Can An Endoscopy Pick Up Candida?

[Courtney101]

Does anyone know if endoscopy biopsies can detect intestinal candida? I had my scope done this morning, but with so much going on, forgot to ask the doc about it. I've heard candida symptoms can mimic celiac.

[mushroom]

You would need the scientists here to answer this one. I believe the slide made from the biopsy is tested with various stains, and they would have to use the right medium to locate candida (if they can do it at all by biopsy). Scientists, help me out here

[burdee]

Does anyone know if endoscopy biopsies can detect intestinal candida? I had my scope done this morning, but with so much going on, forgot to ask the doc about it. I've heard candida symptoms can mimic celiac.

My candida was diagnosed by DNA Microbial stool test from Metametrix Labs. Most traditional docs don't even consider candida, much less look for signs of that fungus on a biopsy. I suspect you will need a stool test for an accurate diagnosis of candida or any intestinal fungus, bacteria or parasite. I've been diagnosed by stool tests and successfully treated for 8 different gut bugs during the past 4 years.

[Wolicki]

I had an endo three years ago and the GI found candida, but that is what he was looking for. They have to do a scrape or something to test for it. Too bad the bonehead didn't check for celiac while he was there... I would have gotten better two years earlier

[WheatChef]

In most procedures, if they're not looking for it then they won't find it. This is much more true when it comes down to the actual lab test. There's no one chemical that will give you a whole lay out of your total health. Each different condition gets treated with it's own special chemicals or tests and they're not usually cheap meaning that if it wasn't asked for specifically it's not going to get done.

[Courtney101]

Thanks for your replies everyone!

I did mention to my GI that I had had oral thrush for a while and she said something along the lines of "that's interesting, you can have candida lower down too which can cause symptoms like yours." She didn't actually comment on whether she would test for it or not though. I guess I'll just have to wait and see when I get the results back.