59: Candida, Parasites and SIBO - How They're Causing Your IBD

SIBO, Parasites and Candida are some of the biggest drivers in Crohn's and Colitis, but your doctor may never test for them. Even if they do, their answer is usually antibiotics, which doesn't fix the problem or answer the question "how did they gut in my gut in the first place?"

TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• Defining SIBO, Parasites and Candida
• Why they're a problem
• The odds of you having one or more of these conditions
• Testing for SIBO, Parasites and Candida
• Mistakes you're making when trying to get rid of them
• How to remove them safely

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Transcript

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Your gut issues are coming from the microbes inside of it and things like parasites, candida, and SIBO are major players in your gut problems. So right now in this video, I'm going to be showing you how to identify these three things with both symptoms and lab testing. I'm going to show you the biggest mistakes that you're making while trying to get rid of them and of course how you can remove SIBO, candida, and parasites safely because that's the most important thing of all. Contrary to what your doctors told you, Crohn's and Colitis are reversible. Now I've helped hundreds of people reverse their bowel disease and I'm here to help you do it too because inflammation always has a root cause. We just have to find it. This is the Reversing Crohn's and Colitis Naturally podcast. Now I do these live trainings in my Facebook group every single week and put the audios here for you to listen to. If you want to watch the video versions of these episodes, just click the link in the show notes to get access to our Facebook group and YouTube channel. And for weekly updates, information, tips, and tricks, you can sign up for our email list by clicking the link in the show notes below. Now if you're new here, my name is Josh Dech. I'm a gut specialist and physician's consultant for complex cases of Crohn's, Colitis, and IBS and I do these videos every single week so that you can learn how to heal your gut naturally because contrary to what your doctors probably told you, it can be done. So first of all, I want to define what SIBO, parasites, and candida actually are so you can really understand the concepts of what we're talking about because a lot of these words fly around on YouTube or social media with really no definition. You're left to draw your own conclusions. I'm going to help you with that now. So first things first, let's define SIBO. SIBO stands for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, the acronym. Now SIBO is typically fecal microbes. So these are microbes that come from your large bowel and they actually, right where it attaches your large and small, this is called the ileocecal valve. So ileum being the small intestine connector and the cecum being the large bowel, it's right here, this ileocecal valve. And oftentimes what happens in SIBO is there's dysfunction or inflammation around this valve and microbes flow back from the large intestine into the small intestine. And those microbes don't belong there. That's why they come from the large bowel, right? So they create issues like inflammation, largely due to the toxins they can produce, but they're also different microbes made for a different house. So these highly inflammatory guys, they produce highly inflammatory toxins, but these guys here are responsible for fermentation. Now fermentation is when you consume things like fibers in your gut bacteria, take them and convert them into usable things like short chain fatty acids such as butyrate or propionate or other things. The problem is fermentation should be happening in this double walled large intestine, not a single walled small intestine. The membrane layers are different, the cells are different, the structure is different. So when fermentation or these microbes that create fermentation get to the ileum or the small intestine, they then create problems like inflammation. Now we can also see nutrient theft because these microbes are now in a home that's not theirs, they compete for resources, they can steal certain vitamins and minerals, they can damage the mucosal lining because it's different in the small bowel, they could activate your immune system, they produce toxins like ammonia, phenols and d-lactic acid, all kinds of nasty business. So they're not supposed to be there, they wreak havoc. That's basically what SIBO is. It's large bowel microbes getting into the small bowel. Easy. Now the next thing I want to talk to you about is going to be parasites because this is floating around. So many parasite experts, which is amazing. I love that the world, at least we'll say the western world, is waking up to parasites. But parasites are something that a lot of other places, a lot of other countries, especially South America, deal with and we don't. That doesn't mean that they have them and we don't, it means they address them and we don't. We're taught they don't exist, which is nonsense everywhere. And so there's two main types of parasites that we're going to be concerned about. The first is going to be what's called a protozoa. The other is going to be the fancy term, helminths. This also means worms. So protozoa are these single cell, need a microscope to see them type of parasites. These are going to be very, very small and then of course you have your helminths or worms, which can be anywhere from millimeters to several feet, sometimes many dozens of feet long in the case of tapeworms. So parasites can be nasty. This includes other things like flukes. You may have heard liver flukes talked about. Now keep in mind there's about 1 million types of parasites, give or take worldwide. There's only about 1,400 that infect humans, which is still a lot. 1,400 parasites is a lot of parasites. So you want