When is it too much?

Just a short post.  I have been too concerned lately with posting the perfect thing and this has caused a writer's block of sorts.  I am going to go over things that I see in my clinic a discuss them as brief posts.  I wanted to do this in a way to bridge the patients that are pursuing purely alternative means with the allopathic physicians that need to have everything proved with science.  

I have had a rash (no pun) of patients lately that present saying they have systemic yeast infections.  Yeast is a fungus that normally populates the GI tract, skin, and genitalia.  It is when the yeast has overgrown that one sees symptoms.  When someone comes to a physician and states that they have a systemic yeast infection, most physicians would ask how you came about with that diagnosis.  In the patients that I have seen there is no diagnostic test, this is simply something that has been dictated to them by an alternative practitioner.  Personally, I feel there needs to be some sort of testing that proves such a large diagnosis.  To give a patient this diagnosis without said proof would be unethical.  When I hear of a systemic yeast infection, I think of someone that has a compromised immune system by some sort of chronic debilitating illness like HIV.

A common website states that systemic yeast can cause the following illnesses:

arthritis

gout

Chronic fatigue syndrome

fibromyalgia

high cholesterol

crohns disease

Irritable bowel syndrome

asthma

allergies

acid reflux

arteriosclerosis

psoriasis

eczema

roscea

hives

acne

dandruff

depression

Obviously these diseases can be caused by more common things like poor diet, obesity, and genetics.  In my search for the treatment of systemic yeast infections I was unable to find a website or office that was not selling some sort of cure.  Keep in mind that yeast is a normal part of our flora and thus to kill it seems ridiculous.  It is supposed to be there in small amounts and thus one should expect to have yeast.  If there is a test that you mail in that shows you have yeast , then you should simply feel as though you have normal flora on your skin or mouth.  It is when you have symptoms and are diagnosed with testing that the infection could be treated.

I am not opposed to things such has nutriceuticals and tea tree oil to treat yeast infections if they are diagnosed, but you should have them tested after treatment to see if the yeast has resolved.  Usually, treatment is done to decrease the amount of yeast to levels that the immune system can treat on its own.

The moral of the story.  Get the diagnosis from a reputable testing method.  If you want to try something alternative to treat the yeast, then call an integrative physician and ask our options before spending hundreds of dollars on colon cleanses and probiotics.  We are here to work together.