should be relatively non-stressful.

5.) I sometimes feel like I am constantly hungry no matter what.

Direction I am Going:

1.) Going to try a good supplement. Did a lot of research on this and seems like you do not have many choices because many of the probiotics on the market help both good and bad flora regardless of what they promise. I read this is especially true for things additives like Inulin. I was looking and this seems like it may be a good choice.
https://www.amazon.com/Renew-Life-Ultimate-Probiotic-vegetable/dp/B00KNX8LVY

2.) It looks like you are very limited for the diet, only being able to eat organic meat, vegetables and a few others things. Where do you find organic meat and is there a "trusted brand"? Also any other feedback on this would be great. I would like to not starve to death on this diet. Also anyone have any luck with those high priced Alkaline waters on the market?

3.) How about anti-fungal stuff? I do not mind asking my doctor for medication if that is what I need to do. If I have been on the diet for about a week or so would it help to take something like Diflucan to help remove the Candida?

I hope this is not too flooding. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am really sick of living like this and really want to be free from this.

Welcome to Permies Jordan!

I can't address all your questions, but maybe this will be of help.

Jordan Rob wrote:Also anyone have any luck with those high priced Alkaline waters on the market?

I am supposed to be using Alkaline water too. I feel better when I do, it's just easier to turn on the tap and go. There is a much cheaper way to achieve alkaline water: baking soda. (Disclaimer: I have not researched sites I quoted, so I don't know if their other articles are accurate.) This site suggests a couple other methods to change alkalinity, but I have experience with this one.

...to make your water more alkaline:

   Baking soda: Researcher and author Dr. Robert O. Young has stressed the importance of pH balance for over two decades, and has considered ways to increase the alkaline levels in the diet by adding an alkaline ingredient to your purified water. Dr. Young recommends simply adding ½ a teaspoon of baking soda to a gallon of purified water and shaking it vigorously to ensure it mixes in completely. Because baking soda is highly alkaline, adding only a small amount to your purified water will result in a gallon of alkaline water.
https://www.gaiam.com/blogs/discover/how-to-increase-the-alkalinity-of-your-water

I like Kangen Water, it tastes good. The baking soda water doesn't taste bad exactly, but is unique. When I do things right, I include the baking soda in our ice teas.

As alkaline water does its work, some nasties, yeast in your case, will be dying off. Yeast does not like to die. As with all life, it wants to live. It will try to make you stop. Below is an explanation that relates to candida.

...unfortunately, you began feeling worse once you start. It is actually very common to experience “die off” symptoms when doing a bacterial or yeast cleanse, or even during a course of antibiotics. This is known as the Herxheimer Reaction, where symptoms get worse before they get better. This is due to the endotoxins released by microbes when they die off...
https://www.alimillerrd.com/coping-with-a-candida-cleanse/

This phenomena may be why you do not feel better yet after starting your medication.

Oh, and if you are on city water, you may want to set your water out on the counter, to off-gas some of that chlorine in it. This site explains why chlorine can bad. They recommend a whole house filtering system. That would be good, but expensive! I've read that you can put out a gallon, uncovered, overnight to off-gas it. Do your own research to be sure, I'm on well water.

While I don't know if it would help ... I would try a tablespoon of real apple cider vinegar, the kind with the mother, in a glass of water first thing in the morning.

Also here is an article on 3 Ways to Make Alkaline water:  https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Alkaline-Water

Anne Miller wrote:While I don't know if it would help ... I would try a tablespoon of real apple cider vinegar, the kind with the mother, in a glass of water first thing in the morning.

Also here is an article on 3 Ways to Make Alkaline water:  https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Alkaline-Water

I also tried this. I bought a well renowned brand off Amazon and remember reading to look out for a few things. I know one was mother and think the other was organic but cannot remember what the third was at this moment possibly raw? I would take about a tablespoon of it everyday.

Again I stayed on routines like this for weeks and sometimes months. However, I never completely removed sugar from my diet. For example, I would get up and have a cup of coffee with cream and sugar. Thanks for mentioning it though. I know this is a good stuff I will probably add to my diet.

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Welcome to Permies Jordan!

I can't address all your questions, but maybe this will be of help.

Jordan Rob wrote:Also anyone have any luck with those high priced Alkaline waters on the market?

I am supposed to be using Alkaline water too. I feel better when I do, it's just easier to turn on the tap and go. There is a much cheaper way to achieve alkaline water: baking soda. (Disclaimer: I have not researched sites I quoted, so I don't know if their other articles are accurate.) This site suggests a couple other methods to change alkalinity, but I have experience with this one.

...to make your water more alkaline:

   Baking soda: Researcher and author Dr. Robert O. Young has stressed the importance of pH balance for over two decades, and has considered ways to increase the alkaline levels in the diet by adding an alkaline ingredient to your purified water. Dr. Young recommends simply adding ½ a teaspoon of baking soda to a gallon of purified water and shaking it vigorously to ensure it mixes in completely. Because baking soda is highly alkaline, adding only a small amount to your purified water will result in a gallon of alkaline water.
https://www.gaiam.com/blogs/discover/how-to-increase-the-alkalinity-of-your-water

I like Kangen Water, it tastes good. The baking soda water doesn't taste bad exactly, but is unique. When I do things right, I include the baking soda in our ice teas.

As alkaline water does its work, some nasties, yeast in your case, will be dying off. Yeast does not like to die. As with all life, it wants to live. It will try to make you stop. Below is an explanation that relates to candida.

...unfortunately, you began feeling worse once you start. It is actually very common to experience “die off” symptoms when doing a bacterial or yeast cleanse, or even during a course of antibiotics. This is known as the Herxheimer Reaction, where symptoms get worse before they get better. This is due to the endotoxins released by microbes when they die off...
https://www.alimillerrd.com/coping-with-a-candida-cleanse/

This phenomena may be why you do not feel better yet after starting your medication.

Oh, and if you are on city water, you may want to set your water out on the counter, to off-gas some of that chlorine in it. This site explains why chlorine can bad. They recommend a whole house filtering system. That would be good, but expensive! I've read that you can put out a gallon, uncovered, overnight to off-gas it. Do your own research to be sure, I'm on well water.

Hey Joylynn,

Thanks for all the information. I too am on well water. Something that really sucked is that I never felt worse or better, just the same. However, like my doctor told me, I was probably getting enough sugar to keep the Candida alive. Having that said, I tried different things for about a year and was really only drinking water and occasional coffee with sugar. I also limited my diet as well. I heavily reduced anything that was high in sugar or yeast such as potatoes or pasta. Still from what this doctor is saying I was probably never strict enough.

So this time around I am most worried about the diet. It looks like you almost need to have a degree in this stuff. I was reading that many probiotics and other supplements are off limits when trying to get rid of Candida because they help all kinds of fungus, including Candida. So my main concern is how I am going to survive even a couple weeks on a strict diet.

I mean the diet looks like you are stuck with brown rice, organic meats, most leafy greens, some vegetables and a handful of other stuff. Also can you season your meat with products you find at the store? I figure a lot of those will have probably have additives like sugar in them or at least something you cannot have?

I know nothing of this topic, but ACV and coffee are both pretty acidic, so if you're supposed to be drinking alkaline water, these drinks are probably not helping you to get the full benefit from the water.

Dustin Rhodes wrote:I know nothing of this topic, but ACV and coffee are both pretty acidic, so if you're supposed to be drinking alkaline water, these drinks are probably not helping you to get the full benefit from the water.

Yeah coffee and tea are generally suppose to be avoided anyway. They have caffeine in them which is also something else that feeds Candida. So you are not even suppose to have plain black coffee or unsweetened tea. Most of what I have read said you can have an occasional cup of tea or coffee. Therefore, I would like to have a cup of black coffee in the morning when I start the diet. However, I do not want it to reduce the effectiveness of the diet.

As I mentioned I tried heavily reducing my sugar intake, taking Align, taking a single Diflucan tablet, taking Apple Cider Vinegar and it did not make a difference. I was thinking that if I stayed on a healthier diet for a extended amount of time it would be successful. I did this for around six months to a year. I was still consuming bread, sugar and other things that are suppose to be avoided though. I cannot imagine me doing a diet as strict as this for more than a month. I am to the point where I will try anything to make my symptoms better though.

