I just tested severely allergic to candida albicans (IgG). I'm assuming that means I have had an ongoing chronic overgrowth situation? If so, wouldn't taking Entocort potentially worsen that situation? I've read that corticosteroids can cause candida growth, but those were only systemic corticosteroids. But, if the infection is in my gut, and I put a corticosteroid in my gut, wouldn't that cause it to grow further?
I guess my thinking is that maybe my immune system is overactive to protect me from the candida, and if I turn down my immune system with a corticosteroid, wouldn't that drop my protection from the candida?
Thanks!
Shonda
PS. I'm not considering entocort at this time, because I'm still working on the diet thing. Plus, I don't have diarrhea, just mild pain, so it's not interfering with my going out or anything.
Entocort and candida
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Shonda,
To the best of my knowledge, everything you said is correct. It's not that the corticosteroids promote candida directly, but the fact that they suppress the immune system, certainly allows the candida to thrive more easily, as you mentioned, thus making an overgrowth situation much more likely.
I believe you are correct, that an elevated IgG antibody level indicates an ongoing candida overgrowth condition. With food intolerances, the elevated IgA antibody levels typically indicate an (inappropriate) autoimmune reaction. In the case of candida, though, those antibodies are normal immune system responses, (IOW, the immune system is correctly recognizing and responding to the threat of a candida invasion). I'm not sure that it should be labeled as an overreaction, because the candida definitely should not be there, and it's your immune system's job, to try to get rid of it, ASAP.
Good luck with the treatment.
Tex
To the best of my knowledge, everything you said is correct. It's not that the corticosteroids promote candida directly, but the fact that they suppress the immune system, certainly allows the candida to thrive more easily, as you mentioned, thus making an overgrowth situation much more likely.
I believe you are correct, that an elevated IgG antibody level indicates an ongoing candida overgrowth condition. With food intolerances, the elevated IgA antibody levels typically indicate an (inappropriate) autoimmune reaction. In the case of candida, though, those antibodies are normal immune system responses, (IOW, the immune system is correctly recognizing and responding to the threat of a candida invasion). I'm not sure that it should be labeled as an overreaction, because the candida definitely should not be there, and it's your immune system's job, to try to get rid of it, ASAP.
Good luck with the treatment.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Thanks Tex. Sorry it's taken me a while to respond back; my computer moniter is acting up and I had a connection - I just couldn't see it 
.
Things are really starting to make more sense now. When I did Dr. Fine's test, my IgA levels for dairy and gluten were normal. Could I be one of the ones who have MC for a different reason? Isn't IgG expressed on lymphocytes? Could a candida infection be the cause of the elevated lymphocytes found on my biopsy? An ongoing candida infection hanging around would certainly create an environment to create other reactions to food I eat. I have 8 severe IgG reactions to foods and about 15 more minor reactions. I've been calling them delayed food allergies but technically they are normal reactions to these foreign molecules due to a breach in the intestinal walls?
Now to find the cause of the candida overgrowth. I still suspect a combination of heavy antibiotic use as a kid coupled with a high sugar diet, and my dental work (I know this is a controversial topic, but I've just got this feeling mine are a large part of the problem. I called my dentist and found out that the first nerve pain I had and the ramping up of my obsessive tendencies to some compulsive ones coincided with the last crowns I received (which increase exposure to the metals in the filling material, and a nickel-lined crown increases the leach rate of the filling underneath). There's more information about candida and mercury, but I'm only vaguely familiar right now. Anyway, I feel self conscious talking about this, because as soon as you start talking talking about amalgam poisoning, people write you off as crazy.
Thanks again!
Shonda
.Things are really starting to make more sense now. When I did Dr. Fine's test, my IgA levels for dairy and gluten were normal. Could I be one of the ones who have MC for a different reason? Isn't IgG expressed on lymphocytes? Could a candida infection be the cause of the elevated lymphocytes found on my biopsy? An ongoing candida infection hanging around would certainly create an environment to create other reactions to food I eat. I have 8 severe IgG reactions to foods and about 15 more minor reactions. I've been calling them delayed food allergies but technically they are normal reactions to these foreign molecules due to a breach in the intestinal walls?
