Guest guest Posted October 16, 2000 Report Share Posted October 16, 2000 Dear list, I have a patient who is suffering from candida overgrowth and is on a diet to control it. I don't have any experience with Candida and am treating her now based on her symptoms and signs, but was wondering if anybody has any experience dealing with candida, to kind of treat the tip (candida) as well as the root, or just generally some strategies how to deal with this problem. Please find her symptoms and signs below: 1) Chief complaint Candida overgrowth diagnosed a few months ago by a naturopath. Food allergies to crab, other seafood, and mushrooms. Food allergy manifests as a swelling of the tongue and throat and sometimes a rash on the lips (urticaria). Often a sinus reaction when eating breads, pastas, cheese. Allergy to cats since 3 years. 2) Biomedical Dx and supporting lab tests 3) Relevant Medical History, include habits, diet, exercise, etc. Salmonella in 1991. Amoebas treated with Flagyl/Fasigyn - 6 per day for 7 weeks - 3 times. She says her digestive system never really recovered. Anit-Candida diet, cutting out carbohydrates, dairy (except yoghurt), tomatos, eggplants, potatoes, etc. 4) questioning examination (subjective) Stool: Highly changeable. At the moment every 2-3 days. Generally tendency to hard stools. Urine: Yellow. MENSTRUATION: Delayed menstruation. Clotted menstrual flow Painful menstruation (dull pain) Pre-mentrual (emotional) discomfort: depression, sore, tender breasts, distension of breasts. Ocasionally pofuse discharge, white color, no abnormal smell. SPLEEN/STOMACH If she doesn't adhere strictly to her diet, abdominal distention and tiredness after eating. Feeling of heaviness of the body. Also pain in the stomach and intestine that is relieved with the application of warmth. Pain is sometimes stabbing and sometimes dull. She complains of cold toes and fingers, her boyfriend however says that she is like a radiator, during the day and especially at night. During the consultation her hands and feet were warm. LIVER Sometimes feeling of lump in the throat, difficulty in swallowing. Tendency to sigh. Her mood and mental state are good in the moment due to a recent job change that she is very happy with. She seems very sensitive, though, and reflects a lot about herself, her life and the people around her. Maybe a person who is very easily hurt. She said that all through her childhood she was in emotional distress due to her mother's extreme jealousy of her daughter. She does not seems to dwell on the past at all, though, and was very open and cooperative during the consultation. Blurred vision when tired, occasional floaters in the eyes. Tendency to cramps (legs). KIDNEY Often sensation of cold in the back, cold knees. 5) pulse and palpation examination (objective) Pulse: Weak (ruo). 78/minute. 6) tongue and observation examination (objective) Dry lips. Tongue: Red tip, thin slightly yellow coating, teethmarks. 7) the pattern(s) and treatment principles you chose, including your rationale (unless this is your question) (assessment) Liver qi stagnation with damage to liver yin/blood. Liver qi invading the stomach. 8) herbs used (unless this is your question) (plan) Combination of Xiao Yao San + Mudanpi and Zhi Zi (Liver qi stagnation with blood vacuity and heat) and Zuo Jin Wan (invading the stomach), + Longdancao and Dahuang for constipation. 9) other treatments or lifestyle changes Peppermint tea as a drink. I would really appreciate any help! Thank you! Karin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 16, 2000 Report Share Posted October 16, 2000 on 10/16/00 8:16 PM, Karin Bischof at karinbischof wrote: > Dear list, > > I have a patient who is suffering from candida overgrowth and is on a diet > to control it. I don't have any experience with Candida and am treating her > now based on her symptoms and signs, but was wondering if anybody has any > experience dealing with candida, to kind of treat the tip (candida) as well > as the root, or just generally some strategies how to deal with this > problem. > Please find her symptoms and signs below: > > 1) Chief complaint > > Candida overgrowth diagnosed a few months ago by a naturopath. > Food allergies to crab, other seafood, and mushrooms. Food allergy manifests > as a swelling of the tongue and throat and sometimes a rash on the lips > (urticaria). > Often a sinus reaction when eating breads, pastas, cheese. > Allergy to cats since 3 years. While it sounds like candida is a strong possibility, my first question is, how was this diagnosed (tests)? Remember, candida is a symptom of a pattern disharmony, not a disharmony in and of itself. Crab and other shellfish (I assume that shellfish, not regular fish are the cause of the reaction) often have toxins that could cause a reaction not necessarily candida related. Sinus reaction to wheat products is clearly a sign of spleen qi vacuity damp. Allergic reaction to cat hair, kd qi vacuity, since in childhood, connected to possible instability of defensive qi. > > 2) Biomedical Dx and supporting lab tests > > 3) Relevant Medical History, include habits, diet, exercise, etc. > > Salmonella in 1991. Amoebas treated with Flagyl/Fasigyn - 6 per day for 7 > weeks - 3 times. She says her digestive system never really recovered. This is a significant factor. First, the salmonella poisoning, followed by flagyl for 7 weeks! I see these cases a lot in my clinical practice. . . . flagyl is a very strong drug, very bitter and cold, and damages the spleen qi. It is no wonder the spleen/stomach didn't recover. This is the main cause of yeast