How Amy Eliminated 68 Symptoms of Stage 4 Candida Overgrowth
“I was really upset with my doctor for not even trying…”
Meet Amy Grixti, one of the most resilient, dedicated, and inspiring women you’ll ever come across. She has radically transformed her life by cleansing Candida and healing leaky gut.
Starting her first round of the Candida Cleanser, Amy was in a severe emergency state of Stage 4 Candida overgrowth experiencing 71 symptoms of distress.
Her symptoms included all the classic signs of Candida like thrush, bloating, yeast infections, to even the more relentless symptoms like endometriosis, depression, and fainting. (I’ll show you her full list of symptoms below.)
After making a (very large) list of her symptoms, Amy discovered she was in stage 4 overgrowth and decided to do TWO back-to-back cleanses with the CCWS Candida Cleanser.
After her first 45 day Candida Cleanser Protocol, she managed to eliminate 14 symptoms and dropped down into a much more manageable stage 3.
Excited with the results she jumped into another round of the cleanse and eliminated even MORE symptoms. As she began to learn that Candida causes leaky gut and leaky gut causes food sensitivities she started on the GAPS diet, began to identify food sensitivities, and started to use food as medicine to heal her leaky gut.
ROUND 3 of the Candida Cleanser and Amy is finally free of Candida! Amy has documented her entire healing journey via her YouTube Channel: Endochick. What we appreciate most about her videos is that she is so real, and so raw. You’ll see her on her off days when she’s fallen off the wagon, experiencing die-off, and beating herself up about it. And then the next day you’ll see her super excited with her progress, coming home with her blood work and new supplement plan, and totally in love with life.
And this is the real, raw, truth of it. This cleanse can be challenging, especially if you are in the more pronounced stage of overgrowth like Amy was. There will be ebbs and there will be flows. It’s important to stay dedicated to yourself and your health, but also most importantly remember to have patience and compassion.
Healing doesn’t happen overnight either. But it is possible! And Amy is a prime example that you can do anything you put your mind, and heart, to. A huge shout out goes to Amy for being so vulnerable and brave to share her story with us! Thank you.
I’ve taken some of my favorite episodes and sharing them with you below.
Day 40 of Amy’s 3rd Candida Cleanse
We will always have a background level of Candida yeast present in the digestive tract, the key is balance. We must continually make a daily effort to prevent Candida from dominating the gut, mutating into it’s fungal form, from then entering the blood stream and colonizing in other body systems. We prevent this by eating a healthy diet, limiting our toxin load, and managing stress. If overgrowth is to progress, symptoms and problems become more widespread, chronic, and dangerous.
Having symptoms of advanced systemic overgrowth (like stage 3 or 4) could mean that more than one round of the Candida Cleanser is needed along with a complete dietary healing protocol like the GAPS diet. While early-stage symptoms can usually be resolved more quickly with a single treatment.
It’s important to understand that every one experiences Candida overgrowth differently. We’ve categorized the wide spectrum of Candida symptoms in according to how Candida proliferates, mutates, and grows in the body, spreading from mucosal membranes to tissues and organs.
To learn what stage of overgrowth you are in continue to our earlier post: The 5 Stages of Candida.
Where Amy Started
List Of Candida Symptoms
Amy’s health issues started young. As a 2 year old she suffered from asthma, one time an episode sent her to the ER where she reportedly died for a few minutes… (woah!)
Her severely weakened immune system had her on continuous rounds of antibiotics to treat back to back infections of bronchitis, pneumonia, the flu, and ear infections, which would always be partnered with a yeast infection. As a teenager Amy fell into a depression and for over a decade now she’s been suffering from extreme dizzy spells.
Doctors were never of much help, only offering bandaid solutions to masks symptoms of pain without ever addressing the root cause. In Amy’s case she was prescribed Depo-provera to relieve symptoms of endometriosis, which would only make things worse in the long run. Not once did a doctor check for Candida overgrowth and Amy continued to collect more and more symptoms until one day she hit a record breaking 71 symptoms!!
Neurological:
- Inability to focus
Poor memory (extremely poor) - Brain fog
- Irritability
- Unexplained sudden anger
- Dizziness
- Depression
- Crying spells
- Persistent extreme fatigue
- Hyperactivity
- Cravings for sweets and alcohol
- Insomnia
- Poor coordination
- Headaches
Digestive:
- Acid reflux
- Bloating
- Flatulence
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
- Stomach cramps
- Indigestion
- Burping or hiccups after meals
- Mucous in stool
- Hemorrhoids
Reproductive System
- Recurring yeast infections
- Recurring UTIs
- Cystitis (inflammation in bladder)
- PMS
- Menstrual irregularities
- Endometriosis
- Painful intercourse
Skin & Nails
- Acne
- Cysts
- Dermatitis
- Dry flaky skin
- Itchy skin
- Dandruff
- Fungal infections of the nails
- Fungal skin infections
- Ringworm (recurring)
Eyes
- Eye pain
- Itchy eyes
- Some to light
- Blurred vision
- Bags under eyes
- Stringy eye mucous (constant, felt like hair in my eye)
Ears
- Tinnitus (severe)
- Ear infections (many, back to back)
Lungs/Throat/Mouth
- Thrush
- Metallic taste in mouth
- Halitosis (bad breath)
- Bleeding gums
- Mucous in throat
- Sore throat
- Hay fever symptoms
- Sinus congestion
- Sinusitis
- Asthma
Other
- Frequent colds and flu
Frequent infections: bronchitis, strep, pneumonia, fungal - Inability to lose weight
- Water retention
- Chronic body and/or joint pain
- Growing pain sensations
- Muscle aches and stiffness
- Fainting
- Poor circulation
- Always cold
- Sensitivities to food, fragrances and chemicals
Amy Gets A Food Sensitivity Test & Live Blood Analysis
Aha! Food sensitivities were the final missing puzzle piece to Amy’s symptoms.
Starting off with 71 symptoms, Amy is down to 68, which leaves only 4 left: hiccups and burps after certain meals, itchy skin, itchy scalp, and some lingering acid reflux. However, after much diligent work, Amy has recognized that these symptoms are not Candida related but instead are reactions to certain foods.
Candida causes leaky gut. And leaky gut causes food intolerances. Undigested or poorly digested food particles make their way through the walls of the intestinal lining (because it has literally become leaky). These proteins make their way into the blood stream to trigger an immune response.
After time your immune system begins to recognize these food particles as pathogens and whenever you eat these foods you trigger a stress response in the body, the immune system is activated and a histamine (allergic) reaction occurs.
The symptoms to a food sensitivity will be different in everyone. Some, like Amy, experience burping, acid reflux, others can get headaches, achy joints, fatigue, and even itchy skin or breakouts. You can order a lab test like Amy did to find results. Cyrex labs is highly recommend by functional medicine doctors and health professionals , Nora Gedgaduas of Primal Body Primal Mind, and Dr. David Perlmutter MD Grain Brain and Brian Maker both speak very highly of this lab.
Be cautious with results, false negatives are common, however positives are most often always positive. If you don’t have the funds to order a test there are plenty of ways to test at home through an elimination diet such as the GAPS diet, and simple pulse or skin tests.
And don’t worry, food sensitivities caused by a leaky gut can be REVERSED. Simply follow a traditional gut healing protocol. The top 5 allergens for people are: gluten, dairy, soy, corn, and eggs, (but definitely not limited to these foods). Start by removing these common allergens from your diet.
Thank you again Amy for wearing your heart on your sleeve and sharing such a vulnerable part of yourself with us. You are an inspiration to us all!
More Success Stories:
