Everything you need to know about Candidiasis and how to fix it ?
A Functional Medicine Approach to Candida Overgrowth. Everything you need to know about Candidiasis and how to fix it ?
Blog Overview:
What is Candida?
What is Candida overgrowth?
Symptoms of Candida overgrowth?
Causes of Candida Overgrowth
Candida Survival strategies
Functional Medicine Treatment for Candida
Candida Cleanse + Candida Control Diet Plan
11 Best Home Remedies for Yeast Infections
What is Candida?
Candida is actually a naturally occurring fungus that grows in and on our bodies, commonly lives in warm and moist areas such as in the gut, mouth, throat, vagina, and skin. The right amount doesn’t cause any harm, the problem starts when we have too much of it.
The problem - What is Candida overgrowth?
When Candida (yeast or fungus) grows out of control, it causes an infection known as candidiasis, aka candida overgrowth.
Symptoms of Candida overgrowth?
Skin rashes
Yeast infections
Gastrointestinal issues
Chronic tiredness or fatigue
Urinary Tract Infections (UTI)
Thrush
Nail Infections
Mood changes
If you have candida overgrowth many problems can present, including skin rashes, yeast infections (A vaginal yeast infection is a fungal infection that causes irritation, discharge and intense itchiness of the vagina), and GI distress (Gastric distress is a group of digestive disorders that are associated with lingering symptoms of constipation, bloating, reflux, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramping. These gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms can be caused by infections, food intolerances, food allergies or autoimmune diseases.)
Frequent Urinary Tract Infections (UTI). UTI's are commonly caused by bacteria, but Candida Albicans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that can overgrow in the urinary tract causing chronic UTIs.
Thrush: A thin white coat on your tongue is considered normal. But if you notice a thicker white coating on your tongue, cheeks, throat, or the roof of your mouth, you could have oral thrush, which is a sign of candida overgrowth.
Frequent Skin Infections or Nail Infections: Sometimes, the fungi can make their way beneath the skin or nail's surface and cause an infection.
Most Common Causes of Candida Overgrowth?
The most common causes of candida overgrowth include:
Prescription medications such as antibiotics.
Oral contraceptives.
Dietary choices such as eating a lot of refined sugars and carbohydrates.
Cancer treatments such as chemotherapy.
Oral corticosteroids.
Excessive alcohol consumption
Excessive sugar consumption
Starchy foods
Autoimmune Disease
Diabetes
High levels of stress (chronic stress weakens the immune system and can disrupt the gut microbiome)
Do you regularly suffer from any of these symptoms?
It is important to reduce as many of the above risk factors as possible to keep a healthy balance between yeast and microbiome flora. Eating greatly reduced amounts of refined sugars and avoiding alcohol is a good place to start. It is also helpful to begin to develop a practice of mind-body techniques for stress reduction. This might include meditation/visualisation, yoga.
I can help you begin your healing journey and clean up your health.
In my clinic we have Functional Medicine Lab Tests available for Candida.
I offer the following tests:
GI Effects Comprehensive Stool Profile
The GI Effects Comprehensive Stool Profile can reveal important information about the root cause of many common gastrointestinal symptoms such as gas, bloating, indigestion, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and constipation. This stool analysis utilises biomarkers such as faecal calprotectin to differentiate between Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). In addition, Genova's GI Effects test can be used to evaluate patients with a clinical history that suggests a gastrointestinal infection or dysbiosis.
Gut microbes are codependent with one another and with their human host, and the health of one affects the other. A sizeable volume of research associates a dysbiotic, or imbalanced gut microbiome with multiple disease states both within and outside of the GI tract. The diverse metabolic activities of the microbiome ultimately impact the human host, and the activities of the human host ultimately affect the health of their microbiome.
Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)
Requirements
SIBO 2 Hr - Six fasting breath samples, taken at Baseline, 20 minutes, 40 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, and 120 minutes.
SIBO 3 Hr - Eight fasting breath samples, taken at Baseline, 20 minutes, 40 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, 120 minutes, 150 minutes, and 180 minutes.
Uncover the Cause of Unexplained Abdominal Symptoms with Breath Testing
SIBO is a common clinical condition and can develop in a variety of patient populations.
Genova's SIBO Profiles are non-invasive breath tests which capture exhaled hydrogen (H2) and methane (CH4) gases following patient ingestion of a lactulose solution to evaluate bacterial overgrowth of the small intestine. Levels of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) are also measured in every sample for quality control purposes.
Symptoms of SIBO are non-specific, encompassing abdominal pain/distention, diarrhoea, and flatulence.
Conditions commonly associated with SIBO include:
IBS
IBD
Coeliac Disease
Diabetes
Fibromyalgia
Rosacea
Parkinson's Disease
Obesity
Risk factors for development of SIBO include structural/anatomic issues, motility disorders, organ system dysfunction, elderly age and various medications (recurrent antibiotics, PPIs-antacids) that alter the gut microflora populations.
Do you feel empowered to gain control over your candida overgrowth? Or perhaps you want to learn how Candidiasis can be prevented?
Book a FREE 15 min consultation here.
The consultations are PATIENT CENTRED: Functional Medicine treats the patient, not the disease. Functional Medicine approaches to client care are highly individualised based on the individuals needs. When it comes to health I firmly believe “a ones-size fits all” approach does not work and that every individual should be treated as such - individually.
If you are a interested in seeing a Functional Medicine Practitioner for the first time and haven't decided if it's right for you then this FREE telephone discovery call is designed to help you learn more about the way I work and if I may be able to help with your situation.
I look forward to helping you find the answers and solutions to your health challenges.
Yours in health
Dr Marie-Christine x
Recommended read: https://www.healthline.com/health/womens-health/yeast-infection-home-remedyPreventing vaginal yeast infections