So if I have Candida what happens now?

[MadameCastafiore]

Have I think with some lovely mumsnetters help found out what us wrong with me!

I am constantly tired and unhappy, have quite loose poo, itchy bottom, have had a ear infection (the skin in my ear) for the last 4 years, since pregnant with DS and have the worst flatulence possible! I have a healthy balanced diet but can't loose weight and poo problems are just an everyday occurence! Migraines are worse, have dry skin in patches on feet and hands - god I could go on and on!

So if I go to the doctor and say - I think I have Candida! What will he do? What medication to the tell you to take? Do I have to change diet?

Have so far sent DH out to get some yakult so I hope that is the right thing!

Just reading the bloody Candida site was like a list of how I feel!

So what now? And should I buy this threlac thing that is publicised on all these candida sights?

MC no, informative rather than TMI Mine is so itchy and rubbed raw it often bleeds - not actual anus but skin around it between cheeks (there, that is an example of TMI over helpful info!) I use drapolene on it at night. Last night I'd run out and used Germaline, by feck did it sting

I also have permanent sinisitis.

Wow marmaduke - I am just the same - feels damp too down there! around bottom not the hole but the skin!

Will keep you informed as to what the lady says!

Thank you MC, would be very interested. Although I am a little sceptical as a good friend recommended a kineseologist, went to see and seemed like expensive shamanism to me! On the Candida website they are selling a services/tests and the like and I do wonder with some of these things if they are just preying on folk (like me) desperate to feel better at any cost.

Hoochie, could easily be that as I feel a bit better when doing weighwatchers core plan - no bread etc, or Jason Vale no, well anything really!

Also forgot to add (having read on the website) I take thyroxine, I have a normal TSH but do not produce enough free thyroxine (T4and 3) which is quite unusual (according to my GP/Consultant and DS' Paed -who had to look into it linked to DS' condition - said, "it's odd you just seem to need more thyroxine to function normally than other people.")

I have all usual hypothyroid symptoms coldness/low temp, tiredness, low immune system, weight gain, aching muscles/joints also borderline depression/feeling sorry for myself.

The more I think about it the more familiar it sounds to the website.

Yes Marm - that is what I thought when I read the website - it is all the things I have been moaning and going to the doctor about and getting no relief thinking I was going potty and was just a hypochondriac!

Will keep you posted - am slightly sceptical too but if it cures it and all the things that bother me especially the itchy bottom I will harp on and opn about it!

Just wish me luck for the pipe up the bum on Monday!

I last went to the GP 18 mths+ ago and she just raised my thyroxine which gave me palpitations and my consultant went batty. If I go (although I lurve my GP) she is a little, "Well you have a DS with severe SN who doesn't sleep/needs lifting/have little support of course you feel tired/achy/tearful" So I stoppped going as it made me feel worse, as if I should accept that I felt old and tired at 36. (as I was then)

at botty pipe on Mon (did you post a thread specifically on this? if you did I replied to that)

Yes, please let me know how you get on CAT if you are shy because I've decided I will happily part with a decent amount of cash to feel better!

One of the most useful books is this one:

www.amazon.co.uk/Erica-Whites-Beat-Candida-Cookbook/dp/0722538561

The recipes really do work and there is a lot of sensible advice.

When following the diet and taking anti-fungals (whether supplements or garlic/thyme in cooking) drink plenty of water and this will reduce the "die off" effect. If they get too bad then cut back slightly on the anti-fungal element.

Thanks flaming - I have bought that and it is very interesting and tells you so much about what to expect with the die off that I am dreading it!

Will CAT you after I have had the treatment on Monday Marmaduke. DH did say to me that I wasn't 25 anymore (I am only 34 for God's sake!) and everything isn't going to work forever!

I will be taking the coconut oil stuff to kill the fungus apparently - have ordered a mega pack of bottled water from the Ocado man this weekend to get me going - I have lost 3.5lbs in the last 3 days just not filling my body with shit too!

Still have an itchy bum though!

Have been doing some more loking into this and am convinced I also have it, but am feeling very overwhelmed by the diet that you are supposed to follow and not sure I could stick to it at all.

CrackerNut - you don't have to stick to it rigidly (though your symptoms will resolve more quickly if you do). If you just start by removing all refined sugar from your diet and introduce some natural antifungals like garlic or thyme to your diet you will see an improvement. You can then add other elements (switching slowly to wholegrains etc. as you feel you can cope with them).

Hey all! Hey MC, good luck tomorrow! I hope thingsgo well and you feel better afterwards!

I am starting week three of 50mg anti-fungal tablets each day, no refined sugar, very little fruit, no alcohol (okay, I cheated each Friday, once for datenight, once for a single glass of wine at the end of a very long week), no gluten (because also senstive to that), and I am felt great for the first ten days (except for persistent flatulence in the evenings), butni a. Starting to slow down (maybe because I worked a 60 hour week while also caring for I'll DS and getting very little sleep, maybe due to die off, maybe both?).

I also suffered with a sluggish gut. This has improved anlot, but I stool is still pretty hard and I didn't go at all yesterday so I may need to add more fibre. Also am taking multi-vitamin with probiotic in.

Two more weeks and I am going to have the test for ethanol redone to see if the levels go down from the first one. One great result of the no sugar or sweets, I am very slim and fitting onto all on my mid-twenties, pretty-baby clothes!

Hey all! Hey MC, good luck tomorrow! I hope thingsgo well and you feel better afterwards!

I am starting week three of 50mg anti-fungal tablets each day, no refined sugar, very little fruit, no alcohol (okay, I cheated each Friday, once for datenight, once for a single glass of wine at the end of a very long week), no gluten (because also senstive to that), and I am felt great for the first ten days (except for persistent flatulence in the evenings), butni a. Starting to slow down (maybe because I worked a 60 hour week while also caring for I'll DS and getting very little sleep, maybe due to die off, maybe both?).

I also suffered with a sluggish gut. This has improved anlot, but I stool is still pretty hard and I didn't go at all yesterday so I may need to add more fibre. Also am taking multi-vitamin with probiotic in.

Two more weeks and I am going to have the test for ethanol redone to see if the levels go down from the first one. One great result of the no sugar or sweets, I am very slim and fitting onto all on my mid-twenties, pretty-baby clothes!

Havent read the whole post but the best advice I can give you is see a nutritionalist. I cut out everything apart from meat, fish and veg. No fruit, sugar, bread, tea, coffee, alcohol, condiments, salt for a year and spent a fortune on supplements. A nutritionalist will set you a balanced diet (you mention pasta, it would have to be wheat free) and give you the right supplements to rebalance your gut flora. Yakult is like pouring st sugar down your throat, you would be better with a good live natural yoghurt and add some crushed linseeds.

Docs will be very vague and not a lot of help in this area imo. However it is worth ruling out IBDm however you would be in alot more pain. IBS is something a good alternative practitioner can help with.

Good luck.

MC have been clenchingmybuttocks wondering how it went on Monday?

Can anyone point me in the direction of best website for info re diet and discovering what the slightly scary sounding 'die off' is?

i suffer from recurrent postcoital cystitis and candida. please help!