The
Effects of Candida On Mental Health
by William Crook, M.D.
by William Crook, M.D.
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author of a million copy bestseller published in the 1980s and The
Yeast Connection Handbook, which provides new information for
the 21st Century.
The
Yeast Connection Handbook
Yeasts are
single-cell living organisms that are neither animal nor vegetable. They
live on the surfaces of all living things, including fruits, vegetables,
grains and your skin. They're part of the "microflora" (tiny
plants) which contribute in various ways to the health of their host.
Yeast itself is nutritious and small amounts of yeast gives bread its good
yeasty taste. Yeast is a kind of fungus. Mildew, mold, mushrooms, monilia
and candida are all names that are used to describe different types of
yeast.
One
family of yeasts, Candida albicans, normally lives on the inner warm
creases and crevices of the digestive tract and vagina. When your immune
system is strong, candida yeasts cause no problems. But when you take
broad-spectrum antibiotics for such conditions as acne, respiratory
infections or cystitis (bladder infection), these drugs knock out friendly
germs while they're knocking out enemies.
Candida
yeasts aren't affected by antibiotics so they multiply and raise large
families. These yeasts put out toxins that weaken the immune system.. So you may
experience repeated infections. Each infection is treated with another
round of antibiotics, encouraging further yeast overgrowth, and a vicious
cycle develops.
A
diet rich in sugar and other simple carbohydrates promotes yeast
overgrowth.
The
"yeast connection" is a term to indicate the relationship of
superficial yeast infections in your digestive tract (or vagina) to
fatigue, headache, depression, PMS, irritability, and other symptoms that
can make you feel "sick all over."
Many
of these problems develop because your immune system, your endocrine
system and your brain are intimately related.
Other
causes must also be considered. If you're like most people with a candida-related
health problem, you resemble an overburdened camel. To regain your health,
to look good, feel good and enjoy life, you'll need to unload many
"bundles of straw." This may take months - even a year or two -
but then your camel will be off and running.
Depression
Millions
of Americans suffer from depression. Many of them have taken Prozac,
Zoloft and other medications. These medications, like many others, may
cause adverse reactions. Because of these possibilities, many therapists say that these drugs
should not be given to people without looking for the underlying physical
and psychological causes of the person's depression.
Like
fatigue, headache, PMS and other chronic complaints, depression may
develop from many different causes. Moreover, such causes are often
multiple. In my experience and that of many other practicing physicians,
Candida albicans ranks high on the list…especially in women between the
ages of 25 and 45.
If
you suffer from depression and/or any other disabling disorder and have a
history of…
-
Repeated or prolonged courses of antibiotic drugs
-
Persistent digestive symptoms
-
And/or recurrent vaginal yeast infections, prostrate infections, jock itch or nail fungus…
…a comprehensive treatment program that features oral antifungal
medications and a special diet may provide you with sometimes dramatic
relief from recurring depressions.
Manic Depression
During
the past few years, I've received a number of letters from people with
manic depression who responded to antifungal therapy. Here are excerpts
from a New Zealand woman's story, which I found to be especially dramatic:
"Imagine
the whole world spray painted gray or being in a small windowless cell or
in a tunnel. I felt that I had 50-pound weights on each foot and all my
favorite things suddenly became meaningless and sterile.
"If
someone had given me two round-trip air tickets to London and Paris and
$15,000 spending money, I would have been completely unmoved. Nothing
could trigger a flicker of interest or enthusiasm…"
Then,
after a week or two of this hell, she would swing into a manic world of
exhaustion and even delirium.
"I
was king of the castle, drunk with joy, bursting with crazy schemes,
talking nonstop, spending money like water, issuing dinner and party
invitations, smashing up the car. You'd have to have seen it to believe
it…"
This
woman struggled with her depression for eight long years. She was put into
a psychiatric hospital and received out-patient therapy for many months.
Then
a general practitioner prescribed a diet, nystatin (an antibiotic for
treating candida), and nutritional supplements. On this treatment program
the bouts of mania stopped immediately, and the depressions became brief
and much less severe; within three months they disappeared.
Autism
In the
early 1980's I saw a five-year-old boy who had been troubled with
recurrent ear infections and hyperactivity during the first two years of
life. Yet his developmental milestones were normal until the age of two
and one half when specialists at a university center made a diagnosis of
"pervasive developmental disorder with symptoms of autism."
On a
comprehensive treatment program that included nystatin, a special diet and
the avoidance of chemical pollutants, the child improved significantly -
even dramatically although he continued to experience developmental
problems.
During the
1980's, Bernard Rimland, Ph. D., of the Autism Research Institute, told me
he had received numerous reports from parents whose autistic children
improved following anticandida therapy. During the late 1980's, I saw
several more children in my practice with autistic-like symptoms who
improved on a sugar-free, special diet and nystatin. All through the
1990's, I received many, many calls and letters form parents of autistic
children.. Almost without exception, autistic symptoms in these children
first appeared during the second and third years of life following
repeated ear and other infections.