A few things you might consider:

Avoid all sugar for as long as you can. Including simple carbohydrates like white flour products and beer.
Intermittent fasting (14+ hours without any food every day) is supposed to help your bodies natural digestive balance restore.
Consume inulin, this is considered a 'pre-biotic' fiber that feeds healthy gut biology. You can find all kind of lists of foods high in it but it tends to be in roots, especially raw. One way that I have enjoyed it is making oatmeal that includes a fair bit of slippery elm bark. Also raw carrots are supposed to be a good source and easy to snack on.
You could try a guy cleanse, I've had good success with Humaworm (it might be borderline debilitating if your parasite load is high) but I'm sure there's others out there as well.
The best probiotics that I've tried have been from a company called organic 3. I currently take their 'primal gut' as often as I can remember and definitely notice improved digestion when I remember to take it daily. Also notice some digestive distress the first day or two that I return to it after not taking it for a while, many people claim this is the result of detrimental gut biota (like candida) dying off.
Bone broth and fermented vegetables and kefir are all also good ways of providing support for your digestion.

Best of luck to you

Dustin Rhodes wrote:I know nothing of this topic, but ACV and coffee are both pretty acidic, so if you're supposed to be drinking alkaline water, these drinks are probably not helping you to get the full benefit from the water.

Good logic about them being acidic.

I don't know though it seems a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar vs. 64 oz of water is a small comparison.  I used 64 oz as usually 8 glasses or more of water are recommended for daily consumption.  Same comparison with one cup of coffee though the acv is more beneficial.  

Apple cider vinegar (ACV) is a scientifically proven antifungal. Laboratory shows that it can inhibit the growth of candida cultivating in a petri dish.

https://www.healthline.com/health/apple-cider-vinegar-candida


https://bragg.com/products/bragg-organic-apple-cider-vinegar.html

Bread and sugar are going to keep it alive. And yes, store bought spices will have sugar too.

My suggestion is two give yourself two weeks on a strict sugar free diet. Throw calorie counting and budget out the window for a bit. Buy organic grass fed eggs. Buy some grass fed butter and feel free to eat it by the spoonful when you are hungry. Add the best probiotic you can find, blister pack packaging not glass or plastic.

I hear your desperation, and it sounds like you are ready to be free. Educating yourself on food like substances will help you stay the course. Watch documentaries like magic pill, food Inc, for motivation.

Get excited, youre about to get your life back!

I suspect that both the Ketogenic Diet and the Paleo Diet would work for you. I'm not 'on' either of these, but they kept popping up in my search for recipes with no sugar, it's substitutes, or simple carbohydrates. Each of the above sites includes meal plans. This was very helpful for me.

I used to cook a lot of saucy dishes with pasta. I found something that I could replace the noodles with. Spaghetti squash, of course, but a quicker option is finely shredded cabbage, I do a quick stir-fry with it and maybe onions, and smother with stroganoff. I don't miss it the pasta anymore, I look forward to the cabbage dish.

Another thing that helped me was when I stopped focusing on replacement recipes. Just go with what you can eat. I'm a happier cook now that I have stopped trying to replace bread and rice.

I'm not an infectious disease doctor, but this sounds like an immune issue rather than a chemistry issue. Candida is everywhere. I don't buy into alkaline water for reasons I won't go into. Lets just say the amount of base required to change your entire body pH would kill you with sodium, and be buffered by acids.

I would concentrate on immune function. Get zinc and Vit D checked. Vitamin D is misnamed, its a fat compound and basically a hormone/signal not an enzyme or catalyst. Zinc is the basis of cellular immunity (this is based on my Biochemistry from 20 years ago so feel free to check my math). There is a whole family of proteins (nerd out here) used in DNA and RNA transciption. This is critical for high turnover cells like the pink cells lining your inaards and immune cells. Those are easy fixes.

Then concentrate on the diet that fits your genetics. There are some testing companies that are advertising this, but I am not sure the science is very good yet. I would trust your sensation. Brain fog? Don't eat that. Bloating/gas? Not a normal thing, we aren't ruminants. Listen to your body.

I'm a paleo-ish diet person, and it is NOT low carb necessarily. If messed up sugar metabolism is an issue, I don't think sweet potato is a fix. That said regular potato gives me sleepyness, which maybe is from the beladonna- type stuff in them. Not sure. So I grow other stuff. Corn and rice I feel fine. But that is me- you have to do your own sleuthing. Cabbage gives me gas,unless fermented. So I ferment stuff and feel awesome! Milk lights me up but kefir is a great, no gas at all. Keep a list, simplify your recipes/diet to figure it out. I do restriction then reinitiation- no symptoms off some food then back to symptoms means its not for me.  

stephen lowe wrote:A few things you might consider:

Avoid all sugar for as long as you can. Including simple carbohydrates like white flour products and beer.
Intermittent fasting (14+ hours without any food every day) is supposed to help your bodies natural digestive balance restore.
Consume inulin, this is considered a 'pre-biotic' fiber that feeds healthy gut biology. You can find all kind of lists of foods high in it but it tends to be in roots, especially raw. One way that I have enjoyed it is making oatmeal that includes a fair bit of slippery elm bark. Also raw carrots are supposed to be a good source and easy to snack on.
You could try a guy cleanse, I've had good success with Humaworm (it might be borderline debilitating if your parasite load is high) but I'm sure there's others out there as well.
The best probiotics that I've tried have been from a company called organic 3. I currently take their 'primal gut' as often as I can remember and definitely notice improved digestion when I remember to take it daily. Also notice some digestive distress the first day or two that I return to it after not taking it for a while, many people claim this is the result of detrimental gut biota (like candida) dying off.
Bone broth and fermented vegetables and kefir are all also good ways of providing support for your digestion.

Best of luck to you

So I read to not consume Inulin because regardless of what it says, it feeds all bacteria in the body including Candida. I am not sure whether or not this is true but I read in other places that it renders the Candida diet useless because you are trying to starve it but are feeding it with Inulin. My first choice for a Probiotic was Culturelle but then read it had Inulin. Again I am not arguing with you, just telling you what I read elsewhere.

I was using the following link as a source to select a Probiotic.

https://www.mygenefood.com/which-probiotic-strains-get-rid-of-candida/

J Davis wrote:Bread and sugar are going to keep it alive. And yes, store bought spices will have sugar too.

My suggestion is two give yourself two weeks on a strict sugar free diet. Throw calorie counting and budget out the window for a bit. Buy organic grass fed eggs. Buy some grass fed butter and feel free to eat it by the spoonful when you are hungry. Add the best probiotic you can find, blister pack packaging not glass or plastic.

I hear your desperation, and it sounds like you are ready to be free. Educating yourself on food like substances will help you stay the course. Watch documentaries like magic pill, food Inc, for motivation.

Get excited, youre about to get your life back!

Yeah my doctor told me to watch out for many meats. As they have to be organic because depending on how the animals were fed and medicated the meat could feed the Candida as well.

So where do you even find stuff like this?

Also blister packs are like the Aluminum packs where you press the pill through the packaging correct? I have Align right now but I do not think many recommend it for a Candida free diet. Also it made me sick after taking it for an extended period of time which is a known symptom for some people.

I appreciate all the feedback I have gotten this far. My main concern is how I am going to stay on this diet and not starve and there are some good recommendations here.

So this Saturday I am going to try fasting the entire day and only drinking water. I have a Fluconazole sealed in the packaging that expired January, 2019 that I hope is still going to be good. I plan to take that the same day that I am fasting in hopes that it will help me get a good head start on fighting the Candida as well as getting fully absorbed into my body. I believe the doctor told me it stays in your system for a couple weeks?

So I have Monday-Friday to try and get some food and prepare for this. I am going to try to find some organic eggs and some leafy greens as well as some other green vegetables. I am going to be off this entire week so all I have to do is try to concentrate on this diet and not starving to death. Let me know if anyone has any other pointers.

I am also going to try to take a tablespoon of Natural Raw Vinegar with Mother on a regular basis too.  

Tj Jefferson wrote:I'm not an infectious disease doctor, but this sounds like an immune issue rather than a chemistry issue. Candida is everywhere. I don't buy into alkaline water for reasons I won't go into. Lets just say the amount of base required to change your entire body pH would kill you with sodium, and be buffered by acids.

I would concentrate on immune function. Get zinc and Vit D checked. Vitamin D is misnamed, its a fat compound and basically a hormone/signal not an enzyme or catalyst. Zinc is the basis of cellular immunity (this is based on my Biochemistry from 20 years ago so feel free to check my math). There is a whole family of proteins (nerd out here) used in DNA and RNA transciption. This is critical for high turnover cells like the pink cells lining your inaards and immune cells. Those are easy fixes.

Then concentrate on the diet that fits your genetics. There are some testing companies that are advertising this, but I am not sure the science is very good yet. I would trust your sensation. Brain fog? Don't eat that. Bloating/gas? Not a normal thing, we aren't ruminants. Listen to your body.

