H Pylori and Candida

Candida and H Pylori May Live Together, Leading to Complications in Symptoms and Treatment Success!

Have you tried to eradicate H pylori only to find that your symptoms didn’t budge, or even worsened? Perhaps you also have a Candida overgrowth…

Over the last half-decade, I have evaluated well over one thousand patient stool test results. The most commonly detected digestive invader is definitely H pylori and many times – I’d say more than 30% of the time, in fact – there is a concomitant Candida overgrowth in my patient’s digestive tract.

This presents a problem, because the Candida can cause the same or similar symptoms as the H pylori itself. Thus, when H pylori bacteria are safely eradicated, symptoms can remain or even worsen if the Candida overgrowth is not dealt with.

The relationship between H pylori and Candida appears quite complex. Research indicates that oral Candida may act as a reservoir for H. pylori that could cause reinfection after successful H pylori treatment. In other words you could take H pylori triple therapy antibiotics, eliminate H pylori from your stomach, only for it to return weeks or months later because it was hanging around in your mouth inside Candida organisms.

One interesting study showed that both oral and gastric (stomach) yeasts could

harbour H pylori in their vacuole. This indicates that Candida could play an important role in accumulating H pylori in the gastro-intestinal tract.

Reference

F. Siavoshi et al. Tracing H. pylori in the Oral and Gastric Yeasts by PCR and Live/Dead kit. Helicobacter Study Group. XXIII International Workshop on Helicobacter and Related Bacteria in Chronic Digestive Inflammation and Gastric Cancer. Rotterdam, September 16–18, 2010. P. 374.

Dave Hompes’ Comments

My approach to dealing with H pylori has always been, and always will be, to look at the problem holistically. All too often I have seen people treat H pylori only to find their symptoms didn’t budge. In other cases, I’ve seen people recover briefly, only to crash again a few weeks after completing treatment.

In more than 50% of the client laboratory tests I’ve interpreted, I’ve seen co-infections sitting in the digestive tract alongside H pylori. These co-infections can be other bacteria (e.g. Salmonella, E. coli and C. difficile), parasites (e.g. Blastocystis hominis, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Hookworm) or yeast and fungal organisms such as Candida.

Unless you run a comprehensive stool test to assess your own “bad bug” burden, there is no way of knowing whether you are harboring any of these co-infections and H pylori is just the tip of the iceberg.

Unfortunately, the medical system does not recognize chronic yeast overgrowth in the stomach and intestine, although it does recognize vaginal and oral thrush, along with athlete’s foot, all of which are caused by yeast overgrowth (this always seems a bit dumb to me because yeast can overgrow in any area protected by a mucus membrane – mouth, throat, stomach, intestine, vaginal tract, etc.)

If you are struggling to improve your symptoms, or to overcome H pylori, why not take a look at the comprehensive stool testing services we offer. A stool test may just provide the missing piece in your health jigsaw puzzle, and with expert interpretation and consultation, I am sure we can help you feel better, fast.