daojones

I figured out that I've been battling a candida infection for a loooooong time, through a long series of trial and error. This thing has a strong foothold in my system, and I'm confident its stronghold is in my prostate. Unfortunately, taking pharma grade anti-fungals may cause serious problems because of all the other drugs I took that didn't work and just wreaked havoc on me. I have experimented with all sorts of drugs, herbs, and supplements over the years. I did take pharmaceutical anti-fungals earlier this year and they worked well, but I couldn't tolerate them much. Since then the most effective thing I've taken has been anti-candida supplements. I'm taking one called candex (enzymes thats prohibit growth) and another thats some exotic acid extract called undecylinc acid. Both have helped a lot with brain fog, but the underlying infection is quite clearly still going on. I've tried all the popular type of stuff, like olive leaf extract, grapefruit seed, allicin, oregano oil, berberin, silver and more. Also tried this new zealand herb called horopito that helped a bit but not much, and a couple of stephen buhner herbs that are more rare - minimal effect. TCM herbs didn't help. I'm hoping some dao warriors could provide their battle tested solutions for candida, and aid me in accomplishing the heroic feat I need in order to pass this sphinx that has destroyed me in so many ways.

Totally agree about the nervous system issues. Unfortunately, I've been doing that kind of treatment and much much more for many years with no results, although not sure I can comment on if I've done:

@Cleansox There are formal diagnoses, but they are broadly just indicating systemic inflammation, which is true. No sleep issues. I do have a bunch of symptoms, but I have a good idea as to why they are occurring. Of course the body has its secrets...

@anshino23 The drugs that stopped my symptoms were anti-fungal. I also responded to antibiotics, but not as well. I followed it up with anti-candida supplements to see if that helped and they did. My symptoms are not straightforward. I have pre-existing conditions that got way worse all of a sudden, and I couldn't figure out why. Eventually I started trying antibiotics and they helped, so that led me down the road to check out infections. The infection made my pre-existing symptoms waaaaay worse like neuro symptoms and prostate issues. I've been clawing at this problem like a madman for years. I have very bad ptsd right now because of this and other collateral damage I don't want to go into. I don't think its a thyroid issue. Pretty sure I checked that out a few years ago, but open to ideas. What should I do to check thyroid? I have seen functional medicine doctors.

@JohnC As mentioned above, i'm taking undecylinic acid and in particular that Thorne SF-722 (i think its the only one out there). It definitely has helped, but the issue i'm having with it is that its like eating led. I've been really slowly working my way up to a higher dosage, but its tough. I've just gotten to 2 pills 3x per day and its just killed my appetite because its so heavy. I've tried taking inulin with it and if i time it right with the right dosage it def helps some, but ya still a slog. Any ideas on how to handle the SF-77/undeclynic acid better? I also have no idea why it helps GI stuff, let alone candida. Is there anything synergistic to take with it for GI health or candida? @RobBI wish I had a formal diagnosis, but this was discovered via year of trial and error. Had extensive testing, didnt find anything.

@RobBI don't eat much carbs except rice. I haven't eaten white sugar or anything close to it in well over a decade. I fundamentally don't believe cutting sugar kills candida, although I'm sure it may assist. I was taking a regular dose of pharma anti-fungal and that didn't do much damage, I only had reduction in symptoms at the max recommended dose. If the regular dose of something that confirms kills candida doesnt do it, and only the max dose does - it makes me quite suspicious of the you must not eat any sugar to beat candida hypothesis. I've also heard from a doctor that regularly treats candida that agreed with my suspicions about it helping but not being an absolute requirement.

Been feeling for some time that theres this big energy that is trying to channel a message through me. The problem I'm experiencing is that its just so huge and intense, I can't handle it physically. I feel like I am mentally blocking the energy from coming through as a defense mechanism. So when I try to go into a vision state or altered conscious state, my rational mind takes over and just tries to control the vision I'm entering instead of letting things flow through. In the past I've had seizures as this energy tries to express itself through me. Currently, there is a very important message regarding my health it wants to tell me and its imperative I receive it. Debating about micro dosing LSD, which I've never done before to enable the visionary experience. I don't really do drugs, so its not something I am aiming for, but I'm just at a crucial junction in my life for change and am considering all my options. Was wondering if anybody has any experience channeling or can recommend any resources or teachers for this.

