Here's the next part:

Below, taken from “Mercury Life – Finally Light at the end of the Tunnel”.

a "die-off", or Herxheimer, reaction (named after the German physician who first observed this reaction). Basically, the theory says that "you have to get worse before you get better" -- that as you kill yeast organisms, they die and release toxins (referred to as "endotoxins" or toxins internal to the yeast cells), which then cause your already overstimulated immune system to overreact. Some Herxheimer-reaction symptoms include chills, headache, flu-like symptoms, itching and rashes, fever, night sweats, muscle aches, joint pains, mental fog, and extreme fatigue. Sound familiar? (hint: these are also, curiously, the exact symptoms of mercury toxicity).
I don't fully agree with the Herxheimer/die-off theory per se. It's not that I don't agree with the concept of getting much, much worse as you kill off the candida (or other bacteria or organisms, depending on the disease). And I can assuredly say from many, many experiences with this phenomena, it definitely happens. It's just that it's extremely unlikely that unknown endotoxins from fungi or bacteria happen to cause the exact same symptoms as raw mercury exposure. And, in fact, it's not a coincidence, when you consider that yeast cells can bind up a quantity of mercury equivalent to approximately their own weight. (Murray, S.D., and D. K. Kirby, "Sub-cellular Localization of Mercury in Yeast Grown in the Presence of Mercuric Chloride," J. Gen Microbiol., 86:66-74, 1975). The yeast in your body sequester the mercury coming from your teeth and other sources, so killing the yeast cells will re-release the mercury right back into your body, causing in effect a re-poisoning.
In our bodies, the uptake and binding of mercury appears to be a survival mechanism for the yeast cells, which are microorganisms, i.e., they are alive and independent from us. Because daily doses of mercury are delivered to the gut from a person's fillings (and which can be methylated by these same yeast cells -- more on that later), these yeast cells bind the mercury to their cell walls so as not to be killed by it. Remember: mercury is antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal, cytotoxic -- it kills almost everything -- hence why it's used as a preservative in vaccines. And, one leading theory states that the immune system permits the yeast to overgrow in a sort of "deal-with-the-devil": although letting the yeast overgrow requires providing nutrition for the microorganisms (and hence depriving our own body of nutrients), and having to deal with their metabolic byproducts (toxins), it also saves the cells of our bodies from being suffocated and killed by direct exposure to the mercury. The problem is, with the balance of yeast to other assorted "good" bacteria close to the tipping point because of this compromise, the yeast can easily get out of control, as is the case with antibiotic use, sugar overconsumption, steroid use, birth control and other hormonal treatment, etc.
I have much more to say on the mercury-yeast connection. But this is just an introduction so you can understand why I was getting sicker while on this anti-candida treatment due to the Herxheimer reaction -- I was being re-poisoned through the equivalent of an acute mercury exposure.


Below, taken from “The Modern Herbalist” – specialist in candida treatment.

Heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, platinum, arsenic and lead in our environment collect in our cells and when present in elevated concentrations, suppress our cell's normal ability to utilize oxygen. Reduction of cellular respiration often triggers increased yeast proliferation to compensate for this reduction in energy production. Yeast overgrowth in bodies challenged by high toxic metal levels, can be understood as the body's desperate attempt to protect itself against the ravaging effects of heavy metal poisoning. In such cases, the heavy metal load on the system must be reduced to free the system of long-term yeast overgrowth. Individuals with high levels of heavy metals are likely to suffer if attempting to clear yeast / fungal overgrowth, before first addressing their elevated heavy metal levels effectively. When yeast is attacked in such cases, the underlying heavy metal toxicity may cause symptoms of considerable unwellness. Such symptoms and signs are most often misinterpreted as yeast die-off reactions.

(As for the above comments about candida and mercury, I'm not saying I agree with them completely, as I do not think having an overgrowth of candida is beneficial. I think it adds to the toxicity and to my mind overloads the gut and liver and prevents or interferes with mercury elimination greatly. Candida on it's own can cause a myriad of symptoms and some have committed suicide because of it! But i do agree that it can indeed absorb mercury and if the candida is killed with antifungals, there is the great likelihood of a massive release of mercury back into the system, causing in a sense a repoisoning. I've had it occur to myself and had to chelate it out with DMSA.

So there is no doubt it can occur. Possibly to those who are more poisoned than others or weaker from other things. so using the candida diet alone is safer, though antifungals sometimes need to be used in acute cases, but you can see the risks).