Hello there

[stinky]

Hi. I'm a 42year old male and I have had some issues with my health for a good 7+ years now. I had all the symptoms of candida including the horrible and dreaded fecal body odor. But along with that I've also have digestive issues, anxiety due to the fbo, really oily and sticky sweat that exudes a foul odor emanating through the pores on my skin, especially from the head, shoulder, and back area. I keep a ahaved head now cause when i did have gair, it would smell so foul, the fecal odor.

It's been so hard luving with this I've contemplated suicide many a times, even tried to od on prescription pills but that didn't work out. I guess god has a purpose for me? Anyways finding this forum and finding out that there are others that suffer from the same complications i do has opened my eyes and given me hope, i thought i was the only one with this dreaded nightmare.

I've been concentrating on my digestive system for the past 5 years and had seen and am still seeing a GI dotor for the issues i have. I've tested for h. Pylori, and multitude of other things i felt was contributing to my problems. Tests all came back negative, which made me lose hope on this situation. I had a few andoscopies and colonoscopies done. Did have mild diverticulitis, stomach ulcers, gastritis, and gerd. I've changed my diet around and taken prescription antifungals, hi fiber diet, probiotics, milk thistle, bentonite, and a bunch of other supplements that supposed to help.

Well my digestive issues have goten better but i still suffer from chronic fatigue, lack of sex drive, a sense of not feeling well, sluggishness, insomnia, etc. etc. The list gies on and on. And also the fecal body odor, which i wouldn't wish upon my worst enemies. That is what destroys me the most. I used be be a very outgoing and energetic person who loved being around people. Now, these past 7 years, I've isolated myself from the world. It's so depressing just thinking about it tears me up. I live my life one day at a time. I just wanna wear a sign that says 'it's a medical condition' so I don't have to have people think I'm some unhygienic bum. I am very hygienic. The fecal body odor feels like a curse.

Anyways long story short (even though i already wrote a novel lol) I've now been wondering if the cause of my issues could be due to my endocrine system being all jacked up. I was a heavy marijuana smoker for over 20 years and i believe that's what brought upon this illness. I think i screwed up my thyroid and/or adrenal glands. Though sometimes I wonder if i have caught this from unprotected sex. There's one more suspicion on my part on how i might have caught this. I used to roll on the ji-jitsu mats and before i had this issue, i used to have a training partner who smelled like s***. Like a wet dog/s*** smell. Not long after training with him i started developing the fecal body odor.

Sooo, I'm back to square one. Not sure if it's a digestive issue, metabolic issue, or what it is. And not sure if i caused this upon myself by my heavy marijuana usage in the past or caught it by unprotected sex or got it from the dude i used to roll with on the mats.

Anyways ill cut my story short, i could go on and on. Am going to see an endocrinologist in a few months so i am hoping to find some answers from there. I'm glad to gave found this forum and i will keep anyone who rwada this thread updated. Thanks for reading my novel, lol. Sorry it's a long post. But i had and still do have a lot to say. Much love to all on this forum.

[stinky]

i wasn't taking any antibiotics but I did have a few back surgeries, and I do have heart problems as well that started after I noticed I had fecal body odor . I read somewhere that surgeries can cause this problem? the fecal body odor?  also was on oxycodone which really messed up my digestive tract. which I believe was a contributing factor to the problems I am now experiencing. the pain killers gave me chronic constipation. I've been tested for parasites twice and the test results came back negative both times. I do believe it's a gut issue though. I've recently changed my diet to a vegetarian diet but it's hard to stick to it and it was a recent change so I'm not sure I'm seeing any results as of yet. I am also taking loads of acidiphillus probiotics and have been for awhile and I aint seeing any results. I'll stop taking them now after reading your post. I'll start on the prune juice so I can have daily bowel movements. I"ve been seeing a gastroentologist and had an endoscopy and colonoscopy. the results were stomach ulcers, mild diverticulitis, gerd, gastroparesis, gastritis. I also believe I have leaky gut syndrome though most doctors don't acknowledge leaky gut symptom but I have all the symptoms of it. I'm also waiting upon a appt with an endocrinologist. I want to check if I have a problem with my immmune system or a problem with my endocrine system that might be causing some of the problems I'm experiencing. thanks for the reply. having someone understand my issues really help. It seems like the doctors I've been seeing have no clue and believe that it's all in my head. I"ve asked my docors to smell me and they say that they can't smell anything lol. then they recommend that I see a psycologist! smh. I know it's not in my head. and I've already been seeing a psychotherapist and psychiatrist. I've been prescribed anti anxiety medicine, clonazapam. I was taking it and though it did help with my anxiety a little, it really didn't do anything for the problems I'm experiencing. so I stopped taking them. I figure the less toxins I introduce into my body , the better. I've also seen a dermatologist also and she doesn't have a clue to what I am experiencing. I find it kind of funny that on the internet there are quite a bit of people experiencing the same things I am going thru but in real life, there is no doctor that has experienced a case like mine before. I am still trying to convince my primary doctor that the symptoms I am experiencing are real and not "all in my head". I even had to tell her, actually plead to her to do a quick google search on fecal body odor and that I'm not some kind of crazy person making this all up. and I bet she didn't even google search it cause I'm still waiting on her to refer me to an endocrinologist. the medical I have is not great so any time I need to see a specialist, I need a referal from my primary.thanks for replying and for all the help and tips. I reallly appreciate it. god bless

