how do you test for yeast?

[mom love]

I have read on here about the spit test first thing in the morning, but how is it tested for at the doctor's office? Is it a stool test? urine? And can a conventional doctor do it or is it only DAN docs who are doing it?

 

Thanks

Edited December 20, 2010 by mom love

[thenmama]

xx

Edited March 26, 2013 by thenmama

[sf_mom]

We tested for yeast via stool samples. The yeast was not out of control and of concern. We tested about one year after being on antibiotics which was last August. A couple of things we do to prevent yeast becoming a problem is we have our older son take the following.

 

- hd Probiotics: We are out of the norm 1.5 Trillion units per day and work with a nutritionist regarding these amount. Many do approximately 500 Billion units per day and 50 to 500 billion 'or more' is what is recommended by Custom Probiotics to combat yeast.

 

- Epicor: Prebiotic specifically for good yeast

 

- We were doing Oil of Oregano 2 x day and recently switched to Olive Leaf Extract 2 x 2 per day (We did notice a herxing response when switching to Olive Leaf Extract and things are settling after 10 days) http://www.seagateproducts.com/olive-leaf-extract.html This is the brand recommended by our Dr.

 

Here is some great information on yeast. http://www.customprobiotics.net/candida.htm

Edited December 20, 2010 by SF Mom

[LNN]

My son has been tested with a blood test, my daughter has been tested with blood and stool tests (awaiting her results). Any doctor can order these, but not all are open to the idea. Many of our doctors have dismissed the notion that yeast can cause neuro or systemic issues. You will have to discuss this with your current doctor and if not satisfied with their response, you may need to call around to a DAN, naturopath, LLMD or other doctor who is more likely to have a "whole body" perspective.

[EmersonAilidh]

There are a few different tests they can do for yeast, at least from what I've seen. There's a spit test, stool test, organic acid urine test. There's a lab called Great Plains that a lot of DAN docs use for the tests. http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/home/

 

But, from my understanding the reliability of these can vary-- they can sometimes miss the yeast even if it's present. There are some "checklists" for likely yeast problems. Here's the simple, and widely used, Dr Crook list: http://www.yeastconnection.com/yeast.html

 

Yeast can be sneaky, though, and I'm sure there are other presentations that would be missed on those, as well. Plus, it's not really geared toward kids.

 

Crook authored a book, "The Yeast Connection" and there's another book, "Feast Without Yeast" by Bruce Semon and Lori Kornblum, that's got a lot of info and breaks the diet implementation into stages. It's a roadmap for getting started, and then only take it as far as your symptoms warrant. For example, not everyone would require a stage 4, the most restrictive level, so you work your way up through the stages to avoid limiting your diet more than is necessary.

 

We personally did not do the tests, b/c in ds's case the candida was obvious enough that we didn't need to. He'd had confirmed thrush-- oral, diaper rash, etc. and a pattern of yeasty rashes. Whether or not your doc will treat will depend on the doc. Some are more conservative than others. Our ped at that time gave him nystatin during confirmed infections, but when she later agreed that he likely had a more ongoing/systemic yeast issue did not prescribe b/c he did not have an active oral/diaper area infection at the time. She said that Nystatin wouldn't work in the gut (I never bothered looking into that) and Diflucan is not an innocuous drug (true), so she felt addressing it first from a dietary/supplements approach, and revisiting meds if he either developed another clear yeast infection, or didn't respond to that approach given time, was the best course. I was fine with that, especially if we could deal with it effectively without meds. And we did have very good results with diet and supplementation.

 

HTH!

 

TH

 

I'm so glad you've joined this forum. You are very helpful & full of information. Thank you.

[Stephanie2]

I think a reg. doc will laugh at you if you ask to test for yeast. They wouldn't know how, anyway.

 

Any integrative med doc or "functional" med doc (or alternative doc) can test for it. Here are the tests that we have used, both being highly accurate:

 

http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/home/eng/microbial_oat.asp

 

http://www.genovadiagnostics.com/index.php?option=com_gpanel&Itemid=2&task=view&id=5

 

You could contact these labs and they could give you the name of a doc in your area who uses their lab.