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Fungal Infection: Identification, Consequences, Cures

‘Given the right immunocompromised host, virtually any fungus can kill a human being’

Dr. M. G. Rinaldi

Are fungal infections really so serious? Conventional medical practice tends to view fungal infections, which are also commonly known as ‘yeast infections’, ‘candidiasis’ and ‘thrush’, as relatively minor problems easily fixed with a prescription or even an over the counter medication.

But what if that case of athlete’s foot, thickened toenail, outbreak of eczema or bout of thrush is trying to tell us something? What if it’s only a symptom of something happening at a much deeper level, and what would happen if other illnesses and diseases – some of them fatal - were also caused by fungi which have happily taken up residence inside you?

How to tell if you have a fungal infection

If you have any of the following symptoms, the chances are you almost certainly have a fungal infection:

1. Abdominal bloating
2. Excessive gas
3. Food allergies or intolerances, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), leaky gut syndrome and other intestinal disorders
4. Sugar cravings
5. Athletes foot or dandruff
6. Thick and / or discoloured toenails or fingernails
7. Skin eruptions of any kind, including eczema, psoriasis, especially anything vaguely circular
8. Itching and irritation in the genitals
9. Constipation and diarrhoea
10. Impaired mental function – ‘brain fog’

Added to this list are a wide range of other conditions which can be symptomatic of fungal infections, which we’ll cover later.

So what is a fungal infection and how common is it?

A fungal infection occurs when fungi living in our bodies are given the opportunity to spread and become dominant. Fungi are everywhere in our environment, and commonly live inside our bodies, especially our intestines, without causing significant problems.

Given the opportunity to reproduce and enter your bloodstream though, these guys can embed themselves in and infect every tissue in your body. This kind of systemic infection often manifests itself in the relatively minor conditions listed above, but if left unchecked and even worse if encouraged, extremely grave, even fatal consequences can result.

There are over 400 types of fungi that can cause problems in humans, the most common of which is the Candida Albicans yeast. These guys (and all fungi) just love moist, warm, dark and nutritious surroundings – in other words they love YOU, and especially your digestive tract.

Lets face it, if you were a fungus hanging around in some cold dirt on the floor, or in a piece of grain or maize, trying to get by in life and you had the opportunity to hitch a ride in a living 5* hotel with all the comforts any self respecting fungus could wish for (food, heat and plenty of friends), you’d take it.

Antibodies to candida are found in 90% of the human population, meaning 90% of the population has, or is currently, carrying this yeast around.

The window of opportunity

Despite the fact that we commonly carry these guys around with us in our intestines and elsewhere day to day, they are opportunistic in causing an infection – in other words they can’t cause you a problem unless you let them.

Your internal ecosystem can either accommodate fungi and encourage them to reproduce, or can control them. The choices you make every day determine which it’s going to be.

There are a number of things that ensure fungi can take over and run riot in your body. Of these the largest is undoubtedly the use of antibiotics. Antibiotics kill bad bacteria in your digestive tract, which is great in getting rid of a dodgy tummy and so on, but they also obliterate all of your good bacteria, often commonly known as probiotics.

Probiotics keep fungi in check as do bad bacteria by competing for nutrients and other resources with them. Antibiotics do not kill fungi. So guess who the only guys left in town are after a course of antibiotics? Fungi.

And they don’t waste time given this opportunity. Given a lack of predators (probiotics) and competitors (bad bacteria), fungi will reproduce and infest your body very quickly indeed.

Luckily you don’t even have to take antibiotics yourself, as we very usefully stuff our animals full of them in the interests of profit and then eat them, drink their milk, eat their cheese… you get it.

How the foods you eat lead to fungal infections…

Sugar even in small amounts, including natural sugar from ‘health’ foods such as fruit juice, is the absolute no.1 culprit here. Fungi such as yeast will eat them all day long, growing and reproducing the entire time. Starchy carbohydrates, which include grains such as wheat and rice, pasta and potatoes, are broken down by your digestive system into sugar quite quickly and so they act in the same way.

Peanuts, grains of all kinds, and corn (maize) are renowned for being high in fungi and mycotoxins (more on those later). During storage, which can encourage fungal growth through damp conditions, these foodstuffs are checked for the levels of fungi they contain. Humans aren’t allowed to consume foods that test too high. Luckily though, we feed the foods which have high levels of fungi to animals, which we then eat, drink their milk...

