Fungal Link

Has anyone read the book the Fungal Link by Doug Kaufman? Or has used his diet and program? His thought is if you havwe tried everything else, had numerous tests and you still aren't healed, think Fungus! Would appreciate any comments.


What I learned in treating and curing a yeast/fungal infection is to get beyond the infection itself and look for its cause. I treated my yeast infection for 2 years with diet, antifungals and supplements and only succeeded in making it worse. Once I started to investigate and treat the cause of the yeast infection, I recovered.

I had the same experience with my daughter and with a colleague. Interestingly the causes of the yeast infections were quite varied but their infections and symptoms cleared up once the causes were resolved.

For info, causes included:

> Heavy metal toxicity
> Furniture contaminated with pesticides and toxic dye residues
> Bedroom with heavy mold growth

In every case, when these causes were resolved, the Candida yeast problems gradually reolved and all 3 of us are fully recovered after several years of chronic illness


Steve your experiences are valuable and you have a valid point but � yeast guru�s [Crook Cranton ,Truss] have treated thousands of yeast victims and they say antibiotics are the single most cause of a yeast overgrowth. .Other complications ensue from that including metal toxicity and must be addressed as part of any treatment ..but as a cause antibiotics must be regarded as the most likely rout.


Antibiotics might very well be the cause of yeast overgrowth, but the whole point steve is trying to make, and which I agree with, is this: A normal, healthy immune system will be able to defend itself against yeast overgrowth when antibiotics are taken. Most people in fact DO NOT have yeast overgrowth when given antibiotics. But in people who are susceptible, it's a trigger. Some people get yeast from not ever having taken antibiotics. That's just some people weakness.

What everyone here needs to accept is that it's likely that genetic or environmental factors are allowing or perpetuating yeast overgrowth. Yeast is never the sole problem. People with yeast have a whole slew of problems. Giardia, B Hominis, Klebsielle, Yersinia, lack of lactobacillus. Yeast is only one of the problems.

One guy on here said he was "cured" of yeast, but still was on a zero sugar diet and had to remain on one in order to be "cured". What you have there is not a cure. You have the yeast under control since your body can't do it by itself. That's my whole point. Our bodies are ill equipped to deal with these semi-pathogens as I'll call them.


antibiotics destroy beneficial flora that balance yeast but are also acidic - and yeast overgrowth is a natural process of decomposition in the body to help eliminate dead waste material, only we are the living hence the problem with the breakdown - logically balancing all acide would fix the problem, but there's something up with cold/warmth too - in tao nutrition and I have had more success paying attention to that than all the acidic stuff but I combine and progressing
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Hi Paul,

I read the books, tried the treatments, killed off the yeast a dozen times (confirmed by lab analysis)and it simply came back.

Antibiotics overuse still begs the question; why were so many antibiotics prescribed in the first place? My guess would be because the patient was already showing signs of immune incompetence and the antibiotics were given to treat chronic infection caused by resulting opportunistic organisms.

Cause....immune incompetence ....opportunistic infections .....antibiotics ..... yeast diagnosis ....endless years of yeast infection.

I don�t think it was a case of why so many antibiotics �.more to the point is the fact that they were prescribed at all ..Dr Truss [google �The Missing Diagnosis] started to notice yeast symptoms following antibiotics back in the fifties �we�ve gone downhill from there.. I�m old enough to remember when asthma was a rare condition �

Infections have been the curse of us for millennia I don�t think its fair to say recent [pre antibiotics]infections are the result of immune dysfunction, after all it�s a western phenomena the eastern societies say were genetically flawed ..it all makes sense, until that is you examine the health records of those from the east who have settled in the west. They suffer more than us with western illness�s�

I don�t disagree that other factors can and do cause yeast ,I have reported here that I have come across people who give me classic symptoms of yeast following exposure a toxic atmosphere, it�s clear that the balance of our gut flora is very fragile ..i do agree with those who believe that even one course of antibiotics will swing the balance , it maybe a small swing but add the huge amount of refined sugar that is now part of the western diet and ten or more years down the line, bingo some auto immune disease .

