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Article summary:
- Making sure you have open and free-flowing drainage pathways in your body is an essential first step in detoxing candida.
- Candida albicans is an opportunistic, and potentially pathogenic, yeast.
- An overgrowth of candida can cause a yeast infection called candidiasis.
- When candida levels balance out with the other bugs in your microbiome, this microbe plays a beneficial role, aiding digestion and absorption of nutrients.
- If candida levels get imbalanced, uncomfortable symptoms may arise. This includes symptoms throughout the body and not just symptoms in the gut.
- Invasive candidiasis may cause or worsen chronic illness.
- Many circumstances can give candidiasis the upper hand, allowing it to run amok.
- A healing crisis, called a Jarisch-Herxheimer (Herx) reaction, occurs when microorganisms like candida die, and the body reacts with unpleasant symptoms to the sudden release of toxins.
- Symptoms of a Herx reaction appear within a few hours or days after the candida organisms start dying.
- You can avoid or lessen the chance of a severe reaction by ensuring all your body’s drainage pathways are open and free-flowing.
- The brain and body dump their trash through the glymphatic system, lymphatic system, liver/bile duct, colon, and kidneys.
- Other methods to support drainage include staying well hydrated and taking supplements, including Mimosa pudica seed, BioActive Carbon, and aloe vera.
Are you planning to undertake a protocol to get rid of candida infection? If so, you should know about the potential challenges to your success. This yeast microbe releases toxins when it dies off. This sudden release of toxins by many of the microbes at once can cause you to feel utterly miserable and derail your detox.
You can prevent this misery from happening, although the solution may not be what you expect. This missing link in combating candida die-off is making sure you have open and free-flowing drainage pathways in your body. Let’s review how to open the body’s drainage systems, an essential first step in avoiding the discomforts of candida die-off.
Planning to Detox Candida? You Must Do This First
Candida albicans is an opportunistic, and potentially pathogenic, yeast that lives in the human gut flora. When it’s in balance with the other bugs in your microbiome, candida plays a beneficial role in the body. It aids in absorbing nutrients and keeps digestion running smoothly.
But when candida levels become imbalanced, unpleasant symptoms may arise. And not just candida symptoms in the gut — which you might expect — but symptoms throughout the body. Many circumstances can lead to an imbalance in your microbiome and causes candida to run amok. This may result in candida overgrowth, or candidiasis, which can cause or worsen chronic illness.
There’s plenty of reasons to kick excess candida to the curb. Many people go after the yeasty microbes head-on, only to find that they feel more miserable than before they tried to detox them. This can be confusing and frustrating. Killing off the little critters is supposed to make you feel better, right?
Candida die-off
Once candida levels return to a proper balance, you will likely experience a much-improved quality of life. The trick is getting there. But getting there can be hampered by candida die-off.
Candida die-off is an adverse reaction that happens when the microbes die. The body must process the waste and debris from the dead organisms. It must also eliminate the endotoxins the bugs release when they expire. The onslaught of those wastes and toxins can send the body into a Jarisch-Herxheimer (Herx) reaction.
What Is the Herxheimer Reaction?
As your candida cleanse proceeds, the dying organisms and their toxic waste products must go somewhere. When microorganisms like candida die, they release toxins into your body. If you don’t detox them from your body quickly, you can have a healing crisis called a Herx reaction. The body reacts with unpleasant symptoms to the sudden release of toxins.
If the die-off process is quicker than your body’s ability to clear away these toxins, you will probably feel ill. A Herx reaction is typically not life-threatening. However, it often causes temporary discomfort, pain, and worsening of symptoms. Common symptoms that may appear or worsen due to a Herx response include:1
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Joint and muscle pain
- Lethargy
- Low-grade fever
- Brain fog
- Chills
- Cold sweats
- Nausea
- Bloating
- Constipation
- Cramps
- Diarrhea
- Irritability
- Skin irritation, eruptions, or rash
- Sore throat
- Stuffy nose
Typically, symptoms develop within a few hours or days after the cleanse starts to kill off the organisms. If the symptoms worsen, you may have the urge to end your candida cleanse. To avoid or lessen the chance of a severe reaction, make sure to support your body’s drainage pathways throughout the die-off process.
In short, a candida cleanse mobilizes dying candida organisms. Their membranes break down, and toxins are released. But if your body’s drainage pathways aren’t open and free-flowing, you will reabsorb the toxins.
