For a good portion of my adult life I have battled with digestive issues. Started in college but was not consistent enough to warrant much concern. Then shortly after getting married I would have bouts of digestive trouble which was blindly attributed to certain foods, sauces, weekend benders, etc.
In the past 3 years things definitely took a turn for the worse. These bouts would last longer and happen more frequently. In 2009 a colonoscopy revealed a redundant colon which was believed to trigger IBS. This helped explain some, but not all of my symptoms. Dr. prescribed meds (dicyclomine) for the spasms/eruptions, which didn't really do much to help long term. And little did I know then, the drugs were actually doing more harm than good. In the beginning of this year, (2011) these digestive nightmares were happening almost daily, lasting several hours at a time. And by April, five to ten minutes after I ate anything, didn't matter what it was, I would have a reaction that would include a few or sometimes all of the following:
bloating
severe stomach cramping
nausea
dry heaving
diarrhea
black tarry stools
sweating
vomiting
back spasms
burping
blurry vision
shaking hands
dry mouth
throat contractions
scratchy voice
body shakes from being so cold
extreme exhaustion
heavy head and droopy eyelids
One particular April day this year I sat on the toilet with just about all of symptoms listed above. *warning graphic description ahead* My gut literally poured out of me for over 2 hours and it was a reddish black sludge which I had occasionally seen in the past, but this time, it didn't stop nor did I have any muscle control. Thank GOD I was at home and not in a public bathroom or worse yet, an airplane, because that has happened in the past and it is the most humiliating experience as you can well imagine. So, I spent another day in my bathroom prison and to kill time, I turned to facebook and connected with my friend who is also a nutritionist. We talked for a while and as I described what had been happening she said it sounded like I may have Candida (heard of this before but never paid much attention because in the last 3 YEARS no doctor ever uttered a thing about it). She recommended dietary changes in addition to a 28 day detox program (which in turn lasted 2 months) and to some, this sounds intimidating but I was willing to try anything. For those first 5 days I gradually weaned myself off dairy, wheat/gluten, refined sugars and anything that had artificial ingredients, preservatives, yeast and vinegar. Then I found a holistic doctor in town who ran a detailed health history as well as blood and stool samples and discovered that the overproduction of Candida yeast had managed to perforate my digestive walls and was now (Systemic Candidiasis) which also led to another condition called Leaky gut. When the over active yeast gets into your blood stream it can spread like wildfire and attach itself to organs and tissue throughout the body. Did you know your body's way of fighting off these yeast invaders is to form tumors to protect vital organs from a yeast takeover? And those who find a lump anywhere in their body usually breathe a big sigh of relief when the doctor tells them that it's benign and they can resume a normal life. No one ever questions HOW the tumor got there or what caused it to form in the first place. Several studies have linked the presence of Candida with cancer, anywhere from 79 to 97% of all cancer patients also have Candida. Conventional medicine treats symptoms, not the cause of disease.
But more on that later. I digress...
So based on my health history it's estimated that the early stages of Candida probably began in the mid 90's. Having countless bouts of strep throat and tonsillitis throughout college kept me on broad spectrum antibiotics for several weeks at a time. After college my tonsils were still so inflamed and infected, they were practically stuck together, barely leaving an opening for my throat. I couldn't eat a meal without food particles getting stuck inside the crevices of my tonsils and I used to bend a paperclip to literally dig food out of them after meals. (Apologies for that lovely visual.) After several more weeks of antibiotics with no change to my throat, my doctor sent me to an ENT surgeon who performed a difficult tonsillectomy. Not only were my tonsils so badly infected but I started to develop nodules on my vocal chords. They lasered what they could and as a result my voice shot up several notches. However, the healing process was tough. I couldn't eat, swallow, cough, laugh, cry, sneeze, yawn, or even smile without severe pain and even more challenging...I couldn't speak (aside from a whisper) for a couple weeks. Again antibiotics were necessary during recovery which overall took about 2 months. And just when it looked as though everything was starting to heal I developed ear infections in both ears which led to yet another round of antibiotics. I was pretty much a deaf mute during that period of my life. Not surprising, I was also single.
So over a decade goes by and I continued to have these random digestive issues popping up here and there. Then we moved to Seattle in October of 2008 and by December that same year I am another walking infection. Constant sore throats and an ear infection that lasted from December '08 to April '09. Again tried a course of a couple different kinds of antibiotics because I developed a resistance to the old stand-bys that are typically given. And it didn't help that I was drinking wine every night in addition to loading up on carb heavy foods like breads, pastas and cookies because of the constant chill in the air. My body craved these foods in what I thought was an effort to stay warm but in reality it was the yeast growing out of control and taking up prime space in the gut.
The next 2 years my digestive issues worsened and infringed on what one would call a normal life. I could not go out to restaurants without having almost immediate reactions to food. I tried to avoid greasy food (butters and oils) but I'd still have problems. I was tested for Celiac in the summer of '09 which came back negative but even still, I gave up eating gluten products for a few weeks to see if that helped and it didn't make that much difference. It was not uncommon for me to spend the majority of the time in the restaurant bathroom when dining out with my husband or friends. (Grateful for text messaging.) And I can't tell you how many plans we had to cancel, often at the last minute because I knew I couldn't make even a 10 minute car ride to our destination. My husband was a saint for putting up with this lifestyle and sticking by my side. It really was not a pleasant way to live.
So now that the root of the problem has FINALLY been diagnosed and I know the foods to avoid and the right combination of supplements to take, I am once again able to enjoy the world around me. Those violent reactions to food basically disappeared in a matter of days and I no longer have horrific menstrual cycles nor do I take any medication for cramps because they are non existent. To say this changed my life is putting it mildly.
Even though I'm well on the road to recovery, there are still a couple unpleasant but in no way debilitating side effects that are going to take a little longer to heal. But in the big scheme of things, these are minimal compared to what every day life used to be.
Hair Loss:
As a result of candida occupying space under the skin making the follicles weak, I've started to lose my hair. I'm taking a supplement of Biotin for this and hopefully within 6 months, will start to see new hair growth. For now I try to wash my hair in cooler water (which can be challenging at times) because any form of heat whether it be water temp or styling products, definitely advances hair loss.
I've also got some white spots on my legs (and a few on my arms and chest) that have popped up. I'm not sure if they will ever go away and they are more noticeable in the summer since the candida has altered the pigment under the skin causing those spots not to tan.
Here's a closer look, they look like little white freckles.
If you have these on your skin and your doctor diagnoses as psoriasis, hypopigmentation (sun damage) or even vitiligo and you are not seeing results from the treatments associated with those conditions, it may be helpful to seek a second opinion and/or find a naturopath who is more familiar with systemic candidiasis. If not caught and treated early, the spots can get quite a bit more noticeable but I'll leave it to you to do a google image search on "candida and skin." But don't say I didn't warn you.
Ok one last thing that I'm still battling which is definitely the most uncomfortable to deal with is...
BLOAT.
(this is my belly by the end of the day)
(and when I wake up, it's back to normal)
I continue to take a digestive enzyme with most solid meals but I'm still having blow up issues. My doctor said this is common because the healthy foods are now going to battle with the unhealthy bacteria, so when I eat raw veggies packed with live, healthy enzymes and foods loaded with good bacteria there's a war going on in my gut between the good guys and the bad guys. Here's hoping the good guys win!
So that's my story up til now and as things progress, I'll continue to update as I embark on my good health journey.
Thanks for reading!
