Can Candida give you pain in your stomach?
Well, let's first explain where the stomach is because most people think the stomach is
here when, in fact, this is not the stomach.
The stomach tends to be higher up.
Stomach tends to be more here central, not down here.
So when many people talk about the stomach, in fact, they're pointing generally to the
small intestine.
The small intestine is more central in that region where you think you've got the stomach,
and the large intestine forms the outline of the colon.
So many people will often point to the small bowel and say I've got a pain in here.
Candida can affect any part of the gastrointestinal system, especially the small and the large
bowel.
These are key target areas for yeast infection.
The colon can get very much affected by a lot of overgrowth there.
So lots of gas, lots of bloating can occur.
And, of course, the small bowel, especially the first part of the small bowel, really
is the seat of the digestive system, the duodenum.
This is where most of your digestive activity takes place.
In fact, the first three inches of the small bowel or the 75 mils of the duodenum is where
a big chunk of your immune system resides in the body.
It's no wonder that this area will often be affected with, particularly with "leaky gut"
syndrome.
Candida can also affect many parts of the small intestine and cause a lot of irritation
there.
Lots of infection.
Lots of inflammation.
So yes you can get pain in this area.
Don't be confused with pain on the sides that you may experience, this side or this side,
so people experience more pain on the right side, particularly right on the edge there
going down.
Especially people of my age, 50+, this can be more to do with diverticulitis or small
bowel pockets.
If you experience some sensations on the right side, around about this area here, we're looking
at a problem maybe with the ileocecal valve, so the value that joins the small and the
large intestine together.
This is often a spot where lots of bugs like to thrive around these valves and sort of
areas of the bowel.
A person who does massage can often sort of palpate around that area and you might find
it to be a bit tender.
You also want to get your blood checked.
Have a look at the white blood cells to see if there's any kind of inflammation or infection
there.
That's not unusual for the person to have fevers or temperatures; even a low-grade nausea
can occur with these kinds of sort of low-grade infections.
These can involve parasites and Candida and bacteria.
It pays to get a stool test done if you've got an ongoing, long-term, chronic pain in
the stomach and you're concerned.
A CDSA, a comprehensive digestive stool analysis, three samples, include parasitology, is a
very smart move to get that done.
If you go to Ericbakker.com, you'll be able to do those tests through my website.
You can do those test quite easily, and that will determine for you if you've got any kind
of infection or overgrowth, if you've got inflammation, what's going on in the digestive
system.
Many medical doctors haven't got a clue often in these sorts of cases, so they'll refer
you to a gastroenterologist or a digestive specialist who will perhaps do an endoscopy
or colonoscopy and again this may prove fruitless as it has for many of my patients.
So stool testing is often a good way to analyze what's actually going on in the gut if you've
got chronic pain, so have a think about that.
Also think about doing my online quiz at CandidaCrusher.com, my yeast infection quiz that will give you
an idea what's going on in your digestive system as well if it's Candida related.
I hope that answers some of your questions.
Thanks for tuning in.