[npd]

Hey there, man! How are you? Glad to see that you've responded back and have been able to talk to a few other people on this site since you joined. I see you have been very thorough at trying to approach this problem from many different angles and I wish you a lot of luck at finding more definitive answers. I am writing because I noticed you mentioned a possible referral to an endocrinologist in your post. I think this is a very good idea because I believe from my own personal experience that endocrine issues can contribute to the development of, and worsening, of body odor issues. I'll tell you this because of what I went through last year. I like to describe 2015 as my Year of Hell as it pertains to body odor and endocrine issues were a part of it. In early 2012, to give you some background, I underwent a surgery to have my entire thyroid gland removed because of its progressive enlargement. My medical condition was known as a multinodular goiter and other members of my family have suffered from the same thing. Well, as a result of having my gland cut out, I am required to take a daily thyroid hormone supplement for the rest of my natural life. I also require periodic blood level testing to make sure I am receiving the proper level of thyroid hormone. This is not always an easy process. Well, last year I was on a certain dose. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was receiving too much thyroid hormone and was experiencing the symptoms of hyperthyroidism even while lacking a gland. This is where the trouble started. Along with having a noticeable fecal odor, customers and co-workers started making snide comments about me smelling like "pee." I didn't know what to make of these vulgar comments because I didn't have any incontinence issues, urinary-wise, at the time. I did notice, though, that my urine was starting to smell more strongly and that I was developing a heavy perspiration issue. I could just do some basic cleaning and stocking and ring up customers and find my shirt to be heavily sweated in. I had to change my uniform several times a day because the problem was getting so bad and I did notice an underarm odor issue even though I had a strong Degree Deodorant on. The comments continued for most of the year and were really disturbing me. Why were people saying these things? Well, I remembered one time one of my co-workers handed me a uniform shirt i had left in a bag and as he passed it to me I suddenly got a strong whiff of an ammonia-like smell coming from the shirt. So I guess I could draw the connection then. I didn't realize that my thyroid issues might be the cause until I had some blood work done and it was found I was receiving too much Levothyroxine. Well, once he lowered the dose, and after a waiting period, my heavy perspiration problem started to go away. Along with the pee smell comments. So there was definitely some connection there. I think it is good that you want to see an Endocrinologist. Do you have any thyroid issues in your family or problems with diabetes? The specialist could run some tests on you and maybe, just maybe, he or she might have some experience treating odor issues arising my imbalances. How are you doing otherwise? What else is going on?

[stinky]

hi npd. I'm so glad you shared with me some of the issues you are going thru. some of the issues you had in 2015 are some of the exact same issues I am going thru. for example, I am noticing an underarm odor issue even though I use the strongest anti-perspirant I can find. the under arm odor will cut through any anti perspirant or deodorant I use. and I feel sticky under my armpits. I am noticing my urine has a very strong smell to it and also I start to break a sweat while doing minimum physical activity. for example, I take a shower right before I head to work. as soon as I get to work I start to break a sweat and feel like my body is burning up inside. feels like my skin is on fire. also start to feel sticky, oily, and grimey after only 30 minutes of light physical activity. by the time I am done with work, I smell real bad like garbage. and I only work part time, 4 hours a day. by the end of the first hour I start smelling really bad. it's so embarassing and I hate to be near anyone when I am working. and I know that the people around me can smell me. I see them rubbing their noses, and sometimes I'll hear a rude comment. and when I'm near people, a lot of them seem to be allergic to me, lol. like they'll start getting the sniffles, and have a runny nose. anyways, as soon as I am done with work I feel real dirty and take a shower as soon as I get home. then about an hour later, I'll start feeling sticky again and grimey. and also there's an excess amount of oil that oozes outta my pores. it's like I'm still feeling the anxiety and stress from work a few hours after work is done. the only time I feel ok is when I am alone, and know I don't have to work or be near anyone because I don't stress or don't have the anxiety. as far as thyroid issues or diabetes running in my family, I don't think it runs in my family. but I've been asking my primary doctor to test me for diabetes. I notice I do have some of the symptoms of diabetes. I'm hoping when I do see the endocrinologist that they have treated someone with body odor issues before. I asked the gastroentologist that I see if they ever have treated a case like mine and they have not. I guess I'm a first for them lol. but I'm thinking I do have some imbalnces going on inside of me, wether it be ph related, hormone related or some other imbalance going on. anyways, thanks for taking the time to respond to my posts. it really helps a lot to have someone to chat with who has experience with what I'm going thru. I'm still taking this problem head on day by day. my symptoms seem to be worse at the moment due to extreme anxiety. but other than that, I'm still fighting day by day to beat this problem, or at least to get it controlled. thanks for responding and god bless.

