Top 8 Natural Candida Remedies for Effective Relief

At last some believable independent research from PubMed on the useful action of Virgin Coconut Oil on candida.

I stumbled onto this research paper which duly confirms that a substance called D, L-2-hydroxyisocaproic acid (HICA) will act against candida in the following way: inhibits candida growth; inhibits and reduces biofilm formation; reduces the production of candida waste poisons like acetaldehyde; destroys candida hyphae; inhibits the mutagenicity(cancer forming) of candida waste poisons; reduces inflammation.

In case anyone is wondering what the heck D, L-2-hydroxyisocaproic acid is -- VCO contains caproic acid and D, L-2-hydroxyisocaproic acid is just an isomer of the same.

So what they are really talking about in this research paper is why VCO, which also contains caproic acid, is so hugely beneficial as a natural supplement when you have systemic candida problems. Notably, VCO also contains caprylic acid, lauric acid and myristic acid -- all with additional, wide-acting and significant action across many pathogen species as well.

Here is the research Abstract:

"The ability of C. albicans to form biofilms is a major virulence factor and a challenge for management. This is evident in biofilm-associated chronic oral-oesophageal candidosis, which has been shown to be potentially carcinogenic in vivo. We have previously shown that most Candida spp. can produce significant levels of mutagenic acetaldehyde (ACH). ACH is also an important mediator of candidal biofilm formation. We have also reported that D, L-2-hydroxyisocaproic acid (HICA) significantly inhibits planktonic growth of C. albicans. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of HICA on C. albicans biofilm formation and ACH production in vitro. Inhibition of biofilm formation by HICA, analogous control compounds or caspofungin was measured using XTT to measure biofilm metabolic activity and PicoGreen as a marker of biomass. Biofilms were visualised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). ACH levels were measured by gas chromatography. Transcriptional changes in the genes involved in ACH metabolism were measured using RT-qPCR. The mean metabolic activity and biomass of all pre-grown (4,24,48 h) biofilms were significantly reduced after exposure to HICA (p<0.05) with the largest reductions seen at acidic pH. Caspofungin was mainly active against biofilms pre-grown for 4 h at neutral pH. Mutagenic levels (>40 �M) of ACH were detected in 24 and 48 h biofilms at both pHs. Interestingly, no ACH production was detected from D-glucose in the presence of HICA at acidic pH (p<0.05). Expression of genes responsible for ACH catabolism was up-regulated by HICA but down-regulated by caspofungin. SEM showed aberrant hyphae and collapsed hyphal structures during incubation with HICA at acidic pH. We conclude that HICA has potential as an antifungal agent with ability to inhibit C. albicans cell growth and biofilm formation. HICA also significantly reduces the mutagenic potential of C. albicans biofilms, which may be important when treating bacterial-fungal biofilm infections. "

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24867320

Other References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24990903

As an adult woman I've had a few yeast infections but last year I was given some really strong antibiotics and after that I had what was a permanent yeast infection for a year. I also have a skin condition called psoriasis. I came across the possibility of a severe candida infection and began researching. I finally came across this website about Lufenuron, which is actually a veterinary drug. I ordered it online, it arrived from the Czech Republic, I was a bit concerned - but I went for it. It worked.

None of my natural remedies worked, and though I'm all for natural I cannot tell you the relief I have now. It was well worth the die-off (yeah, I woke up in the middle of the night with a raging migraine and puked my guts out) and feeling very ill for a few days. But it's been 3 weeks now and no sign of the yeast infection. I am not at all associated with this company or anything like that - but I am dedicated to sharing this info with as many people as possible so I?m trying to retrace my digital steps and visit all the forums I looked at while I was trying to find help so I could help you all.

This is what gets rid of candida for me:

• a wormwood combination product (from vitacost online) that contains wormwood, black walnut, cloves, quassia and male fern root.
• white oak bark taken on an empty stomach with a digestive enzyme,
• a really good probiotic (not one from your local drugstore)
• super strength odorless garlic capsules

It's very important to keep your body alkaline and a fizzy alkalizer with potassium bicarbonate and natural alkalizers works a lot better than baking soda to do this. I buy a good one online from swanson's.

I must eat complex carbs for energy, and so I take these remedies when the candida gets bad.