Supporting Drainage During Your Candida Cleanse
Proper drainage and clearing toxins from the body is imperative to wellness. Drainage occurs via a complex system of organs, vessels, and tissues that clear debris, waste, toxins, and pathogens. Rehabilitating and reinstating excellent drainage is an essential early step in preparing for and executing a candida cleanse, particularly for people with chronic illnesses. Let’s take a look at the organs and systems involved in keeping your drainage free-flowing.
The Glymphatic System
Your brain accumulates waste that you must clear out and discard. The brain dumps this trash through your glymphatic system. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collects waste from the blood and lymph vessels in the brain, which it delivers to your body’s lymphatic system for removal. If this pathway becomes blocked, then toxins, wastes, and pathogens build up in the spaces around the brain cells.2
Many neurotoxic heavy metals and environmental toxins make their way across the blood-brain barrier. Once there, they settle into the brain tissue. These toxins need to be drained out. But when your glymphatic system gets congested, the pathogens, waste, and toxins stay put. A brain with clogged glymphatic function may manifest cognitive and functional brain issues.3
Ways to keep the glymphatic system flowing include:
- Sinus rinsing, especially with Nasya, an Ayurvedic therapy
- Deep breathing exercises
- Standing
- Sleeping on your side
- Physical activity and mindful movement
Quality sleep and drainage
Since the brain primarily drains during sleep, you need quality sleep to cleanse candida. During this process, the glymphatic system in the brain drains into the body-wide lymphatic system. But if there is sluggishness, clogging, or blockage downstream, the glymphatic system can’t effectively drain. To successfully overcome and cleanse candidiasis, maintain open and free-flowing drainage pathways starting with your brain.4
The Lymphatic System
The lymphatic system is sometimes called the second circulatory system. It’s a network of organs, ducts, nodes, vessels, and fluids that are an essential part of the body’s immune system. Lymph is a clear, colorless fluid similar to blood plasma that circulates through the lymphatic system. It clears debris and waste from cells, plus carries harmful organisms to the lymph nodes so they can be destroyed and discarded.
Ways the lymphatic system supports the body:5
- Collects, filters, and returns fluids back to the bloodstream
- Plays a vital role in fighting infection
- Transports nutrients
- Supports cardiovascular function
- Houses immune defense cells (lymphocytes) in lymph nodes, lymphoid organs, and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT)
Ways to boost lymphatic drainage:
- Exercise and physical activity
- Massage therapy, such as craniosacral and lymph drainage massage
- Sweating in a sauna
- Dry brushing
- Consuming sour and citrus foods with an astringent action
- Taking botanicals, such as turkey rhubarb, sheep sorrel, burdock root, astragalus root, slippery elm bark, and graviola
Like the glymphatic system, the lymphatic system must flow freely for optimal drainage. If it’s open and flowing freely, it can accept wastes from the glymphatic system and continue to drain down to the liver and bile duct.
The Liver/Bile Duct
The liver is your body’s detoxification lifeline. A vital function of the liver is to produce bile. It pushes as much as 80% of the toxins it processes through the bile ducts and into the bile. The gallbladder then stores the bile fluid until it’s needed for digestion. However, the bile can become thick, sludgy, and stagnant. Toxins, debris, and pathogens pushed into the bile contribute to its stagnation. Then the bile duct gets clogged, causing candida toxins, microbes, and other waste to build up.6
Because the body consumes significant energy making bile, 90–95% of the time the small intestine salvages and reabsorbs the bile fluid as part of the downstream digestive process. As this occurs, toxins and pathogens get reabsorbed as well. So if your liver is not functioning properly, candida toxins can get backed up and become stagnant, causing a Herx response. Candida also directly damages the liver and keeps it from operating well.7
Ways to promote liver/bile duct drainage include:
- Coffee enemas
- Supplements and homeopathics, such as milk thistle, TUDCA (a water-soluble bile), and N-Acetylcysteine (NAC)8
A fluid liver and bile duct system is necessary to take in wastes from the lymphatic system. Clogging and sluggishness downstream can prevent the bile duct from draining properly. To empty its wastes, the bile duct must flow freely into the colon and kidneys.
The Colon
Proper drainage begins with the colon. If the colon cannot remove waste, then everything upstream on the drainage and elimination pathway will back up as well. Regular bowel movements, water intake, and herbal supplements can help make sure all toxins are swept out of the colon consistently, helping to rid you of the symptoms of candida in the gut.
