Lufenuron and Nystatin

[Vinta]

I just became aware that I tested positive from a stool culture for "leaky gut" syndrome (shortening in lieu of listing the candida types). My doctor plans to start me on Nystatin next week. As a biologist by education and profession, I found the information on Lufenuron to be the most readily understandable. She is also looking to start me on the Candida diet, which I am shocked at the restrictiveness and know very well that I will not be adhering to for 2 weeks, much less 2 months. I understand the principal, but as an athlete and already healthy eater, that kind of diet is neither sustainable nor practical. If you deviate even by one piece of watermelon, you're back to ground zero. And I do not believe life should be lived in misery! :( Are you aware of any complications with taking both the Lufenuron and Nystatin simultaneously? I can assume that I will need to take a high level probiotic during treatment to ensure I'm replacing what is leaving (or has been suppressed by the Candida).

Understanding that I'm certainly going to take into consideration my current diet and restrict what I know I can and will sustain (your glycemic food listing was very eye opening, and I've worked in diabetes research!). How long is the Lufernuron treatment recommended? Should it be taken prophylactically when antibiotics are prescribed?

Thank you very much for answering my questions.

[SarahVaughter]

There is no such thing as "The Candida diet". There are some companies who've done a great deal of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for that term though. So when you type "The Candida diet" into Google (with or without the quotes), those companies' websites pop up.
I am not familiar with "The Candida diet", as I consider such a diet to be by definition nonsense. There is only one single rule for an "Anti-Candida" diet, and that single rule is also the most important rule for anyone else: Do not eat large meals of high-GI food. "Large" being a relative term of course, depending on your own lean body weight. A portion I'd consider "large" would be a jam sandwich or a plate of potatoes and carrots, for example. So that kind of food does not fit any diet - it simply is unhealthy, Diabetes-causing food except for people active enough to maintain a stable, lean body mass on such a diet. Carbohydrates are responsible for the obesity epidemic and Candida loves the sugars that those carbs originate.

There is no need to create a complex diet with all kinds of specific do's and dont's. Just do not eat large portions of food that raises insulin levels too much. For the rest you can eat anything.

A very important thing to understand is that our diets are not directly responsible for Candida infection, and our dietary habits are not the main factor in getting rid of the active symptoms of such an infection either.
We simply have not much at our disposal to fight the infection - especially not if we don't have access to prescription antifungals. So we focus on natural antifungals and diet.

It would be much better to focus on boosting the immune system and on combining several classes of prescription antifungal medicines.
Our Lufenuron instructions mention that combining it with another antifungal is recommended and causes synergy with the other antifungal. There is a plethora of medical research data available on the need to combine antifungals if one wants to greatly increase the likelihood of a cure.

When one is on systemic broad-spectrum antibiotics, it should in my opinion be criminal medical negligence not to prescribe an antifungal as well. This has always been the norm in Russia. However in the West, Big Pharma has set the price for antifungals to about five times that of antibiotics, making them unaffordable in only but the most severe cases. The actual cost to produce antifungals such as Voriconazole is several thousand times less than their price in the pharmacy. The usual practice is not to use antifungals in people treated with antibiotics, not even when they have impaired immunity such as in cancer patients. This is a scandal and a disgrace. It's medical malpractice. The problem is that most diseases with unknown etiology are in fact bacterial or fungal infections, so the doctors don't even realize what damage they're doing. I state this as a fact because the medical research papers are clear in that respect. Doctors do not read medical research papers. Neither do hospital administrations, health insurers or the branches of government that should be concerned about public health. Somethines I think that the only people who read medical research are other researchers.

Probiotics are extremely overrated. First of all, if they have been kept outside the fridge during transport from the factory to the place you bought them, they are useless. If the shop where you bought them did not keep them refridgerated, they are useless. If they are not sent to your mailbox refridgerated, they are useless. Probiotics are so incredibly cheap to produce and the whole idea of them being protective is so appealing, that the world market for them is perhaps exceeding that of the military-industrial complex. Yet we still have all those people with Candida, all saying that probiotics "helped a little but I still have Candida and I want my life back". That's because the only use for probiotics is to re-colonize your gut after having been on antibiotics. You do not need to stay on them longer than a week. They are not part of a maintenance schedule.

Probiotics can't do much against mycelial Candida. Meaning that if you have a chronic, semi-systemic Candida infection, they are next to useless. Probiotic bacteria eat yeast, not mycelial Candida. People with Candida-related IBS for example have little use for probiotics. Instead they should spend their money on antifungal medicines, healthy food, medical tests, natural vitamin D (which can mean a solarium or going on a holiday) etc. The best way to put your gut flora back in order is to eat lots of mixed leafy salads. There are so many different bacteria on the leaves that there always are a few strains present that thrive in the gut.

