I have IBS and frequent yeast infections. I have taken alot of antibiotics over the years and have terrible bouts of alternating diarhea and constipation. The constipation is the worse and I feel so bloated and gassy. What should i do about this in the line of foods to avoid, probiotics, and etc. Any info would definately help.

Thanks,
Kenzy

Hi Kenzy!

The new edition of Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution has a chapter called Metabolic Resistance that has a section on candida. IT would probably be the best place to start.

Karen

It sounds to me like you have "leaky gut syndrome". I know, what a weird sounding name. Anyway, after reading the Atkins chapter about candida (a great place to start, I agree), you might want to go to google.com, and do a search for "leaky gut syndrome". Leaky gut and Candida usually go hand in hand.

I have been taking Candistroy, and having good luck with it. I got mine on iherb.com, and it was under 15 dollars, and is a two part system. Also, L-Glutamine is VERY important, and not that costly. It will help to heal your tummy.


It would be impossible for me to list everything I know about Candida here, so please, forgive me, but I find google.com very helpful. Do a search for "candida albicans". I also did a search for "candida die off reaction". You will find alot of good info.


Just low carbing is a great start!!!

-Jess

What exactly is L-glutamine? I've heard of probiotics and am going to get some since I am currently taking a very high dose of antibiotics. But what is L-glutamine and where do I get it besides the net?

Sports nutrition and natural food stores. Get the powder, not the capsule.

Karen

Kenzy,

You have to ABSTAIN from any grain, sugar, starchy vegetables,and fruit NOW! The antibiotics that kill the bad bacteria don't know the difference of good from bad. The above listed items feed it. You also need to be on a probiotic. It's to replace the good bacteria. Since you're taking antibiotics now, you need to find a knowledgeable person 'cause you're gonna need strong ones. You'll also need an antifungal to kill the overgrown of the yeast. In a balanced environment the good bacteria (many strains of lactobacillus) keep the yeast (strains of candida) in check. The antibiotics kill off most of the good bacteria while getting the bad. The yeast grows unchecked. It grabs hold of your intestinal wall and feeds on all the sugary food releasing toxins that cause all the symptoms. Just a warning: Once you start a program to build up the good bac. and kill the yeast (WHICH YOU MUST DO!) you will feel WORSE before you feel BETTER. But, it's a good thing. It means the yeast are dying. If you think you have it bad don't be too agressive with the program at first. The die off may be too much. Start with the diet first, then follow the supplementals directions. But you must take a probiotic AND an antifungal. Try to get off the antibiotic as soon as you can or it will never end. Check with several different reputable health stores to get good information. There is also tons on info on the net. Here's a start http://CANDIDA.COM
Good Luck.

Oh, yes, the die off reaction is pretty bad. I felt like I had a horrible hangover. But don't let it scare you, you will feel so much better, probably better than you have felt in years!

Good luck!

-Jess

Ok, i know where to get the probiotics but where do I get the antifungals? Can i get them at the health food stores also?

Kenzy

Yes, the anti-fungals can be found at a health food store. I prefer to order online, much cheaper. I use i-herb.com. Also, to learn more, check the sticky at the top of this forum, Doreen lists tons of great sites to learn more about Candida. You should read as much as you can before starting any program.

-Jess

How long does the die off reaction last? A hang over mind wants to know.

Everyone's different. I took Jessea's advice and take my strong anti-fungal before bed. But it depends on how big a die off at a time you have. I have days where I feel fantastic, and days where I want to curl up in a hole and sleep till it's all over. I figure I have to give this all my attention for at least 6 months. I figure it's been building up for over 30 years, it's gonna take a while to get rid of it!!!

Liz

If you're looking for a permanent way to combat candida and your IBS all at one time, you should take a look at the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). On this diet, you only eat specific carbohydrates which lead to intestinal healing and starvation of bacteria (including Candida). This isn't a fad diet, however. Because of the ease with which candida can come back, it will need to become a WOE/WOL. But, as you progress, you can begin adding more things back in.

The theory is in eating only single molecule sugars which require no digestive enzymes. So, your intestines fully digest everything leaving nothing for the bacteria. Also, you'll want to avoid roughage for a while as the bacteria can use this for food as well. Even if the body can't digest something (for example cellulose), the bacteria likely can. Anything that is left to feed the bacteria leads to problems.