The double whammy - immune system suppression and toxicity…

Fungi love nothing better than a lack of discipline, which is exactly what they get when your immune system is below par. You already know what compromises your immune system: sugar, processed food, smoking, caffeine, alcohol, stress, legal and illegal drugs, and the big one, heavy metals. These include lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium. These have a major effect on your body, your mind, and on your ability to deal with fungi. Fish are often contaminated with metals and animal fats with fungi (we polluted our seas and the feed we give our animals).

These substances, in addition to pollutants and contaminants such as pesticides, traffic fumes, chlorine and other chemicals in our water, food colourings, food flavourings, and other environmental toxicants, have a double effect. They suppress our immune system which might only just be coping with fungi and bad bacteria, while creating a toxic environment which they just love. Fungi get on just fine with toxins.

Stress and anxiety also depress your immune system, depleting your reserves of vitamins and minerals, and altering your hormone levels. A diet low in vitamins and minerals also creates a weak immune system and an inability to detoxify.

Let’s be clear: a toxic, stressed body is just waiting for a fungal infection.

Consequences of fungal infections

Usually at 3D Personal Training we like to present things in a pretty relaxed way. But right now we want to be totally serious.

That’s because people working at the forefront of mycology (the study of fungi) suggest that systemic fungal infections are directly responsible for cancer, depression, arthritis, asthma, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, leaky gut syndrome, allergies, chronic fatigue syndrome and heart disease.(1, 2, 3, 4)

You can check out a groundbreaking oncologist called Dr. Simoncini talking about cancer and fungus along with some illustrations by clicking the link below:

http://www.cancer-fungus.com/sub-v1en/sub-en.html

In addition, fungi produce mycotoxins in both the foods they inhabit (125 people died in Kenya as a result of eating maize infected with a mycotoxin called aflatoxin),(5) and in the human body. Mycotoxins are chemicals which are produced by fungi in order to kill or limit the growth of competitor organisms, such as bacteria (good and bad). This depresses your immune system and makes you susceptible to attack not only from the fungus but also from other pathogens. Antibiotics are one form of mycotoxin, alcohol and various moulds are others.(6) It’s worth noting that mycotoxins are pretty much heat and cold resistant too, so cooking/freezing have little effect on them.

Speaking of alcohol, brewers yeast converts sugar into ethyl alcohol, so when consuming high levels of yeast, sugar, and carbs you may be experiencing the effects of both alcohol toxicity and of the by-product chemical acetaldehyde (which causes hangovers). You could literally be a walking micro-brewery with a constant hangover.(5) Bakers yeast is used to make bread rise – could it be making your abdominals rise through bloating too?

Ian Solley in his excellent ebook ‘I Cured My Candida - So Can You!’, put it like this:

‘Fermentation of sugars in the small intestine can produce poisonous gases such as ammonia, formaldehyde, and acidic chemicals that are absorbed into the bloodstream through the intestinal wall. (Itching skin after eating can be caused by this poison gas.) Additionally, as a result of this fermentation process, higher amounts of chromium, zinc, magnesium and oxygen are used, which deplete these minerals.’ (7)

Mycelial candida is a form of candida yeast which has grown tentacles and penetrated your tissues. This is linked with irritable bowel syndrome, leaky gut syndrome and so on. When your intestines are perforated by these tentacles, food can pass into your bloodstream and these provoke an immune system response – also known as an allergy or intolerance.

Candida is capable of rooting itself deep in every tissue of your body including the major organs – even crossing the blood-brain barrier to the brain. The chemicals it produces can be present in these tissues and can exert a profound effect on our wellbeing.

And not only that – fungi are constantly dying and releasing their toxins into your blood stream (when this happens as part of a program designed to kill all fungi in your body, levels of toxins can reach high levels and it can actually seem that any conditions are worsening). Dr. Mercola sees it like this:

‘There are 79 different toxins released by the metabolism and die-off of Candida. This is why people with yeast overgrowth often feel so lousy; the Candida toxins are regularly entering their bloodstream. Two of these toxins, alcohol and acetaldehyde (the breakdown product of alcohol that causes hangovers), are in such high amounts in people with chronic yeast problems that you may actually end up feeling “drunk.”

