Signs That Your Candida Cleanse is Working

A Candida cleanse is a great way to enhance your gut health by getting rid of harmful yeast in the gut. People that do a Candida cleanse often wonder what to look out for to know that their cleanse is working. In this article, we’re going to cover the basic signs to pay attention to.

What Is Candida?

Candida is a type of yeast that lives inside the gut. It actually makes up a part of our microbiome and typically causes us no issues. The population of yeast is kept under control by beneficial bacteria. When these bacteria are killed, however—due to poor diet, alcohol, antibiotics, or other factors—it allows Candida to grow beyond healthy levels and can lead to Candida overgrowth, a type of fungal infection known as candidiasis.

What Is a Candida Cleanse?

A Candida cleanse is a type of cleanse intended to kill the overgrowth of Candida and restore their populations to healthy levels. This is done through:

• Following an anti-Candida diet that removes sugar from the diet and starves the Candida
• Using antifungal herbs that kill the Candida and reduce their population
• Supplementing with probiotics to recolonize the gut and keep Candida under control

How Do You Know When a Candida Cleanse Is Working?

There are several signs to look out for to know that your Candida cleanse is working. The most common is the experience of Candida die-off symptoms. When Candida die, they release toxins that can make you feel miserable.

Die-off symptoms usually include flu-like symptoms such as headaches, brain fog, fatigue, nausea and more. This type of reaction is also called a Herxheimer reaction.

Rapidly killing off Candida, such as when doing a Candida cleanse, creates a metabolic reaction that releases over 70 different toxins. This is responsible for the uncomfortable candida die-off effect. Unfortunately, this means that your candida symptoms may actually get worse before they get better.

A Candida die-off reaction is a sign that your body is temporarily inflamed, including your liver, adrenals, kidneys and other organs and glands. Metabolites like the neurotoxins acetaldehyde or gliotoxin, as well as proteins and inflammatory cytokines are circulating in your system, which causes you to feel a range of uncomfortable symptoms.

This die-off reaction is temporary, and can be managed to be more comfortable, but it is a good sign that Candida are indeed dying. Candida die off symptoms usually clear up in 3 to 10 days.

After symptoms have started, within just a few weeks, you should also begin to notice an increase in energy and focus, as well as relief from other symptoms, as toxins are cleared from the body.

The long-term sign that your Candida cleanse is working (which may take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months depending on the person and severity of candidiasis) is of course that you no longer experience the symptoms that Candida have been causing.

Ways to Better Manage Die-Off Symptoms

You can better manage your die off symptoms by gradually changing your diet and easing into your cleanse. It is the rapid and forcefully elimination of Candida that causes the rapid release of toxins into the system.

Taking a binder, like fulvic acid or zeolite, can also support the cleansing process as they will bind to these toxins and help your body to better eliminate them.

In addition, taking immune-supporting supplements or herbs may also help to arm your body to better fight off the Candida infection and the stress caused by the release of toxins.

Other helpful ways to manage die-off symptoms include plenty of sleep and rest, regular hot baths, massages, relaxation exercises, and drinking plenty of water.

Summary

Candida is a type of yeast that normally lives in our digestive tract. When healthy bacteria in our gut die-off, however, it allows Candida to grow out of control and can lead to an infection called candidiasis.

To clear this infection is often difficult, as Candida are persistent, and requires a dedicated cleanse that follows a three-step process of removing foods from the diet that feed Candida, killing Candida with antifungal herbs, and recolonizing the gut with beneficial bacteria.

When doing a Candida cleanse, it is very common to experience die-off symptoms, as Candida release toxins when killed. This is actually a positive sign that the cleanse is working, but it may be uncomfortable.

Thankfully, there are ways to manage these symptoms so they are more comfortable. After a couple weeks, the die-off symptoms should pass, and you should begin to feel more energy, clarity, and a continued relief from symptoms as your Candida infection clears.