Everything is commodified and value-able at this stage of human development so seems like par for the course. I could say more, but thats not the point of the thread.

The painting "the vinegar tasting" has the answer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinegar_tasters

Theres a movement thats been around for a long time, but its finally getting mainstream attention. Here is one side of the story: https://onezero.medium.com/our-skulls-are-out-evolving-us-and-that-could-mean-a-public-health-crisis-f950faed696d Kind of the classic story. Western diet screws up the body and is bad for you. But in this case its something thats been going on very slowly since we switched to a softer diet 10,000+ years ago. Jaws not growing big enough because the muscles dictate bone growth, and the muscles are not being exercised enough at a young age because its chewing on easy peasy soft soft food. Theres other factors as well like tongue posture. Anyhow, one consequence of this is the jaw isn't big enough for all the teeth! Hence mass extractions of wisdom teeth, and bicuspids for some - which is really dangerous and bicuspid extractions still happen but not as popular as it used to be. Anyhow, the 'science' says facial growth is 100% genetically determined and thus all the charlatans practicing dentistry and surgery of the face are free to butcher people based on this idea, which is obviously not a scientific fact. This is a pretty huge rabbit hole. So many health issues related to it from neuro, to breathing, to biomechanical. Mass amounts of sleep apnea going on...hmm I wonder why! These idiots operate on people's mouths with the sole concern of making sure teeth are occluding at the cost of anything and everything...and its so goddam obvious that ya you are going to effect people's breathing when you make that hole smaller that goes into the neck, but so it goes. The other side of the story is the biomechanical relations going on and its just the classic situation medical institutions being complete shitheads and digging their heads in the sand. Fascia was only discovered in the mid 20th century and its covers the whole body like a matrix...

Check out neurokinetic therapy to better understand the connections in your body that are creating these issues with your pelvis. Likely related to your jaw or feet imbalancing your system. There are other systems and explanations along the same lines of course, but this one seems good with explaining things. In my opinion a lot of the common types of advice for these issues on this board and in alternative circles will fail to solve the fundamental balance that post modern people have biomechanically and otherwise. Its not because certain ancient systems are inherently bad advice or tactics, its just that they could not have anticipated that in the 20th century we would be at the peak of an evolutionary problem with our faces and jaws. We are in the midst of a black swan event that has been coalescing very very slowly and silently since the dawning of the agrarian age. 20th century life has pushed things past the precipice and many people are suffering as a result unknowningly.

Those BK Frantzis videos are gold!!!!

Hmm well I would say dont try to do too much. Part of strong foundations is strong routine and if you try and do a lot then perhaps you may not accomplish much at all. Good qi flow would also require good body alignment, and as that related to stretchiness I think yin yoga is also a good place to start as this concentrates on getting your fascia real stretched as you hold the poses for 2-3+ minutes so it gets the fascia. My hypothesis is that energy meridians are essentially points in the fascia, because fascia conducts electricity and it does so faster than nerves.

@dwai Much appreciated, but not sure theres much to be done unfortunately. The systems I need help from continue to spite me with apathetic glee. Been a member here for some time now, and its nice to have a home that I can always return to.

Pretty shit right now. Losing my sanity and losing my body.

How is your nervous system? My intuition and experience on a lot of these highly spiritual practices and people that use them (lets say western seekers here mostly), is that we try to go too high before we're ready because of the foundational nature of the problems we are facing and trauma that is propelling us on the journey. You can meditate and be in your head all you want, but the body needs to be accounted for. Up to the person to figure out the progression of using body, mind, or integration of both practices. I strongly believe that a lot of people's nervous system's are messed and stuck in a sympathetic state, or tend to sympathetic state so easily that they can't get into a parasympathetic state - which is the place where all these mind based meditation practices are so much more effective.

Its become apparent that there is planetary phenomena that is energetically and spiritually impacting me in a big way. The thing is I dont know a thing about astrology. I need help interpreting whats going on, as well as understanding the current conjunction of planetary alignments. Theres so much BS in astrology info so I have no idea where to start. Any recommendations on where to start, schools of thought, etc...?

Thanks! Yes its this saturn-jupiter thing!!!! I didn't know anything about astrology and all these symbols and energies came up over the last few months and as I looked them up its all stuff that is going on celestially now. Thanks for the book recommendations! Gonna PM you.