Acetaldehyde also reacts with the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is why people with yeast overgrowth often experience mental and emotional disturbances such as anxiety, depression, poor concentration, and feeling spaced-out.’ (4)

Cures

Luckily there’s plenty you can do to end the life of your fungi. We’ve already spoken about how food and toxicity can open the window to overgrowth and infection, so these are primary areas to consider.

Here are some specifics:

• Starve them. Cut out sugar in all its forms, even fruit. Follow a higher protein diet and only eat vegetables that are grown above ground – excluding all grains. Our elimination diet does a good job of this although some modifications (such as eliminating mushrooms) might be necessary. 
• Deprive them of toxins, helping your immune system to kill them at the same time. Follow a rigorous detox plan, and enlist the help of a qualified practitioner to ensure safety.
• Get your hair tested for heavy metals through Hair Mineral Analysis (HMA). Many people say that fungus is hard to eradicate until these have been eliminated. At the same time you’ll get a tissue mineral readout, and addressing this through targeted supplementation will also help your immune system and internal organs. We offer HMA here.
• Avoid the use of antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. If you have to, take plenty of probiotics immediately afterwards. Children’s versions are available.
• Take a good probiotic. They’re not all created equal and most are poor quality. The best we’ve found on the planet are here. Other good probiotics include kefir (a milk drink), and unsweetened goats yoghurt. These will help to displace bad bacteria and fungus.
• Take a prebiotic. Probiotics put new bacteria into your digestive tract, prebiotics revitalise the ones already there and will help immensely. We use Vogels ‘Molkosan Vitality with green tea extract’ and Eliminex.
• Bentonite clay binds to toxins in your digestive system and drags them out in combination with taking psyllium husk.
• Psyllium husk can mend leaky guts and gives your intestines a huge sweep through.
• Get colonic irrigation. It might sound extreme but most of us have hard, impacted, toxic faeces tucked away in the folds of our intestines. These not only provide friendly toxins for your fungi but also prevent optimal absorption of nutrients, again helping your fungi by weakening you.
• Pure water. Tap water is not pure, it contains contaminants. Pure water is a vital part of detoxing – a water filter or bottled water (we prefer a good reverse osmosis filter) will do the job.
• Take vitamin C. The RDA in the UK is under 100mg, we recommend taking 4000 to 8000mg per day, the only side effects might be loose stools and if you get them just reduce your intake. If you suffer from any form of kidney dysfunction, consult your doctor first. Vitamin C powders and tablets with bioflavonoids are easy come by.
• Reduce your stress – help your body.
• Pharmaceutical intervention may be required. There are plenty of systemic anti-fungals out there and your doctor can advise you. All have side effects, some serious including liver impairment. They can be worth the risk.
• Other supplements include Kyolic garlic, coconut oil, ionic silver, vitamin and mineral therapies and amino acid supplements, we unfortunately just don’t have the space to go into them all here!

A comprehensive program aimed at the eradication of fungi might involve additional testing and incorporate many of these ideas and supplements. A qualified practitioner will be able to help you.

Unfortunately this article can only go into the very basics of fungal infections, and we’ve barely managed to scratch the surface of what we believe is a vastly underrated condition. We hope you found it useful though, and that if you think you do have a fungal infection you’ll be inspired by the information here to conduct your own study and treatment.

Yours in health,

Craig Burton and Matt Brereton-Patel. 

References:

1. Kaufmann, D. The Fungus Link, MediaTrition, 2000.
2. Solley, I. I Cured My Candida, So Can You!
3. http://www.cancer-fungus.com/sub-v1en/sub-en.htm
4. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/08/05/fungus-causing-cancer-a-novel-approach-to-the-most-common-form-of-death.aspx?source=nl
5. Lewis, Lauren; et al (2005), "Aflatoxin Contamination of Commercial Maize Products during an Outbreak of Acute Aflatoxicosis in Eastern and Central Kenya", Environmental Health Perspectives 113, http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2005/7998/abstract.html
6. Kaufmann, D. The Fungus Link, MediaTrition, 2000, pp 107-108
7. Solley, I. I Cured My Candida, So Can You! pp26