Case Histories, CFIDS, Yeast related illness

CFIDS CASE HISTORIES

CFIDS ― YEAST-RELATED ILLNESS

These are actual case histories of Dr. Cranton’s patients, presented here in their own words:

TRICIA'S STORY

Two years ago I suffered an episode of diarrhea which was treated with antibiotics by my family doctor. During the following year my health became progressively worse.

I continued to worsen, despite numerous visits to doctors, numerous tests and numerous treatments. My worst problem was constant diarrhea, which had been treated with antibiotics for five to six weeks at a time. I now know that this was like pouring gasoline on the fire.

The doctor that I went to told me that part of the reason for my stomach troubles was that I was nervous. He prescribed "nerve pills" which I took daily before I learned better.

I developed severe stomach pain and became very nervous, jittery and depressed with a lot of abdominal gas and bloating. I could not concentrate well and tended to forget things. I was constantly fatigued. I woke up feeling tired after a full night's sleep. I could not get anything done. I suffered with menstrual irregularities, rectal itching, bladder spasms, a skin condition with peeling between my fingers, a nagging cough, bad breath, sinus congestion, hay fever, sneezing and puffy eyes. I scored over very high on Dr. Crook's questionnaire for yeast-related illness.

After a year of disabling symptoms, a complete medical evaluation by Dr. Cranton showed that I had chronic active Epstein-Barr virus syndrome (EBV). The doctor said that the EBV was reactivated by my weakened immune system, which was at least partially caused by yeast in my body from the antibiotics. In addition to recurrent infection with the mononucleosis virus, EBV, my weakened immunity was causing food allergies and chemical sensitivities.

I learned that there was no treatment for the EBV except to build up my immune system and reduce immune stress. My treatment included the elimination of milk, wheat, corn, citrus, sweets, junk food of all types, chocolate, cola, chemical additives and other potentially allergic foods from my diet in conjunction with anti-yeast medicines. The goal was to remove stress from my immune system caused by potentially allergic foods and yeast in my body so that my immunity could recover. I also took Dr. Cranton's high potency, hypoallergenic vitamin-mineral supplement called to help support my immunity.

I took nystatin powder, one-half teaspoon four times daily and amphotericin-B by mouth. Within a month I began to get better. I continued taking the nystatin and amphotericin for two months, with continued improvement, and was then able to stop all medicine. I became completely well and I have remained well in the year since.

All of my symptoms got better. This past spring I had only minor sneezing during the grass-pollen season, which was easily controlled with a mild antihistamine. This was much less severe than during the prior year, and I did not have any injection therapy.

This past month I had a severe throat infection which proved to be strep throat when cultured. I was given penicillin which cured my throat and now I am taking nystatin, amphotericin-B and Nizoral® for a month to prevent any yeast build-up from he anti-biotic reactivating my symptoms.

I can now tolerate all of the foods that previously caused symptoms, although I do not use much milk. I have altered my diet to eliminate sweets and junk food. I no longer drink soda pop; I rarely eat candy, chocolate, or desserts. Even when I occasionally cheat, it does not seem to cause me any problem. Although my eating habits have changed completely, I have no desire to go back.

On a scale of one to ten, if I was at the bottom with a score of "1" a year ago, I am now well with a perfect score of "10". I feel like myself again. I don't think I truly recognized how far I had come until after I re-read this on paper.

DR CRANTON adds his comments:

The recent increase in symptoms of chronic viral infection, which we read about in magazines as well as medical journals, may be caused in part by antibiotic drugs which lead to yeast build-up and weakened immunity. NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE published a lengthy article about these viruses, inluding the Epstein-Barr or mononucleosis virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes, and others.

Many of the patients whom treated for chronic fatigue, food and chemical sensitivity and so-called yeast-related illness also had one or more of these active viruses on laboratory testing. As Tricia's story demonstrates, such patients often improve on the program described above, just as though the virus were not present. The presence of virus does not change the therapy, since the body's best viral defense is a competent immune system.

PATTI'S STORY (written by her mother)

I am writing this because I am angry and frustrated that our traditional psychiatrists and medical doctors know nothing about, or even worse, refuse to believe in the role that food allergies, chemical sensitivities and yeast can play in mental and physical illness. Our daughter, Patti, has been a victim of such an illness. An arrogant, closed-minded medical profession has also victimized her.