Herbal supplements that support colon drainage include:9
- Cascara sagrada
- Senna leaf
- Aloe leaf
- Fennel seed
- Rhubarb root
The Kidneys
The kidneys are responsible for hydrating the colon. If the bile duct system and the drainage pathways above it get clogged, it stresses the kidneys. And stressed kidneys are less likely to hydrate the colon well.
Your kidneys also remove fluid and wastes from your body. They produce urine, which leaves the body via the urinary tract. Kidney lymphatics filter and drain the waste fluids and proteins. Throughout this process, your kidneys maintain fluid, mineral, and blood pressure homeostasis.10
Herbal remedies that support the kidneys include:
- Marshmallow root
- Parsley
- Gynostemma
- Collinsonia root
- Milk thistle
- Ginger
Other Drainage and Support
Mimosa pudica seed
Mimosa pudica can support your candida protocol. This botanical helps pull the yeast organisms from the intestinal tract. It also targets the biofilms that the microbes are known to create to protect themselves.
BioActive Carbon
Consider supplements containing BioActive Carbon. The fulvic and humic acid extracts in BioActive Carbon supplements have an incredible ability to bind to various toxins. Once secured, your body can remove them more easily. This is critical when you need to remove the dangerous toxins candida releases when it dies.
Aloe vera
This herb may be helpful to add to your candida cleanse protocol. It has anti-inflammatory and anti-fungal action, so can heal the gut as the candida moves out. It may also stimulate your natural defenses and keep your bowel movements regular.11
Hydrate
Drink plenty of fresh water while clearing out candida infections. Your water should be free of additives that put an extra burden on your drainage pathways, like chlorine and fluoride. These chemicals can also cause a weakened immune system, allowing the candida to thrive.
Be Candida Free
Candida infections can become a frustrating and persistent health problem. It may trigger the development of many other health issues as it grows. But take heart. Candida overgrowth can be treated successfully. You can become candida free, no matter how long you may have suffered. Be patient. Slow and steady wins the race. Persevere. You can regain your health and be candida free.
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- Belum, Geetanjali Reddy, et al. “The Jarisch-Herxheimer Reaction: Revisited.” Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease, vol. 11, no. 4. July-Aug 2013. Web.
- Iliff, Jeffrey J. et al. “Brain-Wide Pathway for Waste Clearance Captured by Contrast-Enhanced MRI.” The Journal of Clinical Investigation, vol. 123, no. 3. Feb 2013. Web.
- Verheggen, Inge et al. “Interaction Between Blood-Brain Barrier and Glymphatic System in Solute Clearance.” ScienceDirect, Vol. 90. July 2018. Web.
- Hauglund, Natalie L., et al. “Cleaning the Sleeping Brain – The Potential Restorative Function of the Glymphatic System.” Current Opinion in Physiology, vol. 15, pp. 6. Nov 2019. Web.
- Liao, Shan, and Timothy P Padera. “Lymphatic Function and Immune Regulation in Health and Disease.” Lymphatic Research and Biology, vol. 11, no. 3. Sept 2013. Web.
- Dietrich, C G et al. “Influence of Biliary Cirrhosis on the Detoxification and Elimination of a Food Derived Carcinogen.” Gut, vol. 53, no. 12. Dec 2004. Web.
- Fiore, Marco et al. “Liver Fungal Infections: An Overview of the Etiology and Epidemiology in Patients Affected or Not Affected by Oncohematologic Malignancies.” Infection and Drug Resistance, vol. 11. Jan 2018. Web.
- Vang, S et al. “The Unexpected Uses of Urso- and Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid in the Treatment of Non-liver Diseases.” Global Advances in Health and Medicine, vol. 3, no. 3. May 2014. Web.
- Eliasvandi, Paria et al. “Effect of an Herbal Capsule on Chronic Constipation Among Menopausal Women: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.” Avicenna Journal of Phytomedicine, vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 517-529. Nov-Dec 2019. Web.
- Ishikawa, Y et al. “The Human Renal Lymphatics under Normal and Pathological Conditions.” Histopathology, vol. 49, no. 3. Aug 2006. Web.
- Saniasiaya, Jeyasakthy et al. “Antifungal Effect of Malaysian Aloe Vera Leaf Extract on Selected Fungal Species of Pathogenic Otomycosis Species in Vitro Culture Medium.” Oman Medical Journal, vol. 32, no. 1. Jan 2017. Web.
