10 Signs You Have a Candida Overgrowth: And What to Do About It

Updated 10/21/25

Candida overgrowth is extremely common, affecting around 1 in 3 Americans. This is largely due to the vast amounts of antibiotics that people are put on. Candida is a part of a healthy, normal gut flora. A healthy person will have a gut flora that consists of 90% good, healthy bacteria and 10% yeast. When a person has years of an unhealthy diet or does an intense round of antibiotics, the gut flora is killed off. This gives yeast an opportunity to Candida overgrowth can cause a vast range of symptoms that affect people in many ways. 

Here are the top ten signs that you may have a candida overgrowth.

1. Exhaustion

Exhaustion occurs when the adrenal glands become fatigued. This can happen when candida grows at an uncontrollable rate, causing organs and glands to have to work extra hard to do their jobs. 

The adrenal glands are in charge of producing and regulating adrenaline in the body, and it takes extra energy to fight off the yeast that is continuing to grow. When it all becomes too much for the adrenal glands, a person begins to feel an enormous loss of energy and becomes exhausted. 

While it may seem that it can be taken care of with that extra cup of coffee, that actually adds more stress to the adrenal glands and in turn creates even greater problems.

2. Weight Gain

Candida contributes to weight gain because it can create cravings that feel “out of control.” These cravings begin dictating the foods that a person puts into their body. Candida overgrowth is often the driving factor when it comes to increased cravings. 

You see, once candida has become overwhelming in the body, it wants and needs to be fed by sugar. It is so powerful that it begins to dictate what your brain thinks it wants to put into the body. Once the body is fed this sugar, the yeast takes it, feeds off of it and multiplies. 

The yeast wants more and more sugar, while depriving your body of what it really needs. You keep eating what your brain is now telling you to do, and therefore begin to gain weight, or at least can’t lose the weight. The yeast, like any organism that is trying to grow and survive, does not want to budge at this point.

3. Brain Fog

Sometimes you just can’t remember things clearly, can’t do a simple math equation at work, can’t seem to get inspired to write that nice note to your spouse, or even a simple to-do list. That feeling of, “it’s on the tip of my tongue” … all of these are examples of brain fog. 

Here’s what happens: yeast converts sugar into alcohol. So it’s a little like actually drinking alcohol all day long. No one can think perfectly clearly through that!

4. Cravings

As mentioned before regarding weight gain, candida begins to take control of the brain as it dictates which foods a person is craving. To put it simply, candida thrives and grows on sugar, so it wants as much sugar as possible. 

Candida is demanding sugar, or anything that can turn into sugar, which makes a person feel sick when it doesn’t get it. As a person does not give into these sugar and carbohydrate cravings, they can often feel headachy or lethargic, which is a normal reaction. It’s why people often have such demanding and overwhelming cravings. 

Yeast is consistently influencing a person’s brain and the many systems in the body. 

5. Acne

Acne, when it is caused by candida overgrowth, can be a tough one to get rid of. 

Candida yeast is a fungus, meaning once it gets started, it can keep itself alive. Acne that is caused by candida, no matter how clean you keep your face (or whatever part of your body), can still exist because it is the candida that is keeping it there. 

So how does it get there? Well, skin is the one of the main ways that your body gets rid of toxicity and fungus. When your body is trying to rid itself of something, it will often try to send it out through the skin. Acne can happen when your body is trying to get rid of the yeast, but will often stay at that point because the yeast becomes self-sustaining. 

So altogether, it gets there because your body is trying to fight it off, but it stays there because yeast is stubborn and stays there on its own. It is self-perpetuating.

6. Itchiness

A lot like acne, itchiness happens when the body is trying to get rid of candida through the skin or out through the different openings in your body. Candida can cause different substances that happen in the body to accumulate and discharge. This can irritate the skin and cause itching.

7. Joint Pain

While sometimes confused with arthritis, candida can be the cause of joint pain, especially after chemotherapy, a heavy round of antibiotics, or a toxic living environment. After these situations happen, yeast begins to propagate or flourish causing swelling and inflammation. 