Fortunately though, our wonderful family doctor, a man who has been practicing in Blacksburg for over 25 years, is not closed-minded, and while admitting he didn't know anything about yeast-related illness, he encouraged me to take Patti to a doctor who did, saying that he had another patient who had wonderful results under this doctor's care. He knew that we had been through all the conventional treatments for Patti's illness and they had done no good.

My family and I are now eternally grateful to Patti's present doctor, Dr. Cranton, and to doctors like him for their efforts to bring this new knowledge to the medical profession and to make the effective treatments available―often in the face of criticism from other physicians. We are finally on the right track, after all of the other "specialists" we had seen for Patti's various mental and physical illnesses had failed.

As a University teacher of mathematics at Virginia Tech, I know that I frequently learn from my students. Dr. Cranton has said that much of what he knows to be effective treatment for his patients has been learned by listening to those patients, even when what they reported about their illnesses contradicted what he had been taught in his formal medical training. Perhaps we can convince more doctors to listen. Conventional medical practice seems to be increasingly ineffective for many patients and may, in balance, be causing more harm than good.

I now know that many of our children and teenagers with psychiatric problems, learning disabilities and chronic physical illnesses are merely reacting to some of the so-called "good foods" that they are eating, to chemicals in their environment and to yeast-related complications of the antibiotics and cortisones prescribed by physicians who refuse to recognize the serious long-term consequences of those drugs.

I am alarmed by the frequent use of potent antibiotics and cortisone-like medicines by doctors, often for minor symptoms which require no such harsh therapies―and perhaps for the very symptoms caused by inappropriate use of those same medicines in the past. How often are adolescents placed on long-term tetracycline for acne with devastating consequences to their future lives? How often are antibiotics prescribed for viral infections, such as a common cold or flu, for which they have no beneficial effect?

I can remember a psychologist telling me when Patti was severely depressed and weeping after a meal that she was only trying to get attention. We have since demonstrated that this same pattern occurs predictable after eating certain foods. She feels just fine if she avoids those foods. Where does the mental health profession come up with their absurd explanations when the true cause and effect is so obvious if it is only looked for?

To give you a little of Patti's past medical history. She has been seriously depressed since early childhood. She had bladder control problems which we now know had an allergic basis. She suffered with disabling panic attacks of fear and anxiety.

When Patti became an adolescent she suffered uncontrollable urges to binge on sweets, carbohydrates and junk foods. Her weight fluctuated widely from as low as 90 pounds during times when she morbidly avoided foods, to as high as 140 pounds after extended periods of bingeing―a 50-pound fluctuation back and forth. Her behavior had many characteristics of the bulimia-anorexia nervosa type mental illness.

She became suicidally depressed at times and spent 5 weeks in a psychiatric hospital when she was 16 years old. Hospitalization did little to benefit her symptoms except to provide us with some psychiatric jargon reflecting pseudo-explanations for her behavior. She was unsuccessfully tried on one drug after another.

Now, after 6 months under Dr. Cranton's care, on a careful anti-yeast program [described in detail on this website], with elimination of allergic foods and chemicals from her diet and environment, Patti feels well and functions well. Re-exposure to those foods and chemicals to which she is still sensitive will predictably bring on her previous symptoms, which we had been told were merely attempts by Patti to get attention.

I do not need to go into details of Patti's anti-yeast treatment here because it was well described in Dr. Cranton's article, "Candida albicans: A Common Cause of Fatigue and Depression." [rewritten as Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome on this website]

Patti reacts allergically to foods that have been packaged in plastic but is non-allergic to those same foods taken from bulk stores and never individually wrapped. A set of plastic shelves in Patti's bedroom were determined to be highly allergic for her. When they were removed, she felt much more at ease in that room.

In Patti's case the results proved to be highly valid. Avoidance of the offending substances completely relieved her symptoms while exposure would predictably and repeatedly cause a reoccurrence of symptoms. The results are too consistent to be coincidence.

Skeptics might say that this is merely the power of suggestion or "placebo effect." If Patti is that susceptible to suggestion, why does she remain well now but did not respond to those powerful, jargon-laden explanations and treatments to which she was previously subjected.

Blood and skin tests for food allergies and chemical sensitivities are known to be lacking in reliability and they are very expensive. Of course, those tests generate a lot of money for the health care industry. It is easy to understand why the medical profession might be less than enthusiastic about a method of elimination and provocation which does not involve their active participation.