[npd]

No problem, man! I see so much of what I went through and am continuing to struggle with today in the first part of your post. The thing which startled me was that part about feeling like you were burning up inside or overheating. I used to experience that at work especially when I did overnight shifts. I remember one time I was working really hard at stocking up the truck and towards the end of my job I started to feel almost like I was roasting in my skin. It was a very uncomfortable sensation and my co-workers picked up on some sort of odor coming off of me. I heard one claim that she could smell me from all the way over on the other side of the store and one lady tell my boss that "his smell hit within two seconds of coming in to the manager's office." I left the job that day quite upset and feeling very defeated and depressed. I related my hurt to my mother but she insisted that I just looked very sweaty and she didn't notice any smell coming off of me. Yeah, like yourself, I become more noticeably sweaty than my co-workers and my sweat tends to smell way more than theirs. Keep us posted on your medical appointments and what your docs are talking to you about! I think you will find some answers because you seem very dedicated to get to the bottom of this.

[npd]

P.S. Where did you see you live again? I could have sworn I heard you mention Hawaii. I live in the Sunshine State of Florida. I can sympathize with your struggles with the climate there. It can become so hot humid down here in the South that I think odor control can even become an issue for people who don't have long-term severe issues like ourselves! Lol Well, good luck, and keep us posted!

[livininhope]

Hi Stinky

Just wanted to mention that when I started taking prune juice I first took the supermarket own brands, because they were cheaper, however, I found them to be a bit bitter and watery. I changed to SunSweet Californian prune juice which I buy in Morrison’s supermarket for about £1.94 and it works better, it is thicker and tastier. See what works best for you.

Also I meant to ask about your diet, although you say you are on a vegetarian diet, do you still take bread, sugar, etc. I wondered if you might have a candida overgrowth, which most doctors tell you can’t happen and it is all hype, which is nonsense. So you might want to read up on this and perhaps adjust your diet to remove wheat, sugar etc.

Also another thought came to mind regarding stomach acid. Low stomach acid gives off the same symptoms as too much stomach acid, such as acid reflux or heartburn etc. GP’s tend to give out antacids, when they should be giving out HCL tablets. One guy posted on an odour site that he had developed body odour that people could smell ten feet away, and one day he forgot to take his antacids (or proton pump inhibitors – ppi’s) and he got no reactions. He decided not to take them for the next few to see what happened and it appeared his odour was gone. He then thought back to when he started taking the ppi’s and remembered his odour started about a month or so after, but he hadn’t seen any connection.

I found this info below about low stomach acid and symptoms you can have, which include bad breath and smelly sweat. I think it is a holistic practitioner or homeopathic doctor giving advice, you might find it useful, Also I believe it can be involved in adrenal fatigue or thyroid function, so it might be worth a read.

13 Signs you Have Hypochlorhydria

1. You’ve lost the taste for meat.
I see this all the time in my practice. Clients tell me they just don’t have the taste for meat like they used to. They usually assume that this is their body guiding them to a vegetarian diet. When we get into our work, 9 times out of 10 we find that they are deeply hypochlorhydric and with a little HCl support, they regain their appetite for, and ability to digest, animal protein.

2. You have a history (current or past) of a vegetarian or vegan diet.
Vegetarians don’t eat a lot of animal protein; vegans eat none. The body slows down production of HCl accordingly. This is one of the core reasons that a vegetarian diet (especially a vegan diet) can be very hard on the digestion: without that all important stomach acid, they’re not able to access the minerals from their food, properly trigger the production of pancreatic enzymes, or properly trigger the secretion of bile from the gallbladder. A whole host of trickle-down problems ensue. Remember: stomach acid has many roles above and beyond the digestion of protein, and with low stomach acidity, all of these functions will be compromised. Interestingly, it’s the secretion of HCl that triggers the release of intrinsic factor, which is essential to the absorption of vitamin B12 (yet another reason it’s so hard for vegetarians and vegans to get sufficient B12).

3. You experience belching or gas about an hour after a meal.
Know anyone who immediately starts to let out some big belches after they’ve eaten? That’s often the result of hypochlorhydria. One of stomach acid’s important roles is to trigger the opening of the pyloric valve, the little valve that connects the stomach to the duodenum (the top of the small intestine). That little valve is very smart, and it knows not to open until the contents of the stomach are at the proper state of digestion. This includes a sufficiently acidic stomach environment.

If the pyloric valve is waiting and waiting for a level of stomach acidity that isn’t achievable due to low acid production, the contents of the stomach start to ferment. Fermentation, as we all know, creates gas, and gas needs to be released somehow. Whether it goes up or down depends on your constitution, but it will be released one way or the other.

4. You experience bloating or cramps within an hour after a meal.
As with #3, fermentation creates gas, and gas creates pressure. Pressure creates bloating and often significant discomfort. Your clothes don’t fit that well either.