Whats morality?

It was a good introductory book for me when I was getting started in this way of life - spiritual path and health oriented. It introduced me to concepts and gave me some general ideas about what was out there. Its a helpful place to start for learning about food with some mish mash of yin-yang philosophy (i think thats an appropriate name for what he describes). It seems very clearly to me a beginners book. Helpful for referencing things as needed. By no means comprehensive. Its a very general beginners book. I think the web that has no weaver is a very different type of book, but also a great beginners book for actual TCM. Healing with whole foods is not a book about TCM, although it definitely discusses some basic TCM concepts and includes those in its approach. Approach from western colonialism?!?! I guess if you look at life with rose colored sunglasses, everything will look rose colored. There is absolutely nothing in the book that could be remotely related to western colonialism. Its an english book for an english speaking audience, and a beginners book at that (as I already emphasized). I think if anything its more closely aligned with a macrobiotic approach, which is also why I found it helpful. Diets tend to get culty, so I can understand somebody not appreciating a macrobiotic spin, but macrobiotic works for me so I don't mind it, but I am also pretty open minded and am an integrator myself. What that means is I'm typically not threatened by orthodox approaches because I've learned how to carve my own niche and get things from different places to work for me. And maybe that's not for everybody, but that's OK - I respect orthodox approaches for what they are too...hopefully it goes both ways, but often people get threatened if you disagree with their 'system'. HOW COULD YOU DISAGREE WITH MY SYSTEM ITS PERFECT?!?!? Deep fear that they could be doing things wrong and have misplaced their trust, and you are the source of triggering that fear, so anger gets displaced onto the anger triggering object. Just to be clear the book says in the subtitle "Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition". I think this makes it clear this book is not about TCM, and that its a fusion approach. I think any fusion approach characterizes cross cultural integration of a tradition or knowledge from somewhere else. And if you really think the concept of appropriation characterizes this book - think about how that concept applies to buddhism and its spread globally. It went from India to China. The Chinese made it their own. Did they culturally appropriate it from the Indians...or is that just the nature of the history of great ideas. And if they did, I really don't see what problems come from that? And if there are problems from that, I have a hard time understanding how one can think, even united, how all of humanity could plug a hole in the ocean. Best to ride the waves, than be swallowed by them.

@Toni I grabbed this from YJ Care Clinic a korean dentist that deals with such issues. He doesnt believe c-0 and c1 are the major issues, but rather c2. I think below is generally useful info. Check out NUCCA chiropractor as they do xrays on your spine to give you an idea as to whats going on. The dental side of things is more of a mess to deal with, and its difficult to make any recommendations. The meaning of facial asymmetry The meaning of facial asymmetry is as follows: * One with facial asymmetry must have a C2 subluxation proportional to it. * One with facial asymmetry must have an imbalance of the TMJ proportional to it. * One with imbalance TMJ must have a C2 subluxation proportional to it. Conclusions : Triangular relationship between facial asymmetry, C2 subluxation, and TMJ imbalance Therefore, the following conclusions can be drawn: * One with facial asymmetry must have an imbalance in the TMJ, and one with an imbalance in the TMJ must have C2 subluxation. * By balancing the imbalance of the TMJ, facial asymmetry is restored and C2 is restored (aligned) to its normal position. * Therefore, in case of facial asymmetry, the more C2 is aligned to its normal position, the more changes will occur that will make the face more symmetrical. * Facial asymmetry recovery is an incidental result obtained by the balance of the TMJ as the C2 is aligned. * People with C2 subluxation must have problems with their nervous system or spine. In other words, they have various spinal disc diseases due to problems such as neurological disorders, straight neck, hypolordosis, kyphosis, scoliosis, hyper lordosis, and pelvic torsion. * In order to solve spinal and neurological problems, C2 must be aligned to its normal position. In order to align C2, the TMJ must be balanced. * The alignment of C2 cannot be achieved without the balance of the TMJ. The normal recovery of the nervous system or spine is not possible unless C2 is aligned. Even if recovery is taken place, it is only temporary.