The very best you can do, the number one thing you can do to combat Candida is to get sufficient sleep. The next best thing is to get sufficient sunshine. The third best thing is to limit your intake of high-GI food. If you have any kind of serious fungal infection, you need to treat it as a potentially life-threatening situation, meaning you should move heaven and Earth to get medical treatment. Candida is a main organism responsible for the decay of corpses. There should be no quarter for it in a living organism.

[Vinta]

Ah! Thank you...you feel like a voice of reason. I actually work in Pharma R & D which is why your information and how it was presented made the most relevant sense to me (I DO read the papers =) ). I am actually a very lean, athletic woman but I do battle an auto-immune disease (PCOS + Epstein Barr), so I suspect that this why I'm more susceptible to the intestinal candida overgrowth. My symptoms are IBS related and my MD feels the lab results don't indicate an immediate emergency but should be treated accordingly. I'm glad that you as a Nutritionist, agree with my perceptions regarding the ridiculousness of the dietary restrictions. I can certainly tighten everything up, but to give up fruit??!! FRUIT??!! I have ordered your product and look forward to combining with the Nystatin and seeing what happens. I will keep you posted.

One last question...how long due you recommend taking the Lufenuron? I believe the Nystatin will be prescribed for 2-3 months. I'm already taking a good load of essential supplements from a reputable source, but what do you recommend for daily use after the treatment period?

[SarahVaughter]

In our view, 45 grams is all you should ever take. One two-month course. After that, Lufenuron won't give you much added value, just like any other antifungal medicine won't give you much added value. That period of time is the approximate time in which Candida becomes more or less resistant against the antifungal medicine - any antifungal medicine, as far as I know.

Fruit is OK but if it weren't for the fiber it contains, it would have been classified as "food to avoid" (in general!) due to the sugars. Most fruit doesn't contain many nutrients - some nutritionists tend to consider fruit "glorified sugar water" nowadays. But they're natural food and I think it likely that fruits contain natural antifungal properties to protect them from decay while still on the tree. Fruit's fiber does a reasonably good job in counteracting the negative effects of its sugars.

Modern agriculture has resulted in severely depleted soils. That means that if you do not eat very healthily, you should take a general multivitamin and a multimineral supplement with trace elements. If you are eating very healthily (leafy salads, nuts, lots of vegetables, unpolluted fish etc.) then no supplements are necessary. Vitamin D is extremely important and there is no replacement for naturally aquired (via UV light- from the sun or from lamps) vit. D. Vit C also is important to combat Candida. You should perhaps supplement that with a few grams per day. Not more, as the body will then quickly lose its ability to process the small amounts in food, and that is a largely irreversible process (taking months to reverse).

[SarahVaughter]

I should add that antifungals usually can't fully eradicate the infection. Your immune system should mop up the rest. Usually, all it can do is keep the infection under control until there is a lapse in immune strength due to lack of sleep or stress, sickness or bad dietary habits.

Evolution has provided fungi with survival mechanisms almost on a par with immune systems. As soon as there is an immune system breach, fungi can take a hold and getting rid of them can become nearly impossible.

[Vinta]

Will Lufenuron become useless after the first use as well? Are you really only able to get the first flare under control and then need to simply plan for a chronic infection? There really is no way to assume you'll never use antibiotics again, and I wouldn't want to take that stance if I'm in need of them for life saving purposes. With my autoimmune disease, is there any real hope that I won't live with this for the rest of my life? It's a frustrating proposition, if this is truly the case. I do feel at times that I fight an uphill battle constantly...eat right, exercise moderately every day, still no win-win scenario.

[SarahVaughter]

My opinion on autoimmune diseases is that almost all of them aren't autoimmune diseases, but just plain diseases, meaning immune reactions to infections and their OSP cloaking.

Lufenuron resistance develops approximately as fast as Fluconazole resistance. It can takes weeks to months.

How quickly the Candida gets resistant in case of monotherapy with Lufenuron depends on minimum tissue concentrations (esp. when they are below MIC) and there is a random factor as well due to the fact that mutations can't be predicted.

[Vinta]

Hi Sarah-

I previously asked if I could take Lufenuron and Nystatin simultaneously, and you replied in the affirmative. I received notice that my Lufenuron had shipped on 7/2/11 but I'm unsure how long it takes to receive shipment. I'm supposed to pick up my Nystatin script today and begin this therapy. Should I wait until I receive the Lufenuron, or should I start the Nystatin and add the Lufenuron when I receive?

Regards,

~P

[SarahVaughter]

Depending on where you live, it takes five to 10 days. You should start both antifungals on the same day.

[knufflesmcblimp]

Vinta,

I'm curious to know how your case turned out. I have the Epstein Barr virus as well. I am also about to try lufenuron and nystatin together. How did that work for you? Are you free of candida?