5. You get heartburn or acid reflux.
Contrary to popular opinion, acid reflux isn’t too much stomach acid. Most of the time, it’s actually too little stomach acid that leads to acid in the wrong place. Let me explain:

Your esophagus has a pH of about 7, which is very neutral. As I explained above, your stomach needs to be a pH of 1.5-3, very acidic, for optimal digestion. Now, your stomach prepares for such an acidic environment by secreting mucous to protect its lining so that you don’t literally digest yourself.

The esophagus has no such protective coating. If you’re not secreting enough acid, the pyloric valve doesn’t open, and the contents of your stomach start to ferment, this creates gas, which creates pressure. The gas has to be released one way or the other. If it goes up and leads to belching, that means the esophageal valve – the valve that connects the esophagus to the stomach – has opened and allowed that gas to travel up. Sometimes, along with the gas, a little bit of stomach juices splurge up into the esophagus. Ouch!!! The delicate lining of the esophagus is not equipped to handle such acidity.

This is why antacids work on symptoms but they actually exacerbate the root cause of the problem. Sure, an antacid will soothe that burning, but at the same time it’s lowering your stomach acid production, which was the root issue to begin with. You can see how this can spiral quickly downhill.

6. You have really bad breath even though you brush your teeth.
Ruling out poor dental hygiene, it makes perfect sense that halitosis (bad breath) would be the result of digestive dysfunction. If you’re not digesting the food in your stomach properly, it’s going to create toxic byproducts, which can quickly overload our body’s detoxification abilities. Let’s face it: we live in a very toxic world and our detoxification functions are massively overworked. Our livers have enough to do without having to handle the by-products of a malfunctioning digestive system. If you have really bad breath even with excellent oral hygiene, hypochlorhydria is probably the root of the problem.

7. Your sweat is stinky.
Sweat can be stinky for lots of reasons – it could be a sign of magnesium deficiency or often it’s a sign your liver and kidney (primary detoxification organs) need a little love. But, just like with bad breath, the more toxic the body, the more toxic the sweat. The question is: where are those toxins coming from?
The improperly digested protein resulting from hypochlorhydria is a breeding ground for bacteria and yeast to proliferate, and bacteria and yeast produce toxins. This is a condition we call bowel toxemia. It’s a case of endogenous toxicity or “toxicity from within”.

8. You’re not hungry for breakfast.
I see this pattern all the time in clients. They eat a really large dinner, usually late in the evening, and then they’re not hungry for breakfast. Hypochlorhydria is often at the root, leaving the food to sit in the stomach for a long time. They’re not hungry because it’s quite likely they’ve still got dinner in their belly when they wake up!

9. You’re hungry all the time, even when you feel full.
I know this one well. I was famous among my friends for eating massive amounts of food and being quite literally “full”, but still hungry. I can remember one particularly notable example of this from years ago. I was out to dinner at an Italian restaurant and ordered a huge dinner. It was rich and creamy and definitely “filling.” And yet, I finished it and was still hungry. Like, I’m-not-going-to-make-it-home-without-stopping-for-pizza hungry. And so, I ordered the dinner again. My friends and the waiter looked at me in disbelief. To their horror and amusement, I ate theentire thing a second time. How I never had a weight issue is beyond me.

All to say, I know what it is to be insatiable. If the body isn’t digesting protein or accessing minerals, it makes sense that you’d be hungry all the time – you’re not getting the nutrients you need from your meals, so your body is driving you to eat more. When I supported my body’s ability to produce stomach acid, my appetite dropped by at least half. It was shocking how little food I needed to feel full.

10. You get sleepy after meals.
Being sleepy after meals can mean a number of things: blood sugar dysregulation, improper macronutrient balance, or inadequate digestion, which leaves too much food in the digestive tract. It takes a lot of energy to digest, and more energy resources will be diverted there if your digestion is functioning less than optimally.

11. You have undigested food in your stools.
Low stomach acidity affects the digestion of everything you eat – not just proteins. You see, in addition to supporting the breakdown of protein, HCl triggers the release of pancreatic enzymes that essentially finish the breakdown of your dinner once it gets into the small intestine. If you don’t secrete enough pancreatic enzymes, you won’t finish breaking down your food and will see undigested food in your stool.

12. Your fingernails chip, peel, or break easily.
If you’re fingernails chip, peel, or break easily, it’s a clear sign of deficiencies in protein, minerals, and often also essential fatty acids. By now you’re well aware that deficiencies in protein and minerals are often due, at least in part, to low stomach acid production.

13. You have anemia that doesn’t respond to iron supplementation.
Here’s a very specific example of a mineral deficiency that is exacerbated by low stomach acid. If you’ve been diagnosed as anemic, given an iron supplement, and there was no change, there’s a good chance hypochlorhyria is the root of the problem. Sufficient HCl is a co-factor for iron absorption. This is an example of why it’s critical to have optimal digestion even to access the nutrients in your supplements.

Tips to help:

• Drink a small glass of room temperature water with 1 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar before meals. This stimulates the digestive process and encourages your stomach to secrete stomach acid.

• Take some Swedish Bitters before meals, just like your great grandma did. This works along the same lines as the apple cider vinegar – the bitter taste stimulates the digestive process.

