Kitty and Paul suggest that I post this message here for group members
who may have an interest in the subject of Candida yeast overgrowth
in the gut and certain complications for people with a history of
diverticulosis that combined with the yeast can precipitate a
leaky gut syndrome and the following not nice problems.

My full name is Don Carpenter and I can be reached at the email
address above if anyone has questions.

[But it would be better for everyone if such questions and their discussion took
place as replies to this message, since that is the purpose and value of a group
such as this. --Paul]

------

Crisis is the correct word. I am 65 years old. My problems with yeast
overbloom in the gut go back 25 years when I began to take Flagil for
bouts of Diverticulitis. I was not aware of the specific problem, but
gradually over the years incurred more gas and bloating after eating.

[I think some clear definitions are in order here (they were for me). Here is a
brief description of diverticulosis and diverticulitis from the page:
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/diverticulosis/

>What are diverticulosis and diverticulitis?
>
>Many people have small pouches in their colons that bulge outward
>through weak spots, like an inner tube that pokes through weak places
>in a tire. Each pouch is called a diverticulum. Pouches (plural) are
>called diverticula. The condition of having diverticula is called
>diverticulosis. About 10 percent of Americans over the age of 40 have
>diverticulosis. The condition becomes more common as people age.
>About half of all people over the age of 60 have diverticulosis.
>
>When the pouches become infected or inflamed, the condition is called
>diverticulitis. This happens in 10 to 25 percent of people with
>diverticulosis. Diverticulosis and diverticulitis are also called
>diverticular disease.

--Paul]

[The Merck Manual provides additional information: "They are uncommon in persons
< 40 yr old, but become more common rapidly thereafter; essentially every
90-yr-old person has many diverticula." Most diverticulum are small 3mm to < 3cm
and multiple, though "giant" ones of 3 to 15cm may occur and be single.
The etiology of diverticulosis is not completely known. "The development of
diverticula is believed [thought] to be related to segmental spasm of the
muscular coat of the bowel; the resultant increase in pressure causes mucosal
[the inner lining] extrusion at the weakest points of the muscular layer of the
bowel--areas adjacent to intramural blood vessels."
The presence of multiple diverticulum (diverticulosis) may be unknown to a
person, having caused no symptoms. "Bleeding, sometimes massive, can occur from
the lumen of a diverticulum, probably caused by erosion of the adjacent vessel
secondary to impacted feces in the diverticulum. Except for bleeding,
diverticula per se are harmless. However, because of fecal impaction in the sac,
secondary erosion and inflammation and diverticulitis can follow with the
attendant complications."
http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/section3/chapter33/33b.jsp

An important item to note is the far greater presence of diverticular disease in
Western/industrialized society where fiber intake is relatively low - referred
to at the link Paul provided above and also in various studies. (just a few:
PMID: 12740054, PMID: 15115921, PMID: 16225025 with free full paper for last at
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20051001/1229.html ) **Kitty]

[It is interesting that the onset of diverticulosis is related to muscle
deterioration occurring with aging. As such, it appears to be related to
sarcopenia, which is a generalized tendency for muscles to atrophy as one ages
past 40-50. It is thought that sarcopenia can be prevented or reduced by regular
exercise, but in this more generalized internal form (all bodily conduits have
muscular mechanisms) sarcopenia would appear to not be preventable, except
perhaps by preventing GH decline (a benefit of exercise in general) or its
augmentation. --Paul]


The problem got much worse when in 1996 I was given the super strong
antibiotic Cipro to heal my big toe which had been crushed under a
hydraulic auto lift.