Patti has no more headaches or body aches. She sleeps well for the first time in her life. For the first time in years she feels in full control of her binge-eating urges. The puffiness of her tissues and face is gone. She has none of the symptoms of depression or anorexia-bulimia, which we now know is a potentially fatal condition.

Patti periodically take a combination of anti-yeast medicines and is becoming progressively less sensitive to her environment and to previously allergic foods.

LINDA'S STORY

I am writing to provide encouragement for other victims of yeast-related illness who are experiencing a slow recovery. It took me almost four years to completely. I have been completely well for more than one year with none of my former symptoms.

I now run my own business, which is a fabric shop. All of the new-fabric smells that used to make me sick are now well tolerated. I take no medicines and take only Dr. Cranton's hypoallergenic multiple vitamins. Although I generally avoid milk, corn, chocolate, coconut, sugar and junk food, because these still cause symptoms if I use them frequently, occasional use does not cause a problem.

When I first saw Dr. Cranton, I was at the end of my rope. I thought that I had seen my last days. I was confined to bed with constant pain and I had given up on living.

I had been sick for most of my life, but more so during the previous three years. I had frequent sore throats which were repeatedly treated with antibiotics. I had daily headaches, I was disabled with joint and muscle pains, my skin burned and my stomach ached. I had numerous allergies and despite skin testing and injections, I only got worse. I had a constant vaginal yeast infection.

Eventually my mouth and eyes became very dry. I stopped producing tears and saliva. I lost my sense of taste and smell. I was put in the hospital where numerous tests were done, and I was diagnosed as having Sjogren's syndrome. This is a disease related to rheumatoid arthritis but which also involves a drying up of the salivary and tear glands. Tests were positive for antinuclear antibody. I even had a positive test for antibodies against my salivary glands. A test for lupus erythematosus was also positive.

The only treatment I was given was antibiotics for my frequent sore throats and the usual arthritis medicines. I eventually found Dr.Cranton and his method of therapy. I was taking an antibiotic from another doctor at the time of my first visit to Dr. Cranton. A complete medical evaluation by Dr. Cranton confirmed the presence of a collagen-type of disease, related to rheumatoid arthritis or lupus erythematosus―with the complication of Sjogren's syndrome. This is generally thought to be an incurable disease and while fluctuations frequently occur, complete recoveries are not common.

Because of my many food and chemical sensitivities, I was placed on a diet which eliminated those things which were known to bother me and things which frequently bother other victims of yeast-related illness. I took Dr. Cranton's high-potency multiple vitamin and nystatin powder. Within two months I felt considerably better. Tears were beginning to come back into my eyes. My headaches were gone. I was far from well, but I could see enough improvement to be encouraged. I remained partially improved during the following two years, but every time I stopped the anti-yeast medicines, I became worse.

I took nystatin almost continuously for several years and Nizoral® intermittently. Nizoral® made me feel worse when I took it but everything always seemed to work better after a course of Nizoral. In January of the third year of treatment, I discovered that bigger doses of vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) would help my joint and muscle aches and would also improve the dryness in my eyes. That spring, I felt better than I had in a decade. In fact, I cheated more often on my diet and before long I was back on sweets and eating everything that had previously bothered me.

Then in April, I was given a prescription for Vibramycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, by my family doctor for a minor sore throat. Everything came back with a vengeance. I was soon right back where I started. By June, I began a combination treatment that Dr. Cranton had just begin using he called "triple therapy." I was very strict on my diet and took three anti-yeast medicines all together along with my vitamins. The medicines included nystatin powder, amphotericin-B by mouth, and Nizoral® tablets, all at the same time. Liver tests were run at frequent intervals, although I never had any evidence of problems from Nizoral.

[Addendum 2007: Diflucan® and Sporanox® are newer anti-fungal medicines which are better tolerated and usually do not require frequent liver testing.]

Over the subsequent several months I once again improved. I continued to take all of the medicines along with my vitamins. By the end of that year I stopped all of my medicines and continued only the multiple vitamins.

During the fourth year I remained completely well. I could do everything I wanted to, I became full of energy and I ran my own business full-time with none of my old symptoms. I now feel healthy and well. I no longer have symptoms which were previously treated repeatedly and improperly with antibiotics.

