Candida or Not?

It has been a bit of a bumpy ride the last couple of weeks. I was once again find myself saying - Okay Simone , so you have made some bad decision now it is time to get back on track again.

I got a diagnosis of Candida from my doctor based on my symptoms and a Candida questionnaire. He sad that test were not always conclusive and as I tested negative last year, it may come back negative now. He said we should just treat it.

So I went on medication and started making dietary changes. At first I resisted the dietary changes because they were so hard and the information from various sources contradictory. Books I took out on the illness were also not conclusive. Eventually the headaches, nausea and dizziness stopped. All I could think of was food. I ate at least one thing "wrong" everyday but not junk food. It was surmised that I would at least lose weight if nothing else. But no wheat, no sugar, no yeast - my food tasted like cardboard.

Slowly I began breaking my diet rules - at first with no side effects and then....... in the last two weeks a full breakdown in diet occurred and despite the fact that my symptoms came I kept saying to myself tomorrow I will start again. I even started drinking coffee again. Now I am congested, post nasal drip, some dizziness, heartburn, depression, lack of concentration, headaches have all returned.

One thing I learned from reading books on the subject, is that every persons recovery or path to wellness was different. They had some common traits:
1. Changing jobs or not working at all.
2. Finding out specific food triggers
3. Exercise (In some patients it was a reduction and others and increase)
Medication varied.

Today I start will more conviction and less doubt, armed with the experience of this last two months.

THE PLAN

JOB
I have a different teaching load for next year same amount of periods but a few different subjects. It looks a lot better than Fruit Salad of subjects I had this year. I plan to do a lot preparation this "Holiday". We are also working on our finances so I that I can take a 'year or so' off work. There is also a possibility of working overseas to better our financial position.

FOOD/DIET
Instead of going on an elimination diet right now by removing everything and then adding in slowly. I could maybe do this when the holidays start if necessary. I am going to exclude things and see if there is an improvement - Starting with coffee & junk food, then yeast, then sugar, then diary and then only and only then wheat.
In the meantime I plan to take a pro-biotic, colon cleanse (physlium Husk) and detox tea. I will follow a low GI diet.

EXERCISE
Brain Gym or Stretching every morning
Walking or DVD aerobics every day for 30min.
during the holidays I plan to increase it to 1hr per day - 30min in the morning and 30min in the afternoon. Including hiking and swimming.

Two more weeks till our Summer vacation!

My Butterfly transformation begins today !