How does your physician make a diagnosis? If you're bothered by any of the symptoms, particularly the women's disorders, it's essential for you to have a diagnostic workup that includes:
- Your complete medical history. Such a history includes not only your present complaints, but also a very detailed medical history beginning with infancy.
- A physical examination. It should include a gynecological examination and examinations of your skin, eyes, heart, lungs and other parts of your body. Your health professional should also really look at you. I always look carefully at my patients. Even people who say they are in reasonably good health often look pale with dark circles or bags under their eyes and/or a wrinkle across their nose. If they are not anemic, I am often able to connect these features to hidden food allergies that are usually caused by the person's favorite foods.
- Laboratory examination. Tests, including blood tests, urine tests, stool examinations, X-rays and more complex laboratory studies. This will likely include a gastrointestinal evaluation panel for Candida albicans. With some health disorders, a diagnosis can be made easily. Here are examples:
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| Yeast Infection Diagnosis |
You develop a slight sore throat, a cough and other mild respiratory symptoms. Then you sit through an entire football game on a cold, windy day. That night your cough worsens. Early the next morning your teeth begin to chatter and you shiver and shake. You're having a chill. Then your fever jumps up to 104 degrees and you experience a sharp pain in your chest. You go to a hospital emergency room. The physician there listens to your story and examines you. Then she orders a chest x-ray and lab tests of various sorts, including a white blood count and a urinalysis.
After reviewing these findings, she says, "You have lobar pneumonia. With a prescription of penicillin today, you'll be a lot better by tomorrow. Then, with a few days of rest and penicillin, you'll be well a week"
Here's another example:
You develop urinary frequency and burning and note blood in your urine. A microscopic examination shows that your urine is loaded with blood cells, pus cells and bacteria. These findings show that you have an acute urinary infection that requires an antibiotic given according to the physician's directions.
Diagnosing yeast-related fatigue, depression and many other disorders is an entirely different situation. Here's why: A physical examination and tests usually are helpful in directing your physician along the road toward a diagnosis, but they frequently do not provide a clear-cut answer. They do not enable your physician to "make a diagnosis." This is why it is often a prolonged process to come to a diagnosis of candidiasis. Nevertheless, it's important for any woman to go to a physician (and I hope that doctor will be kind and caring) for a careful examination to make sure her symptoms are not caused by another health disorder.
If your physical examination and routine laboratory tests show no significant abnormalities and your history suggests a yeast-related problem, the best way of making a diagnosis is by noting your response to a simple, but comprehensive, treatment program. Such a program features a sugar- and yeast-free diet, probiotics and prescription or nonprescription anti-yeast medications.
In my own patients who were troubled by severe or long-lasting health problems, I always put in the "first team" - a systermc antifungal prescription medication - usually Diflucan.
In order to help your physician diagnose your illness, it's essential to provide a very detailed medical history. Here's some of the information you need to provide:
- When and how did your symptoms begin?
- Did your symptoms begin suddenly like being hit by a stray bullet?
- Or did they come gradually over a period of weeks, months or years?
- Have you had illnesses over your lifetime that have required repeated courses of antibiotics?
- What do you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks?
- Do you smoke?
- Do you drink alcoholic beverages?
- What drugs or medications do you take?
- What are your present environmental exposures at home or at work?
- Are you exposed to smoke, insecticides, a gas cooking stove or new carpets in your home or workplace?
- Do you use lawn chemicals or pesticides outdoors?
- Are you bothered by:
- perfumes and colognes?
- fabric shop odors?
- dusts or molds?
- pollens?
- animal danders?
Now for a few more words about tests: There are a number of helpful tests that can assist with a diagnosis of candidiasis, including:
- Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis (CDSA) by the Great Smokies Diagnostic Laboratory in Asheville, NC.
- Candida blood studies of various types, including measurements of candida antibodies, antigens and immune complexes
- Stool studies for candida and other organisms
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| Yeast Infection Diagnosis |
In addition, the vast majority of people with yeast-related health problems suffer from food sensitivities. Although commonly used allergy scratch tests often show negative results, other tests may be helpful, including:
- The ALCAT test: a blood test that measures sensitivities to food extracts, food additives, chemicals and molds
- IgG food sensitivity tests for delayed-onset food allergies
- Tests to assess intestinal permeability: urine collected over a six hour period will help determine if you have leaky gut.