Whenever I do cheat and eat some chocolate, I get my old headache back, but if I avoid those few things which I know still cause symptoms, the quality of my life is quite normal.

It was a long and discouraging three years of illness and disability before Dr. Cranton finally helped me find the right combination anti-fungal medicines. Those periods when I did improve were encouraging enough that I stuck with the program. Each swing of improvement went to a new high and each worsening did not go quite as low as the previous one. When I did backslide, it was usually because I had not been following my diet or because I had been prescribed an antibiotic by a local doctor.

The final treatment, which seemed to make all of the difference and lead to a complete recovery without the need for continued medicine, was the combination of three anti-fungal medicines taken together: amphotericin-B capsules by mouth, nystatin powder, and Nizoral® tablets. Those medicines, combined with an elimination diet and avoidance of chemical fumes and exposures, resulted in continued and progressive improvement until I was able to stop them all and continued to be well.

I now feel that I have a new lease on life.

SHIRLEY'S STORY

December marked six months since I first started treatment for yeast-related illness.

A few days before starting the treatment, I had walked through a nursing home and envied the residents. That is quite a desperate attitude for a fifty-year-old, working radio broadcaster who looked perfectly healthy to others. Right?

I can remember that day as I strolled the halls with my tape recorder preparing for a program for the sick and shut-in that would be aired the following Sunday. I do not believe there was a fourth of my entire body that did not ache. My throat was burning up, my chest was tight, and my vision was blurred. I slept very little each night. I could not lie down completely because of a tightening in my chest which made it difficult to breathe. I experienced a nosebleed that morning (as I did every morning) and had spat up the usual post-nasal gook. It had been many months since I could turn my head easily because of swollen glands. My worst pain was a piercing back ache that hit me every day about mid-morning or noon and worsened as the day progressed.

I was recovering (or trying to) from my third attack of pericarditis (an inflammation of the sac around my heart) and Quinidex had been prescribed by a doctor for an irregular heart beat. I experienced almost continual sweats―except for those times when I was freezing. My skin was sore to touch, even on my face. Thus, as I interviewed the nursing home patients, I thought, "How wonderful to be able to lie all day with all the drugs that make one resigned to his or her condition," (or so it seemed). I sincerely felt I was in my last few years, or months.

So why did I keep going, and continue to work? The main reason, of course, was that I had to support myself. Something within me kept me going. I had many dreams yet to fulfill, many more things to learn and do, and I kept thinking that maybe I could lick the problem.

What problem? I had batteries of tests over and over, x-rays, the works, from doctor after doctor, specialist after specialist. Whether it was one of the country's major clinics or the small-town family doctor, there was one thing they all agreed on. There was nothing wrong with me that they could find.

At the onset of my illness, five years ago, I had gone to Dr. William Crook in Jackson, Tennessee, author of the best-selling book, THE YEAST CONNECTION, and under his care had gotten much better. This was after a high exposure to formaldehyde fumes in a mobile home.

How well I remember the days preceding that exposure. The owner of the radio station in Montgomery, Alabama, where I worked, had bought a station in Tennessee, and had given me the opportunity to manage and relocate. To go from program director to general manager, especially of a station with a new owner which was presently off the air, was such an exciting challenge, especially since small-town radio had been my dream.

I was a healthy forty-five year old (very young at heart) unencumbered female with a high energy level. I started out working sixteen hours a day and was feeling great to get the station going, tackling all the problems with ease.

Before we could get on the air, we purchased a mobile home for offices and for my temporary living quarters. From then on, it was rapidly downhill―for the station and for me. We continued trying to operate from the mobile home for five months before we found out the cause of my problems. Finally the Tennessee Environmental Protection Agency tested and found high levels of formaldehyde fumes in the mobile home where I was trying to live and work. Wood paneling used in mobile homes and other home interiors is impregnated with formaldehyde in the manufacturing process. It made me desperately sick, as were many of the other station personnel.

Dr. Crook was within a few hour's drive, and thanks to another employee at the station, I learned about him and was treated for several months. I got tremendously better.