[stinky]

hey npd, yes I live in hawaiii so we are difinitely on the same page as far as weather and climate conditions. very hot and humid. also the hottest month of the year is yet to come, august. I'm dreading it lol. and yes I also believe odor control can be a problem for non sufferers that are not used to our climate. thet usually have an odor issue where they would normally not have one due to the heat and humidity combined. sometimes I just wish I lived in a cold, non humid climate. that way my odors are kept under control. If I am in an air conditioned room, my odors are kept at a minimum. so on my off time, I usually spend the day at barnes and nobles cause it's very cool in there and I don't get the anxiety I would if I was spending my time outdoor in the sun. plus I get to read a bunch of books all day with no one bothering me to buy something lol. and the books I read are mostly about trying to beat these symptoms, hahaha. so I use barnes and nobles as my home base and library lol

[stinky]

hi livininhope. thanks for taking the time to write all that info down. It's very eye opening for me. that's the first time I ever heard of hypochlohydria. so thanks for the information, it's all new to me. reading the signs and symptoms for hypochlohydria, I am starting to wonder if there is a great chance that I have hypochlohydria. I can difinitely relate to all the symptoms. and in the past my gastroentologist prescribed me ppi's, basicalyy the prescription pantoprozal, cause she says I have signs of high stomach acidicity. so I've been taking those pills for quite awhile. I am starting to think, after reading all the signs of hypochlohydria, that I was misdiagnosed, cqause I have 12 of the 13 symptoms listed! and possibly all 13 of the symptoms cause I never tested for anemia yet. so thank you very much for the information.

when I first encountered this problem, or multitude of problems I'm experiencing, my initial gut reaction was that I had/have candida. I came to that conclusion after hours upon hours researching on the net and even bought a few awesome books on the subject. so I brought it up to my doctor and yep, she just brushed me off and pretty much said that was nonsense, also being that I'm a guy, she really thought I didn't know a clue as to what I was talking about. it was so fustrating that she didn't even acknowledge candidiasis as a real thing! so every visit I would keep telling her I am still suffering from all the signs of a yeast overload in the body but she continually brushes it off. I would bring my books with me and she wouldn't even look at them. I'd tell her to do a quick google search and that she would get multiple hits but she never did that either. she would then go on to tell me I'm causing these symptoms by believing that I have em, basically, I made up this symptoms and tricking my mind to believing it's real. she, even up to this day, says that I need a psychotherapist! lmao! and the thing is, I have been seeing a psychotherapist and a psychiatrist. so her telling me that they can help my problems is irrelevant. I wish a psychotherapist could rid of my garbage, fecal like body odors and bad breath. sometimes I wish that she and I could step into each others body so she can realize that the struggle is real! the past appt with her I had to practically plead for her to refer me to a endocrinologist. I told her that I felt she was neglecting my health and that I was gonna switch to another doctor cause she just ain't doing it for me. so she finally is in the process of finding a endocrinologist doctor who takes my medical and is accepting new patients. and I had to basically do all the leg work. I called my insurance and asked for a bunch of doctors in my state that accept my medical, I live in hawaii on the island of maui. there was no endocrinologist doctors accepting new patients at his moment. so I got a list of doctors on the island of oahu that my insurance found and I turned in that list to my primary doctor yesterday and am now just waiting for my primary to set up an appt. so i will finally get to see an endocrinologist soon but I have to fly over to oahu to see one. luckily my medical covers travel expenses, thank god. so I'm really hoping I get some kind of answers to this puzzling enigma. I will also mention to my doctor, especially my gastroentologist, about checking for hypochlorhydria, cause from reading the info, I might be a likely candidate. but bottom line, I do believe I got some kind of candida overgrowth going on.
as far as my "vegetarian' diet, I've only been on it for a short time. and it is very hard for me to be stict on it cause I am a meat eater, I need my meat lol. I am currently trying to eat a raw foods diet, mainly salads with tofu, or salads with a little bit of chicken. like I said, I need some kind of meat. If I just eat salads, it feels like I have no energy and it doesn't really fill me up or satisfy my hunger. I did notice I have 'normal' bowel movements eating this way but my hunger is never satisfied and I feel weak all the time. and being that I have lived in hawaii all my life, I am so used to eating a bunch of different foods from different cultures and I basically live on rice, macoroni sald and some type of meat for the main course. and reading the candida diet, a lot of it has to do with food combining and the way I eat, everything is I ingest and the order in which I ingest it is all a big no-no lol. but getting back to my vegetarian diet, I've only been on it for a few weeks and I've already cheated. I had a meatloaf today and also some chow mein noodles. and yesterday I ate a tuna sandwhich with white bread and a plate lunch consisting of bbq chicken, rice, and macoroni salad. so the past couple days I totally abandoned my vegetarian diet. I do take digestive enzymes with my meals hoping that it will help somewhat, but I can't tell the difference. but I still take em. haven't went to the grocery store yet so I didn't get a chance to pick up prune juice, but it is difinitely on the list. also will look more into the hypochlohydria cause it sounds like it might be something I am experiencing. will difinitely bring it up to my docs. thanks for taking the time to write down all the info, I really appreciate it. god bless and I will keep y'all updated with my progress. still waiting on those oxygen colon cleansers to come in. I'm hoping that will clear out my intestines and colon from all the deep impacted fecal matter clinging to the walls. I do have in inflamed digestive tract, so I do believe my insides are highly toxic and I'm having a toxic overload that my body is struggling with. that being said, I do take herbs that supposed to help restore my liver enzymes and take a superfoods green drink everyday to alkalinize my body and help release the toxins within. god bless y'all. and thank y'all for all the help, guidance, and your own experiences that y'all have shared. It helps to know there are others in the same boat cause it can be very depressing at times, especially if there is no one to relate with.