Data is scarce, but this mouse study concludes
�These results are consistent with the theory that demethylation of methylmercury by intestinal microflora is a major factor determining the excretion rate of mercury.�

So in the chicken and egg situation �it�s the chicken first with damaged gut flora and the egg is acumination of metals ..in most cases that is �Paul

Effects of diet on mercury metabolism and excretion in mice given methylmercury: role of gut flora.
� Rowland IR,
� Robinson RD,
� Doherty RA.
Mice fed either (1) a pelleted rodent diet, (2) evaporated milk, or (3) a synthetic diet (high protein, low fat) exhibited different rates of whole body mercury elimination and fecal mercury excretion after exposure (per os) to methylmercuric chloride. The percentage of the total mercury body burden present as mercuric mercury was highest (35.3%) in mice fed the synthetic diet (which had the highest rate of mercury elimination) and lowest (6.6%) in the animals having the lowest mercury elimination rate (milk-fed mice). Mice fed the synthetic diet had lower mercury concentrations and had a higher proportion of mercuric mercury in their tissues than the mice from the other dietary groups. Treatment of the mice with antibiotics throughout the experimental period to suppress the gut flora reduced fecal mercury excretion and the dietary differences in whole body retention of mercury. Tissue mercury concentrations and proportion of organic mercury in feces, cecal contents, liver, and kidneys were increased by antibiotic treatment of mice fed the pelleted or synthetic diets. These results are consistent with the theory that demethylation of methylmercury by intestinal microflora is a major factor determining the excretion rate of mercury.
PMID: 6524959 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]


Paul, I agree that abx are devastating. I believe I have taken over 100 courses in my lifetime, been off them now for 7 years, and am relieved to see that the body CAN make an amazing recovery given time.

Hi Shari , I�m very glad to see that you now can do without abx�s .any reason for that ? What is your health status now? , and yes it is amazing how we can recover , my gut is now perfect after decades of irritable bowel..i wouldn�t have thought it possible �Paul


I've noticed something VERY important regarding mercury detox,the point of which is in the last paragraph below.

I started attempting to treat mercury toxicity in oct of 2000, with my first and most unfortunate dmps IV - set at 40% a normal dose. I became incredibly sick, with an existing giardia infection AND candida overgrowth going through the roof. My gut problems including poor digestion and food allergies went ballistic and my weight plummeted.

The subsquent 4 years I made next to NO progress with metal treatments, as each attempt ended up with similar results. This even includes the use of chlorella, which is supposed to be poorly absorbed and according to Klinghardt mobilizes next to NO metals. However, in my case, I'd get gut problems and sores on my chest even with chlorella.


So anyway, here's the big point...

I noticed within weeks of starting to treat babesia that I could handle metal chelators better. I started artemisinin for babs around early August 04. I can now handle arbitrary amounts of chlorella.

I now beleieve that it's very likely in many cases borrelia/babs diminish the bodies ability to detox metals. It's well known that lyme patients are totally depleted in gsh. In fact, Wellness pharmacy told me on the phone that the specifically designed their intranasal gsh for lyme patients.

Then of course, the metals feedback into the immune problems. Candida and certain parsasite overgrowths are par for the course at this point.

Klinghardt believes one should pursue heavy metal detox AFTER treating the major lyme/coinfections, which include many infections beyond tick-borne. He also believes that pesticides are among the most important factors lowering our immunity to borrelia in the first place.

I think borrelia is capable of getting this entire ball rolling. Note that Klinghardt and many others believe that most likely the vast majority of us have borrelia at this point. It may be mere time, or random stressful periods, or toxicity, or a tick-borne coinfection that actually triggers lyme.

So I'm not sure this is a chicken and egg proglem. Poor western diets along with new industrial-age toxins have lowered our immunity to many bugs like borrelia. Borrelia (and others) can slowly wittle away at IS, until some critical level is reached, where metals and other toxins start to accumuate, the IS is severely compromised and other opportunistic infections including candida take hold. Obviously antibiotics can accelerate this process at ANY stage of this process the patient happens to be at.


