Jim I read every word of your story and it resonated deeply.

During the pandemic I dealt with Candida and decided to fight it naturally. I cut all sugar, used oregano oil and fasted. It also helped me lose weight in the process.

The last week was the worst week of my life. I felt like I was dying. My body was weak, the cravings were overwhelming and everything in me was telling me to stop and go back to my old habits.

But I understood what was happening. The Candida was fighting back. The weakness was not my body failing. It was the organism dying and releasing toxins trying to make me feed it one more time.

I pushed through it.

What you described about the fungus manipulating your physiology to ensure its own survival is exactly what I experienced at the habit and craving level. You just documented it at a depth medicine refuses to acknowledge.

The difference between us is I caught it early enough that fasting and oregano oil could still reach it. Your window closed long before you even knew the map existed.

You are not crazy. You are the most coherent system thinker I have encountered. Someone will pull that thread. I am glad you left the map.