The October
1994 issue of Autism Research Review International included a two-page
review, "Parents Ratings of the Effectiveness of Drugs and
Nutrients." Here are excerpts from this report:
"The
parents of autistic children represent a vastly important reservoir of
information of the benefits and adverse effects…of the large variety of
drugs and other interventions that have been tried with their
children…The data presented in this paper have been collected from the
more than 8,700 parents who have filled out questionnaires designed to
collect such information…
"The
31 drugs listed first were prescribed by the child's physician in each
case. Note that Ritalin, the drug most often prescribed, is near the
bottom of the list. Only 26 percent of the parents reported improvement,
while 46 percent said the child got worse on Ritalin."
I studied the charts in the report and I noted that nystatin ranked higher than any other prescription drug. Of the 208 children who were given one of these medications, 49 percent found that the child was "better" on the nystatin and only four percent said that the child was "worse." The better/worse ratio was more than 12 to 1.
I studied the charts in the report and I noted that nystatin ranked higher than any other prescription drug. Of the 208 children who were given one of these medications, 49 percent found that the child was "better" on the nystatin and only four percent said that the child was "worse." The better/worse ratio was more than 12 to 1.
By
contrast, none of the other drugs showed a better/worse ratio of more than
2.7 to 1 and many prescription medications, including Ritalin, which was
given to 1,661 children, showed a better/worse ratio of 0.5 to 1. (This
means that twice as many children were made worse by Ritalin than were
helped.)
In other
research, William Shaw, Ph. D., and colleagues in studies of children with
brain dysfunction found elevated fungal metabolites and other abnormal
acids in the urine of children with autism and ADHD. Following treatment
with the antifungal medications and dietary changes, all of the autistic
children improved.
Autism,
like many other chronic and often devastating disorders, develops from
many different causes. Yet there's now clear evidence that in many
children it is yeast-connected.
ADHD
Children
with ADHD often give a history of repeated ear infections in infancy. Such
ear problems are usually treated with amoxicillin and/or other
broad-spectrum antibiotic drugs. A research study found that 69% of
children being evaluated for school failure who were receiving medication
for hyperactivity gave a history of greater than ten ear infections. By
contrast, only 20% of non-hyperactive children had more than ten
infections.
Antibiotics
wipe out friendly bacteria in the gut while they're knocking out enemies.
As a result, the usually benign microorganism, Candida albicans,
multiplies. Based on research studies, candida puts out toxins which
affect the nervous system, the immune system and other parts of the body.
I
sent questionnaires to 16 practicing physicians interested in the
management of children with ADHD. Five of the responders said that
antiyeast therapy was "very effective" in managing these
children and eight said it was "somewhat effective" in managing
these children. One responder said it was "not effective" and
another responder said he had not tried this therapy. Diet is
another factor. Although I didn't know that systemic and nervous
symptoms in my pediatric patients could be yeast-related,
beginning in the
late 1950's I learned that such symptoms were often caused by food
sensitivities. Common troublemakers included especially milk,
wheat, corn,
chocolate and egg.
Yet
it wasn't until the early '70's that I learned that the ingestion of cane,
beet or corn sugar was an important cause of hyperactivity - even though I
didn't understand the mechanism. In the 1970's, at the suggestion of the late Dr. Amos Christie (my
pediatric chief at Vanderbilt), I kept a record of every new patient who
came to see me because of complaints of hyperactivity, attention deficits
and other behavior and learning problems.
During
a five-year period I saw 182 children with these complaints. Most were
between four and eight years old. Each child was given a comprehensive
workup which include a carefully planned and executed seven-day
elimination diet. The eliminated foods included beet and cane sugar, milk,
wheat, corn, egg, chocolate, yeast, citrus and food coloring and
additives. If and when the child's symptoms improved (as they usually
did), the eliminated foods were returned to the diet one food per day and
reactions were noted. At the end of a five-year period, through
questionnaires and personal and telephone interviews, I obtained the
following information:
-
Seventy percent (128) of the parents were absolutely certain that their child's hyperactivity was related to specific foods in the diet.
-
The foods causing hyperactivity in 136 children included: sugar, 77;colors, additives and flavors (especially red food coloring ), 48; milk, 38; corn, 30; chocolate, 28; and wheat, 15.
-
Many other foods were reported as causing trouble.
Schizophrenia
As
a final note on Candida and mental health, Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, one of the
pioneers in the nutritional treatment of mental disorders, noted in his
book Nutrition and Mental Illness that chronic Candida infection is one of
the less well-known causes of schizophrenia..
Summary
You
can get well!! And believing that you can is the first important step.
Read, study, and learn. Be responsible. Although you'll need help from
kind and caring health professionals, you must make the major decisions.
With an educated understanding, you can make the choices that will improve
life for yourself or the ones you love.
For
more information about the relationship of candida yeasts to health
problems which affect people of all ages and both sexes, read Dr. Crook's
latest book, The Yeast Connection Handbook and visit http://www.candida-yeast.com.
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You'll find
information about Dr. Crook's other books and the International
Health Foundation. This small, nonprofit foundation was established
in 1985 to respond to thousands of people seeking help for
yeast-related problems. It was approved as a tax- exempt
organization in 1986.
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH FOUNDATION P.O. BOX 3494 JACKSON, TN 38303 |
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