Category Archives: Yeast Infection Testing

There Are Many tests Which Will Determine Whether You Have A Candida yeast Infection Or Not. In My Book, The Candida Crusher, I Explain Many Different Tests You Can Do At Home – And Free Of Charge, Which Will Determine If You Have A yeast Infection or Not. There Are Also Many Laboratory Tests Which Will Confirm Or Not If You Have A yeast Infection. I Explain All.

Yeast Infection Testing

Functional Testing for Candida: The Urinary Indican Test

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Indican is produced as a by-product by the dietary breakdown of an amino acid called tryptophan. Bacteria in the upper bowel facilitate this conversion from any unabsorbed tryptophan. Indican is normally low in healthy people and increased levels indicate small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) or intestinal dysbiosis.

Patients that may be at greater risk for indican overproduction include those with poor diets or refined diets, those who drink too much alcohol and those with hectic and stressful lives. Elevated indican levels may also commonly indicate maldigestion and hypochlorhydria. (an underactive stomach) Indican excretion is reduced when the intestines are populated with strains of beneficial bacteria, and the higher the level of beneficial bacteria the lower the level of indican is likely to be.

While the urinary indican test is not a test that is specific for a yeast infection, in my experience most patients who present to my clinic with a yeast infection are positive for urinary indican, signifying dysbiosis, high levels of bad bacteria. Those with yeast infections, especially when chronic, often have high to very high levels of dysbiotic bacteria as well.

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This test is an accurate, simple and yet an inexpensive screening tool to allow the quick identification of the putrefaction of protein in the gastrointestinal tract. A positive test reflects a state of intestinal bacterial dysbiosis that almost always accompanies a yeast infection.

This test is often performed by your naturopath or functional medicine doctor, and can be performed quickly in their clinic. The urinary indican test will give you an immediate indication of how much dysbiosis you have ranging from 0 to + 4 depending on the color of the dipstick soon after it has been placed in the urine sample. Ask your health-care professional if he or she can perform this test for you, chances are that she may be able to simply get this test from his or her supplier of products or tests. Your local chemist or pharmacy may be able to tell you who does this test in your area or if they know who can supply it to you.

The Causes of a Positive Urinary Indican Test

  • Intestinal overgrowth of anaerobic bacteria (dysbiosis)
  • Intestinal mucosal permeability (leaky gut syndrome) due to damage from an infection, an anti-biotic, a toxic or reactive exposure, or nutritional deficiency
  • Protein maldigestion or too much protein
  • Alcohol consumption or a diet high in sugary and refined foods
  • Constipation
  • Bile duct obstruction or gallstones

Common Micro-Organisms Contributing to Positive Indican Tests Include:

Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter, Yersinia, Citrobacter species, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas, some strains of Escherichia coli, Staphyloccocus aureus, Bacteriodes, Clostridium, Candida albicans, and many other Candida species.

Urinary Indican Test Collection Requirements

  • No alcohol the night before
  • Avoid probiotics for three days prior
  • Preferably a high protein meal the night before
  • No iodine, bile supplements taken 3 – 4 days prior to testing (these may create a false positive test)
  • Avoid all enzyme and digestive enzyme formulations 3 days prior
  • Sample preferably from a second urination of the day

This urine test is best performed every two weeks, and the measurement recorded on your Candida Home Test Tracker. Tracking your results regularly will help you to determine if you’re on the right track as you work to eradicate your overgrowth.

