Gut Health: Let's Talk About Candida (Symptoms, Testing & Healing)
Good morning loves, happy Tuesday! Nothing says good morning like talking about gut health am I right?! In all seriousness, I wanted to chat about my gut, how I knew something was wrong, how I tested for candida and how I hope to heal. I wanted this post to live on the blog so if you suffer from gut issues, or are curious about how to heal your candida, you could refer back to this post. Hopefully you find it helpful. As I continue on my cleanse, I will be sharing more updates both on here and on Instagram. I’ve broken this post down into sections. Feel free to read the whole thing, or skip through the portions that do not pertain to you. OK, let’s dive right in, shall we!
Background
My History with Antibiotics:
Ok, a little background for those who may be new here, or who don’t know my story. I’ve always lived a pretty healthy lifestyle. I have always liked fruits and veggies, and never felt I’d be out of control with unhealthy eating. However, my senior year of high school I developed anorexia. By working with a dietitian through my recovery, I learned much more about food as medicine, and how food works to fuel our bodies. I did seek comfort in eating healthier foods while in the initial stages of recovery (i.e. fueling my body with healthy fruits, veggies, lean meats, fats, to heal, rather than stuffing my face with “junky foods” to gain weight).
Anyway, eventually I “recovered” and it was time for me to go to college. I’m not sure if the eating disorder suppressed my immune system, if my moldy dorm (story for another time) caused me to get sick all the time, or if it was just stress from college and being around a lot of new germs, but my freshman year was one of the worst years for my health (and so began my health decline). I do think the moldy dorm plays a HUGE role in my immune function (and my health now), but there were many factors involved. January of 2012 I was diagnosed with mononucleosis (mono), an infection caused by the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), and so were 2 of my friends. I was sent home by my university for 2 weeks to rest because of how sick I was. It was awful. I feel like my health got worse after having mono. I had bronchitis or laryngitis 1-2 times a year, constantly getting sinus infections and sore throats, and was always on antibiotics. I can think of a handful of times growing up when I was put on antibiotics, but I probably took them once a year for 4 years while away at school. Little did I know the role it would play on my gut health down the road.
Similarly, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease summer 2018 (which later turned out to be Bartonella) and thus was put on a heavy dose of doxycycline for 8 weeks to try and get rid of the “Lyme”. Had I done more research, I would’ve found out that antibiotics for Lyme don’t typically work for old Lyme infections, and should’ve done more thorough testing to ensure I had Lyme in the first place…ugh, don’t get me started. Nonetheless, my gut was a WRECK from those drugs. I didn’t have diarrhea (sorry, not sorry) the way many people do when on antibiotics, but something felt off. I felt CONSTANTLY hungry while on them, and no amount of food could satiate me. I am still not sure what caused that feeling (candida? heartburn? who knows).
It is well-known that antibiotics wreak havoc on your gut, especially when put on many heavy doses over a few years. In college I was not repopulating my gut with good bacteria via probiotics, and I think my gut had no chance of survival after being on doxycycline for 8 weeks, in addition to the abuse it endured while I was in college. However, heavy antibiotic use does not guarantee candida overgrowth, but it is closely linked.
My History with Hormonal Birth Control (“The Pill”):
When I was 15 years old, I was on vacation with my family in Florida when I developed this awful pain in my right abdomen. The pain persisted over the course of a few hours, and kept getting worse and worse until eventually my parents were worried it was my appendix. I was rushed to the emergency room where I was put on IV fluids and ultimately discovered the pain was from an ovarian cyst. Being 15 and not knowing how to truly advocate for my health, my mom and then gynecologist decided it would be best to be put on the pill to help regulate my hormones and prevent future cysts from occurring.
That being said, I had no clue there was a connection between hormonal birth control use (and didn’t know there was a connection until recently) and gut health. Since the pill typically contains a combination of estrogen and progesterone, it disrupts your natural hormonal cycle and hormone function. This disruption can lead to an imbalance in hormones and an overgrowth of yeast in the gut. Read more about birth control and gut health here and here.
I have been on birth control for over 11 years, which is a nightmare for my body. To be completely honest, I am still on the pill, but plan to go off in the coming months. More on that another time.
Symptoms
I want to preface this by saying, the following symptoms were specific to MY body! If you have all of these symptoms, you may not necessarily have candida. Similarly, you may have totally different symptoms and still have candida. However, there are a few that seem to overlap with most candida cases I see. These are the symptoms I found most frustrating.
