via Home Education
Candida, an under diagnosed illness.
Do you or anyone you know have eczema or acne that cannot be controlled by any medication?
Do you have Skin and nail fungal infections (such as athlete’s foot or toenail fungus)
Are you feeling tired and worn down or fatigued.
Are there digestive issues such as bloating, constipation, or diarrhea or autoimmune disease such as Rheumatoid arthritis, Ulcerative colitis, Lupus, Psoriasis or Multiple sclerosis.
Do you have difficulty concentrating, poor memory, lack of focus, ADD, ADHD or brain fog, or skin issues such as eczema, psoriasis, hives, and rashes.
Irritability, mood swings, anxiety, or depression
Vaginal infections , urinary tract infections, rectal itching or vaginal itching
Severe seasonal allergies or itchy ears
Strong sugar and refined carbohydrate cravings.
Yeast or Candida lives in the human digestive system.It is able to change from a yeast into a fungus. It is kept under
control by the good bacteria that also live in our digestive system.The good bacteria eat the candida and this keeps a
healthy balance in the body.
Using medicines such as birth control pills, antibiotics, cortisone and chemotherapy kill the good bacteria. Alcohol
and poor diet also kill these bacteria. Once the bacteria is destroyed the yeast can overgrow and take over the digestive
system.It becomes a fungus and grows into a plant like structure with roots that grow through the intestinal walls and
further travel to other areas of the body such as the throat, sinuses, ears, lungs, skin amongst many other areas of the
body.
As there are over 100 symptoms it tends to be missed by doctors who tend to repeatedly treat the seemingly unrelated
symptoms in isolation.
Further symptoms of Candida include:
Complaints that worsten in damp, muddy or mouldy places
Fungal infections anywhere
craving for sugar, bread or alcohol
vaginitis, balinitis
abdominal distention, pain or bloating
rectal itching or rash
colic
nappy rash
vaginal itching, burning or recurrent infections
kidney, bladder infections
sinus infections
joint pain or swelling
itching skin
psoriasis
memory loss, feeling spaced out
numbness, burning or tingling
flu like symptoms
endometriosis
spots in front of the eyes
headaches
heartburn
mucus in stools
dry mouth / bad breath
nasal congestion
sore or dry throat
cough
asthma symptoms
burning or itching eyes
burning sensation when urinating
ear aches and/ or discharges
food allergies or reactions
hayfever
general allergies
thrush
hair loss.
With candida/ yeast overgrowth there can be any combination of the above symptoms. They will worsten in hot, humid or muggy
weather which will provide perfect conditions to help it grow and spread. Sugar, alcohol, starches, fermented foods, sweets
(including fruits) will indrease symptoms by feeding the yeast. They will grow and release more toxins which will produce
more toxins and then more symptoms. Those with a weakened immune system are prone to problems with candida as the immune
system is responsible for keeping the yeast under control.
CANDIDA AND CHILDREN
Many child sufferers are born with yeast overgrowth or develop it after their first exposure to antibiotics. Or they may
have contracted it from their mother in the birth canal.
The most common symptoms of candida in babies are severe nappy rash, rashes around the genital area and rectum and
colic (stomach pain).Thrush, rashes, ear, nose and throat infections, gas, diarrhea or constipation are all indicators of
a candida problem.
Candida overgrowth is a common complaint, yet it goes undiagnosed. In my experience, certainly, it is not something that doctors pick up on, especially in children. Left unchecked it can have serious consequences for the sufferer and can be debilatating.
Note to self.
On seeing big, lurchy and notoriously clumsy offspring walking to the table with expensive silk paint in hand, do not be surprised if thirty seconds later half of said expensive paint lies all over clumsy offspring’s clothes as well as being splattered across the conservatory floor.
In Print.
Last week the kids received their copies of a really special book. The title is “Home Educators 2017. We are writers’. The book has been produced by Scholastic Ltd as part of their We are writers initiative, aimed at schools and groups. We took part as part of a home educating group.
Each child is allocated a chapter and can write a story, poem, recipe or indeed any form of creative writing that they choose. The entries are uploaded to an online version of the book. When complete the book is put into print.
My kids were very impressed, not only by seeing their own writing in a book but also by reading the chapters by other children that they knew. Our youngest has had her first short story published and our eldest, a cooking and food fanatic, was very impressed seeing his own chicken recipe in print. Details of this scheme can be found at scholastic.co.uk.