overgrowth. Simply, look at Li Dong-yuan's Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach to learn theory to treat these chronic spleen damage disorders. > > Anit-Candida diet, cutting out carbohydrates, dairy (except yoghurt), > tomatos, eggplants, potatoes, etc. Most of the books on the anti-yeast or candida diets, in my opinion, go much too far. The diets are too restrictive and end up weakening the patient, and their spleen qi. Classifying all carbohydrates as bad is over-simplification. There is a great difference between quinoa and jelly donuts. I agree with eliminating dairy as it is cold and can cause phlegm-damp. And some fermented foods are necessary, such as miso, sauerkraut, and possibly yogurt, to rebuild the intestinal flora. > > 4) questioning examination (subjective) > > Stool: Highly changeable. At the moment every 2-3 days. Generally tendency > to hard stools. The changable stool. . . .can you clarify this? Changable stool sometimes can mean residual chong/parasites, which can include yeast. > Urine: Yellow. > > MENSTRUATION: > Delayed menstruation. > Clotted menstrual flow > Painful menstruation (dull pain) > Pre-mentrual (emotional) discomfort: depression, sore, tender breasts, > distension of breasts. Definate signs here of liver qi and blood depression, which is often part of this pattern. The liver qi depression further weakens the spleen via the ke cycle, making the pattern more intractable. > > Ocasionally pofuse discharge, white color, no abnormal smell. I assume you mean vaginal discharge, or dai xia, or bai dai, white discharge, which clearly is spleen qi vacuity dampness. > > SPLEEN/STOMACH > If she doesn't adhere strictly to her diet, abdominal distention and > tiredness after eating. Feeling of heaviness of the body. > Also pain in the stomach and intestine that is relieved with the application > of warmth. Pain is sometimes stabbing and sometimes dull. > She complains of cold toes and fingers, her boyfriend however says that she > is like a radiator, during the day and especially at night. During the > consultation her hands and feet were warm. The diet is not quite enough, she needs herbal medicine to build her spleen qi transformation. There is also spleen qi vacuity cold in the abdomen, so warming herbs such as gan jiang to scatter cold. It would be interesting to see where the heat radiates from (upper body), as it is possible that there is heat above, cold below, as often appears in these patterns. > > LIVER > Sometimes feeling of lump in the throat, difficulty in swallowing. Tendency > to sigh. Her mood and mental state are good in the moment due to a recent > job change that she is very happy with. She seems very sensitive, though, > and reflects a lot about herself, her life and the people around her. Maybe > a person who is very easily hurt. She said that all through her childhood > she was in emotional distress due to her mother's extreme jealousy of her > daughter. She does not seems to dwell on the past at all, though, and was > very open and cooperative during the consultation. Clear signs of liver qi depression with mai he qi/plum pit qi. . . .some liver qi counterflow with phlegm accumulating at the throat level. Plum pit qi is connected with an inability to completely process negative situations emotionally. > > Blurred vision when tired, occasional floaters in the eyes. Tendency to > cramps (legs). > > KIDNEY > Often sensation of cold in the back, cold knees. Kd qi xu. > > > 5) pulse and palpation examination (objective) > Pulse: Weak (ruo). 78/minute. How about more detail on the pulse. We would expect weak, but there has to be more information available here. > > 6) tongue and observation examination (objective) > Dry lips. > Tongue: Red tip, thin slightly yellow coating, teethmarks. This means that the tongue must be puffy to have toothmarks. Many of these patients have sp qi xu, the yellow coat (at the back?) is damp heat beginning to accumulate in the upper burner. Red tip is heart fire, from yin fire rising upwards, and the heart fire in turn harasses the spleen ( " spleen vacuity is the result of hyperactive heart fire which overwhelms earth " - Li Dong-yuan). > > 7) the pattern(s) and treatment principles you chose, including your > rationale (unless this is your question) (assessment) > Liver qi stagnation with damage to liver yin/blood. Liver qi invading the > stomach. This is part of the pattern. The complete pattern seems to be sp qi vacuity damp, sp yang vacuity cold, heart fire, kd qi vacuity and liver qi depression. > > 8) herbs used (unless this is your question) (plan) > Combination of Xiao Yao San + Mudanpi and Zhi Zi (Liver qi stagnation with > blood vacuity and heat) and Zuo Jin Wan (invading the stomach), + Longdancao > and Dahuang for constipation. This is too draining for the patient. . . .the spleen is damaged and weak, to use bitter cold medicinals that are draining, like longdancao and da huang will only weaken the condition. A representative prescription you can look at would be tiao zhong yi qi tang, with modifications. (pg. 95, Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach). > > 9) other treatments or lifestyle changes > Peppermint tea as a drink. Not too much. All the best, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 17, 2000 Report Share Posted October 17, 2000 Dear Z'ev, thank you for replying in such detail! >How about more detail on the pulse. We would expect weak, but there has >to be more information available here. Right guan position: Empty Left guan position: Slippery (gan ke pi) Karin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.