Thrush is an infection caused by the yeast Candida albicans. Yeasts feed off sugar and are more likely to multiply when your defenses are down. Factors that trigger thrush are taking a course of antibiotics, being on the Pill, smoking, a high sugar or alcohol diet and wearing tights.
If you have been on antibiotics, take a supplement of the beneficial bacterium Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidus two months. Otherwise, clean up your diet by eating lots of vegetables, wholefoods and a clove of garlic every day, while cutting right back on sugar and alcohol.
Douching is generally not a good idea, as your need to re-establish your natural vaginal flora, not wash it away. There are various vaginal creams and pessaries available in healtfood shops that contain beneficial bacteria and/or substances like tea tree oil that fight candida. Finally, many women swear by the soothing ability of live natural yoghurt in the vagina, which of course also contains the beneficial bacteria to help restore the natural flora to the area.
Despite there are also, some anti-fungical drugs, which kill the fungus Candida, several natural substances have powerful anti-fungical properties and are good alternatives. The best ones are caprylic acid, oregano extract, grapefruit seed extract and garlic.
Also avoid gluten contained in certain grains such as wheat. The reason for avoiding them in an anti-candida diet is because they are often allergenic, and so compromise the immune system. Some practitioners also believe that sugar (but to a much lesser extent), gluten grains feed the candida by causing a rise in blood sugar. Finally candida can damage the integrity of the gut lining, making it more susceptible to irritation by these grains.
If avoiding them altogether seems too extreme, a compromise would be to balance your intake of grains and other carbohydrates with protein, so that you don’t flood your blood with glucose (the breakdown product of carbohydrates). In practice, this means eating meat, fish or vegetable protein with brown rice, pasta, oatcakes, baked potatoes and so on in equal portion size, and non-starchy vegetables in unlimited quantities.
But ultimately, a candida diet is hard to follow, so you have to find a way to manage it that is workable. And if it means eating grains, then it’s not going to undermine your good work; it may just take longer to clear the candida.
The thyroid gland, situated at the base of the throat, controls our rate of metabolism. In hyperthyroidism or overactive thyroid, symptoms such as over-activity, loss of weight and nervousness are common; in hypo¬thyroidism or underactive thyroid, the symptoms are lack of energy, becoming overweight and goitre, in which the throat region swells.
Over-stimulation of the endocrine system through living off stress and stimulants, and oestrogen dominance, are common causes of an underactive thyroid later in life. This can also be caused by a lack of iodine, although this is rare, and taking iodine in kelp is advised to help the condition. Since the thyroid gland is controlled by the pituitary and adrenal glands, the nutrients involved in hormone production and regulation for all three glands are particularly important.
These are vitamins C and B complex (especially B3 and B5), manganese and zinc. Selenium also appears to have a role to play in thyroid health, as does the amino acid tyrosine from which thyroxine is made. Often, a low dose of thyroxine is required to correct this condition.
Diet advice
Avoid all stimulants.
Supplements
• 2 x Multivitamin and multimineral
• 2 x Vitamin C l,000mg
• Manganese 10mg
• For hypothyroidism only: kelp with iodine and tyrosine 2,000mg
Tinnitus is a condition said to affect as many as 4 million people in Britain. It has many causes and contributors.
Many prescribed medications list it as a side effect, for example. It can also be triggered by loud noise - either a single blast or exposure over a long period of time. It is likely to be often caused by inflammation in the ears, or constriction causing restricted blood flow. Eating a diet low in saturated fat and high in essential fats can help. Having diabetes or a blood sugar problem can be a contributing factor. This is probably because blood sugar lows increase adrenalin which constricts blood vessels. Infection and allergy are two other contributors that could cause inflammation in the ear.
Therefore I recommend you check out your food allergies and include 2 grams of vitamin C in your daily supplement programme. One of the most common causes of inflammation is a hidden food allergy. Although milk and wheat are common foods, and hence worth avoiding for a fortnight to see if that makes a difference, it can be anything. The only way to find out is to have an IgG food intolerance blood test. This is the main antibody causing food reactions. (There is another type of antibody, IgE, that also causes allergic reactions but most IgE allergies will show up on an IgG test.)
The second line of attack is to reduce inflammation. Excessive mucus production is part of the body’s inflammatory response. There are a number of natural anti-inflammatory remedies that may help, such as omega-3 fish oils and the herbs such as boswellia and curcumin. These are also worth trying.
My favourite anti-allergy nutrients are quercitin (500mg), together with MSM, vitamin C, bromelain and glutamine. You can get these all together in a combination supplement. Also, you want to up omega 3 fats, and especially EPA. Aim for a month taking 1,000mg of EPA. If you eat oily fish three times a week that means supplementing 500mg of EPA daily. Do this for a month, and avoid your food allergens and you may well find that your tinnitus improves.
Sometimes physical imbalances in your neck or skull can result in tinnitus. A cranial osteopath can correct these.