I'm a paleo-ish diet person, and it is NOT low carb necessarily. If messed up sugar metabolism is an issue, I don't think sweet potato is a fix. That said regular potato gives me sleepyness, which maybe is from the beladonna- type stuff in them. Not sure. So I grow other stuff. Corn and rice I feel fine. But that is me- you have to do your own sleuthing. Cabbage gives me gas,unless fermented. So I ferment stuff and feel awesome! Milk lights me up but kefir is a great, no gas at all. Keep a list, simplify your recipes/diet to figure it out. I do restriction then reinitiation- no symptoms off some food then back to symptoms means its not for me.  

The infectious disease physician said the same thing about the alkaline water. He said it is proven that having a higher PH content in the body is extremely healthy but probably not as simple as consuming alkaline water. I tried the alkaline water for a short time and it did seem smoother/easier to drink but I did not notice any real changes in my health.

Also I am not certain if I mentioned it before but I have been through many, many tests. I have been through multiple blood tests and I know that my Vitamin D did come back a little low once. The doctor said it was not a big deal at all, he said to try to get some more sun and maybe consider a tablet. However, I was just under what an average amount is. I have had the A1C1 (I believe) and all my doctors can talk about is how ridiculously healthy I am and have nothing to worry about. Which as many of you might be able to imagine is sort of bittersweet. I have had multiple urine tests, blood tests, prostate exams and plenty of other things I am sure I am not thinking of at the moment. Everything comes back perfectly healthy.

I don't know anything about Candida Albicans, just FYI.  I do know that yeast can handle acidic environments much better than bacteria can.  If you want to kill off a lot of the bacteria in your yeast slurry for brewing, you acid wash the yeast.  This means creating an environment around pH5 by adding acid.  The bacteria can't handle it and die off while the yeast does fine.

So, if the bacteria that generally keep Candida manageable aren't present in large enough quantities, you need to give them an environment that favours them.  ACV will obviously make your stomach more acidic but it probably doesn't do much harm when diluted and it does introduce bacteria that are better adapted to acidic environs.  I've read that sugars and starches make your stomach more acidic and I've experienced this.  If you want to reduce the pH, I think the best way is through diet and allowing the change to occur naturally.  I don't have any experience with alkaline water, but I've heard of it and, if increasing pH is your goal, I could see it helping.

If it was me, I'd fast until I reached ketosis, about 4-5 days for me, and also drink baking soda in water.  I'd then stay on a keto diet for at least 2-4 weeks.  

Best of luck.

Timothy Markus wrote:I don't know anything about Candida Albicans, just FYI.  I do know that yeast can handle acidic environments much better than bacteria can.  If you want to kill off a lot of the bacteria in your yeast slurry for brewing, you acid wash the yeast.  This means creating an environment around pH5 by adding acid.  The bacteria can't handle it and die off while the yeast does fine.

So, if the bacteria that generally keep Candida manageable aren't present in large enough quantities, you need to give them an environment that favours them.  ACV will obviously make your stomach more acidic but it probably doesn't do much harm when diluted and it does introduce bacteria that are better adapted to acidic environs.  I've read that sugars and starches make your stomach more acidic and I've experienced this.  If you want to reduce the pH, I think the best way is through diet and allowing the change to occur naturally.  I don't have any experience with alkaline water, but I've heard of it and, if increasing pH is your goal, I could see it helping.

If it was me, I'd fast until I reached ketosis, about 4-5 days for me, and also drink baking soda in water.  I'd then stay on a keto diet for at least 2-4 weeks.  

Best of luck.

Okay so if I do decide to fast for more than a single day do you think taking the Fluconazole when I first start could be effective? Do you or anyone else have an opinion on that? Right now I really only have my own logic to go off of. It is a pill that is absorbed into your system and supposedly lasts for several weeks or something. So my logic is if I am only drinking water and fasting it may absorb into my body better?

So while fasting you can ONLY have water right? Nothing else, just plain old water?

Should I take probiotics or apple cider vinegar while fasting or only water?

Timothy Markus wrote:I don't know anything about Candida Albicans, just FYI.  I do know that yeast can handle acidic environments much better than bacteria can.  If you want to kill off a lot of the bacteria in your yeast slurry for brewing, you acid wash the yeast.  This means creating an environment around pH5 by adding acid.  The bacteria can't handle it and die off while the yeast does fine.

So, if the bacteria that generally keep Candida manageable aren't present in large enough quantities, you need to give them an environment that favours them.  ACV will obviously make your stomach more acidic but it probably doesn't do much harm when diluted and it does introduce bacteria that are better adapted to acidic environs.  I've read that sugars and starches make your stomach more acidic and I've experienced this.  If you want to reduce the pH, I think the best way is through diet and allowing the change to occur naturally.  I don't have any experience with alkaline water, but I've heard of it and, if increasing pH is your goal, I could see it helping.