[npd]

Yeah, I wondered if I might have had an issue with candida considering that I was a major sugary drink and food addict while growing up. I also loved sandwiches and ate too much bread too. On top of that, there was that antibiotic usage to help treat my problem with recurrent middle ear infections. I don't know what to think about that or if there is even a test for candidiasis. How did that end up for you? What's else is going on?

[stinky]

hi npd, good to see ya. I also was a major soda freak, junk foood addict, high sugar eater, basically everything that is bad for this condition, lol. as far as trying to get a diagnosis for candida overgrowth, it's kinda going nowhere. but i pretty much self diagnosed myself as having candidiasis. I have all the symptoms of it. I've taken yeast killers, probiotics, everything they mention to help control and alleviate the symptoms, but to no prevail. but a big thing that I haven't done which would probably help me big time is to start and stick with the candida diet. it's just so tough though, I love food, especially the 'no-no' fooods. also it's funny that you mention ear infection. for the past year or so, there's been a constant ringing in my ear. kinda sounds like white noise. It's ringing 24/7 and is most audible at night. simetimes it's hard to sleep but I just try to imagine and visualize the white noise that I hear at night is crickets! lol that way I get some sort of piece of mind and I tell myself I can sleep to the sound of "crickets" ringing in my ear lol. I went to see a ENT doctor about it and I took a sound test and the results is I'm losing some of my hearing and that the ringing in the ear is part of the process. I feel I still have goood hearing and that the only reason that I can't hear certain tones and frequencies is cause the white noise I hear in my ear is cancelling out the certain tones and frequencies. and the ENT dr said that there is nothing that can really be done about it. I've read though that candida overgrowth can cause the ringing in the ears so at this point, I don't know what to think! on a side note, I bought the prune juice and am gonna start taking 8 oz a night so I can have regular bowel movements. I'm always so happy after a bowel movement lol cause in the past, I had such chronic constipations from the meds that I was taking a would go many days without a bowel movement and that's what first got me to the idea I was experiencing bad bacterial, yeast overgrowth due to the fecal matter just piling up in my insides and just holding on to and fermenting the toxins in my gut. which also lead me to believe I have had leaky gut syndrome due to stretching of my intistines making them permeable. and I read diverticulits can also cause yeast overgrowth, candidiasis. and on one last note, I went to the vitamin store and bought a bottle of HCL betaine with pepsin and chewable papaya enzymes. I only took one dose so far, cause I have only eaten one meal since I got them and it says to take after meals. and I still take my regular plant based digestive enzymes. well, I gotta say, taking the HCL betaine with pepsin and chwewable papaya enzymes with chlorophyll has made a big difference as far as how I feel after I ate. I ate rice with brocolli and macoroni salad with roast duck, I was craving it so bad lol. it's been a few hours since that meal and I can feel a difference. I actually feel like I can have a normal bowel movement! usually after I meal like that i would feel bloated and a sense of unwellness. and I would definitely feel constipated after a meal like that. so having the feeling of not being constipated and on top of that, feeling like I could have a bowel movement a few hours later, makes me feel hope. so I guess today I am feeling much more positive than I've been feeling this past week. god bless and may we one day find the answers to this riddle.

[livininhope]

Hi Stinky

Hope the HCL and prune juice help you.

Just wanted to mention that if you do have candida overgrowth then all the anti-fungals in the world won't kill it if you don't change your diet. If you keep feeding the yeast with sugar, wheat, and yeast, the anti-fungals and pro-biotics have no chance of working. You have to starve the yeast and fungal spores, and you do this through diet.

Even if you do not have candida overgrowth, you obviously have a problem with your digestive system, so gaining intestinal health through diet makes sense.

I know how difficult the anti-candida diet is, i have tried it in the past. I am on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which I am not saying is easy, but if you have a sweet tooth it could work for you as you are allowed to eat honey, and you use almond flour to bake which is sweet. Also you can eat meat, it's just lactose, gluten and grains you cannot eat.

Some candida diets tell you not to eat fruit, but I love fruit and now it's about 80% of my diet, so I am happy on the specific Carbohydrate Diet. I also make my own bread, and I make my own milk from dessicated coconut and water - its really creamy and tasty. I cook with ghee, or organic butter or coconut oil. For info coconut oil kills candida spores - there's plenty of info on this online. That's why some people take caprylic acid for candida cos it comes from coconut oil.

