Candida Testing

This is just a note in response to earlier discussions re: candida testing. From Dr Cabot's liverdoctor website (the leaky gut page), I quote:

"It is important to be aware that your bowels may be harboring excessive populations of unfriendly microorganisms such as fungi (most commonly yeasts such as candida albicans), bacteria, viruses and parasites. The term parasite is used to describe a great variety of creatures that vary in complexity from single celled organisms, all the way up to worms that may be several inches or longer. Common disease causing parasites are Giardia lambia, Entamoeba histolytica, Blastocystis hominis and Cryptosporidium, which can be very difficult to detect with routine stool analysis and cultures. When a stool specimen is examined for parasites many of the yeasts that are seen are already dead. Stool cultures therefore often fail to reveal the presence of fungi even when the gut is heavily infected. Some laboratories will examine repeated fresh stool specimens obtained after inducing mild diarrhoea with laxatives and this will increase the chances of detection."

Basically the good doctor confirms that stools tests are very unreliable for both yeast and parasites. It is not uncommon for those with parasites to require over 10 tests before a positive diagnosis can be made.

I still think questionnaire (do a google search) is the best form of diagnosis(certainly the cheapest). If you require something a bit more concrete then I would go with a saliva test which will test your immune reaction to candida. In the UK the test can be taken from IWDL who claim it is 95% reliable.