Candida And Gluten Intolerance

[wilem008]

Hi Guys,

Im just wondering: Have any of you been diagnosed with Candida?

Ive been gluten free for about 6 months and at first the diet was working really well but im starting to feel really under the weather again. Increased depression and anxiety, stomach aches, headaches, constipation etc.

Ive done some research and I think my problem may be Candida. I have some other the other symptoms too, like a white patchy tongue etc.

Ive also heard the Candida can cause things like a gluten and lactose intolerance.

Could someone give me some more information?

Have you been diagnosed with Candida?

What were your symptoms?

Did you get tested? What kinds of tests were done?

How do I even get my doctor to consider this as a possibility?

Thanks

Wilem

p.s Ive had blood tests done for food allergies and celiac - both negative. Ive had my kidneys and liver tested - both fine. Last week i went in for an endoscopy and colonoscopy...not sure what they took biopsys for, havent gotten the tests results back yet.

[AliB]

Gut dysbiosis and Candida are linked to gluten-intolerance. I have had Candida for years. I have done a lot of research over the past few months since my digestion collapsed and have realised that in my case my gut dysbiosis probably stems back to having been given quite a lot of antibiotics as a child.

Gut dysbiosis can be triggered by other things - if our parents have gut issues then they too have gut dysbiosis and cannot pass on good flora, but things like stress, trauma, other drugs and the high-carb, high-sugar 'Western' diet can all contribute, but antibiotics are by far the worst culprits - science is now beginning to realise that and also that we need to invest in 'pro-biotic' rather than 'anti-biotic' if we want good strong immune systems.

Anitbiotics not only kill the bad guys but they kill the good ones too. If the soldiers are killed the city is undefended. Without their protection we can be invaded by pathogens. Even some of the benign or good guys that are ok in small numbers can become pathogenic if they cannot be controlled.

I have been following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for several months. Many of us are finding great benefit from it. It is not a Candida diet as such, it is a healing diet, but it can help get Candida under control as it removes the carbs from the diet that we can not only not digest properly but that also feed the beasties, either Candida or other yeasts or even rogue bacteria and/or parasites. Those that do not recover on a gluten-free diet don't realise that their health issues are almost certainly due to gut dysbiosis and they may actually be making their problems worse as gluten-free foods typically are much higher in carbs.

The SCD encourages taking good probiotics and plenty of home-made 24-hour cultured yogurt to help restore the gut flora and get the digestion working properly. It can take some time, but is worth the sacrifice for the health benefit.

Candida is evil. It gets into any area of the body and causes major health problems. The only real way to control it is to not eat the foods it feeds on and starve it out. Most pathogenic bacteria thrives on carbs and sugar. The SCD is designed to control the bacteria and encourage the gut to heal.

If you want to know more we have an SCD thread in the 'Other Food Intolerances and Leaky Gut Syndrome' section and you can gain a lot of info from the 'breaking the vicious cycle' and 'Pecanbread' websites. When you realise what damage bad food can do it gives a whole new meaning to 'you are what you eat', and 'naughty but nice' should be changed to 'nice, but very destructive'! There is an awful lot of stuff out there that passes for food but should have a 'TOXIC - hazard to health' stamp on it!

[nanafur]

I was diagnosed with Candida shortly after I first learned that I was gluten intolerant. Actually I asked my MD about that first and was told that candida was BS. By accident I found out about the wheat issue and going gluten-free cleaned up most of my troubles except fatigue, dizziness and sinus issues I decided to do the candida diet on my own after battling my doc on it. I never felt better in my life. People would come up and tell me how good I looked (no dark circles, great skin, more energy). It was fabulous.

I started slacking after my honeymoon and eating more sugar and corn chips and rice. After a few months the dizziness and fatigue returned so I found a new allergist. He is an MD allergist who prefers a natural approach. He diagnosed the Candida and gave me difulcan. I tried the diet and difulcan again but didn't last as long as the first time. Its a very hard diet and you need to be VERY committed for it to work

My advice is to find a new doctor if yours doesn't believe it or just try the diet to find out. Its the opposite of stopping gluten. If you eat nothing but meat and veggies... no sugar or carbs or dairy for a couple of days and it makes you very sick... flu like... then you have candida problems. When it dies from lack of sugar it makes you sick. When I did it I thought I was going to die... I must have had it bad.

I wish you luck if you go for it because it takes an extreme amount of will power. I have been eating lots of dairy for the last few years even though I have been diagnosed with casein allergy and I think I need to do it again. I feel awful but I can't gather the will power. Every day I tell myself I will start tomorrow. I wish they had candida support groups around here! GOOD LUCK

[kvhsports]

I'm going through the same exact thing right now, except for me the gluten free diet only kept me feeling good for about 4 months, and now I'm back in the same boat of where I was before. I'm scared since I'm about to go to college, and I believe that I am sick with gastrointestinal candidiasis. My doctor doesn't fully believe that I have this condition, she thinks it's in the "ballpark" of what I have. Ahhh I wish I could get answers. I've done somewhat better being on the candida diet, but it's been very hard and somewhat discouraging when I still have been getting sick on it.

[cavernio]

The only testimony I've read regarding candida that revolved around a doctor and it clearing helping was someone on yahoo answers who had an external yeast infection on his privates and he also didn't feel that great. His doctor diagnosed it as candida, gave him some pills for it, and he felt better again as well as clearing up the outward candida.

Whiteness on your tongue could be candida.

Something to keep in mind is that many celiac symptoms come from nutritional deficiencies as the small intestines are damaged and stop doing their job. For instance, not enough B12 is common because the majority of B12 absorbed by the body is done via an active method. B12 is really large, so passively passing through the intestines into the bloodstream is not very likely. Are you taking supplements of any sort? Have you looked into any deficiencies that seem to fit your problems specifically?

This is one of the first google hits I found when looking up white patchy tongue and vitamin deficiencies, Open Original Shared Link

As you can see, for example, tongue problems are symptoms of ALL B vitamin problems.

And you don't need to have something as bad as celiac disease to have vitamin deficiencies. There's like a bazillion different malfunctions that can happen in the human body, and even if there's no known reason for any particular nutrient problem, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

If you've had a colonoscopy and a gastroscopy and they said nothing about candida I doubt you're going to get a diagnosis of it from your doctor unless you have external growths of it (like on your tongue).

But there's probably no harm in trying out a candida diet. If it works then it works, irregardless of why.

And hey, your biopsy could be positive for celiac still.