Please look up Pecanbread.com, it is the website for the specific carboydrate diet, and there is section on legal/illegal foods you can eat, it's in alphabetical order so you can see just what is available, trust me there's plenty.

Basically, to keep to the diet you have to cut out milk, bread, grains (barley, rye, oats etc), sugar, cakes, biscuits, sweets, soda, and processed foods. You can make your own cakes, cookies, desserts and bread using almond flour, coconut flour, etc. There are loads of websites with people putting on recipes which you can print off for free, and you can also buy cook books and baking books on amazon - the one I like best is by Kathryn Anible. You can get used books in great condition very cheaply, but I would have thought you should also be able to get these books in the library so it doesn't cost anything.

Before starting the diet, I read "Breakig the Vicious Cycle" by Elaine Gottschall. Her young daughter had chron's disease and there was a risk of having her intestine removed, when Elaine discovered the diet, which she has adapted to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and the book how your digestive system works and how to heal it. Again you can usually get this book in the library.

This diet doesn't suit everyone, so also check out the Paleo diet, GAPS diet and Fodmaps Diet. Again, there is usually lists of legal/illegal foods for each of these diets which are similar to each other but some allow foods that others don't so you can choose which one suits you. I think someone put up a diet which is a cross between Specific Carbohydrate Diet and Gaps diet.

You know what is best for your body, but also your lifestyle, I know it has made a difference to my life.

Good luck, and please let us know how you got on with the prune juice and HCL.

[livininhope]

Hi npd

You asked about candida testing, have you looked at the Great Plains laboratory. They have a food allergy testing facility, but have added candida testing to this as well.

Apparently it is very difficult to test for candida overgrowth as it lives normally in your system, and most doctors don’t believe that it can become overgrown. However, some labs will carry out a test for you. I have only highlighted this one as an example and have copied over some info from the Great Plains Lab website that you might find interesting.

You should remember that even if you are not diagnosed with candida overgrowth, from what you say about your condition and diet, you could still have a gut dysbiosis and you would still benefit from changing to a healthier way of eating, by omitting all the soda, sugar, wheat and processed foods.

Hope the post below is of use.

IGG FOOD ALLERGY TEST + CANDIDA
The Great Plains Laboratory, Inc. has added Candida to the IgG Food Allergy Test. Candida problems are caused when the benign yeast form of Candida albicans mutates to its fungal form. Candida can take over sections of the intestinal wall causing numerous symptoms. As it grows out of balance it produces toxins that create holes in the intestinal lining, leading to leaky gut syndrome. After entering the blood, Candida albicanscauses an inflammatory immune system response. A wide range of disorders have been linked toCandidaincluding autism, multiple sclerosis, depression, and chronic fatigue. Use of antibiotics, oral contraceptives, chemotherapy, and anti-inflammatory steroids greatly increase susceptibility to Candida.

DRIED BLOOD SPOT (DBS) COLLECTION
The IgG Food Allergy Test w/ Candida is available as a dried blood spot collection for patients and practitioners who can’t perform a blood draw. The specimen can be collected from the convenience of home and shipped to our laboratory for analysis. The dried blood spot test is the same price as the analysis.

CANDIDA ALBICANS SCALE IN IGG FOOD ALLERGY TEST
The Candida albicans scale has been updated to account for the observation that Candida-specific immunoglobulins are present in the specimens of virtually all individuals tested. The new scale is intended to provide a clearer indication of clinical significance and was established according to population percentile ranks obtained from a random subset of 1,000 patients. Specifically, the range of insignificant and low IgG values correspond to the first and second quartiles of the distribution, while moderate values denote individuals in the 51st to 97.5th percentiles. Those with an IgG value greater than the 97.5th percentile are considered to have a high concentration of Candida-specific immunoglobulins.

[stinky]