I suffered from severe systemic candida albicans for a long time. I visited several naturopaths & tried remedy after remedy. I followed the (VERY) strict diet, & lost almost 30 lbs in 1 1/2 months (which left me at 93 lbs! ) I have a large box of all the different stuff that I have tried that didn't work. I ended up getting a really bad cold & flu after about 7 months on the diet which worked unless I dared take a bite of anything I wasn't supposed to eat. Because I was so sick, I went off all the herbal suplements I was on & started taking garlic (1 clove cut up into little pieces & swallowed), 3 - 4 times per day to stop the terrible cough I had. After about a week, I was starting to feel a little better & was making a pizza for my family & couldn't resist taking a small bite of cheese & sauce (which should have produced itchy reaction within 5 minutes or less). NOTHING! I couldn't believe it! So I had a bite of the pizza including the crust (flour guaranteed a reaction! ) STILL NOTHING! NO REACTION! I ate the whole (small) pizza! NO REACTION!!! After that I went nuts! I ate everything, & if I felt any kind of reaction starting (usually just with very sugary foods), I just take a clove of garlic & within minutes I'm fine!

Update: I was really going overboard on the desserts & started having symptoms coming back, so I have to be reasonable with the sugar intake & I'm also taking a very good probiotic (70,000 billion) (I take 2) which works by far the best of the MANY that I tried) (140 billion) per day which definately helps, as I now eat almost everything!

Iodine may be your answer. Try googling iodine therapy for effective elimination of candida.

Gingermegs: The live brewers yeast used to make bread is a very effective home remedy. There are before and after photos on the web of children who had thrush who were cured in a very short time.

Alcohol and anything with caffeine will flush water soluble vitamins out of your system quickly: B vitamins and vitamin C in particular. A friend's candida infection cleared up when she took B6.

BETTER BUT WITH SIDE EFFECTS

I have had candida symptoms for almost 3 years. I got several rounds of prescriptions for fluconozole 100 mg. Everytime the symptoms disappeared within 3 days but returned after 3 or 4 months. I tried taking ACV everyday (2 tbsp diluted in a glass of water) for a while. It made me feel better but not completely cured. In the last 3 weeks I have had severe depression for the first time in my life and an overall "depleted" feeling. I finally decided that it might be linked to the candida. I had 20 mule borax in the house and decided to start taking it as prescribed by Ted: 1/8 tsp in a liter of water throughout the day, everyday for 5 days.

I am on day 5. I started feeling better after day 3. Now on day 5, I woke up with severe flu like symptoms, feverish, headache, extreme weakness, fever blisters, sinus congestion, and a crawling sensation under my skin. I am thinking that either I caught a bug or these are "candida die off" symptoms, which I never experienced with fluconozole. I will stop the borax cure for 2 days as prescribed by Ted and then resume for 5 days. I will post again to share the results.

Hi Wendy, I can only give my experience and observations. Many years ago I tried that theory out because some people I met were doing it and they said they were better for it. What I found was that I was very thirsty and it certainly did not improve my health in fact my eczema got worse and migraines came more often so I stopped. The people I knew who started this appeared to improve in health but all (and I mean everyone of them) did not keep their good health. My belief is that their health initially improved because they also dropped junk food and improved their diet. Most people did not stick with it. The few I knew who did got sick. The 2 that were the reason I gave it a try lived in pain with only minimal sleep and 1 died in their 60s the other lived another 10 years in severe pain till they died. These 2 lovely people started this when they were in their early forties. You should ask the nutritionists that are recommending this for examples of people who have been following this regime for 20 years.

For every clogged ear and nose problems, including runny or puffy nose, the answer is Bill Thompson's protocol: 4 drops of Lugol Iodine in filtered water and rinse your nose if needed twice a day until it is all cleared.

Hope this will help you as it helped me.

I suffered from candidiasis after I had had 4 days of iv antibiotics (in hospital) for a bowel infection - and then, while my intestines were quite vulnerable (flora imbalance), I ate a mouldy pancake (unknowingly of course). Huge, itchy red welts spread over my body withins days. I even had white fungus growth in my ear canals (my ENT specialist showed me on his video screen). I tried most of the remedies on this site with some success (oregano oil, bicarb in drinking water, kefir and h2o2 etc). With each remedy that I tried, I got better but found it was true that I had to make sure I was trying new anti-fungals and alkalining remedies to keep on top of the infection (apparently, it mutates very quickly). It wasn't until I drank Chamomile tea that all my symptoms finally disappeared.

