CBD Oil for Candida - What You Must Know Before Trying

Like a mother-in-law who has worn out her welcome, fungal infections can be frustrating. 

Fungus. Yeast infections. Yeah, we’re going there. We will tell you everything you maybe didn’t want to know about a Candidiasis fungal infection, how to get rid of it, and what you must know before trying CBD oil.

Everything You Didn’t Want to Know About Candida

Candida albicans, which we will affectionately call Candida, is the most abundant member of the Candida species. Candida is a type of yeast but no, not the kind you bake bread with (that’s Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we checked). Instead, it is the kind of fungus that can cause Candidiasis, a fungal infection.

Candida is a common yeast that likes to hang out in our mouths, digestive tracts, vaginal tracts, and the gut microbiome. Its day job is to aid in digestion and to help absorb nutrients. But when it lets loose, it can cause some real issues. Candida may grow out of control if you:

• - Have a diet high in sugars, high-lactose dairy, and refined carbs (all our favorites, unfortunately)
• - Suffer from a weak immune system
• - Have high stress levels (who isn’t stressed nowadays?)
• - Drink lots of alcohol (no judgment here, we like our alcohol)
• - Are taking birth control pills
• - Are taking a long course in antibiotics
• - Have diabetes

Where Candida Lurks

Candidiasis has its heyday in different areas of the body. Here are the common areas candidiasis occurs and what kind of symptoms you may be experiencing:

• Mouth: Thrush can occur in newborns, older folks, and people with a weakened immune system. You’ll see redness and white, bumpy patches in the throat, tongue, gums, tonsils, and inside of the cheeks. These white bumps can be painful and may even bleed. Ouch, not pretty.
  

• Guts: The digestive system is swimming with bacteria: good guys and bad guys. Having a good balance of these will allow you to maintain healthy digestion. But when the balance is off, it can lead to the overgrowth of Candida. When Candida runs rampant, you may find yourself spending lots of time in the bathroom with symptoms like constipation, diarrhea, gas, cramps, bloating, and nausea. It may even cause autoimmune diseases like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. 

• Skin and Nails: Fungal infections of the skin and nails are also a thing. Just like your gut, skin bacteria can help undermine Candida’s plan for domination. But if the healthy bacterial balance is thrown off (sometimes with things as simple as a new cosmetic or soap product), you may start to feel an itch accompanied by a visible rash. This most commonly occurs in the armpits and *ahem* nether-regions. It can also lead to dandruff, rosacea, Versicolor, or eczema. As an added bonus, you may experience infections of the skin and nails like athlete’s foot, ringworm, and toenail fungus.

• Joints: If the Candida rampage gets as far as your bloodstream, it can spread throughout your body. This dangerous takeover is what is known as invasive candidiasis, which can also affect your heart, brain, eyes, among other parts of the human body.  It will find its way into your joints and cause arthritis or even bone infections. Invasive candidiasis happens when the problem has been not addressed for a long time or if you’ve had surgery. Though not as common, these issues are the hardest to get rid of. Even though we lead busy lives, we need to remember to prioritize our health no matter what.
  

• Sinuses: If you are constantly surrounded by boxes of tissues (and not because you’ve been binge-watching Grey’s Anatomy), you may have a chronic sinus infection. Symptoms include a runny nose, headaches, loss of smell, and general stuffiness. Having a sinus infection long-term (say, longer than a month) points to more a fungal issue than a bacterial one. And Candida may be the culprit.

• Vagina: Candidiasis of the vagina is also known as a yeast infection. Some women have them frequently, while for some it may happen once in a lifetime. Symptoms include itching, redness, swelling, discharge, and painful sex. If you are suffering from this issue and lamenting being born a woman, just remember that men get penile candidiasis (but TMI--we will spare you those details). The gift that keeps on giving, Candida can also cause a urinary tract infection (UTI). UTIs are characterized by painful urination and frequent urges to urinate even when you don’t have to go. Urine may be cloudy with some blood in it, with a not-so-pleasant smell. However, Candida is less commonly to blame for UTIs than good ol’ #2. 

• Systemic Candidiasis: If not addressed in time, Candidiasis can have a free-for-all with multiple parts of the body. This is directly caused by a weakened immune system.
  

