Candida Yeast Overgrowth is a chronic condition that doesn’t have a straightforward way to test for it.
Unfortunately, doctors tend to overlook Candida imbalances as the symptoms are too numerous and vague. Many doctors do not consider the effects of gut biome imbalances on your health.
This results in Candida Overgrowth being largely overlooked or misdiagnosed for another disease that may or may not have a relation to Candida issues.
Naturopathic doctors focus on whole-body approach. Alternative medicine focuses on using natural resources and a more holistic approach to health care to prevent, diagnose, and treat illnesses.
While conventional medical professional tends to look for symptoms within their area of expertise, which makes it even harder to diagnose cases of Candida Yeast Overgrowth. There is a high likelihood that your doctor will address the symptoms of your problem. However, the root cause could stay undiagnosed for years while causing multiple unpleasant symptoms and affecting your quality of life.
Over the recent year, an increasing number of medical professionals are beginning to pay attention to Candida-related issues and order gut disorder comprehensive analyses for diagnosis. If you have difficulty or are unable to find a doctor willing to look at these tests, consider going to a local integrative doctor or naturopath.
Labs Tests
1. Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis
Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis is a simple test that can be performed to assess the health of an individual’s digestive system. The test involves taking a sample of the person’s stool and then analyzing it for various indicators of digestive health.
It’s done in the comfort of your own home. The stool samples should be collected over 3 days, so that you end up with 3 stool samples that you send to the lab for analysis. You need to have 3 samples because it will provide you with the “average” sample reading. Yeasts are often not found evenly dispersed in stool samples, meaning that what may not appear in one sample but could show up in the next or even the following sample. Getting the average result from 3 samples will prevent you from having a negative result and a high probability of accurate test results.
This test is good at detecting various Yeast infections, including Candida, as well as the imbalances of good gut bacteria, such as Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium.
The test is also useful for identifying dysfunctional microflora, which can affect food and nutrient absorption.
Alternatively, it can point out a potential parasite infection, especially if you travel a lot and eat raw foods.
2. Urinary Indican Test
While not directly testing for a Candida Yeast infection, Urinary Indican Test can identify gut dysbiosis, potentially caused by Candida.
It looks for Indican which is a by-product of the dietary breakdown of tryptophan, an amino acid.
Generally, indican levels are low in healthy individuals. However, increased levels of indican may signify the presence of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth or gut dysbiosis.
The following factors can increase the likelihood of testing positive for high levels of Indican:
- sugary foods
- refined foods
- alcohol
- stress
That’s why this test requires following a set of rules several days before taking it. They are:
3-4 days before the test – avoid taking bile, digestive enzyme, probiotic and iodine supplements
1 night before the test – avoid alcohol, eat a high-protein meal
The urinary indican test is often administered by naturopaths or functional medicine doctors to help quickly assess the level of dysbiosis in a patient. The whole test takes only 15 minutes.
3. Candida Antibodies Test
The Candida Antibodies test is used to detect the presence of antibodies to Candida, which are a type of white blood cells. This test is typically used to diagnose or rule out infections, such as Candidiasis.
It’s important to note that there are three antigens that can potentially identify the Candida-specific antibodies in your blood. They are immunoglobulin G (IgG), immunoglobulin A (IgA) and immunoglobulin E (IgE). Depending on the levels of each of these antibodies, the test can tell if you currently have Candida Overgrowth and how long.
Higher levels of immunoglobulin G (IgG) tend to indicate the long-term nature of the yeast infection. While higher levels of immunoglobulin E (IgE) point out to a more recent yeast infection.
This is a blood test that can be done in a lab or with an at-home kit, depending on your state.
This test can be ordered as a standalone test, or together with Comprehensive Stool Analysis to get more reliable results.
4. Organic Acids Urine Test
The Organic Acids Urine Test measures the levels of over 70 different metabolites in your urine. These metabolites are byproducts of cellular metabolism and can provide insight into how well your body can produce energy, detoxify, and absorb nutrients. The organic acids urine test is conducted to determine the presence of excess organic acids in a person’s urine.
Candida albicans create organic waste products that are not naturally present in the human body. The high levels D-arabinitol is the main yeast and fungal dysbiosis marker in the urine. D-arabinitol is a metabolite of Candida and a high level of this marker usually indicates invasive Candidiasis. D-arabinitol is produced when yeasts rapidly grow in the low-oxygen environment of the small intestine, typically from dietary carbohydrates.
D-arabinitol is a sugar found in sweet fruits. To avoid any false positive test results, it is best to strictly avoid these foods for 24 hours before urine collection.
At Home Tests
1. Saliva Spit Test
This is a much less reliable home test that can be used to determine if you have Candida Yeast Infection It’s done by spitting in a cup of water first thing in the morning after you wake up.
Because of how often it can test false positive solely due to the thickness of your spit and not directly related to Candida, you need to follow several rules before taking this test.
You need to avoid taking supplements, eating dairy, and staying well hydrated 7-10 days before the test. Another suggestion is to eat everything you want (except the dairy) the week leading up to the test to establish the true levels of bacteria in your body.
Once you have eliminated dairy and properly hydrated for 10 days, follow these steps:
- When you wake up, before drinking or brushing your teeth, fill up a glass of water at room temperature
- Spit a dime-sized saliva gently into the glass of water
- Check back after 45 minutes and look for one of the following:
- “Strings” coming down from the saliva into the middle of the glass
- Cloudy saliva dripped to the bottom of the glass
- Opaque specks of saliva floating in the middle of the cup
If your Spit Test comes out positive, it’s best to start looking into other methods of testing for Candida Overgrowth and a good time to visit a doctor.
2. Sugar Craving Test
A yeast infection is often characterized by an intense craving for sweets. That’s because yeasts, and Candida, in particular, feed off sugars. The more sugar they consume, the more they crave it. If you’ve noticed that your cravings have become much stronger, there’s a high likelihood you have a Candida Yeast Infection.
Usually, the sugar cravings appear together with one or more Candida Yeast Triggers, such as taking antibiotics, oral contraceptives, or increased levels of stress.
By taking my sugar craving test, you will be able to figure out if an overgrowth of Candida is causing your cravings. All you have to do is stop consuming anything sweet for 3 days.
That includes stopping eating any sweets or pastries, foods with added sugars, alcohol, dairy, and even fruits. Check the nutrition labels of anything you are planning to eat during those 3 days. The foods should have zero natural or added sugars. Even though it seems nearly impossible to cut out all the sugars, this test will reveal the level of true cravings you have for sweets. The stronger the craving is, the higher the likelihood that you have Candida Overgrowth. If you failed the test altogether, consider verifying this test with the more reliable methods previously mentioned.