I had 3 cups of hot and v strong chamomile tea within a couple of hours (I used tea bags, although I imagine loose leaf would have been better). It gave me a big headache but I kept it up with at least 2 cups per day, for the next week.

I have been free of candidiasis for 2 years now and feel that the combination of exercise, healthy eating (alkalising foods), rotating anti-fungals and especially chamomile tea helped me enormously.

Hi Becky...If you have a fungal infection in the ear then this could just be an external symptom of systemic candida(infecting your blood). So you should continue with the anti-candida protocol.

You could also perhaps try using 1% solution of hydrogen peroxide. Fill a dropper with 1% HP and squirt it carefully and slowly into the infected ear. Tip your head and massage around the ear lightly and allow the HP to go deep into your ear passages. And yes, it will tickle and fizz which is proof enough that HP is killing the pathogens in your ear. If you can, keep the HP in your ear until the fizzing greatly reduces or stops. When you're finished just tip the HP out of your ear into the sink. You should use this protocol for both ears -- at least once a day until the infection disappears.

You should not really eat sweet fruit or honey of you have candida. Most sweet fruits contain fructose which is a favourite food for candida and other pathogens. So you should really try to avoid avoid sugar, carbohydrates and fruits as best you can if you have systemic candida issues.

You are also right -- I did eat fruit in the beginning when I took my protocol but eventually gave it up to good effect. Don't forget that was over 11 years ago -- I know a heck of alot more about candida now than I did all those years ago.

I must also admit that I do eat fruit now for breakfast depending on seasonal availability -- sometimes yellow mango or carabao mango, native pineapple (not Del Monte), pomelo (grandfather of the grapefruit), dalandan (small, sour native orange), rambutan (a bit like lychees), apple, lanzones, soursop (like graviola), grapes, calamansi (like small lime -- used in hot or cold sour drinks and dips), mangosteen, tamarind fruit(unprocessed), coconut water. Always fresh and never in excess.

Addrienne from Chicago: I see you have the same question I do. I take ACV and I am trying to make my daughter take it as well for her candida symptoms but that's her argument; that she is not supposed to ingest vinegar. Well I have google ACV for candida and it is a big yes! Here is a copy of one the sites I went:
"If apple cider vinegar helps cure candida yeast infections, then why do some people say to avoid fermented foods for candida?"

The recommendation to avoid fermented foods and vinegar in order to cure candida is misleading. I believe it comes from the desire to avoid moldy foods and fermented yeasty beverages like beer and wine.
Mold aggravates candida symptoms and alcohol is a yeast fermentation product, where, in some cases, yeasts can still be present in the beverage. Some people feel it's best to avoid yeast in any form when following a candida diet (but that's for another page altogether).

Alcohol is a waste product of yeasts eating sugar. The reason it's best to avoid alcohol when doing a natural candida cure diet is because the candida yeasts excrete alcohol as a byproduct of sugar metabolism, which contribute to the feelings of brain fog, lack of coordination, fatigue and muscle weakness. We don't want to add even more alcohol to a body which is already a little "drunk".

Note: That's why my candida recipes are all low carbohydrate; carbohydrates are sugars. Sugars feed candida. Candida produces alcohol as a waste product of eating the sugars.

Alcohol and vinegar both go through a fermentation process, in fact, vinegar is made from alcohol!

But they're not the same. Just as mold and naturally fermented sauerkraut are quite different from each other.

In very simplified terms - Wine is made from fruit juice which has undergone a yeast fermentation, where the yeasts ferment the sugars into alcohol. Making vinegar from wine involves another fermentation process, called acetobacter fermentation. Acetobacter is a kind of bacteria which converts alcohol into acetic acid (the major component in vinegar).

By the time something has been fermented into vinegar, there are no more yeasts or sugars to worry about.

Along the same fermentation lines as apple cider vinegar (and therefore similar in its benefits) is sauerkraut that has been fermented by lactic acid bacteria. Cabbage is one of the easiest vegetables to ferment, as its naturally loaded with lactic acid bacteria.