I like happy endings ,,but yes it�s well known that mobilising metals is a very dodgy business slowly does it is the , mind I have no experience at all on chelation so I wouldn�t even comment on treatment .. have you read Cranton on chelation?

One ,more very relevant fact on the toxic world causing an immune dysfunction ..
When the Hygiene hypothesis was floated it was envisaged that when the west walked into east Germany because of the lack of �medicines� and the very high pollution illness would be rife ..The opposite was true ..so much for the pollution theory ..

Hi Paul,

Couple of points on the German 'theory'

Firstly, very few West Germans 'walked' into East Germany...due to uncertainty about property ownership. Plenty of East Germans heading west however

Second, most of East Germany's industry closed down almost directly after the wall fell. Simply not competitive.

Third, most polluting East German cars like the Trabant appeared inthe West then dissappeared like desert blooms. Now you see them, now you don't

Fourth. Who is tracking and correlating pollution levels and chronic illness? Since chronic illness is not notifiable, where would the data come from? My advice, treat reports like that with a great deal of suspicion



Steve ,I was speaking figuratively when I said the west walked into east Germany ..
The thing is the west suddenly had access to east Germany�s health records .

.It was confidently predicted that the east Germans would have significantly more ill health �After all we are ever so clever with our drugs arsenal !! and they never had them.
And all them trebants ,, not to mention the dirty power stations �Health and safety executive thav�e never heard of em �.No doubt they should have been on their knees

What a surprise to find that they were MUCH healthier then us in the west

Hence the Hygiene Hypothesis ..which roughly translates into, the more bugs you encounter the more you build your adaptive immune system .It seems we have been too clean too efficient in eradicating bugs ..What bullshit , we are in contact constantly with zillions of microbes , your average cat is a reservoir of microbes

And what about the Amish ..one of the indicators the researchers looked at was the incidence of asthma in east Germany it was much, much less than us in the west .
But the Amish haven�t any asthma ..wow, what a fact , Now the HH says the Amish MUST have access to a on crock of gold , that is their own stash of bugs they share amongst themselves that imparts such wonderful immunity ..It�s a nonsense ..but the whole of medicine offers this as an explanation of the massive increase in the western societies ill health .


Actually the more likely explanation between East and West Germany relates to people's homes. In the East, old, drafty, no fancy finishes, no gardens. In the West well sealed, carpeted, full of fire retardents, pesticides, pthalates, fungicidal wood and fabric treatment, perfluorooctanyl fabric protection and a host of other bioaccumulative and highly toxic household and garden convenience chemicals


what about nutrisweet and the other lovely artificial sweeteners?


should have added to the post above that the 150,000 strong Amish society do not use antibiotics [unless in the direst circumstances] nor do they vaccinate against disease . The incidence of Autism in the amish community is virtually zero� here in the west its now 1/150 and falling .one recent report in the uk gave a figure of 1/100


>> One ,more very relevant fact on the toxic world causing an immune dysfunction .. When the Hygiene hypothesis was floated it was envisaged that when the west walked into east Germany because of the lack of �medicines� and the very high pollution illness would be rife ..The opposite was true ..so much for the pollution theory ..

Ya, personally I think diet is vastly important here. With that said, is there really evidence that westerners became healthier when moving into east germany?

Also, please don't miss my basic point. It seems that some infections indluding borrelia and babesia can start this whole ball (i.e. the chicken and egg discussion between you and Steve involving IS suppression, candida, metals, etc.) rolling.

In other words, I'm pointing out the possibility that the explosion in the past two decades of candida overgrowth/gut parasites/immune suppression/metal toxicity/disbiosis is a manifestation of some (most likely intracellular) infection that NOT's yet widely associated, most importantly borrelia.

I'm using my experience that treating borrelia/babesia subsequenctly eased the problems with metals and candida as evidence.