For more information, pick up Elaine Gottchall's book <U>Breaking The Viscious Cycle</U> or visit www.scdiet.org. This diet is geared towards people with IBS and other bowel disorders and can help heal candida infections as well as the intestines. You can easily make this diet low-carb simply be reducing the carbs even further than she recommends.

Good luck.

I'd like to make a suggestion for something else you should check. Ask your doctor to check you for celiac disease. It is an autoimmune disease that is induced by wheat gluten. The initial test is for antibodies to gluten (IgG and IgA) and IgA antibodies to a self protein called transglutaminase. If you have this disease and you eat gluten (breads and actually many products) your immune system mounts an attack on the gluten along with attacking your small intestines. It can cause atrophy of the villi in your intestines that absorb food. Since you aren't absorbing food properly all sorts of symptoms can occur. Diarrhea is often a symptom but so is constipation. You can get yeast overgrowths because of the imbalance of nutrients and the presence of immune cells in your gut. The gut is damaged and leaky causing more irritation and symptoms.

This disease used to be thought of as a rare childhood wasting disease but it is now becoming clear that many of the nonspecific intestinal disorders like IBS are really celiac. People suffer for years without a diagnosis because many doctors are taught in medical school that it is rare. It cause all sorts of problems because of the malabsorbtion of nutrients needed for good health.

Some people get really skinny on this disease but others (I think like me) keep our weight on via a mechanism called metabolic resistance. We have genes that shut down our metabolism rather than giving up the fat.

If you test positive on the blood tests they will want to do a intestinal biopsy. This biopsy goes in through your mouth and stomach to your small intestines. You can't see the damage with a colonoscopy (probably what you had for IBS diagnosis?).

You need to be eating gluten to take the blood test because the antibodies go away if you are completely off gluten for long enough.

You also might want to ask for an antibody test against candida proteins. In addition to celiac I also had really high titers of antibodies to yeast.

I dont' know what you are taking antibiotics for but try to get off of them as soon as possible. They really aren't good for you long term.

Give this some thought and don't let your doctor dismiss your questions unanswered about this. It takes some people many many years of ill health to finally get a diagnosis that lets them get well. If you want to read more take a look at the celiac support forum http://forums.delphiforums.com/celiac/start

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) also helps people with celiac disease (gluten intolerance). In fact, it deals with all sorts of intestinal intolerances. The SCD limits the types of carbohydrates to those that are the easiest to digest (simple carbs). That is, carbs that contain only a single molecule. Therefore, table sugar (disaccharides) and starches (polysaccharides) are not allowed. These types of polysaccarides include grain flours, potatoes, rice and corn. Soy is also not allowed. Disaccharides include white table sugar, corn syrup and molasses just to name a few. Sugar alcohols and sucralose are also now allowed. The diet is pretty restrictive, but it aids in helping many different types of instestinal disorders.

If you think you are gluten intolerant, it's worth trying the SCD for a couple of weeks to see how you respond. Sometimes people may also have c.diff and not know it. In this case, SCD won't help much until that's taken care of first. If you suspect c.diff, you'll need to contact your doctor and get a prescription (I think Flagyl) to help. However, if you have a yeast infection, Flagyl may make it worse.

Sorry but this is not good advice for celiacs. The only way to treat celiacs disease currently is to completely and totally avoid all gluten (gluten that causes celiacs is found in wheat, rye, barley and is a cross contaminate in some oats). This includes contamination from many many sources in prepared foods. Since gluten is a protein, not a carb, it is found in many protein products like many of the bars and such. It is also important to avoid cross contamination on cookware, in restaurants, and on production lines for products that themselves do not contain gluten. While going on a low carb diet might help some symptoms, it won't prevent the long term damage of celiacs if one doesn't watch out for the hidden sources. Long term untreated celiacs suffer from many malabsorption illnesses as well as having an increase risk for intestinal cancers. Some celiacs also suffer from rashes (mostly at pressure points) so that is another symptom that can be used to help diagnose this illness.

Also, to get an accurate reading on a blood test one must be eating gluten so to do a trial gluten free diet will make it much harder to get an accurate diagnosis. As I said in my post, if you suspect celiacs, get the blood test, wait for the results and then get a biopsy before changing your eating habits. The diet is quite restrictive (although full of good food) so getting a diagnosis is improtant to being able to remain motived enough to maintain it for your whole life.