Candida leads to issues like allergies, infections, and autoimmune disease. Candida has the unique ability to change shape in order to protect itself from harsh environments. It responds to a shift in temperature or acidity levels by transforming from a rounded yeast cell into an elongated hyphal cell. These elongated cells have the ability to permeate the gut lining, causing leaky gut, and, once in the bloodstream, invade other tissues. This means that Candida can quickly transition from a gut problem to a full-body problem as it colonizes the skin, mouth, ears, thyroid, genitourinary organs, or elsewhere.
When your gut is leaky, things like toxins, microbes, undigested food particles, and more can escape from your intestines and travel throughout your body via your bloodstream. Your immune system marks these “foreign invaders” as pathogens and attacks them, often attacking surrounding tissue or tissue with a similar chemical structure to the foreign particles. This continuous stream of pathogens and invaders in your bloodstream puts your immune system on high alert and can trigger an autoimmune disease. Effectively treating Candida involves stopping the yeast overgrowth, restoring the friendly bacteria that usually keep them in check, and healing your gut so that Candida can no longer enter your bloodstream.
