Candida?

I've been having trouble for quite a few years where I would have to go to the toilet many times a day. This past year, it has got a lot worse. I've been to the doctors, and they took a few blood samples. I can't remember what they were testing for, but they came back as negative and the doctor told me that I had IBS, and that there's no actual cure but suggested that I do a lot of reading on the internet about ways to improve it.

I did a bit of looking around, and found the Yorktest intolerance test. I did this, and it said that I had an intolerance to glutin, wheat, yeast, and cows milk. Included in the cost was a half hour session with a nutritionist. She said that my condition was due to an imbalance of good bacteria and yeast (candida) in the gut. She told me to avoid the items I'm intolerant to, and take a good bacteria called acidopillus 4 times a day, and l-glutamin twice a day. She said that I should start noticing a difference after about three months. She also said that the candida will be creating holes in my stomach lining causing foods that I eat to be able to get into my blood stream. I've always had a problem where if I eat yeast, I get acne around 1-2 weeks later. She said that this was because of what gets into my bloodstream from my stomach lining needs to get out of my body through my skin, causing the acne.

It's only been about two months since my appointment so far, so I'm not saying that her diagnosis is wrong. I'm just posting to ask if you think her diagnosis sounds correct? I don't get stomach pain - but I do get a lot of bowel movements. Some days I only have to go a couple of times, more often than not though I have to go 9-10 times a day. The shape and firmness of the stool varies quite a lot, but most of the time it's quite messy.

Thanks for any advice,
Regards,
Dan.

Hi. Thanks for your very quick reply :) No, the doctor didn't give me anything - she basically just told me that I had IBS, and referred me to a specialist commonly known as the internet. To be honest, I don't have much faith in doctors at all really. They've got to know about so many different medical problems, that their knowledge of each one must be so limited. If I went back and asked to be referred to a specialist, what type of specialist should I ask to be referred to?

Thanks for your suggestion about calcium carbonate - I'll do a bit of reading up on that after work tonight.

<<To be honest, I don't have much faith in doctors at all really. >>

Join the club, honey! I think you'll find a lot--probably most--of us here don't like doctors all that well either. We've all been put through the mill with tests that come back negative only to have doctors shrug and hurry us out the door. Even if there's not a whole lot you can do for IBS, they could at least be sympathetic!

I don't really understand what your nutritionist told you. It sounds like she's telling you you have holes in your stomach and stuff is leaking out. If that was happening, you'd certainly know about it!!! Namely because you would be septic (i.e. have an infection). When food is digested, it's broken down into useable pieces and is absorbed through the stomach and intestines and is carried through the body to the cells that need those nutrients to survive. I don't think that yeast is getting into your bloodstream any differently than any other food that you consume. This is quite apart from being allergic to it. You may certainly be allergic to wheat or other foods; some people with IBS are. And your allergic reaction to these foods, along with the fact that bacteria can cause ulcers can contribute to an erosion of your stomach lining, esophagus or intestines. But I don't think that an ulcer is the same thing as having a hole in your stomach. Nor do I think that certain foods are "escaping" through your skin. Again, this is quite apart from exhibiting an allergic reaction. I think basically what she recommended for you is probably correct, but she explained what was causing your problems it in a really bizarre way that doesn't make any sense.


If you didn't take the test through a clinic or doctor (if was something you bought online and mailed off yourself), then I would suggest you go to a doctor or allergist and ask that they test you for food allergies. That way you can be certain that you really are (or are not) allergic to certain foods and your doctor can help you find a nutritionist that can help you eat. There is also the fact that there's a difference between an intolerance and an allergy. And even "intolerance" has a range from mild to severe. A good test should tell you how intolerant you are. And your doctor or a nutritionist should be able to say, "Well, since you are mildly allergic to that, I wouldn't recommend you eat more than x grams of it a day," or "you can eat it when it's a small part of a complex recipe, but don't eat anything where it's the main ingredient."

It's not enough to say, "Oh, don't eat bread or anything with wheat in it;" you have to know all the different technical names for wheat and its by-products. A registered nutritionist should be able to give you a list of all the words to look out for on food labels and even a list of commonly-purchased foods that contain hidden wheat ingredients (just about everything, actually). Even milk proteins pop up in foods that don't look like they would contain milk.

In the meantime, I definitely recommend the calcium. It helped me. Also, don't stop the probitoics if they are not causing you any problems (acidophillus by itself gives me gas cramps, but it's okay when combined with other stuff in yogurt); probiotics are always good for you and if you do indeed have a bacteria or yeast overgorwth, they will help, although it can take some time to see a difference.

At the very least, you should have your doctor run some stool tests to check for parasites and blood. Sometimes, they'll do simple tests like this on request if they neglect to think of it themselves. Good luck!

I also did the calcium during a four day bout of D and it worked great. I cannot take it regularly because I'll get C!

I just recently did a stool test looking for candida and thankfully it came back neg. I have crohns (15 yrs) and my GI suspects that I have IBS as well, which he says can commonly happen to a crohnie from having the disease for so many yrs and especially little or no remission like in my case.

I do suggest that you take the probiotics though, make sure they're the kind that gets past the stomach and into the intestines, the one I use is made by natures way and it's called primadophilus reuteri and has done me wonders...it's also recommended for both IBSers and IBDers to take some form of souluable fibre, I take one caplet of prodiem before bed and since doing this I have less trips to the can with bigger deposits, rather then before with many trips to the can, often with small deposits adding to the feeling of "incomplete" evacuations.

Also important, never hang off the word of any "specialists" often they have bad advice mixed in with some good and bottom line, everyone is different so slighly different measures need to be taken.

BTW, even with my 15 yrs of CD I never really dealt with any belly pains either (cramping, sore belly, ect) any pains that I used to get were all in my lower back, similar to labour pains.

Good luck to you, take care