About Dr. Humiston

I’d like to describe how I, Dr. Humiston, became personally aware of the Candida overgrowth problem.  The story will illustrate how much of a challenge it was for one physician to come to an understanding of a disease that had been in himself as well as before his eyes in his practice for years, and yet had remained unrecognized.

I was one of those many children in the 1960s who received many courses of antibiotics for ear and throat infections and eventually had my tonsils removed.  Always a little too skinny, probably a little hyperactive, and craving milk and sweets daily. 

As an adult, I thought my health was fairly good, except for a few minor issues of daytime drowsiness and concentration difficulties, until I was almost 41 years old — and then my health was no longer normal.  Over a period of several months, I noticed that I was losing my spontaneous drive and enjoyment in life; I was irritable, with fewer and fewer nice things to say to anybody; I was awakening in the middle of the night with sweats, a racing heart, and negative, recurring thoughts; my feet were cold and my head was hot; paranoia seemed to be lurking not far away at times.  Worst of all was the slipping away of my drive, enthusiasm and spontaneity — I deeply wondered where the life in me was going, and what I must do to get it back, if there were a way at all.

As I finished my years of duty with the Navy and began my new position at the William Hitt Center, my symptoms continued to gradually worsen.  A year after joining the Center and after almost three years of being perplexed and at times despondent, and after trying innovative methods to treat what I perceived as a general immune problem but seeing no real improvement, a remarkable patient named DeVeau decided to tell me something he knew.  He had educated himself on alternative health methods, and he knew enough of my problem after getting to know me and observing me to diagnose it.  He also had the insight, compassion and courage to say something.

“I know what you’ve got,” he said, on a day that turned out to be fateful.  He added, “I had it, too.”

Intrigued by the past tense “had,” and willing to try anything at that point, I answered, “What have I got?” 

Then came the famous reply,  “Man, you’ve got yeast.”

I thank God always that DeVeau was sent to inform me of this thing that I absolutely needed to hear and understand.  I immediately — that day in early 2004 — began treatment, and felt better quickly.  I started with the prescription medications and diet notions that were recommended in some popular texts at the time.  Now, a few years and more than a thousand Candida patients later, the medications and the diet plan have been significantly improved over those other approaches, and this refined Candida treatment program is what is offered here.

Updated: November 8, 2010

Dr. John E. Humiston, founder of CandidaMD