Now to find the cause of the candida overgrowth. I still suspect a combination of heavy antibiotic use as a kid coupled with a high sugar diet, and my dental work (I know this is a controversial topic, but I've just got this feeling mine are a large part of the problem. I called my dentist and found out that the first nerve pain I had and the ramping up of my obsessive tendencies to some compulsive ones coincided with the last crowns I received (which increase exposure to the metals in the filling material, and a nickel-lined crown increases the leach rate of the filling underneath). There's more information about candida and mercury, but I'm only vaguely familiar right now. Anyway, I feel self conscious talking about this, because as soon as you start talking talking about amalgam poisoning, people write you off as crazy.
Thanks again!
Shonda
Hi Shonda,
Sorry to be so slow with a response. I read your post this morning, but I wanted to verify something before responding, and I needed to get to work, to make some deliveries, so I put it off until I had more time.
If you are sure that you are capable of producing IgA antibodies, (some people are not - Lyn, for example, has that issue, if I remember correctly), and your stool tests were negative, for gluten and casein, then yes, the usual food intolerances that we normally associate with MC, are probably not your primary problem, (at least not by means of the typical reaction mechanisms).
I think candida overgrowth is a largely unexplored area, that is in sore need of extensive research. I suspect that it probably played a big part in the development of my own digestive issues, because I was virtually a bottomless pit, when it came to sugar consumption, for many years. I'm convinced that the Leaky Gut Syndrome initiated most of my problems, because of excessive sugar in my diet for so many years. Sugar and alcohol are listed as two of the primary causes of LGS. Why are those two the primary causes of LGS? IMO, because they are two of the favorite feedstocks for candida albicans. Candida roots force their way through the tight junctions between the cells in the epithelia of the intestines, thereby creating the condition known as the leaky gut syndrome. The more often it occurs, and the longer the individual episodes last, the more susceptible we become to LGS episodes, because the tight junctions become less resistant to being compromised, after repeated abuse. For all I know, mercury may also weaken the tight junctions, but I haven't researched that possibility.
When I was healing, I had to avoid virtually all sugars, (except for trace amounts), along with all my other food intolerances, (and irritants), for a couple of years. These days, sugar doesn't seem to bother me, but I don't pig out on it virtually every day, either, the way I did, back before my symptoms started. IMO, medical science still has a lot to learn about sugars, and yeast, in the body. Most doctors simply wave off the suggestion of a yeast overgrowth, in the GI tract, but it's a real problem, for many people.
Tex
Sorry to be so slow with a response. I read your post this morning, but I wanted to verify something before responding, and I needed to get to work, to make some deliveries, so I put it off until I had more time.
If you are sure that you are capable of producing IgA antibodies, (some people are not - Lyn, for example, has that issue, if I remember correctly), and your stool tests were negative, for gluten and casein, then yes, the usual food intolerances that we normally associate with MC, are probably not your primary problem, (at least not by means of the typical reaction mechanisms).
Yes, and probably. As I've mentioned before, though, I'm no expert on the details of the mechanisms by which these immune responses propagate. Did you have a "Yeast test" at Enterolab? Of course, that's an IgA antibody assay for immunologic sensitivity to the dietary yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but, (and this is a big "but"), IMO, experience has shown that people who test positive, apparently do so only if they are experiencing a yeast overgrowth, which presumably, would imply a candida albicans overgrowth. I say this, because if no candida overgrowth is present, then dietary yeast does not appear to be a problem for people who previously tested positive to saccharomyces cerevisiae sensitivity.Shonda wrote:Isn't IgG expressed on lymphocytes? Could a candida infection be the cause of the elevated lymphocytes found on my biopsy?
