Tired, Bloated, Stomach Ache, Headaches?
Just take these antidepressants and 'pull yourself together'!
by nutritionist Anne Rowland

This is not what you want to hear time and again because you know it does not work. So just what is going wrong with your body?

The simple answer is that it is probably an overgrowth of yeasts, usually candida, causing these and many other possible symptoms. Why does your doctor not recognise it? Quite simply because, apart from vaginal and aural thrush, or systemic candida when in conjunction with cancer, candida is not a researched and therefore registered disease. If a disease is not officially recognised, it is more than your doctor's life's worth to diagnose it. In the worst scenario he can be stuck off. Many doctors, however, are now unofficially recognising the presence of candida but others still scoff.

An overgrowth of yeasts, of which the yeast candida albicans is just one of many, can cause a whole battery of extremely unpleasant symptoms. To name some: wind and bloating, diarrhoea and constipation, hormonal imbalances and PMT (the yeasts can affect the thyroid and adrenal glands), tiredness or even ME/chronic fatigue, poor memory, depression and migraines, acid reflux, stomach pains, joint pain and muscle ache, recurring cystitis, skin problems, chest wheeziness, hyperactivity, low blood sugar and, and…..! I have seen some very sick people over the years and have yet to find anyone with ME/chronic fatigue who has not got an overgrowth of yeast causing some of their symptoms. When yeasts are present they need to be brought back under control in order to see what is left. The gut needs to be healthy as it influences the whole system in one way or another.

You may have heard that we all have yeasts in our guts and they are not a problem. This is true but it is when they migrate into the small intestine that our troubles begin. The yeasts move into the small intestine and start to change into their mycelial form, as they do when we cook with yeasts. They then break through the intestinal wall and into the rest of the body. The yeasts ferment the food in the intestine producing unpleasant toxins which can affect the production of energy and cause some of the above symptoms. Many of these listed symptoms can have other causes but when there is more than one symptom and the patient's lifetime health history is taken into account, a yeast overgrowth is often the culprit. If the history includes antibiotics (sometimes only one course), or frequent doses as a child and/or there has been a lot of stress or a diet containing a fair amount of sugar, refined grains and possibly alcohol, or they have had steroids, been on the Pill or HRT, then they are very vulnerable to an overgrowth.

The generally accepted view of candida or yeast overgrowth is thrush, vaginal or oral, or athlete's foot or fungal toenails. Because these symptoms are only the tip of the iceberg the general understanding of the full regime for clearing a yeast infestation is not fully appreciated. I have been working in this field for seventeen years and from experience I know that candida will only clear if the regime is followed very carefully. There is a lot of information on the Net about 'quick' and 'easy' cures but I have never found that they work in the long term. Time and again I have come across sufferers who followed one or other of these plans and after a year or two they are not only back where they started but often worse off than before. You are dealing with a living organism that wants to survive. If it is not killed it returns stronger than ever to ensure its continuance.

To identify a yeast overgrowth most nutritionists use a questionnaire devised by Dr William Crook who did pioneering work in America on candida during the 1970's. This questionnaire is extremely accurate in gauging the presence of yeast when taking in conjunction with a patient's general health history. (A symptom check list is included at the end. You need a score of less then 10 to be sure you are clear of candida. A lowish score does NOT mean you can ignore an overgrowth but that your immune system is strong and coping more effectively than other sufferers and you are not getting so many symptoms. I had a score of 9 but nevertheless had a severe overgrowth of yeasts that took quite while to clear).

The good news is that you can take control of the situation, you do not have to rely on a doctor. But it takes time - yeasts cannot be controlled overnight. The most effective way in my experience is the 4 Stage Plan.

First the yeasts have to be starved by not eating the foods that feed them. Next, the immune system must be boosted with good quality supplements to enable it to fight the candida more effectively. Next good bacteria need to be reintroduced into the gut and finally a variety of antifungal supplements made from natural substances used to kill off the yeasts.

When these processes are followed it can be that the candida "fights" back, i.e. the toxins produced by the dead yeast cells cause a reaction (known as 'die-off'). This is nothing to worry about but by taking these processes in stages it helps to ensure that the 'die-off' is not usually severe.

