New Dr-eating for parasites/candidiasis?
#369944 - 08/09/13 09:33 AM
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I have a new Dr who says my system is very acidic, and I seem to have extremely bad candida. She said it is so bad I cannot eliminate bread etc right away or I will become veryn ill.
I told her I follow Heather's diet as the guidelines seem to be the obly ones that offer any relief. She agreed if it works I should stick with it, but she also told me that she believes I may have parasites or a long-standing bacterial infection called blastitis I think.
I have to have a series of stool tests and the breath tests to see if I have fructose intolerance aswell.
While it is good to have a GP that is happy to try and find out what is wrong with me, she told me she never was lactose intolerant until she contracted giardia. After that she said it took four courses of anti biotics to get rid of it and her bowel was wrecked for ages after it, making it impossible for her to eat beans and lactose.
She said it took ages and heaps of probiotics etc to get back to normal.
Could it be possible that my IBS symptoms are caused by parasites or a bacterial infection? She seems to think that a bowel that is normal and healthy should be functing fine, especially if as a child I could eat dairy and red meat with less issues.
In the meantime, she has advised I not give up my diet, but just to eat as few carbs as I can tolerate and to definitely try gut hypnosis with the aim of eventually being able to gradullay reduce carbs IF I can tolerate it.
No Dr has ever tested me for parasites or bacterial infection as far as I am aware, so I do not know what to expect if that IS what I have. Are our guts completely irrepairable if we do have parasites or bacterial infections??? And does that affect what we eat at all?
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Hi - normally, no one should ever be diagnosed with IBS until parasites, bacterial infections, inflammatory bowel disease, celiac, structural abnormalities, etc. have been ruled out. There are full diagnostic guidelines and more here http://www.helpforibs.com/footer/ibs.asp
Stool, blood, and breath tests are initially done, and depending on what they find scope tests with biopsies may follow.
So, you may not have IBS, you may have parasites, which can mimic IBS. Tests will give you firm answers here.
There is no evidence of candida playing a role in IBS, so I'm not sure what she's working with there.
It is a great idea to have the basic tests for all the other disorders that can cause symptoms just like IBS. If it turns out you have a bacterial infection, or parasites, or something else, that can be treated and ideally eliminated completely.
Best,
Heather
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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Is the new doctor a GP or a naturopathic doctor. GP usually don't consider Candida as clinical studies have shown it is not involved in the etiology of IBS
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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They are a GP but have studied nutritional health and believe that to cure things like CFS and IBS etc..the tough things that always have no cure and that they rarely research, you have to approach it all from all angles both as a Dr but also holistically with diet, exercise and supplementation where you need it.
For example, at a recent Melbourne seminar on CFS a lot of Drs and Naturopaths stated they can't get people 100% better without helping each other and working at it from the side of medicine and natural therapies aswell. I mean look at this site, for example. We could have the best GP in the world that acknowledges we have IBS, but if they don't tell their patients about Heather's diet or the benefit of Peppermint Tea and soluble fibre, the patient won't get much better. I certainly feel a lot better on the IBS guidelines but I was not always as bad as I am now, IBS wise. As a kid I could eat an icecream without always getting violent stomach cramps and diarrhea after. Something has made me really sensitive to almost every food and I am almost always anaemic aswell.
Many people with IBS often have other issues like CFS/FM and Anxiety or Depression and I don't think it is coincidental. I know a lot of people who seem to have all that and it makes sense when you consider our immune system is mostly in the gut. If all that is disrupted or we aren't able to get what we need from our food because we are constantly having diarrhea etc..of course our health is going to be affected.
I know that IBS is often an umbrella term, and most Drs will not send you off for a proper stool sample but will happily have you under anaesthetic to do a colonoscopy and endoscopy.
Hopefully with me they find something that can eventually be cured and I hope that tomorrow we read that IBS has an actual cause that can be pinpointed and cured for good.
I think we should all get our hopes up that a cure will be found-and soon. There has to be a reason for us becoming so sensitive to so many things. I know that for now, IBS has no cure and we have to just manage as best we can..but there must be something that has causes this in us. And I am very, very angry and hurt that there is yet no-one able to figure out why we all have IBS.
I know I have apparently a very bad issue with candidiasis and a very acidic system and possibly parasites or a bacteria (jury is still out) aswell as a possible fructose sensitivity, but I know many people with IBS do not have those issues and still they are suffering. It is not fair.  Why can't they figure it out? It's not normal, to just think about going on a trip and start to get stomach cramps. Something very, very, very wrong has happened to our guts and I would hope they'd have figured it out by now. There has to be some breakthrough soon...
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Have you seen a GI doctor to rule out other possibilities and confirm your diagnosis of IBS? If no then it might be a good idea to ask for a referral to one.
--------------------
STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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I went to a GI Dr who was expensive and basically told me there was nothing at all I could do.
I had had colonscopy and endoscopy and that showed nothing so they said the only other thing they had not done was a small bowel biopsy.
I have not had that yet and I am on a waitlist that will take a good year or two.
I am getting the fructose breath tests done later this month or possibly September if they cannot fit me in and the stool testing done over three days will take place this week or next.
No Dr has ever mentioned diet except for this new GP who told me all about the FODMAP thing which I know already can be an issue for people with IBS.
I am determined to have all the tests done as best as I can afford to ensure I know exactly what I am dealing with. I am very tired constantly and not sure how much of that is CFS/FM or just the constant IBS dramas. Plus I have pretty bad asthma so my breathing is not great and anxiety aswell.
If I could fix my gut I think it would help with the other issues but even if they do find it is not IBS but parasites or some kind of bacteria, I know it will take a while to fix. I've been like this for ages and it has gotten a lot worse over the past year or two.
I also have terrible halitosis but not sure if that is related or not.
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