I think candida overgrowth is a largely unexplored area, that is in sore need of extensive research. I suspect that it probably played a big part in the development of my own digestive issues, because I was virtually a bottomless pit, when it came to sugar consumption, for many years. I'm convinced that the Leaky Gut Syndrome initiated most of my problems, because of excessive sugar in my diet for so many years. Sugar and alcohol are listed as two of the primary causes of LGS. Why are those two the primary causes of LGS? IMO, because they are two of the favorite feedstocks for candida albicans. Candida roots force their way through the tight junctions between the cells in the epithelia of the intestines, thereby creating the condition known as the leaky gut syndrome. The more often it occurs, and the longer the individual episodes last, the more susceptible we become to LGS episodes, because the tight junctions become less resistant to being compromised, after repeated abuse. For all I know, mercury may also weaken the tight junctions, but I haven't researched that possibility.
When I was healing, I had to avoid virtually all sugars, (except for trace amounts), along with all my other food intolerances, (and irritants), for a couple of years. These days, sugar doesn't seem to bother me, but I don't pig out on it virtually every day, either, the way I did, back before my symptoms started. IMO, medical science still has a lot to learn about sugars, and yeast, in the body. Most doctors simply wave off the suggestion of a yeast overgrowth, in the GI tract, but it's a real problem, for many people.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Tex,
I have not done the yeast test from Enterolab. The sIgA deficiency test is pretty expensive and I've already got a string of expensive tests I want to do and it fell toward the bottom of the list, so I don't know if I have sIgA deficiency or not, but until i do, I didn't figure it very helpful to run other tests that depend on the IgA reactions. I was considering a comprehensive stool analysis test though to determine just what pathogens I may be dealing with. Some on my SCD yahoo group have found it helpful.
I agree. I think that sugar and yeast and intestinal flora has been far understudied. Candida seems to be a huge problem for many people, and there are probably several reasons that it can overgrow... Sugar, abx, etc. My theory on why mercury overload can cause it is based on methylation. I've read that candida will take ingested mercury and methylate it to protect itself. I think that the candida that comes into contact with mercury signals itself to replicate to neutralize the situation to further protect itself thus creating an overgrowth. If this happens and then we take drastic measures to kill it off repeatedly, every time we kill off the colonies, they dump that methylated mercury into our systems. I've seen a couple of anecdotal stories of people who said they had large candida overgrowths that would respond to antifungals and then come back once d/cing the antifungal, and that once they had their amalgams correctly replaced and chelated that it no longer came back. It's not a study, but still interesting. Granted, I don't recall the diets these people were on, but even if they were on a horrible diet, if the diet were the initial cause then the removal shouldn't have made a difference.
Anyway, I'm rambling... and I have no proof whatsoever that the above is based on true information. It's just some thinkin'.
Shonda
I have not done the yeast test from Enterolab. The sIgA deficiency test is pretty expensive and I've already got a string of expensive tests I want to do and it fell toward the bottom of the list, so I don't know if I have sIgA deficiency or not, but until i do, I didn't figure it very helpful to run other tests that depend on the IgA reactions. I was considering a comprehensive stool analysis test though to determine just what pathogens I may be dealing with. Some on my SCD yahoo group have found it helpful.
I agree. I think that sugar and yeast and intestinal flora has been far understudied. Candida seems to be a huge problem for many people, and there are probably several reasons that it can overgrow... Sugar, abx, etc. My theory on why mercury overload can cause it is based on methylation. I've read that candida will take ingested mercury and methylate it to protect itself. I think that the candida that comes into contact with mercury signals itself to replicate to neutralize the situation to further protect itself thus creating an overgrowth. If this happens and then we take drastic measures to kill it off repeatedly, every time we kill off the colonies, they dump that methylated mercury into our systems. I've seen a couple of anecdotal stories of people who said they had large candida overgrowths that would respond to antifungals and then come back once d/cing the antifungal, and that once they had their amalgams correctly replaced and chelated that it no longer came back. It's not a study, but still interesting. Granted, I don't recall the diets these people were on, but even if they were on a horrible diet, if the diet were the initial cause then the removal shouldn't have made a difference.
Anyway, I'm rambling... and I have no proof whatsoever that the above is based on true information. It's just some thinkin'.
Shonda