hi livininhope, good to see ya. I am on the prune juice and HCL and it has made a noticible difference. with the prunejuice, I am able to have bowel movements everyday so far, which is a biggie for me. and with the HCL, I take it with my meals and it makes a difference as well. I don't get that feeling of food trying to come up my throat or the felling of food stuck halfway down my throat. and when I burp, I don't get the nasty taste of the last meal I ate fermenting in my mouth. the burp taste is down to a minimal. of course if I eat garlic I can taste the garlic on my breath for hours. lol but I believe that to be normal for everyone. I mention garlic cause I just started on a regimine of eating a clove of fresh garlic a day. it's supposed to be good for many things. it's also supposed to be an antifungal. but eating a clove of garlic is no easy task! lol I think I'll get used to it in time but that is some powerful taste right there. I have to have some kind of flavored drink to get it down cause it's a taste to acquire. so I been taking it with my superfoods green drink to kinda calm the taste of thhe garlic down. I also got my oxygenated colon cleanser, it's in capsule form. the ingredients are basically oxidized, oxygenated magnessium and potassium. so it kinda works like milk of magnesium but I don't get the cramps or pains in my stomach like I do when I take milk of magnesium. I'm hoping thaat the oxygenated magnesium is doing a better job of getting the hard to get feces that are clinging to the intestines and colon walls than normal milk of magnesium, like the oxygen has a scrubbing effect or something similar to that , that frees the caked on fecal matter. so far I am liking the product. that combined with the HCL and prune juice has made my bowel movements much more frequent, which is a plus for me. I'm a constipation sufferer.
and you are totally correct about having to do a lifestyle and diet change. I will look into all the diets you have shared with me and find one that I can actually stick with. as you mentioned, antifungals alone won't take care of the candida, and also like you mentioned, the diet has to change to starve the yeast. so starting tomorrow I will make big lifestyle changes, starting first with the food I consume. the only thing that I have a problem with the candida diet is sometimes it can be conflicting from one persons perspective to another. I have a few books on candida and when I get to the chapters of what you can and can't eat, depending on the author of the books, the "can" foods and "can't" foods conflict with each other. I'll look into all those other diets you mentioned and find one that best works for me. I'm kinda afraid to eat fruit cause of the sugars. but I don't know why I say that when I have no problem eating a whole bag of gummy worms followed up with mountain dew! lol but I'm planing to eat lots of leafy greens, basically salads, and I will also eat fruits for variety and for the nutrients it contains, and for protein I guess some chicken? not sure yet, gotta look at the various diets and see what they recommend. but I don't want to much meat or animal protein in my system, though I absolutely love eating all kinds of meat. I just don't wanna tax my digestive system. tomorrow I'm going to see a dermatologist and tell her about my skin odor malodor and that I'm always excessively sticky and oily and that my body is producing to much sebum than normal. that's another reason I am waiting to see a endocrinologist, I'm wondering if the excess oil being produced is due to some kind of imbalance going on in my endocrine symptom. read it could be a hormonal imbalance, or some other imbalannce. but getting back to the dermatologist, I'm gonna ask for a prescription of nystatin. I'm hoping the nystatin and diet change combined with getting my digestive system back in order will solve this odor issue. if not than maybe I have to start looking into TMAU and seeing if that is what I am suffering from. only thing about that is trying to find a doctor to actually know about TMAU disorder and how to treat it is like asking for a miracle. I live in the islands so trying to find specialists, especially specialists on rare disorders, is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I wouldn't even know what kind of specialist to see. what doctor deals with TMAU? and I've never thought of myself smelling fishy but I know TMAU isn't only specifically a fish odor, but that it can represent itself in many aromas. and if I did have TMAU, how did I get it? how is TMAU transmitted into a human host. I know it can be hereditary but in my case it wouldn't. I'm the only family member of my clan that suffers from this. and the odor started back in the year 2009, or that's the year I noticed it myself. 7 years ago. before that, I had no issues with bad odor. I could eat any and everything and my odor was fine. deodorant would last all day, and my body felt "clean" even if I sweated all day long. the sweat would dry and no odor problems. so this has been very frustrating for me. It seemed to come out of nowhere one day. of course my lifestyle back then was the lifestyle of a rockstar (note to anyone who reads this, no, I was never a rockstar, just lived like one) lol so I'm wondering what exactly, was the root cause of my disorder. was it transmitted thru unprotected sex? unhealthy eating habits? habitual marijuana use for many years? being on pain pills, oxycodone in general, for many years? rolling around on the jiu jitsu mats and contracting it from a dude who always had a wet dog, garbagelike odor? I'm trying to run the past 7 years thru my head and wondering where did it all go wrong. anyways, I can't give up. I an determined to get to the bottom of it all.
anyways, thanks for all the info livininhope, I am very thankful. god bless

[livininhope]

Hi Stinky

Glad to hear the prune juice and HCL is working for you. I have posted some info below on unhealthy sweat. I have also created a separate post which is quite long, about TMAU, thought it was too long to add to this one.

Regarding your unusual sweating, I found some info which might be of use. It was a test project done for some people in relation to healthy and unhealthy sweat, and apparently through exercise the oily unhealthy sweat became clear and normal after exercise. I also wondered if you could try going to a sauna (maybe they have one at the public swimming baths?) to see if that made any difference to your condition. Although you might want to wait to see what your medical practitioner has to say about your condition.

I have copied over a section of post I found for info anyway:

“”Unhealthy Sweat is oily, acid, and sticky. It also contains more fat. But, the good news is that the more you sweat, the sweeter, clearer the sweat gets.

When the body fluid accumulates, it will come out to the skin surface as a sweat. Actually, there is a mechanism to send the salt contents back to the blood in order to maintain salinity of the body, but in the case of a person who is having an unhealthy sweat, it is not so.

Instead, various salt compounds and other minerals will come out to the surface of the skin.
Well, what is the solution for a person with malfunctioned sweat mechanism? We discovered that it is a matter of exercise to correct the sweat mechanism. Just 20 – 30 minutes of exercise, let's say "sweat exercise" daily for a week.

By doing exercise, you must sweat whether it's an unhealthy or healthy sweat. In a week’s time, you will notice that your sweat will be different. In the beginning, sweat was salty and oily, and gradually it was turning to a watery sweat, simply clean sweat. That's it.""