To top it all off, other common symptoms of candida are sugar cravings and fatigue. We know leading a busy life is enough to cause sheer and utter exhaustion (Moms, we’re talking to you). But a fungal infection shouldn’t be one of the things that contribute. There are methods to fight Candida before it goes out of control, and we will tell you how.

How to Prevent and Treat Candida Overgrowth

Prevention

Fungal infections are so not our idea of a good time, so prevention is so important. Figuring out ways to keep your fungi balanced is the key to keeping Candida from overstaying its welcome. A few things you can do:

• - Practice good skin hygiene
• - Eat foods that are high in beneficial nutrients, coconut oil, turmeric, garlic
• - Stay away from sugar (this one hurts.. we know it’s difficult, but worth it!)
• - Include in your diet good-quality probiotic supplements or foods with beneficial bacteria, such as yogurt, kefir, pickles, kimchi, kombucha, and sauerkraut
• - Healthy lifestyle focusing on getting good sleep, exercise, and taking it easy with stress

Treatment

If it’s already too late and Candida is giving you a run for your money, some things may help treat these infections.

• Antifungal agents: Those with Candidiasis of the mouth, skin, or vagina and are relatively healthy, doctors often prescribe short-term treatment or a one-time dose of antifungal medications. This is fast, effective, and easy. But if Candidiasis keeps coming back like an ex that was bad for you, you may have a compromised immune system. Your doc may continue a more targeted antifungal treatment. But resistance to these drugs may develop over time and there are a few serious side effects, especially if taken more long-term. 

CBD Oil for Candida: The Science

This is where we’d like to introduce you to cannabidiol. Just remember that no treatment is without side effects. But, CBD side effects are relatively mild with things like drowsiness, diarrhea, and dry mouth.

Derived from hemp plants (a powerful, healing form of cannabis low in THC), this cannabinoid has been shown to have antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties. But this is only a drop in the bucket compared to the big pile of potential benefits of CBD.

While antifungals have one purpose, CBD oil has many. Best of all: the natural effects of CBD are calming and relaxing, which explains its popularity amongst us stressed, anxious workaholics who just can’t seem to slow down.

So how does CBD fight Candida? Just like the calming of our mind, CBD can calm our bodies.

How CBD Works

To understand this, it is best to understand how CBD works. It is believed that CBD’s interaction with the CB2 receptors in our endocannabinoid system (ECS) is the key. The ECS is a network in our bodies that regulates functions such as inflammation through the interaction of endocannabinoids, enzymes, and cannabinoid receptors.

Phytocannabinoids like CBD resemble the endocannabinoids produced by this system, allowing it to fit into the ECS like a puzzle piece. CBD can breakup the shield that causes recurrent infections.The shield that causes your problem to keep coming back are called biofilms.

What’s that, you say? Biofilms have nothing to do with movies. They are microorganisms that group together, covered in protective sticky goo. This colony acts as a shield that makes it hard for immune cells to fight back, and to treat diseases with medication.

Without the breakup of biofilms, that stubborn infection is just likely to keep coming back. Antifungals have trouble fighting against the resistant Candida biofilms, but supporting evidence has been found that CBD can disrupt this layer of protective goop. This means that CBD stepping in may allow the infection to be better treated.

So that’s great and all, but how can CBD directly benefit Candidiasis?

While CBD’s effect on biofilms was a great discovery, it doesn’t exactly pinpoint CBD’s direct benefit on Candida. But the most promising find in the treatment of this pesky fungi is how CBD interacts with our immune response.

Cytokines are your body’s natural heroes that act as first responders to pathogen infection. These are signaling molecules that help regulate things like immunity and inflammation by allowing your cells to talk to each other. Cytokines bind to receptors and can direct cells to grow or behave differently.

But having too many heroes can harm the body. The heroes get tired under the weight of an infection, causing damage to pain receptors and nerve cells. This can increase pain signaling, which then makes thrush or vaginal yeast infections hurt even more.

So who comes to the rescue when the hero needs help? Caspase proteins. This is triggered by CBD interaction with the CB2 receptors that are located on our immune cells. When CBD reaches these receptors it activates caspases, the anti-inflammatory proteins that won’t lose their head. This has a chill-out effect on cytokines' rush of activity.

Calm in a time of crisis (#goals), caspase proteins put cytokines out of their misery by triggering their programmed death. And once they are out of the way, the immune system can start to function more efficiently.

