In my case, I don't believe it to have ever been systemic. It was most likely brought on by overuse of
Antibiotics in my teens. I started having external symptoms in my teens, which worsened into my college years. That was back in the late 70's/early 80's, when no one was diagnosing it properly. There was a cream that would clear it up, but it contained corticosteroids along with anti-bacterial and anti-fungal components.
It wasn't until the early 90's that I was diagnosed by a dermatologist. He started me on some supplements to cleanse my digestive system and to support my liver before starting me on a tiny dosage of Nystatin. After I started on the Nystatin, areas of my skin became red, and the skin on my hands and feet literally peeled off, like snake skin. The redness cleared and I felt incredible. I never in my life had so much energy. Then as the dose was gradually increased, I crashed and was sicker than ever. A CDSA confirmed that I had severe dysbiosis, my liver wasn't digesting fats properly and I had overgrowths of Candida Parapsilosis, Staphylococcus Aureus and Pseudomonas Aeruginosa. The report included a list of potential prescription and non-prescription meds which were effective against those organisms. The most effective non-prescription was Tanalbit. I'm skipping a lot of stuff to make this super long story short, but by the time I started taking Tanalbit, it was the mid 90's. The Tanalbit helped, and my energy was improved enough that I was motivated to start running in '97. I still had a lot of
food sensitivities , and had no tolerance for fat. The external skin infections continued, along with nail infections and I also developed psoriasis.
Cutting to the chase, I discovered the Clark
Liver Flush protocol in 2002, and everything kicked into high gear for me. Over time and through a series of flushes, my skin cleared along with the infections, and two years later I ran my first marathon ever, and qualified for the Boston Marathon.
Since blood tests and chem panels never revealed anything abnormal, I'd have to say it was never systemic. As you probably know, since you asked, Systemic Candida can be deadly, and generally occurs in those who are severely immunocompromised, as with advanced HIV or Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. I doubt that I was ever that severe.