Terrified of Anaphylaxis, Candida (Yeast) Overgrowth

[dragoness]

I'm 16, female, no known allergies, not on any medication. I have an extrodinary fear of anaphylaxis, to the point at one stage I actually stopped eating. I'm currently seeing a psychologist and working on this, but for some reason I have been noticing random hives on my body (which is obviously very disconcerting to me). And when I say random, I mean random. Any time of the day, any part of the body, at any location, and they occur regardless of food intake. After very extensive research, I have heard of candida (yeast) overgrowth, which has a wide range of symptoms, and it is very likely that I have this.

In more severe cases of candida overgrowth, it begins to affect your immune system and can cause allergies. I'm so scared of this happening. To kill off the candida, you have to go on the "Candida Diet" which is very strict, and consists of cutting out huge amouts of carbohydrates, sugars, lactose, and fermented foods. I am willing to go on this diet if it benefits my immune system and stops the hives aswell as my fear of allergies. However my biggest concern is if I cut out these foods, I'm scared that when I return to eating them my body will see them as foreign or dangerous and cause an allergic reaction. Is this likely or would it be the opposite???

Does anyone else have a similar fear or experienced candida overgrowth? Any advice would be appreciated please.

[Davit]

You can get caprocin in capsules and skip the diet.

[MyNameIsTerry]

No, you won't become allergic to foods you could eat before. The reason for this is that by addressing candida overgrowth (of the gut, not the other areas of the body it is found in too) you are returning your gut to a healthy state by rebalancing the good gut bacteria which is currently too low. As you do this, you start to cut down on sugary foods which candida lives off and also add more probiotics to your diet to allow your gut to repopulate with healthy bacteria. Something you may find interesting is that these healthy guy bacteria also eat the sugar, its just that you would be feeding the candida too right now when you want them to decline.

So, you can supplement with probiotics. This is a good thing anyway regardless of an overgrowth. You can also take things like cocunut oils that contain caprylic acid which is one of the things that literally pokes holes in the candida allowing the good bacteria to fight them easily. There are other things you can take to do similiar things.

But after this you are restoring your body back to what it was, you are not changing anything. So, its no different to any other elimination diet. Whether you want to eat the same foods as you did before could change sometimes but this can be seen in other elimination diets such as sugar elimination.

Candida overgrowth has links to all sorts of things but I its not an accepted medical diagnosis yet. Well, not in the UK anyway. So, GP's may be skeptical about it however that doesn't mean its not true and what they suggest to do has helped people. Supplementation of probiotics is still an unknown but there are studies starting to emerge that are changing that. Also, our NHS has started to change its stance on them by suggesting they may be ok alongside a course of antibiotics under a GP's supervision. Antibiotics are known to kill heathly gut bacteria off and this is one of the root causes leading to candida overgrowth so that tells me that the medical world is coming around to it but until they have accepted clinical evidence, they don't endorse things. Remember, many antidepressants and other meds used in mental health are used "off label".

[Fishmanpa]

Well... you're 16 and this is a "fear" you have that thankfully you're working on with a mental health professional. The fear of candida will wane as well. There's no connection with a random hive and this ailment that you've obviously researched and convinced yourself you have. Changing or restricting your diet, especially in light of your current fears and eating habits would be detrimental IMO. I would discuss this with your therapist and if the hives persist, ask your parents to take you to your doctor.

Positive thoughts

[Emilym80]

Why would the candida diet make you cut fermented foods when they're the best thing for gut health?

As the others have said, if you think you have this then you can sort it out and things should resolve themselves as your gut health improves. If you want to go the extra mile you can take probiotic supplements and consume lots of ginger and fermented foods.

Take care.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Why would the candida diet make you cut fermented foods when they're the best thing for gut health?

As the others have said, if you think you have this then you can sort it out and things should resolve themselves as your gut health improves. If you want to go the extra mile you can take probiotic supplements and consume lots of ginger and fermented foods.

Take care.

Its based on the principle that fermented foods can include different types of yeasts. Some of these are more friendly than others. The diet removes them on the basis that they could cause problems in some people.

Not all candida diet styles agree with that, some state to avoid certain ones like Kombucha as it has the less beneficial yeasts that are harder to use as opposed to certain other fermented foods such as kefir.

The thing is, hives could be all sorts of things. People doing candida cleanses, I think, have had hives due to deriving too much yeast from fermented foods.

I would suggest the OP sees their GP about the hives. Maybe it is a yeast issue?