Sauerkraut is sour because the bacteria has fermented the sugars in the cabbage. It's the same reason vinegar tastes sour. Fermented foods like vinegar and sauerkraut are not at all like wine, beer, or mold.

Stay away from mold whenever possible."

I hope this helps if not just google Apple cider vinegar for candida. Good health to you.

Do not use boric acid!!! It is borax--the laundry booster found in the laundry detergent aisle at the grocery store. Boric acid is poison!!!

Betty - Even though I would never consume my own urine, it is my belief that if this therapy helps people I have no right to criticize their choice. By the way, the main ingredient of the estrogen replacement thereapy drug Premarin is urine, hence the name Premarin comes from PREgnant MARes uRINe. That has never been a secret. Also, urea (derived from urine) is often listed as an ingredient in cosmetics.

Please don't criticize a wonderful website because you find one therapy disgusting. Many people have been helped with advice from all over the world for their various ailments.

TRUST ME, THIS IS ABOUT CANDIDA...

I didn't get over my illness until:

1) I discovered that I had been living with intestinal parasites. My physicians didn't believe that I was ill at all. They didn't want to waste their time and resources testing, don't you know. I was so happy to have them *diagnose* the animalia I presented to them in a box.

(a) the parasites, worms, protected themselves by secreting a biofilm which is both immunomodulating and immunosuppressing. Do you honestly believe my physicians knew / told me that?

2) My physicians explained, (ie., LIED), to me and explained that I had "IBS". Try googling the two words: "IBS" and "TRASHCAN DIAGNOSIS".

(a) "IBS" is a catch all *syndrome* which physicians use to substitute for real medical diagnosis, given that they do not have the time, inclination, energy or desire to solve your health problems for you. They have other things to think about.

3) Once I discovered, after nearly two decades of living in a near constant state of hopelessness, that there was an alternative, legitimate community of health care providers known as alternative, holistic, integrative and herbal medicine, I decided to take the initial plunge into the world of colon hydrotherapy.

(a) This felt great.

4) I went on a candida free diet. I went to an alternative health clinic. I paid $40 for a refrigerated, very fine grain powder, mycostatin. In 3 weeks, I was 85% better. I can now eat fruit, veggies, grains, eggs, etc.,. I had not eaten these things in over a decade. How awful is that!

5) I returned to my HMO with the good news. They were upset. Pissed off even. They couldn't believe that I would BETRAY them like that! How dare I go outside of my HMO! I had gotten off their hook!

(a) I visited a gastroenterologist at my HMO, for kicks. I asked him to take a look at the word, nystatin, which is the generic form of mycostatin. He had never heard of it before but he was willing to do what I asked. It turns out, my HMO's database stated that NYSTATIN WAS INDICATED IN THE TREATMENT OF IBS. Funny thing is, nystatin is a broad spectrum antifungal. And very, very few doctors in mainstream medicine are using it to treat IBS. I met a woman suffering from the same thing I had. She gave me the name of her gastroenterologist. Same dude. I asked her if he had given her a prescription for nystatin. She told me, "No, what is that!"

And so it goes...

Acid Reflux - Sinus Infection - Sore Throat - Acidophilus -- Based on personal experience the Polish Girl has it right, it's the diet. Dump the yeasty carbohydrate sugary stuff. After a sore throat that lasted a few months with several different diagnoses and antibiotics, health practitioner said most people really suffering from too much yeast in system which causes a huge variety of illnesses. Change the diet to starve/kill yeast in system now. Yeast thrives on sugar, sweets, fruits, carbs, and of course bread, pasta.

For 3 months my husband and I ate nothing but veggies and meat. Cut the wine and beer from diet too. Also took supplements that rid the body of fungus as well as very strong acidophilus.

Winthin one week, sore throat was gone.

2 Weeks - acid reflux disappeared completely (yay no more prilosec). Sore arthritic feeling knees stopped.

3 or 4 weeks - husband and i who suffer sinus infections frequently quit sneezing, coughing, etc. No more sinus infections for either of us.

3 years later - unfortunately I quit the diet because of pregnancy and dr. advised it would be bad for baby. Now sore knees and throat are back, and now have MRSA. With a lot of the cures here dealing with toxin cleansing etc. I wonder if yeast helps breed the MRSA?? Unfortunately, when I tell friends of my miracle cure when they are ill, their response is 'i could never change my diet that drastically' and they continue seeking that quick fix. Our forefathers had it right -- "You are what you eat".