[This is a prime example of the current medical establishment's inappropriate
therapeutic methods. Since this was a localized hypoxic and traumatic wound, a
systemic therapy was totally inappropriate. It is my understanding that
hyperbaric and/or high concentrated oxygen therapy and local antiseptics would
be much more appropriate, but hyperbaric oxygen is not fully accepted and in
place by the establishment partly because of regulatory problems. --Paul]


This brought on a serious problem with c.Difficile [Clostridium
difficile, a bacterium that causes severe diarrhea, abdominal pain,
and dehydration. --Paul] and this almost killed me. My stools went
from black (containing blood) to nothing but blood and the pain was
coming in overwhelming surges every twenty minutes or so. They gave me
high doses of Vancomycin after I was not able to keep down the Flagil.
The Vancomycin treatment went on for two months - an almost unheard of
time to be taking this drug. Finally, still unable to eliminate a low
fever and dark stools that indicated on going intestinal irritation,
I began a regular dosage of Psyllium fiber. This in another few weeks
brought me back to what I thought was normal.

[Note that once again a non-establishment treatment saved the day. --Paul]

[The current management of diverticulosis or treatment for *symptomatic*
diverticulosis recommended in the Merck Manual for Physicians is (mainstream)
conservative first: "Treatment of diverticulosis attempts to reduce segmental
spasm. A high-roughage diet helps and may be supplemented by psyllium seed
preparations or bran. Low-roughage diets are contraindicated. In theory,
antispasmodics (eg, belladonna) should help; in practice, their value is
difficult to judge. Chronic use, especially in the elderly, often causes adverse
side effects. Surgery for uncomplicated diverticular disease is unwarranted."
Once inflammation with its pain, abdominal tenderness and fever has occurred
with the known presence of diverticulosis, the situation is almost certainly
diverticulitis. This then is when antibiotics become part of the standard
medical treatment. "For the patient who is not very ill, treatment at home is
reasonable, with rest, a liquid diet, and oral antibiotics (cephalexin 250 mg
qid). Symptoms usually subside rapidly. The patient gradually advances to a soft
low-roughage diet and a daily psyllium seed preparation." This treatment is to
eliminate the acute situation, then diagnose definitively and then apparently to
prevent inflammation recurrence. "A barium enema 2 wk later can confirm the
diagnosis. After 1 mo, a high-roughage diet is resumed."
http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/section3/chapter33/33c.jsp

But Don's more recent episodes of diverticulitis was of an iatrogenic origin -
resulting from a prescribed systemic antibiotic (ciprofloxacin) - for an
extremity injury - followed by infiltration of abnormal bacteria in the large
intestines following decrease/elimination of normal E. coli, a not uncommon
result of systemic antibiotic treatment. Symptoms continued and even increased
with different antibiotics in attempts to counter the negative effects of the
earlier ones. Actually the frequent usage of Flagyl with the earliest instances
of diverticulitis likely contributed to the overall situation, as Don himself
realizes.
Some good recommendations regarding bacterial infections, prevention and
treatment, are contained in LEF's Protocol on the subject.
http://www.lef.org/protocols/infections/bacterial_infection_01.htm

**Kitty]


By this time I had accumulated a serious yeast imbalance and began to
have quite a lot of gas and bloating combined with a general tired
feeling, especially after meals high in carbohydrates. Then four years
ago a Wellness doctor put me on a near zero sugar, vinegar and starch
diet along with an increasing dosage of Nystatin to kill of the yeast.
He also had an extensive collection of other supplements that I took
as well. At the time I noticed at an appointment with an MD that my
blood pressure was down from typical 135/85 to 115/70 and I thought
this was because of an improvement in my general health. At times
during this diet I suffered what I thought were sever symptoms of
my tendency to be hypoglycemic. I was weak and shaky until I ate
something. I stopped the Nystatin and many of the other supplements
because I was beginning to notice that I could not feel myself
urinating. The nerves in the genitals seemed to have been dulled
considerably. This also made sexual orgasm almost impossible. I point
out these symptoms because they bear on what happened four years
latter when I again tried to restabilize my gut again and knock down
the Candida.

In the fall of 2005 I had blood tests done to indicate Candida
antibodies. On two occasions they came back pegged off the chart high.
I began using a supplement called Threelac that contains some
beneficial bacteria that are coated to allow them to go deeper into
the gut before they are released. It is advertised and sold widely on
the Net as a program to control Candida. I gradually increased the
number of packets I took before meals and was at three when I
discovered that one day after lunch I could barely walk I was so weak.
Lying down and resting for a couple of hours helped but I remained
with a very wasted feeling. I stopped the Threelac and this is when I
had the second Candida antibody test done. It was still pegged high.

