Candida..Yeast.... Are they the same and how do you know if you have it?

Hi everyone,

First, I want to let you all know that I have been feeling FANTASTIC this last week. I'm amazed! I have had NO fatigue which in itself is so wonderful. I'm still getting some creepy crawlies in my feet but I think it's because I've been using my sauna and it makes me herx a little bit.

I do have this annoying thing going on though and it started mid January after having a bad cold and having been on Flagyl at the same time for 17 days. Anyway, I have to clear my throat constantly! It mostly happens after I eat. I went to see my general doctor and she told me to take Prilosec and Claritin everyday. I've been on these now for at least a week....no difference. I've had acid reflux before and this does not feel even close to the same thing, so I'm not so sure it's that. Also, although my nose is constantly runny, I'm not congested and I don't have a sinus infection. I tried Sudafed today...no help except it has me pretty wired! ha ha

Anyhow, I see my GI doc on Thursday but I'm starting to wonder if maybe I've developed a yeast issue with being on the ABX for over a year now and I think the Flaygl did a real doozy on my tummy.

I've been watching what I've been eating and pretty much sticking to the Paleo diet which I'm contributing to helping with my fatigue.

How do you know if you have a yeast problem?????

Thanks for reading!

That's wonderful news that you are feeling better!

Candida is a type of yeast. I have heard that there are more than 20 different species of Candida.

I'm not sure how you could tell if you had Candida unless the symptoms were obvious. I would assume it is clinically diagnosed like Lyme.

I had it pretty badly when I first started antibiotics. When I first got it, I had a disgusting white tongue. The infection quickly spread down my throat and made it impossible to swallow food/water/saliva etc. without serious pain.

I think that Candida is a lot like Lyme. Unless you are having blatant and obviously detectable manifestations of it, most doctors will not treat it with anything. Testing will probably be controversial as well since almost everyone has some degree of Candida in their bodies whether or not it's causing symptoms.

Sleepless: When I start up with all this throat clearing, I sometimes will get a sore throat too....it's sooo annoying! Also, I have a deviated septum I know for sure.

Also, on the Paleo diet, it means NO grains/sugar/processed food. And, no alcohol. I may have a glass of wine tonight for Valentines Day tho...

Summer: I was looking at my tongue today and it does look a little built up especially towards the back....it's kind of gross actually. How did you get rid of the Candida in your throat? I've been totally watching and eliminating foods but I can't find a rhyme or reason to this.... urrrgg

I notice it a lot worse near the back of my tongue as well. I haven't had it anywhere else that I know of yet, luckily.

I'm never embarrassed to post things here. It's great since you are "anonymous" lol. However, I am bad with bringing things up with my LLMD and any MD. I hate bringing up anything, and I let things go too long until they get severe. I think that LLMD's probably have to deal with Candida issues in all different locations all the time especially for women on antibiotics.

I still haven't gotten rid of it on my tongue. It's pretty bad about 7 weeks after it started. When it was in my throat, my LLMD had me on Nystatin and off antibiotics temporarily until it improved. It only took about 2 days to stop the throat issue, but Nystatin didn't work on my tongue after about a week of using it.

I drink Kefir and take 50 billion probiotics per day. I went gluten, yeast, dairy and sugar free. I added S. Boulardii because I heard that it "eats" yeast. I also tried Hydrogen peroxide, salt water, GSE, OLE, mouthwash, brushing it off, etc. It's still there. I may have to try diflucan but I'm concerned to do that because it's hard on the liver and I'm already taking mepron which is also pretty tough on the liver. There is also some type of dye or something that you can try and someone posted a link to Dr. B's recommendation of using diluted bleach, but I'm a little concerned about these two also lol.

I may have to bring it up again at the next appointment.

Post Edited (Summer3) : 2/14/2012 7:07:39 PM (GMT-7)

Hey Carrie48 -
If you really want to know if you have a yeast problem there are some stool tests that you can do that analyze the yeast in your system. Insurance usually covers a portion of them. Years and years ago I did it through Great Smokies labs in Colorado. I believe that lab is now owned by Genova Diagnostics. You send in a stool sample or multiple samples over the period of so many days. They then return a report of what's in your gut and if you live in any state other then NY I believe, they also come back with what natural products help your particular strain of yeast as well as prescriptions. Each strain of yeast responds differently to different supplements. Like everyone else has said, you should take probiotics. My docs (and someone on the Dr. Oz show the other day as well as Dr. Weil when he was on a while back) all said you should take at least 30 to 50 billion live organisms of probiotics. If you do think that you have a candida (a type of yeast) problem, some of the natural products that can help are Oregano Oil, Pau D'arco (sp?), Garlic, Black Walnut, and a few others. Those are ones that I've tried. I actually have had great success using oregano oil and building up the drops to see how it is. There are multiple products out there that I've used like C-Away but they are only necessary if you have a systemic yeast problem and I'd advise shelling out the money for the stool tests if you think you do and want to find out what will work best. I remember years ago, I found out that Black Walnut and Nystantan wouldn't work on my strain of yeast but Diflucan or garlic would. It's good to know.

I have never had really big issues with yeast infections but have always had a bit of a systemic yeast problem. You can apparently pass it back and forth between a partner so if you are treated (even naturally) they need to be too. Yeast feeds on sugars so keeping a paleo diet would probably kill off or keep the yeast under control. And fatigue and throat problems can be caused by yeast but in my case, I have these same symptoms and my candida is under control. My symptoms are apparently from my mycoplasma infection which my doc said often manifests itself as a long term cold that won't go away with runny nose and sore throat. I'm sure there are other infections that can do the same thing. Good luck and I would say that as long as you don't have a bad candida issue and you keep to a paleo diet and use probiotics, you will be able to keep the buggers at bay. They can get into everything like lyme does so you have to keep up those probi's and the diet if you feel you are susceptible!

I too had the same symptoms as you. I was on antibiotics and afterwards got a cold, and then for 2-3 weeks straight I had mucus build up, a long with post-nasal drip. I've never had allergies or sinus problems before, so I too suspected it could be Candida. Also you can have many symptoms of Candida (more than you think), some of them sinus symptoms.

The best thing to do is take an anti-fungal with your antibiotics, I take nystatin and it is not an antibiotic, it has no side effects or drug interactions. I take two, twice per day, as directed.

Here is a link to show you how you can do an at-home test to check if you have Candida: http://www.candidasupport.org/test_saliva.html

Also a link that lists all the possible symptoms of Candida: http://www.candida-albicans-cure.com/candida-albicans-symptoms.html

I took the liquid nystatin and it didn't do much for me. Do the pills work better do you think?

I believe it's more up to the body- it's not Nystatin, but I discovered that my body did much better with a tincture of turmeric than it did with the dry herb. It's really funny the way the body works - sometimes it wants the liquid form and sometimes it'll do just fine with the pill form!

If you know that you have absorption issues in your intestines, then it might be best to use a liquid form of a medicine - that way the intestines don't have to break it down as much to absorb it.

The other thing is that your body just may not respond to that particular anti-fungal.

Kimomile: I was just reading about the A-fng the other day! I am seeing a new doctor on Wednesday...an integrative doctor and I intend to bring this up with him.

Thank you!

Same issue here. Taking 50 billion probiotics, non refrigerated and having back to back yeast infections. On Singleton's diet, no wheat, bread, basically roasted/steamed veggies, nuts, and some fruit protein smoothies.

Second round of diflucan wondering how else to treat? Taking tumeric, but not tincture, drinking Pau d'Arco tea, taking many supplements including garlic. Looking for more ideas on how to prevent as I make my way on long term antibiotics.

thanks.