Recovery of a long-time lurker

Hey all,
Longtime lurker, I’ve spent years figuring out what was wrong with me and then trying to correct it.
I stumbled on the Candida Forum s and realized I had a bad case of gut dysbiosis. These are my reasons:
Antibiotic abuse as a child, mother had auto-immune issues all her life, I have had asthma, dandruff, food allergies, insomnia, fat around the midsection, chronic tendonitis (I lift weights and found that my knees, wrists, and shoulders would always get inflamed after a month of intense training), and lifelong digestive issues.
After stumbling on this forum, I tried the candida diet and various anti-fungals. I tried garlic, all kinds of oils, iodine, even borax. While I saw improvement, nothing ever really stuck but I still had vicious die-off reactions, mainly from the borax.
By chance I stumbled on a few articles about the immune system and the TH1/TH2 branches. From what I’ve gathered a TH2 imbalance is implicated in all of these conditions. I also learned that once you lose the good flora in your gut it creates a positive feedback loop in which your TH1 system (which is very dependent on the good lactic acid producing bacteria in your body) gets compromised and the bad microflora (candida and others) are able to proliferate. In a healthy body, the TH1 immune system, along with the fact that there is no room in the gut for the bad bacteria to multiply, keep candida in check. It is very difficult to fight back against the candida once it proliferates because of this catch-22.
So I realized that the way to really fix this issue is to bolster the TH1 system while simultaneously “starving out” the candida as best you can. This is what I’ve been doing and I have seen great results in two weeks. All my issues are either gone or massively improved.
PROGRAM TO IMPROVE TH1 IMMUNITY:
This was mainly supplementation and rest. These are the supplements I think are crucial:

Liposomal vitamins: The company I use is LivOn Labs Lypo spheric products. They make three products: Vitamin C, glutathione, and a B-Complex (they call it AGE Blocker). While expensive, these are well worth the money. Start by taking one packet of each a day (be warned, they taste like death). I upped it to two, then four packets of each a day when I saw results. These are the supplements that made the most difference, in my opinion. A word to the wise, take these when you first wake up at first. It takes a while for your body to get used to them and if you take them before bed right away you may have trouble falling asleep.
The reason for using liposomal vitamins is absorption. They bypass the digestive tract and are readily absorbed in the liver and other cells that need them. This is crucial for people suffering from dysbiosis/candidiasis as regular vitamins are not absorbed as well as they would be by healthy people. According to their website, the absorption is on par or better than IV’s. From my experience I’m inclined to believe it. The glutathione supplement in particular is important because the liver in most dysbiotic people is already taxed and cannot produce enough glutathione to fight back. Glutathione is the master anti-oxidant and is the prime regulator for healthy TH1 function.

Colostrum: This is important for improving TH1 expression and healing the intestine. Awesome stuff. I used the Symbiotics brand capsules because apparently they withstand the stomach acids better and go straight to the gut. Vitacost.com sells these at a good price.

Shark Liver Oil: Same reason to use this as colostrum. Additionally, it’s doubles as a source of Omega 3 fatty acids, which are great for inflammation and heart health. Again, vitacost and amazon carry these.

Full Spectrum Mineral Supplement: I use chelated multi-mineral complex from whole foods. Any high quality one would work well though. I take them before going to sleep.

High Quality Multi-Vitamin: This is mainly for insurance. I’m sure you could make great progress without it, but I like to cover all my bases. I use Animal Pak multi-vitamins because they have high quality sources of vitamins in addition to digestive enzymes and essential and branched chain amino acids, along with a bunch of great anti-oxidants. Don’t let their marketing campaign (directed at bodybuilders) fool you, this is a quality product.

Vitamin D3: Again, just for insurance.
Notice there are no exclusive anti-fungals in this list. While they may work, they also subdue the immune system (what people call die-off, but I don’t buy it. When I actually started healing, there was virtually no die-off).

Sleep: 9 hours a night. At first, my night-time sleep was crap, so I would try to take naps during the day because I slept better then. After the first week, my insomnia was much better off.

Exercise: I like lifting weights, but any sort of activity is good. Just don’t go too intense or it may be counterproductive.

PROGRAM TO STARVE OUT CANDIDA:

Candida diet: enough said. Cut out all sugars and grains. Get plenty of protein and vegetables (preferably organic, grass fed, wild caught, etc.), along with your essential fatty acids. If you don’t get enough wild caught fish, supplement with a quality fish oils supplement, although the shark liver oil should take care of it. I also find myself eating only 1-2 meals a day because of convenience, but I think that intermittent fasting like this is also helpful. It’s also a great way to lose fat ;)

And that’s it. I thought I’d share it with you guys and see what you think/try it out. I am getting great results with this protocol and hope that as the candida is driven out, my good bacteria can re-proliferate.

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