CANDIDA ALBICANS Candida

CANDIDA ALBICANS Candida should be sought and treated. It should be emphasized to patients that they owe it to themselves and society to treat the Candida consistently because of the possibility of breeding resistant strains. The possibility of candida in the gut, esophagus, mouth, sinuses, skin, etc. should be considered. In patients who clinically appear to have Candida but in whom Candida cannot be cultured, sensitivities to Candida should be suspected and treatment of especially the bowel should be considered. Herxheimer's reactions, when antibiotics against Candida are employed, should be considered one indication that Candida is a problem. In these sensitive patients, foods and vitamins containing yeasts should be avoided. Lactobacillus in large amounts should be fed to these patients in an attempt to normalize bowel flora. Sugar and refined carbohydrates should be avoided because Candida thrives on them. There is a high incidence of food and chemical sensitivities associated with Candida sensitivities (15,16,17) and Candida must be suspected whenever such sensitivities are discovered. FOOD AND CHEMICAL SENSITIVITIES
Food and chemical sensitivities, both IgE mediated allergies and enzymatic deficiency allergies (EDAS), are common because of the disorders of the immune system and the severe stress imposed by the AID syndrome. This increased incidence of sensitivities may be associated with Candida, as discussed above, but may also be a result of the AIDS infection. Rashes, edema, phlebitis, etc. caused by corn, yeast (including yeast containing vitamins), molds, house gas, automobile exhaust, certain herbal formulas, cosmetics, formaldehyde, insecticides, paints, glues, and cigarette smoke have all been observed in my small group of patients. Conditions such as Kaposi's lesions, lymphadenopathy and probably idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura, conditions which would otherwise be considered just part of the AID syndrome or AIDS related, have been seen to be aggravated by food and chemical sensitivities. These sensitivities should be anticipated and offending substances should be removed from the patient's diet and environment. Ascorbate may or may not block these sensitivities significantly; however, ascorbate may decrease the intensity and duration of the reaction in such a way as to make clinical discovery of the offending substance easier.

This increased incidence of food and chemical sensitivities is very important to understand because apparent adverse reactions to vitamin C may occur. These reactions are almost never due to the ascorbate itself. Most ascorbate is made from corn. Minute amounts of chemicals used in the manufacture of ascorbate may remain. Residuals of these substances are almost invariably the cause of the sensitivity reactions. Ascorbates made from sego palm or from tapioca and which presumably are manufactured with some different chemicals, are often tolerated. Different brands should be tried. It is almost always possible to find some ascorbate that is tolerated. This sensitivity problem is very important to deal with because patients frequently feel their life depends on taking adequate amounts of ascorbate and they may be correct in this feeling.

Many times gastrointestinal discomfort and excessive gas can be alleviated by changing to the sego palm ascorbate or changing brands of ascorbate.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS Bacterial infections should be treated with appropriate antibiotics but large amounts of lactobacillus should be administered with foods if there is the slightest tendency to Candida infections or sensitivities. Ascorbate administration should be intensified during treatment for bacterial infections. Intravenous ascorbate may be necessary.

Viral infections should be treated with intensification of the ascorbate treatment. Intravenous ascorbate may become necessary.

Immunosuppressive therapy should not be utilized.

Sugar and processed foods, foods with chemicals, recreational drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, etc. should be avoided. Obvious nutritional deficits should be sought and corrected. Additional supplimentation with especially zinc and selenium may be helpful.

All sharing of body fluids and fecal material should stop (18). Repeated exposures, not only to possible AIDS infection, but to the secondary infections, especially intestinal parasites and Candida should be avoided.

HELPER/SUPPRESSOR CELL RATIO With this protocol, it may be anticipated that a large percentage of patients will slowly go into an extended clinical remission. Patients must be on guard to sense any impending infection, colds, etc. The patient should begin the additional large frequent doses of ascorbate within minutes. At the dose levels that have been possible under circumstances imposed, a slow improvement of the total number of T-lymphocytes may occur but helper/suppressor cell ratios may remain suppressed. It appears that ascorbate may assist the immune system, but that in addition, there are mechanisms whereby ascorbate acts against pathogens, especially viruses and bacteria by mechanisms which do not depend on the T-cells. For this reason, I would suggest using the ascorbate portion of this protocol on children who have to be permanently isolated from the slightest exposure to infections (bubble babies).

MONITORING VALUE OF ASCORBATE "BURN"
Roughly to the degree that a patient clinically perceives himself to feel toxic (the amount of malaise, fever, pain, how swollen the lymph nodes, how much anxiety, etc.), the more ascorbic acid can be tolerated orally without it producing diarrhea. The amount tolerated becomes a rough measurement of something that represents the immediate toxicity of the condition. I use the expression "100 gram cold" to mean that at the peak of the cold a patient tolerated 100 grams per 24 hours of ascorbic acid without diarrhea. In cases where I am not sure what is causing an increased tolerance or if a person is multiply ill with several secondary infections, I refer to the processes going on which are using up the ascorbate as the "-burn-." Note that the amount of ascorbic acid tolerated is only a good measure of this burn if it is the amount determined by titrating to "true" bowel tolerance, i.e., diarrhea caused by ascorbic acid in a patient who otherwise tolerates ascorbate well; not limits set by "too much gas", "don't like the taste", "stomach too acid", etc.

The amount of this burn has some practical and prognostic values; e.g., a patient with a burn much over 25-30 grams almost inevitably has something the matter with him and a thorough diagnostic workup is indicated. A lover of one of the AIDS patients had a burn of 100 grams. It was found that his helper/suppressor T-cell ratio was 0.7 but he had no other sign of disease. Over a 6 month period, the burn has dropped to 25 grams. AIDS has not been diagnosed in this patient but there is good reason to suspect that he has a pre-AIDS condition. The AIDS patient himself has had his burn drop from 125 grams to 35 grams. His lymphadenopathy has improved considerably.