Feldman, Irene wrote:
Does anybody know, if this relationship does exist and how one can get
rid of candida allergy without doing allergy shots?  It seems like a
catch 22, you are allergic to candida and that's why you have a thyroid
problem, but you can't do an allergy therapy because it will aggrevate
the situation.   What can be done?  Did anybody have this experience?
> Thanks,
> Irene

Irene:

You bet.  Last year, I went thru the entire summer having a major
outbreak of candida. Whether or not candida affects thyroid, or thyroid
affects candida is not clear. (My doc believes that the reduced immunity
of thyroid disease makes one more susceptible to all allergens,
inclucing candida.)

In any case, I was textbook, and I even had a Great Smokies analysis
that showed the candida and lots of other inappropriate stomach and
bowel bacteria, so my whole system was out of control. Symptoms?
Irritable bowel, stomach bloating/pain, crawly/itchy skin, aggravation
of some asthma-like response to allergies so bad that I could barely
breathe. It was awful. I felt like I was allergic to everything.

I bought the Yeast Connection and the Woman book by Dr. William Crook,
who's considered an expert on the subject, and that really helped. There
is also a website with a lot of information on this,

http://members.aol.com/docdarren/med/candida.html

Mainly, I did the candida diet (which, interestingly folks, is somewhat
similar to the Zone diet), but basically avoiding foods that convert to
yeasts (i.e., breads, pastas, cheese, simple carbos) and fruits and
sugars, and focusing on proteins, vegetables, etc.  I also took regular
antihistimines several times a day, and started the anti-allergy natural
antihistimine regime recommended by Dr. Weil (www.drweil.com) which
involves Quercetin and stinging nettle supplements.  I took
yeast-fighter supplements from GNC, and I also took acidophilus with
digestive enzymes, high vitamin C, and garlic tablets, and ate yogurt
with garlic at least once a day.

Over a couple of weeks, my overall system allergic response calmed down
dramatically, until I was back to normal again, stomach fine, breathing
fine. My doc was prepared to prescribe an anti-fungal (i.e.,  Lamisil or
such) but we didn't need to get tot that step to get things under
control.

Allergy shots take a long time to work. But when you're in the midst of
allergic response, you need to calm down that response first and
foremost, and allow the body to stop fighting so much.  AT minimum, I'd
start the quercetin/nettles supplement (search at the Weil site database
on allergies for info on dosage and such)  and make sure I added lots of
acidophilus (food or tablets) to my diet to start.)

Take care--

Mary