Finally I decided to leave that location (after two years) for a better climate. I still experienced a tremendous burning in my nose and throat, and I felt that a salt-air climate might help. I got a new job as news director for radio station in Myrtle Beach, North Carolina, stayed three weeks, rented three places―all with mold. I moved away quickly in the middle of the night because I could not breathe. I returned home to Alabama for awhile, where I further depleted my savings. I finally moved back to a small town in North Carolina, because of the low pollution level. I have been living there now for nearly three years.

I continued to go down hill and once again became progressively disabled. Dr. Crook, recommended that I see Dr. Cranton, who was closer than he. Under Dr. Cranton's care I began what he calls "triple therapy": three antifungal medicines, nystatin, Nizoral® and amphotericin-B by mouth, all at the same time. My treatment also consisted of a diet which emphasized the elimination of potetially allergic foods and foods that are more stressful to immunity, plus a multiple vitamin/mineral supplement program.

I had visited Dr. Cranton at his Clinic as a last resort. I felt that if there was anything that could help me, it would be the same type of treatment which Dr. Crook uses―since I had gotten so much better before.

Dr. Cranton discovered that I also had chronic active Epstein-Barr virus syndrome. He told me that it was probably caused by my weakened immunity, as a complication of my illness, rather than the primary cause. My recovery using anti-yeast therapy seems to support that theory.

I decided I would follow Dr. Cranton's instructions to the letter because after this one last chance, if it did not work, I felt I would have to give up. I was so tired of fighting.

During the first three months while I was on the three anti-fungal medicines I felt worse. Not only did my symptoms get worse but I developed some new ones. It seemed that after about a month, my brain was more severely affected. I could not remember anything, nor think straight, and I was hallucinating things at times which I learned were not there. I was sick to my stomach, hated the diet, got hyper at least once a day, and felt that if I had to swallow the yellow powder (nystatin) one more time, I would vomit.

The worsening of symptoms were attributed to what Dr. Crook describes in his book as yeast "die-off" effects. Also, the medicines themselves were stressful to my immune system, although necessary.

I was so nervous and moody that I seemed to lose my friends temporarily. I learned what the word "paranoia" really means. Yet, I kept on going because I could see this glimmer of life on a normal level out there somewhere. And, although my previous therapy had helped a lot, the benefit did not last. I felt that a more intensive course of therapy would give me a better chance of lasting benefit, even if I felt worse during the initial phase.

Dr. Cranton told me that because anti-yeast medicines were the only thing that had helped in the past, a diagnosis of yeast related illness seemed confirmed. He speculated that my symptoms returned because some of the yeast in my body had been resistant to nystatin and those resistant residuals had multiplied to fill the void after I stopped the medicine. By combining several medicines we hoped to reduce the possibility of a resistant strain, and prevent recurrence in the future.

After three months on all three medicines, the Nizoral® was discontinued at Dr. Cranton's insistence. Soon after, while still adhering to the diet and continuing nystatin and oral amphotericin-B, I had my first day in many years when I was free of all symptoms. I shall never forget that day. I called my family and friends (a tremendous telephone bill); then that night I got on my knees with thanksgiving.

It has been a long time since that day in the nursing home to this holiday season, several years later. Now I enjoy relatively good health. I have no food cravings and five days out of seven, I feel almost normal. On some days I feel completely normal. (The only negative thing about it is that on my best days I usually try to catch up on all the things I have missed and overdo.)

The chronic breathing difficulty I had for so long is completely gone. My skin is no longer sore, the sweats are very rare, and the nosebleeds are rare. The aching is only at the end of the day and not every day. I have only two tiny knots on my neck now where the enlarged glands used to be. The piercing back pain is so much better. I sleep very well lying down. And the list goes on and on. Everything is either much better or gone. And I did not need any allergy injections to achieve this recovery.

Today I am planning on a normal life, as free of chemical exposures as possible. I have a Christmas tree up, and have bought a tiny cabin on a mountain overlooking a creek. I work most of my days free of pain and, of course, do a much better job.

I spend my free time doing the things I love again―music, art, writing, and walking trails. I cautiously observe myself for food and chemical sensitivities, and I continue to take nystatin powder and amphotericin-B intermittently. When my improvement reaches its maximum, I hope to be able to maintain that point without the need for further medicines.

One brief set-back was traced to chemicals with which my mattress had been treated. When I changed bedding my muscle and back aches became much better.

I am again involved in regular exercise, and am even feeling a bit graceful. Well, lest I get carried away, I shall close for now.

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