[Again some definitions are necessary. An antigen is some proteinaceous material
on the surface of foreign matter, or constructed from the RNA of a virus and
displayed on the cellular surface that the virus has invaded. An antibody is a
generally proteinaceous molecule that matches up with an antigen and is attached
to an immune system carrier. It is my understanding that an antibody test does
not necessarily imply any current infection, but only that antibodies to a past
infection are still present. As I understand it, how long antibodies to any
infection remain high after the infection has gone depends on the specific kind
of antibody carrier. An attempt to find more about antibody lifetime using
Internet searches, proved fruitless. If anyone can supply a good general link
for this information, that would be useful. --Paul]

[Were stool (fecal) specimens tested for the presence of Candida itself?
**Kitty]


I decided to try a three week escalation of Nystatin again and this
time I had a home blood pressure device so I began to keep a daily
medical diary as I increased the Nystatin from 1x3 to 3x3 over three
weeks. What I noticed was that by the middle of the second week my BP
was dropping and stood at 110/72. Then on week three I awake one
morning and it was 90/58 with a pulse rate of 90.

[It should be noted that 90/58 is not necessarily an abnormally low blood
pressure. Kitty's and my basal blood pressures are normally that low or even a
little less, but then our basal pulse is also 50 or less. The low blood pressure
*with* the high pulse rate is what is an indication of a problem (except in the
case of directly after aerobic exercise when this combination can be normal for
a short time because the arteries are still fully dilated and yet the heart is
also still beating fast). --Paul]


I stopped the Nystatin and began some serious literature searching. I
have access to a university on-line library which also allows me to
review much of the scientific studies done over the past ten years.

The first thing I noticed even before doing any research was that now
even taking acidophilous capsule would drop my normal BP from 130/80
to 95/60 and my pulse rate would shoot up to 95 to 110. I had been
experiencing the same swings as I stopped the Nystatin because I
didn't stop cold. After my BP came up to normal I would take one or
two and bammo my BP would crash again within 90 minutes and my pulse
would race. What I found in the literature were two general
conjectures with regard to serious Candida overblooms. It is believed
that a diverticulosis condition can be associated with increased
permeability of the gut, called leaky gut sometimes.

[This is reasonable since diverticulosis is a sign of a weakness and multiple
distension of the lower intestinal wall. --Paul]


If the yeast itself were able to cross the intestinal barrier it
caused a systemic yeast infection that was almost always fatal.
Symptoms were low blood pressure and racing heart rate. This got my
attention!!!

The second line of theory was that Candida in the gut, when attacked,
produced a die off toxin. No specific physical symptoms were given.
Candida normally produces toxins that make us very sleepy as well
without being attacked. Since I could cause my BP and PR to become
normal by stopping any attacks on the Candida and eating normal
foods including sugars and starches, I began to conclude that what I
was experiencing was a high sensitivity to the yeast die off toxins
due to my probable leaky gut.

Around this time I also received some very helpful information from
Paul who suggested I check out their on-line information on yeast control.

[Actually, it was LEF's Candida Protocol at:
http://www.lef.org/protocols/infections/candida_01.htm which I suggested Don
should examine. --Paul]

[LEF's Irritable Bowel Syndrome Protocol may also be of assistance.
http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-157a.shtml **Kitty]


I did this and found that garlic extract, acidophillous, FOS, and Oil
of Oregano worked quite well in knocking down the Candida. It did not
stop the yeast die off toxins but I take these supplements on a
frequency schedule that prevents my BP from crashing. I have tossed
all the Nystatin.

[The Nystatin might still have been okay if taken in smaller dosages, but the
others, particularly garlic, have other benefits as well so they are likely
better to use chronically. --Paul]


Yes it once again caused a big drop in sexual sensation which I
discovered I was able to recover while I have been trying some
Genotropin hGH as a therapy for a back pain problem. The back pain
from atrophying cartilage was improved due to the ability of hGH it
seems to regrow cartilage to some extent. But the subject for that's
another message which I will get to in a while.