The chemistry of the guts is the defining factor with joint pain. When the gut is inflamed, autoimmune function and proinflammatory chemistry exists throughout the body, specifically in the joints.

The reason is because movement in the body occurs at the joints, which is where things are sent to be “burnt off” in the body, as toxicity is sent away from the major organs. As candida overwhelms the body’s systems, organs are less able to break down and process everything that is consumed, causing the body to resort to attempting to get rid of the toxicity another way.

8. Bloating & Gassiness

Bloating or gassiness are typically some of the first signs that a person has a Candidiasis issue, or in other words, candida overgrowth. Yeast originates in the guts as that is where your body processes a bulk of the food that is consumed and where it enters into the bloodstream. 

So, it makes sense that the gut is where the first signs would come from if that’s where the problem itself starts. Bloating happens because yeast rises. Like in bread, when you add yeast, it will rise and create gas (sign #9). 

Bloating happens when there is trapped gas that isn’t coming out and keeps getting created. Therefore, gas happens. If you are burping and belching all day long, or if you have increased flatulence, yeast is likely an issue. So the more sugar that we take in, the pressure builds, and we tend to have more gas.

9. Headaches

Often the most ‘overlooked’ symptom of candida because a headache can appear from many different issues. 

Common cyclical or episodic occurrences such as menstruation, allergies, or a night out on the town ending in a hangover, are falsely blamed on the causative culprit when in fact, candida overgrowth is the guilty party. 

Candida slows the body’s natural ability to react properly when attempting to balance hormones or body chemistry. 

Candida weakens the body’s response to common stressors creating a headache as a veiled yet most obvious symptom.

10. Eczema

Like acne, eczema occurs when the body is trying to get rid of something. Often, candida is that something. In Chinese medicine, the skin is looked at as the “third lung”. Similar to the lungs, the skin is used to “breath out” in that it exhales toxicity and negative things that shouldn’t be there. 

Eczema gets tough, though, because like acne, it can become self-sustaining. Remember that yeast is able to fend for itself and has its own lifecycle once it is established, so eczema can be persistent and difficult to get rid of. Truly identifying the source will be a great place to begin ridding the body of this symptom.   

Candida is the problem. 

The bottom line is that candida becomes overgrown in the gut. From there, it enters the bloodstream, and wreaks havoc all over the body resulting in many different forms of frustrating and negative symptoms.

So, what’s a person to do?

There are a few things a person can and should do, not only to get rid of a candida overgrowth in their system, but also to prevent one from happening.

Stop eating so much sugar

We know… you hear that all the time. Well it’s true. 

Here are a few tactics to try:

• Decide ahead of time what you will and will not buy at the store: It’s easier to say no to snacking on sugar if it is unavailable.

• Try an intermittent fasting approach

• Create a food journal: simply jot down what you consume for a few days. It might be surprising that you’re eating more sugar than you thought you were.

Start killing yeast

The fastest and most effective way to do this is to use an all-natural, yeast killer that is designed specifically to battle candida. The best option is Skinny Up! Yeast Redux. This stuff is powerful, and most people feel a difference in their symptoms and overall health within the first week or two. 

Another good option is to start consuming a small amount of apple cider vinegar each day. A teaspoon of ACV mixed with 4 oz. of water twice a day is a good place to start. This will do wonders for your gut health in the long run, since yeast ultimately cannot withstand this type of chemistry.

Get on a quality probiotic 

You can pick a good one up at your local health food store or even at a pharmacy. To pick out a good one, make sure that your probiotic has a high number of colony-forming units (CFU’s), and contains a few specific strands of bacteria. 

These should ideally include L. acidophilus to colonize the walls of your small intestine, B. longum which is common in the digestive tracts of adults, and B. bifidum which is critical for digesting dairies.

Now is the Time

Now is a great time to get started. The thing with yeast is that it just continues to get worse the more we keep feeding it. So go ahead and get started. Kill that yeast with our candida cleanse! 

Be healthy! You can do it. 

There is hope. And you are worth taking the time and fixing this problem so that you can live a healthy life where you wake up feeling awesome, and keep feeling awesome throughout the whole day! To learn more about our modern and healthful weight loss support, be sure to call Skinny Up!® today!