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Comprehensive Stool Testing, Yeast Infection Testing

Why I Prefer the CDSA Functional Stool Test

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Personally I like the CDSA test the best out of all the functional tests because it goes right to the heart of the problem, the digestive system. The CDSA give me the most useful information of all the tests, and here are the main points this test reveals:

  • Bacteriology culture
  • Yeast culture
  • Parasitology microscopy
  • Giardia and cryptosporidium assay
  • Digestion & absorption markers (elastase, fat stain, muscle & veg. fibres, carbs)
  • Inflammatory markers (lysozyme, lactoferrin, white blood cells, mucus)
  • Immunology (secretory IgA – sIgA)
  • Short chain fatty acids (the end product of bacterial fermentation of beneficial bacteria in the bowel)
  • Intestinal health markers (red blood cells, pH, occult blood)
  • Macroscopic (visual) appearance

The CDSA test, in my opinion, is the Rolls Royce of candida tests, and if you can afford the rather hefty price tag then you should definitely do this test, no question about it. Unfortunately, the price tag often runs into the hundreds of dollars, like I said before, so it’s not necessarily reasonable for those who don’t have a lot of expendable cash. This is OK, because we have a lot of other markers and tests we can and have used – with a great deal of success.

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Some cases, though, are a bit more difficult than others. The ones that seem to be giving us the most problem are often resolved after the use of this particular test. I have solved an amazing amount of difficult right through to “impossible” cases with this test, when all else failed the patient.

In my next posts, we’ll look at a case study and then some information on how many samples should be taken and what the information really means.

Yeast Infection Diagnosis, Yeast Infection Testing

Your Candida Results, Beneficial Bacteria, and Microscopic Yeast

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The other thing I look for in a CDSA test is the actual level of other bad bacteria in the sample and in particular the level of beneficial bacteria. Is there a 1, 2 or a 3+ of good and/or bad? You may be concerned for example if you have a positive result with candida after a stool analysis, but have failed to look at the amount of beneficial bacteria, only to discover that you have a 3+ Lactobacillus acidophilus level. You should be concerned if there is NG (nil growth) in terms of Lactobacillus acidophilus, and some of the chronic cases this is exactly what I have found, yeast in all three stool samples and NG in terms of the lactobacillus species.

I want you to remember that it is not always about killing candida; it is about restoring digestive harmony, and by assessing your level of the good and bad bacteria as well as yeast you will be in a powerful position to restore this harmony. No other pathological or functional test can give you this incredible level of information, now you can see why I believe this to be the best test you can do if you are serious about getting rid of your yeast infection permanently.

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Microscopic Yeast in Stool Samples

A CDSA will reveal whether yeast will be in the stool samle or not, and microscopy will be most helpful in finding if fungi like candida are present. Yeast is commonly found in very tiny amounts in a healthy intestinal tract, and while small quantities which are reported as “none or rare” may be normal, any yeast observed in higher amounts, “few, moderate, or many” is considered abnormal.

In a healthy individual, any candida overgrowth will be prohibited by beneficial flora, the intestinal immune defence (secretory IgA) as well as intestinal pH.

Acids like lactic acid are produced by lactobacillus species which lower the pH and thereby create an environment which is unsuitable for yeast to thrive in, a good reason to have a 2 or a 3+ of beneficial lactobacillus in your stool counts. It is most beneficial to have excellent numbers of lactobacillus, because they also produce natural antibiotics themselves like hydrogen peroxide, acidolin and lactobacillin.

A significant and much over looked problem with culturing yeast from a stool sample is that they are colony forming agents and are therefore not evenly dispersed throughout the stool sample, so even though yeast may well be found microscopically, it may not necessarily be cultured successfully even when collected from the patient’s same bowel motion.

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Comprehensive Stool Testing, Yeast Infection Testing

How Many Stool Samples Do I Need for the CDSA Test?

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I recommend that you always consider the x 3, especially if you are chronically unwell. The 3 day collection period is considered the gold standard by most gastroenterologists, and the scientific literature suggests that three-day collections give maximum sensitivity and specificity for parasite and candida yeast detection because the parasites don’t generally leave their hosts in the same, even intervals, and yeasts have varying growth cycles as well. One day’s sample may produce negative results, while the following day’s sample may be positive, and the day after that the stool may be absolutely loaded with bugs. As I’ve mentioned previously, the effects of this optimal collection are diminished by the unscrupulous practice of some laboratories which unfortunately blend the three samples into one and perform only one analysis.