Other Compounds in CBD Oil Working For You

The cannabidiol in CBD oil is not flying solo in its campaign against fungal infections. Full-spectrum CBD oil is packed with a ton of other beneficial cannabinoids and terpenes.

• - Cannabinoids: Cannabichromene (CBC) and cannabigerol (CBG), as well as many other cannabinoids, have antifungal properties, which just adds to the synergistic entourage effect of the oil.
  

• - Terpenes: CBD, CBC, and CBG may even strengthen caryophyllene oxide (an oxidized form of beta-caryophyllene, a terpene), which is a known antifungal. What are terpenes? These are the compounds in cannabis that give off its trademark smell and taste. Terpenes are anti-inflammatory or antifungal in their own right.

• - Essential oils: There is an array of essential oils that not only smell good, but can have antifungal properties: Tea tree oil, geranium, lemongrass, citronella, eucalyptus, and peppermint, to name a few.
  

What You Must Know Before Trying

Before you add your favorite Juna World product to your cart, there are a few things to consider before you hit that ‘Buy’ button. We want to make sure you have everything you need to know.  When it comes to CBD oil for Candida, you must know:

There is a lack of clinical studies

Although CBD shows a lot of promise in the research already out there, there has been a lack of high-quality clinical studies on the human body. This is because this is a relatively new industry, yet unregulated. We are still unaware of how specific doses will affect health conditions. The truth is, this makes it hard to recommend dosages since the market lacks regulation. As of now, the FDA has only regulated one CBD medication (Epidiolex) for epilepsy.

It may interact with other candida treatments

CBD can have an influence on other treatments for your fungal infection. When you use CBD, you are altering the way your body metabolizes other medications. Some of these medications could be those that treat fungal infections, or anti-inflammatory meds, and even though used for depression. Talk to your doctor to be sure that taking CBD will not affect any of your other meds.

Choose the Right CBD

If you’ve got the OK from your doctor and you’re ready to try CBD for your health problems, next you have to find the best CBD oil that suits you. Depending on where your fungal infection is located and the frequency of your issues, different forms of CBD products can help.

Your issue: Recurring candida infections

The reason: Weakened immune system

We recommend: CBD oil taken sublingually

When CBD is taken internally, it spreads to the ECS cannabinoid receptors throughout the body, chilling out the overwhelmed immune cells and allowing your immune system to regain itself.

This type of oral consumption of CBD includes things like oils, tinctures, gummies, capsules, and vapes. Pay attention to the labels when you pick out your CBD. Some of these products are broad-spectrum, meaning they have no THC (but can help you pass a drug test).

• Ease: Keep your immune system running smoothly with Ease. Containing equal parts CBD and CBG, this powerful duo not only has antifungal properties but also combat tension and stress in the body. Combined with essential oils turmeric (anti-inflammatory) and lemon balm (antimicrobial), this oil will relax and restore you.
  

• Balance X: Our hemp oil extract contains CBD, CBC, CBG, and other cannabinoids in the full spectrum This entourage effect along with Beta-caryophyllene (antifungal) and B-Myrcene (anti-inflammatory), CBD full-spectrum oil in its most potent form.
  

Your issue: Superficial patches of candida on the skin

We recommend: CBD topical

Targeting infections of the skin directly through a topical CBD application is the most efficient way to bring localized results. Topicals like creams, lotions, gels, and suppositories may also pack in essential oils and extracts to bring extra benefits to your issue.

• Ease Functional Body Oil: Your topical CBD oil go-to for inflammation. Full-spectrum hemp oil combines with heavenly-smelling botanicals that double as anti-inflammatories: grapeseed, turmeric, lavender, geranium, bergamot, and ravintsara oils.
  

Maintaining Balance

Your mother-in-law, like Candida, is great in small doses. But both your mother-in-law and Candida can be a bit much. Finding the right solution to combat this problem is the key to maintaining balance in your household.

And when it comes to maintaining balance in your body, we recommend CBD. But with your mother-in-law, you’re on your own.

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. It is not provided to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or ailment. It should not be interpreted as instruction or medical advice to displace the advice of your doctor or other medical professionals. We recommend talking to your doctor to prepare a treatment plan for any disease or ailments.