If it was me, I'd fast until I reached ketosis, about 4-5 days for me, and also drink baking soda in water.  I'd then stay on a keto diet for at least 2-4 weeks.  

Best of luck.

Also I have never read about Ketosis or know really anything about fasting at all. I will read more into it. In the mean time is it something you can feel or know is happening?

I know that I am going to get very sick going on this diet. I have been consuming more sugar than I ever have in my life to stay up for exams and such. However, I am done with all that right now. So I know that I am going to feel horrible the first couple days and probably even after that.

Additionally, is it okay to take any kind of pain relievers while fasting/dieting? For instance, is there anything in the Advil/Tylenol that will interfere with the diet or fasting process? Because I am almost certain I am going to need them.  

You will definitely not starve to death fasting for even a week. An I would imagine it would do wonders against a parasitic entity like candida. I would think any kind of antifungal and any kind of probiotic would be fine while fasting, the antifungal stuff might work better, the probiotic might work worse. I don't know anything about inulin either other than what I have read from Sally Fallon and the woman who developed the GAPS diet, so that was just a guess from me. As far as fasting and consumption, the general rule that seems to make it fasting is to limit solid food intake substantially (maybe eating very limited solid foods during a couple hour window). Other than that there are lots of fasts that focus on ingesting certain liquids (tea, juice, lemonade, etc...) so that is kind of up to you. If you have never done it before and are worried about your will power to do it I would definitely recommend planning to ingest some liquid that isn't water just for variety of taste. If you have a good herb shop near you they might even be able to recommend some teas that might help in your quest.

Hope you are doing well and I also hope this may help. Love the collective insightful contribution in this forum, wish more people would know these before going into the conventional antifungals option. Fasting benefits go above and beyond candida, and are worth a forum of their own....
Have been leading research on candida overgrowth for over a decade. It is critical to consider the root cause of the fungal infection. Something that is often overlooked.

"The most important step in the candida overgrowth treatment is to find what causes the excess candida overgrowth in your body. Candida overgrowth can be caused by different reasons, each may require a completely different treatment."
In many cases, the treatment you get only covers the symptoms (skin, genitals, etc), hence the likelihood of recurrent yeast infections.

Cheers
Adam Berg

Many people with candida find that eating/drinking naturally fermented food or drinks re-balances their gut microbial population.
But be warned that shortly after using these, you may suffer from a mild Herxheimer reaction.
From https://www.culturedfoodlife.com/the-healing-crisis-and-cultured-foods/ :

A “healing crisis” is something that happens when the body starts a detoxification process which is really a program of natural healing. This is a common occurrence among some individuals who start consuming cultured foods. When you start consuming cultured foods, your body is flooded with good bacteria. Then there is a dying off of certain pathogenic organisms in the body. These organisms can be bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other harmful pathogens. The medical term for a healing crisis is the “Herxheimer Reaction.”  The cells release toxins into circulation and the body is not able to eliminate them quickly enough. Besides containing massive amounts of beneficial bacteria, cultured foods also contain many active enzymes, which act as extremely potent detoxifiers. There are huge amounts of good bacteria in cultured foods and it is like sending an army to clean house inside of you. This is such a good thing, although it can be uncomfortable and a bit scary if you don’t understand what is happening.

Hey Jordan,

If this applies to you I have lots of of advice that could help you a lot.

Acute anxiety can mess with your body in crazy ways. I can say first hand that all of the symptoms you mentioned are what I experience when my mental health and diet are poor. Dry mouth is a common anxiety symptom, and white at the back of your tongue every now and then is relatively normal (so my GP says). Brain fog is a common symptom and sugar in excessive amounts (along with caffeine and salt) can cause heart palpitations, increasing the severity of anxiety. The key with diet in this case is not to avoid these 3 ingredients but to make sure you don't have them in large enough amounts to shock the body. Anxiety also commonly wreaks havoc on the digestive system (like having butterflies in your stomach before going on stage). Chronic fatigue is the result of your body working overdrive under stress, like of like a car going 100 miles per hour in second gear. Lastly hunger can be a result of food cravings you get when you're stressed.

If this is your case, try to convince yourself you are healthy and the symptoms will eventually pass (as they did for me). Good luck!