The last few days have been quite extrodinary for me. Many things have fallen into place. Since that post from lily about soaking he lips in warm water + Epsom Salts I did try what she suggested, apply a slather of coconut oil afterwards to the lips while wet. I did it for 6 minutes in the morning and quite bizzarely for the rest of the day I had no peeling. It doesn't end here though...

I have been treating this as a wound the whole time when it isn't... this is thrush/candida infection that I dismissed a long time ago as being mumbo jumbo.

I realise now that the white gunk/slime we wake up with is actually the byproduct of the candida overgrowth. I thought it was just saliva or some left over dead skin from the lips healing themselves overnight, it isn't. No wound would take months and months to heal. I spent the entire day after soaking without my lips drying out or cracking, without having to apply the usual calendula ointment or any barrier. Quite bizzare really. The same again today. That white line is the key to everything, the soaking stopped the white line from forming and the lips have not peeled.

Here's a photo from online of what oral thrush looks like:

http://wwideco.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/oral-thrush-in-babies.jpg

For me that white gunk line can appear randomly during the day and then the skin on the lips dries and peelings. IT IS THRUSH THE WHOLE TIME !!!!

The trouble is for me that I have always had skin problems. I have other places on my body where my skin is itchy/dermatitis/flaky. I get flare ups around my nose with certain foods or for no obvious reason at all and in my beard and all over my head. I cannot go more than one day without washing my hair without it becoming insanely itchy with dandruff everywhere. I also have dermatitis/eczema on my chest line and I have suffered frequently from ear infections, nose infections, and even have perhaps undiagnosed thrush infection on the head of my penis and rectum. Last year I developed folliculitus on my scalp. I get colds easily and they hang around for weeks/sometimes months, I am often completely incapacitated by them.

All of these things together over years form a picture. My energy levels have always been terrible, ever since I started experiencing all these skin problems. Frequent anxiety and to a lesser degree Depression as well.

The next chapter is in coming to terms with this. There is so much information online, so many charlatans offering quite fixes as well.

This is a good post on the subject of candida:

//www.curezone.org/forums/am.asp?i=2044787

The next step for me now will involve having nutrtitional tests to see if there are any underlying vitamin deficiency/malabsorbtion issues. I suppose there are tests which can look into cultures in the gut.. I suspect I may be shocked by what they find.

I fear mentioning candida and all my history of sysmptoms to a medical practiotioner as they will probably ply me with Antibiotics .

I am just so relieved that I have found a missing piece of the puzzle.