I've actually been amazed this topic hasnt been discussed much here. The neck is majorly important because its: -connected to the craniofacial system and that is connected to a ton of nerves going through very very tight spaces. -the upper cervical spine supports vital autonomic function. If your atlas and upper cervical spine are messed up it will compress important things like the brain stem and vagus nerve. This will F you up! The reason inflammation is associated with neck instability is likely because of the vagus nerve being compressed. This nerve innervates a ton of stuff from your head down to near your pelvis, including a bunch of organs and breathing accessories. It is primarily responsible for putting you into a parasympathetic state. If it is compressed your body will tend to be in a sympathetic state. You can look up the various scientific reasons why the vagus nerve will put your body into an inflammatory state, but this is a good start. And there are many reasons why the cervical spine/atlas get messed up, but a major one many people don't know about is because of dentistry. The mandible needs to be in biocompatible position because the mandible is actually an extension of the spine. If you look at how vertebrae have a tripod structure, you will see that c-0 and c-1 do not have this tripod structure. And that is because those 2 vertebrae are needed for rotating and supporting the skull. So the body uses the mandible as the 3rd part of the tripod for those 2 vertebrae to complete the tripod structure that was missing. If you start to view the situation in terms of gravity, dao, and wu wei it will be easy to see how the body is trying to efficiently deal with the issue of keeping the head upright in the most energy efficient way possible. When an idiot dentist messes with your teeth or your jaw they basically just throw a spanner in the efficient equation your body is trying to work out. The result is compensation and long term inefficiencies in your body as it tries to compensate, and this can result in many issues including compressing nerves and brain! Including, the ones I'm talking about, which are some major ones to watch out for. So when you feel qi flowing better after fixing your neck, there are really good reasons for that. Another one I didn't go into is fascia...if somebody is interested why lemme know and I'll drop another rant.

I just picked up a huge bag of kukicha (roasted twig tea) and I'm feeling very wealthy as a result. Tea rich. Tea chamilionaire. Tea bajillion-heir. This stuff is soooo strong and roasty! It's amazing. It gets stuck in my tea sieve due to its low quality construction of metal. I'd like to buy some nicer tea accoutrements. Maybe somebody can share some tea stuff they like. I also really like jasmine tea, but I have a really hard time brewing it consistently well. Very finicky tea. Its floral and feminine, and I like to drink it after a heavy meal or if I eat anything strong tasting to balance me out. The first problem I solved in dealing with jasmine was the water. I had always been a fan of my tap water, but I noticed in the last couple of years something just wasn't the same. This bad taste really was amplified when drinking jasmine tea. It was like drinking a cup of chlorinated water. Really nasty. So I switched to spring water. All of my tea tastes so much better with spring water. Its amazing stuff. Price per cup increased a lot too, but I highly value health, tasty water, and tasty tea so its worth it for me. If I had to use it for a whole family...that would get expensive really fast, but even then the health benefits may be higher than the health bills long term from doing this. I think the next issue with Jasmine tea is the water temp. I know theres an ideal temp and I don't have a thermometer for my kettle. Which is probably the 3rd issue. I think boiling water in a pot is really the best, and then having it boiled on gas or fire even better. I've also tried different cup materials and that has affected the taste as well. Still unsure what the best cup material is.

I've been dealing with neurological issues for a long time, and the brain fog is just...its just the goddam motherfucking worst. It just ruins my life. I mean that in the sense that it keeps me more or less stagnated in my life path. I will however, tip my hat to myself for the sheer tenacity of my masculine energy for pushing my life forward in the ways that I have despite being faced against a seeming impossible situation speckled with an abusive and negligent medical system. A recent observation is that the feeling of this brain fog is that my left and right sides are floated apart. When I feel able to concentrate and use my brain there is this balance and centered feeling in my head specifically. Intuitively the term I came up with was that I am not able to keep hemispheric coherence. As in the electrical signals are not able to stay in sync or communicate with each other, or even perhaps theres a break in the 'form' of how the energy circulates. So I did some googling and that looks pretty accurate with academic terms for what can happen with various neurological issues, and officially called interhemispheric coherence. I am not always in brain fog, but after expending some cognitive effort I am. So it seems to me that I'm unable to maintain the left-right communication or perhaps the container for that communication. Was wondering if this makes sense to anybody? And if so, are there any therapies or like brain entrainment devices I can try to get these things in sync?

@Cleansox I never heard of the glymphatic system before or coherence breathing - can you recommend resources to learn more about both of those things?