I take your point that Lyme can start the ball rolling ..bacteria can and does provide the conditions for fungi to flourish and visa versa .But historically it�s yeast that has provided the catalyst The explosion in lyme points to a decline in immunity ..its either that or the emergence of a super tick across he western world and the western world only .No, for me the explanation of altered gut flora with our death with diet of sugar and antibiotics adversely affecting immunity still hold s true


There's another bug that seems to be popping up frequently in these circles... HHV-6. Web searches indicate all kinds of potential immune problems associated with this virus. Klinhgardt certainly does not view it as benign, while of course some out there do. Weeding through the lack of information/misinformation/disinformation sucks!


This is a recent letter from G Nicolson.. it illustrates nicely how our immunity is compromised allowing pathogens to walk inWe actually published a paper (Nicolson GL, Gan R, Haier J.
Multiple co-infections (Mycoplasma, Chlamydia, Human Herpesvirus-6)
in blood of chronic fatigue syndrome patients: association with signs
and symptoms. Acta Pathol Microbiol Immunol Scand 2003; 111: 557-
566 ) that came to similar conclusions with CFS patients who were
tested for multiple co- infections. The number of bacterial or
viral co-infections found (and we only looked for a few) in CFS
patients correlated with the severity of signs and symptoms but not
the type of infection.

Thus a similar outcome would be expected independent of the infection
type, if the infection caused morbidity in genetically susceptible
individuals.

The more infections found--the more severe the signs and symptoms or
the more signs/symptoms found. I would guess that the more
infections--the greater the oxidative stress (more ROS/RNS) and the
lower the concentrations of the cellular antioxidants, such as
glutathione and other antioxidants.

When certain infections are present, and the list is growing, in CFS
patients, they need to be addressed and adequately suppressed in
order to reduce and important source of oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress is becoming more important than previously thought
in a variety of chronic diseases, from type 2 diabetes,
cardiovascular diseases to neurodegenerative diseases.

Garth

Prof. Garth Nicolson
The Institute for Molecular Medicine
www.immed.org
__._,_.___


I was overloaded with antibiotics because I moved into a moldy house and began getting BAD sinus infections every month like clockwork. I was never ill before that. Doctors never even bothered to ask me if there may be something in my environment that could be causing all this :-(. When I moved ( after getting married ) I stopped having the infections...of course by that time I had developed candida.

However, I believe there are folks that fit into the category you're describing.


Dear Floridian,

With respect, you fit perfectly into the group of chronically ill people I'm describing.

The basic cause of your illness wasn't candida or antibiotics, it was 24x7x365 exposure to mold and its highly allergenic mold spores.

Its perfectly reasonable to suppose that before you were exposed to the mold you were a perfectly healthy, genetically sound individual

Mold affects our bodies in 2 ways...via the highly allergenic protein 'spores' and via mycotoxins, organic molecules with immunotoxic and neurotoxic properties.

Bottom line: any chronic exposure to immuno toxins, which include a host of environmental factors will potentially lead to an overgrowth of opportunistic organisms like yeast. Treating the organisms without treating the underlying cause is futile


Ah, I see what you mean. No doubt that nasty mold put a big whammy on my system and didn't do me any favors :-).

I guess in the end it does not matter which came first, the chicken or the egg. My work would still be the same ( cleansing and rebuilding ).


Not read book, but have heard of it. He actually has a collection of yeast-related books dealing with yeast vis a vis certain conditions Doug Kaufman used to host a show on Family Net (Christian-based network, but show was basically secular) called Your Health. He was always talking about yeast and fungus being at root of most illness. About 2 years ago, he left the show (not sure why) and Dr. Richard Becker, an osteopath (who developed cancer and self-cured through natural means, who apparently is a close colleague of Kaufman's) and his wife Cindy took it over. Cindy has a natural cooking segment on the show. Becker follows Kaufman's ideas on yeast and fungus, and it is mentioned practically every day, and they discuss studies that show relationship of health to probiotics, liver support, yeast fighters, etc. It is a call-in show and I almost always agree with what they suggest the caller does to regain their health. I imagine Kaufman and Becker are 2 of the nations best yeast experts, judging by how much they seem to know. Becker developed a line of products under a company called Bio-innovations. I have tried their probiotic and like it a lot. I also bought some of their fiber supp called "glucomannin" which is supposed to be extremely gentle since I can't tolerate psyllium, but I have not tried it yet.


Thank you all for your comments. I am trying The Phase I and II diet and following Kaufmans's advise about rotating natural antifungals. I've had problems since 2000. Acid reflux, constipation. My most annoying is frequent urination, which is becoming a real issue in my life. I have been to at least 6 MD's, 3 urologists, 2 Chiropractors, and a natropath. Growing up whenever I had a sniffle I got an anitbiotic, so I know that may be one of the causes, I have high mercury. All my amalgums were taken out in 2000. So what's the matter with me? My diet is very clean. I eat many, many vegetables, a little grain, some fish and a little fruit. Thanks for listening.


About 6 years ago I remedied chronic constipation and indigestion/acid reflux with several months of probiotics (Garden of Life's Primal Defense). I also had abundant antibiotics as a child. My boyfriend also remedied chronic constipation w/ this probiotic.

If frequent urinatiion is a bacterial infection try cranberry juice. While the best to use is concentrated health food store unsweetened cranberry juice (Add as little juice to sweeten as you can stand and some water or tea.) I had excellent results years ago with grocery cranberry juice (100% juice, not coctail.)clearing up painful urinary tract infections faster than a prescription. Drink as much as you can.

I don't know if this will interact negatively with any other medications.


Hi Ginny,

If you indeed do have high Mercury levels, then that's what's wrong with you. If your immune system is impaired due to the Hg then most of the other symptoms are caused by opportunistic organisms that your immune fails to control.

One can treat yeast ad infinitum but if the underlying cause in Hg toxicity, the yeast will simply return once therapy is withdrawn as long as the Hg is preventing a normal immune response.

In your case, I would look for a Doctor specializing in environmental medicine and have him/her evaluate Hg levels, immune system and intestinal micro-flora status. If Hg levels are indeed pathogenic, that's the first area to treat to set you on the road to recovery


I do indeed have high mercury, although last test not as high as 6 months ago. I have been doing a detox program, glutithione, Vit C, chlorella R lipoic acid. I'm doing over the counter anti-fungals and trying very hard to stick to a diet with no/little grain, no sugar, little fruit, no yeast, no peanuts, corn or beans. Wish I could say it was helping, but I'm no worse, but been about the same for 3-4 years. I read everything I can get my hands on, because ultimately it is me who will heal myself. Thanks for all the good comments. This board is visited by very knowlegeable people and I have learned a lot from so many.


Ginny,

Have you looked into lyme disease? I stagnated for years with heavy metals/candida/parasites, and treating the lyme has me moving forward at this point.

What are you doing to treat lyme that is different from treating fungus? Thanks!


Hi Ginny,

>> I have not explored lyme disease. Is there a specific test for it?

Unfortunately, there is NOT a reliable, highly recognized definitive test for lyme. Generally you need to find a good lyme literate doctor who is capable of making the clinical diagnosis.

HOWEVER, some people get lucky and test positive using the lab IGENEX. If you pursue a lyme dx, don't stay with any doctor who insists on using another lab, except for perhaps Bowen Lab.

I tested positive for a tick borne infection that is a common coinfection to lyme, and weighed heavily in the clinical diagnosis. I also had Bell's Palsy which is highly indicative of lyme.

There is another thing you can easily do to give you information. Many lyme patients are using the salt/c protocol to treat the illness, and in some cases the reaction to salt/c is so telling that you'll know for sure if you get this particular reaction. This protocol is discussed heavily in the lyme strategies yahoo group. I highly recommend you look at this group and compare notes with your particular situaton. Also, these folks might be able to help you find a doctor in your area.