Are you suffering from unexplained, IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)-style problems that don’t seem to go away? Then you may be experiencing a surprising problem…
For a couple of months I’ve had bouts of lethargy, depression, mood swings, intestinal cramps, bloating, and a whole host of other unpleasant (and sometimes anti-social!) symptoms and they were only getting worse. This surprised me, since I give myself Reiki daily, get plenty of exercise, pay close attention to my diet and nutrition (I’m vegan so I have to) and drink more than enough water as well as staying away from stimulants such as tea and coffee.
My partner had just been diagnosed with Coeliac’s disease and suggested that I look into similar things such as food intolerances. To be honest, I was a bit sceptical since I hadn’t changed my diet and thought it strange to develop an unknown intolerance “all of a sudden”. I found a brilliant site at http://www.foodintol.com/ which features something very sci-fi-sounding called a Symptoms Matrix. Basically it’s a list of symptoms and which major intolerances and issues they indicate (and which they don’t).
The result for me was a Yeast Overgrowth (also known as Candida or Candidiasis, named after the yeast strain itself). I checked with my being and came up with a positive result – that’s what it seemed to be! According to research, yeast exists in a manageable quantity in the intestines and is kept under control by certain “friendly bacteria”. Anything that damages this bacterial control can affect the balance of yeast.
Over the past year I had a bout of bronchitis (my usual “achilles heel” as an ex-smoker) and I also sliced my finger open down to the bone (yes, it was an accident!) and as a result was prescribed broad-spectrum antibiotics by my doctor. This is one of the major causes of yeast overgrowth since the antibiotics kill off intestinal bacteria but NOT yeast. Add to that my regular consumption of Marmite (to get my required dose of Vitamin B12) and you can see where the problem flourished!
So what’s the problem with having too much yeast? As any home-brewer will tell you, yeast converts sugars to alcohol. Which means that an ever-increasing amount of my food intake (from fruit sugars to carbs) was being used by the yeast and converted into alcohol instead of being used to fuel me! Not only was I starting to lose weight and become lethargic but I was also suffering the effects of constant alcohol consumption such as “spacing out”, feeling hungover in the mornings, nausea, etc. Not bad for someone who only drinks approximately once every 2 months, for special occasions. On the rare occasions that I would have a beer, the effect was like consuming barrels instead of pints!
Time to seek a solution since the yeast would only get worse, normally requiring anti-fungal treatment as well as a strict candida diet (no sugars, no yeast) – so goodbye to chocolate, bagels and beer for those that indulge! Even though I’m a complimentary therapist, I still believed in the ability of conventional medicine to find a cure. That’s probably why I continued to pop the antibiotics without question in the first place. So, off to the doctors….
Suffice it to say, I no longer have that degree of enthusiasm for such medicine. My local surgery is a pick-and-mix affair – make an appointment and see a randomly-allocated doctor (I have seen a different doctor for each of the last 4 appointments). I went back 3 times, had 2 sets of blood tests and the end results were this: my problem is symptomatic (i.e. it produces symptoms!!) but standard blood tests showed nothing wrong so it was up to me to manage the problem. On each of the occasions I mentioned that I believed yeast had something to do with it and on each occasion they refused to entertain such an idea. Since my symptoms were getting worse (an ever-present kidney pain being testament to this) and I had already wasted 4 weeks in getting nowhere, I booked an appointment with a local, highly-recommended naturopath.
Incidentally, a lot of candida-related information on the internet states that it’s incredibly difficult to get doctors to test for candida and these websites advise seeking alternatives such as naturopathy or homeopathy instead. I suppose that admitting to problems caused by an over-prescription of antibiotics would lead to a legal nightmare (as well as costing more to test for) so a lot of doctors are running scared. It’s a shame that money and ignorance are sometimes put before the welfare of the patients!
For those that are unaware of it, naturopathy is an “eclectic and holistic” medical system that advocates natural remedies and supporting the body’s ability to heal itself. The consultation cost me £45 and included all remedies (for me, a karmic essence preparation and a homeopathic tablet course). It also showed up the emotional and spiritual reasons behind the overgrowth, something that I’d tried to uncover myself but couldn’t. I’m now on the way to recovery, my symptoms are decreasing and I have managed to do some valuable work on suppressed anxieties that I wasn’t even consciously aware of.
In all, this has confirmed to me that “conventional” medicine mostly treats symptoms and not root causes and fails to properly accept the underlying spiritual problems that may be manifesting as the dis-ease. I have learned many valuable lessons during this process – about listening to my being, trusting my instincts, and solidifying my belief in “alternative” ways of perceiving issues. It seems strange that I was able to advise my own clients of such things but was unable to do so for myself until I had completed this journey of discovery. But then that in itself is another lesson too!
So if you’re suffering from symptoms such as mine and have had them written off as IBS or similar, consider yeast and what it may be doing to you! I am more than happy to share my advice and experience and to recommend my naturopath – just get in touch!
Tags: candida, ibs, naturopathy, yeast