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There are only a handful of labs that do not pool samples and perform separate analyses on each sample submitted for testing. You can also just do a parasitology test and even a stand-alone candida test through the same company, and if your results have come back positive with the CDSA x 3, you may just want to repeat the candida test as a follow- up to save on costs.

Because candida albicans is present in the gastrointestinal tract, it is possible to culture (grow it) from a stool sample. Using a special culture medium and the right anaerobic conditions (reduced oxygen), candida albicans can be grown and identified this way. David Quig Ph.D, technical manager from Doctors Data Labs (Chicago, USA) said to me that if you can culture candida albicans from a stool sample, then you have a pretty bad case of a yeast infection. Other say that this is fine, just look at the numbers, and if all three samples come back as positive, then you have a real problem on your hands. You should not be able to culture a significant viable yeast population from a motion you have passed; if you can, it means you have a significant candida overgrowth in your large bowel.

Some specialist laboratories are even able to identify the different species of candida present, and such a result could be quite significant, as some strains have a tendency to be harder to eradicate (such as candida tropicalis) than candida albicans.

Regardless of the outcome, it’s worth the effort to do all three tests. The clearer you are about the extent of your infection, the easier it is to come up with a plan of attack specific to your needs.

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Comprehensive Stool Testing, Yeast Infection Testing

Functional Candida Testing: CDSA Test x3 (Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis)

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The identification of abnormal levels of yeast species, bacteria and parasites in the stool is an important diagnostic step in therapeutic planning for patients in our clinic with chronic gastrointestinal and other symptoms that may be linked with a candida yeast infection. The CDSA test provides me, as the clinician, with a wide array of the most useful clinical information to help me plan my most appropriate treatment protocol that is quite specific to the individual patient.

While this test is not for everybody (it is expensive, around several hundred dollars) it can help to solve the most difficult cases by providing me with all the answers I am looking for. The CDSA x 3 with parasitology is the most comprehensive and commonly ordered functional stool test, assessing the widest range of intestinal conditions. This test will provide information on your ability to digest, metabolise, and absorb nutrients, as well as report all bacterial flora (beneficial, imbalanced and disease causing, all yeasts, and all intestinal parasites (worms, eggs, larva, and protozoa).

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It is important to analyse both the intestinal digestion/absorption functions as well as the levels of yeast, bacteria, and parasites because symptoms of mal-digestion or mal-absorption often mimic those of chronic bacterial, yeast, or parasitic infections. Additionally, chronic bacterial, yeast, or parasitic infections may have adverse effects on the body’s metabolic and absorptive processes, which can all be assessed using this most comprehensive test.

As you probably aware by now, an overgrowth of yeast can infect virtually every organ system, leading to an extensive array of clinical manifestations. Most patients I have seen over the years that have had a candida yeast infection present with some kind of digestive symptom which often includes varying degrees or different kinds of abdominal pain, cramping, bloating, gas, diarrhea or constipation and/or various forms of digestive irritations. When investigating the presence of yeast in a stool sample, disparity may exist between the culturing of yeast and any actual microscopic examination.

Yeasts are not uniformly dispersed throughout the stool, which is a good reason why you should insist on three stool samples, and by only having one sample performed it may lead to undetectable or low levels of yeast identified by microscopy, despite a cultured amount of yeast. Conversely, microscopic examination may reveal a significant amount of yeast present, but no yeast cultured. Having three stool samples assayed, and NOT all mixed together and assayed as one sample, something many labs do, you are increasing your chances of yeast detection.

While candida does not always survive transit through the digestive tract rendering it unviable, the microscopic finding of yeast in the stool is helpful in identifying whether there is proliferation of yeast or not. Although some yeast may be normal; yeast observed in higher amounts is considered abnormal.

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