First Llmd appt....candida

I went to my first Llmd appt today. I was really happy with the dr. He listened and gave me a thorough exam. I told him about those white things in my throat. He said that was an overgrowth of candida and could be the answer to many of my problems. My question is...how did I get an overgrowth to candida? I am a pretty healthy eater, I drink only socially or not at all and I wasn't on antibiotics. He took my blood and sent it to igenix lab. It's going to be a long month waiting, but I feel like I am finally on the right track. Does lymes cause candida or can I just have candida?

Hi Dans778 -

That's great that you had a good appt! Half of the battle is finding a good partner in an LLMD. Good for you.

I totally agree w/ PeteZa - yeast is present in us and on our skin. But it's when it gets out of balance that we start developing symptoms because of it. She cited a few reasons for imbalance--it can also become imbalanced due to environmental factors, we can be born with imbalance or a susceptibility to it and we can have a genetic influence towards imbalance.

Our gut microbiome can become imbalanced due to an infection or due to the lyme or stress due to infections that overwhelm the immune system, which can cause the good bacteria that is supposed to keep yeast/fungus in check can be affected, and result in overgrowth. And ticks carry many other microbes that cause infections, including fungus.

The key issues moving forward is to continue all the good stuff you're already doing (this is really great). The white things in your throat are yeast colonies - they might have been growing first in your gut and then up your throat or the yeast overgrowth could have originated in your mouth. Did the MD prescribe any antifungals?

Since you already have an existing problem and if you have lyme you will be starting an antibiotic therapy, natural antifungals are probably best reserved for maintenance once you get the problem under control. If you do move forward with lyme & co treatment, you'll want to stay on an anti fungal throughout your treatment. In time you can transition to more natural forms (like coconut oil, grapefruit seed extract, xylitol, apple cider vinegar and several others--take only two at a time and all need to be rotated every couple of weeks).

Instead, I strongly encourage you to request your MD to write a script for PURE Nystatin powder 500,000 units. This is a local anti fungal that is derived from the earth and can be taken safely without affecting your liver function (which is why this is better if you move forward w/ lyme & co treatment). Since it's a powder, you place a little in a glass of water, swish it around your mouth and swallow ---it coats your mouth and throat and kills on contact. Won't take long at all to get your overgrowth back in balance.

Here is good dosing info you can share w/ your LLMD:
drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Nystatin_-_how_to_take_it

Most MDs are not familiar with this raw powder and want to prescribe all the other weaker and more expensive forms of Nystatin (pills/liquid) that have a lot of fillers in them. They learn about most pharmaceutical drugs through the company's representatives and they don't make money on the powder, so it's not well-known but it is the best stuff to use. Rx can be filled at a commanding pharmacy.

Many MDs also overprescribe a systemic anti fungal (like Diflucan) even though the issue can easily be solved with a local. Unless you have systemic symptoms, this is an unnecessary risk and burden to your liver, especially along with the burden of lyme & co treatment, which is also hard on the liver.

Please let us know if you have any other q's -

-p

Post Edited (Pirouette) : 5/19/2016 6:38:01 PM (GMT-6)

I'm sorry you're feeling the symptoms--none of this is any fun and the symptoms can very quickly get overwhelming. And it's a tough wait for your IGeneX results. Please let us know how things go.

Good - I'm glad you're on the probiotic (acidophilus) and brought it up - I forgot to mention it in my previous post. It's a very good part of the protocol to address the yeast/fungal overgrowth. It's a good idea to take 100 billion or more with a y/f issue going on. My gastro told me you can't take too much of it.

But it's not going to bring the y/f back into balance (or if it can it takes a very long time and there is a chance that the y/f can get pretty out of control by then)--probiotics are best used for prevention. So you'll probably still want to talk w/ your LLMD about an anti fungal.

Also, I didn't realize you were already on a lyme protocol. Sometimes the herbal tinctures (which contain a lot of alcohol) can create yeast/fungal overgrowth since we ingest them through our mouths. So that's another piece of your puzzle.

The oil of oregano is a good anti-microbial.

What are you doing for detox? Making sure you can process the toxic effects of what you're killing off (both the lyme and the y/f) at the same rate that you are killing everything is critical so you don't overwhelm your body, which could, in turn, make it difficult to manage the treatment, exacerbate symptoms and make it more difficult to understand how you're responding to the treatment.

-p