Before you jump into curing your candida, try to figure out the unlying cause first. I have been trying different candida remedies...oil of oregano, parasite cleanses, cleaning up my diet...and I still suffer from all the terrible symptoms. One day I started reading out metal toxicity and how candida is farmed by the body to absorb the extra metal. So I decided to order an oral chelation kit for metal detox and something interesting has happened since. I have been on the program for about two weeks with no major physical improvements. But this morning I went to have my bi-monthly colonic and the lady who administers noticed that a LOT of yeast was coming out of my body! I do believe the metal detox is helping and the yeast is dying. Since then I have been feeling better today...more energy, slightly clearer head, and NO insane sugar cravings. If you have metal fillings like I do then you may want to seriously consider doing a metal detox and see if that helps with the candida. I plan to have my metal fillings removed when I have the money to do so. And make sure you get a good oral chelation kit, not just a cheap bottle of EDTA. Do your research...you need a good combination of other herbs as well to do a successful detox as well as a digestible antioxidant formula.

I vote Yea! The comments posted for this one intrigued me to do some more research on cream of tartar. Here's what I found. Cream of Tartar is NOT the same thing as Tartaric Acid - although some try to use the names synonymously.

The technical name for Cream of tartar is potassium bitartrate which is not exactly the same as straight tartaric acid. It is formed during the cold stabilization process in wine making and happens when the potassium that naturally occurs in grapes binds with the tartaric acid which also naturally occurs in grapes. Thus diluting (neutralizing) the tartaric acid and making a white crystalline substance called potassium bitartrate.

Let's also note that cream of tartar is a food grade substance which is regulated by the US FDA. It is widely used in baking, as well as some sodas and lots of other foods. If it were that toxic to the consumer, I sincerely doubt the Food and Drug Administration would allow it to be freely used in foods available to everyone!

I had a very bad case of Candida last winter. It was extremely harsh. My crotch and butt were itchy and sometimes burned, my mood was agitated, I was suffering from insomnia. To finally get rid of the ailment, I went on a sugar-free diet and took some medication from my doctor. This was great. It killed all the candida within days. My problem then became a severe flu, as my body was not getting rid of the dead candida fast enough. My body was basically experiencing toxic shock. I took tons of fiber, drank gallons of water over several days. This finally made me feel better. Now, I just take Grapefruit seed extract in water every few days to keep the candida at bay. It is very effective at eliminating candida after it has set in as well, but you should take a diuretic to get the dead candida out of you. For candida, take 5-6 drops of GSE in 20oz of water. Drink in one sitting. Do this once each day for 3 days. May cause heartburn. If so, water down the dosage or use fewer drops (3-4).

Very few people, except maybe doctors, know that candida albicans grows when your body's pH is acid and therefore, it makes for feasibility of taking baking soda to raise your body's pH but also using some potassium carbonate to further raise the pH as a means of killing Candida albicans appears to be quite feasible.

Candida albicans optimum growth pH is a 4, but it can grow between pH 3 - 7, however most hospital's antiseptic is usually acid which makes it rather ineffective in the killing and the spread of candida albicans. The research below also implies that taking digestive enzymes supplements will also destroy the candida also. Ted

Here is a research abstract:

Effect of pH and human saliva on protease production by Candida albicans.

G R Germaine and L M Tellefson

This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract

The elaboration of extracellular proteolytic activity by Candida albicans during growth in laboratory broth or in human whole salivary supernatant was investigated. Growth of the organism in broth at pH 3 to 7 followed by assay of culture supernatants at pH 4 (optimum for activity) indicated protease was only present in cultures grown at a pH of less than 5. In contrast, growth in sterile human whole salivary supernatant over the pH range of 3 to 7 uniformly failed to result in production of protease. Growth of the organism at pH 4 in broth supplemented with saliva resulted in a saliva-dependent inhibition of protease production. Although the addition of up to 16% (vol/vol) saliva had essentially no effect on growth, 4% saliva caused a 50% reduction in proteolysis of substrate protein. Due to the low pH requirement for protease production and activity and the demonstration that saliva is a potent inhibitor of protease synthesis, we conclude C. albicans most likely does not produce extracellular protease in the human oral cavity.