Symptoms can be:
· Headaches or feelings similar to influenza
· An increase of irritable bowel type symptoms
· " " in stomach bloating and/or wind problems
· " " in some of the other symptoms
· An outbreak of thrush or cystitis
· Constipation and/or diarrhoea
· An eruption of skin problems

Do not assume you are going to have any of these problems; it quite possible you will not. Or it may be that you get some symptoms in a month or so as you get further into the treatment. If the symptoms are fairly severe it is usually a good idea to stop any anti-fungal products for a few days or even weeks and take a good liver support product together with Dandelion Root Coffee made from the dried root.

If you have travelled abroad frequently or have had a bad bout of diarrhoea that was difficult to clear at any time in your life, a stool test to look for parasites or harmful bacteria is well worth it as these gut-invaders can cause many of the same symptoms as yeasts. (Some bacteria can even cause autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis). Private laboratories that specialise in this type of testing should be used instead of standard hospital tests, which are not of the necessary depth and will often miss the troublemakers.

Foods that feed yeasts are ALL the sugars, honeys, syrups, any ingredient that ends in 'ose', i.e. glucose and artificial sweeteners. These should be dropped along with anything containing yeasts, anything that has been fermented, i.e. vinegar, milk products (because of the milk sugar lactose), alcohol and low alcohol drinks and UNTIL YOU ARE BETTER ALL fruit, fruit juice and dried fruit because of the fructose. You will not clear candida if you continue to eat fruit.

When you use good bacteria do not waste your money on any of the highly advertised drinks and yoghurts that contain probiotics. They are not nearly powerful enough and quite expensive. You need a supplement that will give you minimum 8-10 billion bacteria a day.

Good antifungal and anti-bacterial supplements are difficult to find on the open market. Some are available on the Net but most of their suppliers say you will clear candida in a very short time. You may think you have but in my experience after a few months or even a year your candida symptoms are back. In my practice I use a large variety of anti-fungals, most of which have anti-bacterial and -parasite properties as well. Start with low-strength dosages and build up as you clear your gut to avoid 'die-off'. Some of the best products contain either olive leaf extract, oregano oil, caprylic acid, wormwood, grapeseed extract, garlic or uva ursi. (This last is particularly good for recurring cystitis symptoms). One type of anti-fungal only will definitely not clear all the candida. Yeast and bacterial overgrowths respond differently from person to person so not all supplements are equally effective for everyone. (In the main these products can only be bought via a practitioner who specialises in this subject.)

Good supplements are important as the immune system can be depleted by the presence of yeasts. Vitamin B3 and chromium are often low as they get used up because they are needed for sugar and coffee digestion and yeasts are a sugar-eating organism. Yeasts damage the gut, so often not enough digestive enzymes are produced to break down food and therefore nutrients are not absorbed into the body. Magnesium is frequently very low in candida sufferers. The liver is often not working very efficiently because it has had to deal with the toxins produced by fermenting yeasts, possibly for years. Please do not buy supplements from supermarkets or chemists or the catalogues that come through your letterbox. They are not of a high enough quality and in the long term are a waste of money. Go to a good health food shop and compare the ingredient lists of the different varieties there to the cheaper ones.
There are a number of books available on candida but one of the very best is 'Erica White's Beat Candida Cookbook' published by Thorsons. She goes into a lot of detail about candida, the 4 Stage Plan and 'die-off' and there are 300 recipes together with a 2-week menu plan and the shopping list for it. She has also published 'The Beat Fatigue Handbook' which explains how you can cope with ME/chronic fatigue.

So if you have been feeling awful for a long time and think that candida may be the culprit, take action! Remember, the longer you have had this type of ill-health with a whole host of not very serious symptoms (but which, when taken together, leave you feeling horrible), you gradually get used to feeling this way and just get on with life even though it is a struggle. Once you start to tackle the problem you will be amazed just how bad you have been because you forgot what feeling well was like. The new you will have so much more energy and will begin to rediscover a person and lifestyle you had forgotten existed!

Ann Rowland, Dip ION, Nutritional Therapist
www.bant.org.uk
www.ion.ac.uk