Re: Candida, hypoglycemia, adrenals.

 I have pieces to the puzzle but no answer.

1) I have tested with multiple food allergies that have been developed in the recent months since I got sick. I used to be able to eat ANYTHING and consumed like 4000-5000 calories a day as a heavy weight lifter. Now, for some reason after a very bad reaction to clindamycin (antibiotic caused me some massive nonstop diarrhea) I am reactive to egg, dairy, cheese, casein, wheat, gluten, yeast, soy and some nuts. Seriously..sucks terribly.

2) I have leaky gut. A little bit over ref range when tested with lactulose/mannitol test. 1.25 (ref range is <.08)

The antibiotics kill off the bad bacteria. This can lead to fungal Candida in the gut to to the decrease in acids being generated by the flora. The fungal Candida leads to intestinal damage and inflammation leading to the "leakage". This allows intact proteins to pass through in to the bloodstream where it sets off allergic reactions being these proteins are antigens. During the allergic reaction epinephrine is released in an attempt to counter the histamine released from the allergic reaction. It is this histamine that plays a role in allergy related breathing problems due to bronchiole constriction.  The surge in epinephrine causes the heart rate to go up, but it can also lead to constriction of the blood vessels reducing blood flow to the heart. The reduced blood flow leads to cardiac irritability and thus what are known as ectopic pacemakers. These are cells in the heart trying to act as nodes. These ectopic pacemakers lead to the arrhythmias.

3) Symptoms wise- I have hypoglycemia. I have an insatiable hunger that is not quenched until I eat sugar, carbs, starch. And having restricted all those things above, it usually turns out to be fruit, rice cakes, gluten free cereal, etc. I have ALWAYS had an insatiable hunger where i needed to constantly eat and craved sugar more and more every 2 hours or so even before that dose of antibiotics that pushed my gut over the edge 10 months ago. (I've always had digestion bloating problems and had allergies to yeast, alcohol and whey as well).

There are two primary forms of hypoglycemia. There is reactive hypoglycemia, also known as "rebound" hypoglycemia. This occurs after you eat leading to a rise in glucose and an over secretion of insulin causing a severe drop in blood sugar. This type of hypoglycemia is best addressed with chromium polynicotinate. In your case though your blood sugar is dropping when you don't eat. This is know as chronic hypoglycemia and results from adrenal dysfunction. When the blood sugar drops below normal the adrenals should release cortisol, which in turn releases stored glycogen from the liver, which in turn increases the blood sugar back to normal.  If the adrenals do not respond properly the glycogen is not released and you go hypoglycemic.

Adrenal issues are off the charts. Low cortisol but having done a saliva test, my saliva test doesn't fit with the degree of severity of symptoms such as heart palptiations nightly, waking multiple times a night, feeling shaky, breathing issues, etc.

These are all fitting.  Most of this was explained above.

Basically, i've read tons of people's stories and I can conclude my adrenals are in bad shape but according to my cortisol output, my symptoms are way worse than it shows.. I personally realized recently that its probable that a lot of it is hypoglycemia related. As everyone knows, hypoglycemia causes adrenal taxation, and weak adrenals > low cortisol > worsens low blood sugar issues.

4) Had white caked tongue/thrush after antibiotic use. It was real bad. Went away but still in the morning when i get up or if i eat something a film of yellow/white appears. Really gross to scrape it off.

This could be either thrush or bacterial overgrowth.

5) I've had a stool test. 4+ lactobacillus. a little decreased bifido count however. 4+ klebsiella and some overgrowth of the clostridia species. NO YEAST HAS BEEN FOUND.

Have you tried kefir and fibers to build up the good flora and to reduce the bad bacteria.

My question is, based on these pieces of the puzzles, is it likely that a candida overgrowth in my small intestines is causing the hypoglycemia and prolonged adrenal fatigue issues, leaky gut, and multiple sudden food sensitivities?

The allergies themselves stem from adrenal dysfunction. And the adrenal dysfunction can lead to immune suppression, increased inflammation, chronic hypoglycemia, etc. But it is hard to say which of the problems came first.

If so, wouldn't there be so much candida that there would be candida showing up on my stool test? Or is that not the case with chronic prolonged candida?

Everyone has Candida, it is a normal part of the body. So if the test is showing no Candida then there is a problem with the test.

Other pieces of the puzzles, like conventional medicine tests I can post but basically i have exhausted cedar-sinai to the bone. No diagnosis. Doctors stumped. Referred to psych. Holistic MD has no real idea. ANY input from anybody here with real life experience is appreciated.

Here is some more info:

http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1527351#i

http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1552295

http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1468356

http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1540794#i

http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1540485#i