I am suprised that people on this forum talk about the symptoms of candida and what to take - vinegar, supplements, etc but for those that have had persistent problems with this year no one has mentioned why some people get it and others don't. The one often overlooked fact is that these people have heavy metals and chemical toxicity. Although Uranium and then Lead are the most toxic metals, Mercury is the one metal that will do more damage to the bodies cell walls that all the other metals and chemicals. It is a metal detox people need to do to get rid of persistent candida and fatigue.

This same boric acid remedy stopped recurrent yeast infections I had been having for several years. Just as a side note, make sure you buy the boric acid in the pharmacy that's for minor cuts, not the borax from the laundry aisle.

In response to 10/01/2008: Leigh from Dallas, TX:

It isn't appropriate to add up the dosage over a two week period like this. Lethal Dose information informs how much is deadly if taken in one sitting. It certainly does not inform you how much can be taken over consecutive days, let alone a two week period.

I could quite safely drink 3 glasses of wine a day over 2 weeks. However if I drank all that alcohol in one sitting I would certainly die. Even the meat we consume over two weeks would cause death from protein poisoning if we were to eat it all at once (yes, there really is such a thing as protein poisoning).

Z

Hi,

Which brand of molasses did/do you use?

Do you take it with meals or empty stomach (1 hour before or 2 hours after meals)?

Dissolved in water or straight?

Thank you

The best way to defeat candidiasis is an 80/10/10 diet, many people think sugar is culprit, we just realized that fat is the culprit because fat makes sugar stay in the body much longer and has a better chance for feeding candida. People got on anti-candida diet and still struggle with it. Ok check out this video and hope you get it, https://youtu.be/7vFcFARfYxY

Brewers Yeast is wonderful on salads, eggplant, even popcorn.

If patient has the yeast Pichia there will be no Candida. Bacteria/Fungus/Yeast all have to live harmoniously together. I just heard this on the Dr Gundry podcast. Hope this may help someone.

Hi Sidney, I was diagnosed with candida overgrowth 3 years ago, mainly the result of taking inhaled corticosteroids for many years for asthma (which I no longer have BTW). Anyway, one of the best things that helped me get a handle on starving and killing it off was hydrogen peroxide therapy, using 35% food-grade hydrogen peroxide diluted to a 1 to 11 ratio in distilled water. This therapy really helped clear out the pockets of fungus that kept showing themselves and really helped my body flush out the toxins. The full therapy takes a while to complete, but is very effective. Also I did not have any negative side effects at all.

What I did was put the drops of diluted H2O2 in 8 oz. of juice or tea and drank that every morning and afternoon on an empty stomach. I started with 3 drops and increased it by 1 drop every day until I reached 25 drops. I stayed at that level for 31 days before I started decreasing it by 1 or 2 drops until I reached a level of 15 drops. I stayed at that level for a couple of weeks before I decreased the dose again until I reached 10 drops, stayed at that again for a couple of weeks, and then decreased to 5 drops, and finally back to 3 drops, which I still maintain. To make the diluted solution, put 1 oz. of full strength 35% food-grade hydrogen peroxide into a glass container and add 11 oz. of distilled water. This should be stored in the refrigerator. Using an eye-dropper, add the drops to the juice and drink it all at once. Candida is a very persistent and strong parasitic organism and will be fighting for its life once you begin the therapy. If at anytime you experience extreme detoxing symptoms, do not increase the drops until your body stabilizes. If necessary, drop back to the dose you were able to take and stay at that level until you feel able to resume increasing drops.

I hope this is helpful and I wish you all the best in your journey to good health! Flower's Mom

This is amazing. Thank you. I believe this has controlled my life for so many years. I do not do sugar, except on occasions. Its a very bad thing for me. I know when I get sick and do miso with brown rice and veggies I feel better, but it doesn't stay. My gut balance has been out of whack for soooo many years. I am just finding out about food grade HP therapy. I read someone's post that said she uses HP in her ears for postnasal drip (3 drops each ear) and it has helped with a multitude of ailments. I tried that yesterday and it did help tremendously. The body is a miracle and if I can get back to a healthy balance I will be so grateful. Thanks.