[Yes, please do. I will reserve comment on it here and I ask others to also not
reply to this portion since it will be discussed elsewhere. --Paul]

[The subject of a 3 year old MoreLife Yahoo post was for Paul's (Tom's) view on
injectable hGH supplementation.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/morelife/message/148 While the provided
link to a collection of Paul's posts to SLE on the subject of hGH is still good,
those for LEF's Forum are obsolete. The one that in that 2003 message I thought
was particularly pertinent is now (I think)
http://forum.lef.org/default.aspx?f=36&m=16079 Others can be found by using the
Forum's Search tool http://forum.lef.org/search.aspx and entering "hGH, HGH, GH"
(without quotes but with commas), any of the terms, for the Hormones forum, any
date and request 100. Only those messages (78 appeared today) before January 10,
2002 (~40) will have comments by Tom (Paul). However, as said here before, LEF
in July 2004 revamped the Forum and eliminated the distinctive [xxx. --Tom] in
red for all his comments. A reader now has to carefully look for :: preceding
and following text which is Paul's (Tom's). The very oldest of posts (in the
late 90s with the first software) have numerous [BR]'s scattered throughout and
have now lost all their original formatting as a result. As you will see, LEF
has actually made it somewhat difficult for readers to obtain information from
Paul's comments as Tom Matthews in old Forum messages. **Kitty]


It is interesting to note that two MD's, one an internal medicine and
the other gastro both refused to consider that I had a Candida yeast
problem, even when I presented them with the data from my medical
diary that charted an obvious progression of cardiac reaction to the
yeast toxins produced when I took Nystatin, Threelac, or later just
acidophilous. Because my BP was normal for me when I had both
visits, they as much called me a liar.

[Such arrogance and elitism is the first sign that one should abandon such
physicians and seek others who will accept one as a peer with regard to
scientific intelligence, objectivity and rationality. --Paul]

[The situation is no better here in Iceland. I got a similar reaction from my
family doctor when I approached him two years because my insulin sensitivity
wasn't very good. My blood glucose was well in the normal range but for a person
of my age and health status I considered it mildly elevated. But the doctor
didn't listen to me, all he could think of was that I was in the normal range
and therefore he claimed there was nothing wrong with me. He was wrong. I fixed
my blood glucose myself after doing a lot of research on the matter and figured
out that I had been deficient in chromium. -°Olafur]


I'm scheduled for a colonoscopy procedure next month and we shall
see how the gastro doctor deals with what should be a pretty clear
visual indication of Candida.

[How was your diverticulosis diagnosed if not by means of a colonoscopy that
would clearly show it? A barium enema perhaps? --Paul]


What they wont' see is how bad it was a couple of months ago, but
who cares. I've come to distrust much of traditional medicine these
days. It's all cook book medicine. Doesn't matter what your symptoms
are they will find a way to squeeze them into one of their known
recipes, issue a prescription, charge you a whole lot of money and
send you on your way.

[I would describe it a little differently. Current medical practice is not cook
book as long as your problem completely fits one of their limited number of
categories. However, if it does not then they still try to squeeze the square
peg into the round hole because the round hole is all they know about (remember
the phrase: "if all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail").
Establishment doctors have not been trained to think outside of their known
categories and moreover, the regulatory system in all its manifestations from
direct government agencies to medical boards and prescription powers mandated by
government agencies both prohibits and strongly dissuades doctors from
considering or seeking solutions outside of their allowed categories. --Paul]


So this is my Candida story. I am staying on a low carbohydrate diet
and using the LEF recommended supplements judiciously. I hope to
report in a few months, or perhaps longer than this, that the
intestinal balance is back to normal.

[I am assuming that when you say you are on a "low carbohydrate diet" this does
not equate to low roughage/fiber since a high roughage diet is of particular
value in keeping bowel contents soft and moving - a frequent strong
recommendation for avoiding inflammation of existing diverticula. **Kitty]

[Thanks a lot for your well written and interesting story. --Paul]