Greetings.
It's New Zealand naturopath, Eric Bakker.
I'm the author of Candida Crusher and I'm also the formulator of a range of supplements
called Canxida.
Thanks for checking out the video.
I've got a question here from a guy called Pakreen in Amsterdam.
Pak is asking me, "Does a low neutrophil count mean I have Candida?"
Well, Pak.
It doesn't necessarily mean you've got Candida, but it can certainly mean that you're going
to be more susceptible to a yeast or bacterial infection.
Low neutrophil count, another word we use for it is called neutropenia.
What are neutrophils?
Neutrophils are white blood cells and we've got two main types of cells in our blood.
We've got red cells and white cells.
There are different kinds of white cells.
A very common one that makes up about 75 percent of all white blood cells is called neutrophils.
Neutrophils are really like the marines.
These guys are front line.
These guys are hand-to-hand combat, so they're going to look for things like bacteria and
they're going to attack the bacteria and they're going to engulf the bacteria.
They're going to kill them.
If bacteria bypass the neutrophil line or if bad guys get past the marines, then you
need to have other guys in the back, you need soldiers in the background there basically
to take up the slack.
And then we're going to get other kinds of cells.
It's going to get more complicated and we call them the lymphocytes.
The neutrophils with mediate immunity and the lymphocytes or the specialty guys in the
back, these are the artillery, and we will call them the humeral immunity.
So you've got two main types of immune systems.
The front end and the back end.
Neutrophils make up the front line.
If you're going to cut your finger and get bacteria in there, bugs into your system,
ear, nose or throat or any way that you can ingest them, then neutrophils are going to
help to take them out.
If you've got a low count, you're going to be more susceptible to bacterial infections
especially, but also fungal infections.
If a doctor finds that you've got thrush in the mouth or you've got sores that don't heal
or you've got fevers, temperatures and sweats and stuff, especially if you've got lumps
and bumps around the body like lymph nodes that could be up.
That could be a sign that you've got neutropenia, but also you've got a problem with the back
end of the immune system.
The lymphocytes could be problematic.
Neutrophils themselves don't necessarily give us the same kind of signs in the lymphatic
system that the lymphocytes do with lymph nodes.
I hope that answers your question, Pak, about neutrophils.
So how do we get low neutrophils?
How does neutropenia occur in the body?
Some people are genetically susceptible to neutropenia, so they're basically born with
low neutrophils.
That could be part of their genetic makeup.
Many people, however, can get neutropenia from pharmaceutical medications.
It's not uncommon to get them from recurring repeated rounds of antibiotics.
Different heart medications.
I know from experience that thyroid medications, propylthiouracil and carbimazole, for example,
they can lower neutrophils by default.
And different kinds of heart drugs, anti-arrhythmia drugs and blood pressure drugs can also have
that similar effect on neutrophils.
Of course, we classically get that with different chemotherapy treatments that can cause neutropenia.
So you know if you're on medication and you've got neutropenia after you've been on medication,
just do a Google search for that drug and check if there is any neutropenia involved.
Just check for low neutrophils and then that pharmaceutical medicine to see if there is
a link there.
If you're worried, talk to your doctor about it.
Because some drugs can make you more susceptible to getting fungal and bacterial infections
and that's not a good idea.
I hope that gives you a little bit of insight into low neutrophil count.
Thanks for tuning into my video.