Bloating: Bloat is something we all deal with from time to time. Be it our monthly cycle, or we’ve simply eaten too much at dinner, bloat is definitely normal. What isn’t normal is bloat from just a few bites of food, or bloat that persists or is a daily occurrence. My bloat is painful and often worsens throughout the day. There are many theories that improper food combining can cause bloat, but I’ve typically found that almost no matter what I eat, I am bloated by the end of the day.
I was diagnosed with IBS in 2014 or 2015, and have always dealt with bouts of IBS-C or IBS-D (it varies). Recently it has been more IBS-C, which means my gut it full of literal crap, that it cannot expel properly, which causes worsening of bloat.
Skin Issues: I ALWAYS had clear skin. I can recall 1-2 times when I’d get a big pimple, and really only would get them around my period. Acne was not common for me and was something I never thought about post-puberty. Until 2016, I started noticing little bumps around my mouth (milia). I removed dairy from my diet which helped significantly reduce the milia, but whenever I’d get a breakout it would always occur in the same area just beneath my mouth. It wasn’t until watching this video from Organic Olivia that I knew it was a connection to candida and poor digestion. My eyes were OPEN!
Mood Swings & Anxiety: We all have been there. One minute you’re happy as a clam, and a few moments later you feel like you could scream! Mood swings can be normal, especially during various phases of our hormonal cycles. However, the past few years I’ve noticed more mood swings for me personally. I am easily affected by others emotions, but the mood swings were different. I’ve since learned that this can be linked to candida as well.
Similarly, I’ve found myself FAR MORE anxious in the past few years, than I’ve been in the past. I think this is partially to do with my Bartonella infection, as anxiety is an overlapping symptom for that as well. But nonetheless, these connections were adding up.
Testing
Last Spring, my friend Laura and I were talking, and I was complaining about my sluggish digestion, bloat and other issues. She suggested I check out Dr. Stephen Cabral and his company, Equilibrium Nutrition. She was doing his IHP program, and thought I could benefit from one of his Detoxes, and the Organic Acids Test. The test was an investment, but would give me some insight into my gut health, vitamin levels and metabolic function. It was a super simple test, which involved urinating into a jar and mailing it off to a 3rd party lab (Great Plains Laboratory) where they do the testing.
Anyone can order a test from GPL via your clinician, but what is great about Equilibrium Nutrition is that they offer a 30-minute consultation with a health coach to go over your results. This was particularly helpful, since the labs can be hard to decipher. Anyway, Laura (as did my friend Carli) suspected bacterial overgrowth, and they were correct. My yeast and bacterial markers weren’t all high, but a number of them were off the charts, or on the high side in terms of imbalance. See a portion of my report below. Nonetheless, these numbers (and my symptoms) were enough for me to want to make a change. The feelings of discomfort are brutal and I wanted SOME relief. If I could choose another test, I would go for the parasite test EN offers, because it gives you an even broader picture of your gut health.
My Organic Acids Test Bacterial & Yeast Markers
Healing
OK! Let’s finally talk about healing. Since I have loved all of my experiences with the team at Equilibrium Nutrition, I decided to take their advice and order the CBO (Candida & Bacterial Overgrowth) Protocol via their site. This is a 12-week protocol which involves a strict and specific diet, as well as supplements. The diet basically causes the bad bacteria to “starve” and the supplements help support the removal of those toxins, as well as repopulate your gut with good bacteria. If you work with Equilibrium Nutrition, your health coach will give you specific guidelines and other products you can choose to add on to support your body. I purchased every product they recommended (which gets pricy, I know), in an effort to eliminate some of this bad bacteria and feel better.
Of course, if you don’t go through Equilibrium Nutrition, there are other ways to clean up your gut, but I just appreciate that the supplements from EN are third-party tested, high quality, and super effective. They also give you support along the way should you need it. Clearly I can’t recommend them enough (no this isn’t sponsored!).
I am SO NEW to the world of gut health, but I’m beyond determined to heal my gut this year. I know it is going to take WORK and determination, but I feel like there’s a light at the end of this long tunnel. Since I am new to this, I’m learning a lot about candida and gut health first hand. I’d recommend checking out these resources to heal your gut as well!
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