Nutrition and Vitality and our sister company Ibs-solutions.co.uk provide at home Candida Tests all over the UK and abroad as well as helping patients with the treatment of Candida. If you would like to order a Candida stool or Candida blood test or book a Candida consultation, please call us on 0345 1297996 or e-mail us.
There are several tests that can be conducted to test for Candida. These include stool, urine and blood tests. You can also contact us by phone, or email.
Please find a review of each of these below.
Stool tests are our most popular tests as in addition to candida and yeast they are able to look at other pathogens.
These tests can be offered as stand-alone tests or can be used for patients who also wish to look at pathogens such as bad bacteria, viruses, salmonella, shigella and parasites
In many cases stool tests can reveal your specific strain of yeast as well as the most effective anti-fungals to take to treat the yeast iovergrowth.
If yeast is cultured your report will include a sensitivity panel that shows which natural or pharmaceutical agents are effective against any strains that are detected.
They are conducted after submitting two or three stool samples on separate days. The stool test is also able to reveal levels of friendly gut flora.
In some cases you may find that yeast is not viable via stool and you may wish to conduct a urine test.
The urine test is very sensitive and looks at a marker called Arabinose.
This test is conducted by using your first urine sample of the day. The test is very easy to conduct. The candida urine test will indicate the severity of the fungal infection however it is unable to detect your specific strain of yeast or anti-fungals needed to eradicate the overgrowth. We often recommend this test if:
A candida antibody test can detect a current or previous fungal infection by testing for three different candida antibodies in your blood. The antibody test will measure IgG, IgM, and IgA antibodies to candida in your blood.
These candida antibody tests can also be conducted as part of our food intolerance test panel and will look at IgG antibodies. This test is useful if you also wish to screen or food intolerances. The test also looks at 93 foods.
We recommend candida antibody tests are conducted in conjunction with stool tests or urine tests and not as stand-alone tests.
An overgrowth of yeast may cause toxic by-products to cause a number of unpleasant symptoms.
The main symptoms of Candida include:
Digestive problems including:
Bloating
Constipation
Diarrhoea
Gas
Brain fog
Difficulty Concentrating
Headaches
Sugar Cravings
Cravings for Bread
Vaginal Thrush/ Cystitis
Recurrent Vaginitis
Skin issues, Psoriasis, Eczema, Acne, Atopic Dermatits
Athletes food
Fungal toe-nails
Bladder issues
Sinus problems
Post nasal drip
Low Sex Drive
What causes Candida to Overgrow?
Antibiotics
High Sugar Diet
High Yeast diet, Marmite. Soya Sauce
High Starch Diet
Steroids
Contraceptive pill
Low immune system
Chronic stress
We all have Candida Albicans, and in small amounts, it is perfectly normal. However, Candida may grow and proliferate and cause a variety of digestive problems.
One of the main causes are antibiotics. Antibiotics can have an appalling effect on the gut killing off multiple strains of friendly gut flora.
Many patients who have had multiple courses of antibiotics (for acne or tonsillitis or cystitis) may find that this repeated use of antibiotics will cause Candida to grow and proliferate.
If you are also consuming a diet high in sugar or eating foods that contain yeast such as bread or Marmite or drinking alcohol such as beer or wine, it may also proliferate.
What is Candida?
Candidiasis is a type of yeast or fungal infection. In fact there are over 20 species of types of species of Candida and we can test for all of these.
The reason why we always hear of Candida Albicans is because this is by far the most common type.
Do Doctors recognise Candida?
Doctors only recognise Candida as a symptom of major immune system breakdown, such as that found in Aids or severely immunocompromised patients.
If you have taken repeated courses of antibiotics as a child or as an adult you are likely to have developed some yeast – related problems. The reason for this is that repetitive use of antibiotics can eradicate all of your healthy gut bacteria. Low levels of healthy gut bacteria in turn may result in high levels of yeast as the latter has a chance to grow. The yeast becomes opportunistic and will be able to grow and in large quantities can be quite toxic.
If you consume a diet rich in sugar, bread, cakes, biscuits or alcohol this may also cause yeast to grow. You may have consumed a high sugar diet as a child and continued to do so as an adult.
You will need to talk to a skilled professional who can best advise you on anti-fungal supplements and diet. You can call us on 0345 1297996.
You may be advised to follow a strict diet and eliminate all sugar and yeast. You will also need to take some anti-fungals such as Caprylic acid, or grapefruit seed extract, oregano oil and some probiotics. The timing and dosage of the anti-fungals is key as if you take too many you may make yourself feel very poorly. As the yeast dies off there you may experience a die-off reaction that can lead to headaches, fatigue and depression. It is recommended that you see a good nutritionist to help you. If you would like to book a consultation with a candida specialist please see our Candida consultations.
