Soy Estrogen Patches and Candida Overgrowth

What I have learned from having a Vivelle Dot estrogen patch for the past two years is that the source of their estrogen is either soy or yams, most likely soy because it is cheaper. When I contacted the manufacturer Novartis, they said soy is their main source of estrogen for their patches.  My doctor says there are no patches made specifically with yams instead of soy.

Because I regularly show an allergic reaction to soy, I suspected that my patch was giving me problems, but I now believe my many problems with itchy sores and infections on my feet in the past five months had nothing to do with my estrogen patch, and everything to do with my bad diet which included a fair amount of sugar and alcohol, not to mention antacid and antibiotics which led to the perfect storm of a serious Candida infestation in my intestines.

Everyone is different, but I now suspect most of my diverse health issues over the past few decades were Candida related.

Candida albicans occurs naturally in our gut, but only grows out of control when we take antibiotics, anti-ulcer drugs and antacids, make poor dietary choices with nutritional deficiencies, or experience impaired immunity.  I would venture a guess that most of us have suffered at least one of these factors in the past few years.

If we have Candida overgrowth and do not attend to it, it can lead to intestinal lining damage which leads to leaky gut syndrome, insufficient intestinal secretions, liver dysfunction, cravings for carbohydrates-rich foods or yeast, and even death. 

Many serious health problems can be caused by Candida overgrowth like:

diabetes, adrenal burnout, hormonal imbalances (e.g. estrogen dominance), allergies, fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), eczema, hives, psoriasis, poor memory, numbness, burning, tingling, insomnia, muscle aches, swelling joints, muscle weakness, constipation, diarrhea, bloating, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), intestinal gas, vaginal itching or burning, impotence, loss of sexual desire, menstrual irregularities, infertility, anxiety or crying, cold hands or chills, shaking or irritability when hungry, mood swings, headaches, dizziness or loss of balance, chronic rashes or hives, food sensitivity, nasal congestion or post nasal drip, chronic bronchitis, rash or blisters in the mouth, and

thrush: A disease caused by the fungus Candida albicans characterized by small whitish eruptions on the mouth, throat, and tongue.

The Candida bacteria grows happily in our gut until some combination of events causes it to start to grow out of control.  When an overgrowth occurs,  it makes it more difficult for our body to derive proper nutrition from the foods we eat.  Then it eventually starts hitching rides to others parts of our body through our bloodstream to cause ancillary rashes and infections like my recent problem with my toes or my ongoing case of bronchitis which returns almost every winter.

These infections don’t go away until the underlying overgrowth is dealt with, usually by starving it of it’s major food source: sugars of all types.  In addition, we must build up the good bacteria in our gut by consuming water without chlorine, acidophilus, unsweetened live culture yogurt, coconut oil, and green tea.

BTW, to starve the Candida overgrowth of it’s sugars you must eliminate the obvious sweets in your diet as well as all caffeine, alcohol, white flour and rice, white and sweet potatoes, all yeast and wheat-based breads, all fruits and fruit juices for a while and most dairy products.  Stevia and Xylitol are the only artificial sweeteners allowed on the anti-Candida diet.  Bread, fruit and dairy can be added back in later after the overgrowth has subsided.

To learn more about what I learned through my own transitions, please read my books: Midlife Magic: Becoming the person you are inside! and my Midife Change Workbook.

Tagged as: anti-candida diet, Bioidentical Estrogen Patches, candida cause and effect, cutting all sweets out of diet, Novartis, pro-biotics, soy in estrogen patches, Vivelle patch