Rest and reset.
As i’m sitting on my nice comfy sofa with the heating on, because all of a sudden this last week it’s become so bloody cold, i am feeling so glad for today. The house looks as if a bunch of hoarders walked in and threw their stash all over it. At some point it needs to be sorted out but not now. It will be done later. For now i am enjoying sitting here and doing very little. I don’t have to go anywhere or see anyone. Nobody is visiting. I don’t have to interact with the world at all and it’s lovely. Just for today. All week i have needed today and now it is here. Tomorrow i will go back out into the world refreshed and reset. Thank you Sunday.
Halloween.
The spooky season has been and gone once more. We tricked and treated and the kids came home with enough sweets to last through the next month. There were some fabulously decorated houses, a Halloween extravaganza. My eldest decked in death suit posed outside one of them for a photo. The result is, I think, worthy of any horror film. 
Then we came home to hot dogs and spooky TV. Our house will remain a halloween zone at least until bonfire night and the eldest’s bedroom for quite some time after that. I wish Halloween had been like this when I was a kid. Trick or treat.
Windy.
Today the news coverage was of hurricane Ophelia which wreaked chaos across Ireland. Also reported on was the ‘red Sun phenomenon’ seen across Britain. We could see it and the accompanying orange sky at home. The youngest thought it was amazing. We watched footage of the hurricane on the news and she was hugely impressed to discover that the fast moving clouds and red sun were caused by a real hurricane. Later I realised that had my kids been in school they would most likely not have seen it. They would have missed this most likely once in a lifetime learning experience. It reminded me of a couple of years ago when I kept the youngest off school to experience an impending eclipse of the sun. We stood on a hill and saw the eclipse then spent the rest of the day learning about the earth, sun and moon. Later we learned that her friends had Sat in their classrooms and missed the whole thing, much to the dismay of many of the staff. I kept her off, threw a sicky, and she still learned to read, write and mastered maths that year. Actually it was maths that we were able to break off from today in order to stand on our doorstep and experience live learning which was way better than anything a text book could offer. 
BYGONES.
The Bygones museum in Torquay was requested and so we visited the other day. It is a family run museum, housed in the old cinema building. Apparently the father bought an old steam train in the 1970’s and needed to put it somewhere so bought the abandoned cinema and it all grew from there.
It isn’t the cheapest place we have visited at £29 for a family of four though I’m guessing that is because it is a independent smallish concern. However they did give a small home ed reduction and one to compensate for limited access due to mobility issues and we got in for £24. I have to say that we found it worth the money. There are three floors. The ground floor is an immersion Victorian street experience complete with shops, commentary and sound effects. The first floor, still on the Victorian theme had rooms I the home, a police cell and a rather gruesome dentist which my eldest loved. The top floor was partly dedicated to World War I. The best bit was a walk through the trenches again immersive and complete with commentary and sound effects. The youngest enjoyed the activity trail and the eldest loved taking photos of the exhibits. I would recommend this if you are in the area. We have a tendency to pass through museums quite quickly but even we spent a good hour in there.
We decided to take a trip to Devon once the schools had gone back. We have been at a beautiful site. in the Torbay area where we pitched our caravan nearly two weeks ago. There is a fantastic view of the sea from the site. We leave tomorrow and have had a mostly relaxing time here. We are just outside Paignton where we have been a couple of times. Our first visit took place on one of the few rainy days of the holiday. We stopped in a cafe to be snapped at and insulted by a waitress who appeared to be having some kind of a breakdown. The food good though and we left just in time to see the traffic stopped and barrier down to allow a train to leave Paignton Station. It didn’t seem that anyone got very far in the town centre. as the barrier went down every 5 minutes or so whilst we were there.
The kids enjoyed exploring the Golden Hinde replica ship in Brixham harbour and the Bygones Victorian museum in Torquay, both of which I will dedicate a separate post to.
My favourite place was Totnes with it’s bohemian and alternative shops and whole foody restaurants and cafes. It was a little Camden with seagulls.
We go home tomorrow but will be back as there is so much more to see and do, we only did a tiny portion this time round. 
The other night I laughed until my face hurt thanks to the amazing Doug Anthony Allstars. I loved them in the nineties. They split and only reformed fairly recently I love them as much if not more second time round. Thank you for existing Doug Anthonys. You are sick and fabulous and inspirationally hilarious. 
AS I THINK I SAY. 