to keep an eye on where these are coming from. The problem is that parasites produce a bunch of nasty byproducts. They produce toxins, they create mechanical damage. We the small and large bowel, they can disrupt those and cause mechanical issues. They can activate your immune system and cause issues there. They do nutrient theft as well. So actually eat things like iron. They'll eat certain vitamins. They will eat lymphatic fluid. They'll eat blood. They'll eat organs like liver and lungs and kidney and pancreas and brain. They'll eat all kinds of things. So they live there and then eat whatever's in the area. This produces chronic inflammation and also makes you prone to not only systemic toxicity but co-infections. Because parasites drop your immune system so you can't fight off invaders coming into the city. And so now you're getting more and more infections as you go. So parasites are also nasty business. Now the last one we're talking about is a fungus. Not often known as a fungus but it really is. By definition it's called candida. Now candida is not a bad guy. Parasites aren't a bad guy. There have been studies showing things like trichorus suus, which is a whipworm, being introduced into those with bowel disease whose symptoms get better. So we know that parasites are meant to live inside of our body through a bunch of different studies but overgrowths are a problem. Candida is a good guy. It's when it's overgrown that it's a bad guy. And these overgrowths then create issues which we now have to deal with. So it's a very common fungus. When it overgrows it goes from the single cell parasite into what's called the hyphal form. This is where it's multiplied out and they're all kind of connected with this stringy gooey stuff and it makes this web-like structure and it coats your intestines and the barbs bury into your insides and it creates a bunch of problems. Inflammation, it's sticky, it coats and prevents nutrient absorption, compromises your intestinal function, and these guys produce over a dozen different toxins when they're overgrown. It's always about the overgrowth. Just like bacteria. They're good when they're where they're supposed to be and the amounts are supposed to be. It's the overgrowth that cause problems. So that's a quick overview of SIBO, parasites, and candida. But before we get into testing and removal, you need to know how serious these problems are because you might be hearing things like, yeah, what are the odds? Maybe it's not that big of a deal. I'm going to tell you it is a huge deal. So here's what we know about SIBO. Studies show that anywhere we're dealing with SIBO, that's small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, in the cases of things like Crohn's colitis, which is severe inflammation, bleeding, mucus in the bowel that works. Anywhere from 25% to 62% of those who have Crohn's colitis have a SIBO condition. The reason this number is so wide is the original studies were done that showed 25% to about 37%. But there were smaller rural studies done in smaller populations that did show as high as 62%. So you want to open that up. So it's quite a lot. But from experience, I would say it's definitely on the higher side. Having seen more than 400, probably 450 cases of Crohn's colitis in my practice now, we're dealing with the higher side, are more likely to have SIBO, or at least with symptoms of it. Now, let's talk about CFO. This one's new, but it's not. We talked about Candida. It's a fungus. CFO is small intestinal fungal overgrowth. So Candida tends to be a small intestinal microbe. When it's overgrown in the small bowel, it contributes to CFO. And there is clinical testing criteria. And in that, about 26% of those with Crohn's colitis test positive for CFO. Now, you might be watching going, well, I've got IBS. It's not Crohn's colitis. These include you too. In fact, there are some arguments by doctors, like naturopathic doctors who specialize in gastroenterology, like Dr. Tara Sky Golden, who say that SIBO in their practice is responsible for up to 80% of all their IBS cases. So these are big issues no matter where you are on the gut health spectrum. And so we're talking about in my practice, I'd say fungal overgrowth are probably more along the 80% side. But small studies have shown about 26 in confirmed tests, which can be very difficult to do. Now, the last one we're looking at, of course, is going to be parasites. How prevalent are these bad boys? Well, let me tell you. Small studies are showing, give or take that protozoa, those are the small single cell, can inhabit approximately 57.4% of those who are dealing with Crohn's colitis. My practice, I would say symptomatically, it's up to 80% that we're seeing with Crohn's colitis. Now, studies in clinical are different just based on the different microbes you see, the testing criteria to say is it positive or negative, does it meet a certain threshold, all of that. So let's talk about the testing. We've gone through so far what SIBO, parasites, candida are. We've shown you how bad the problem is. I'm going to show you how to test for it, and we're going to talk about some symptoms. So SIBO, there's different types of SIBO that we're actually going to see inside of human beings, and so accordingly is how we use different types of tests. So when it comes down to SIBO, let's talk about testing because there are symptoms and there are actual lab tests. So there's really three types of SIBO we're going to be talking about, and then sort of an honorary member is the fourth. The first one is going to be hydrogen. So this means you have an overgrowth of bacteria that produce hydrogen, and this is done through breath testing. All of these SIBO cases are tested through a breath test, gas test. So the first one is going to be hydrogen. If that comes up positive, you have hydrogen producing bacteria overgrowth. The second we see is called methane, and this requires a test which is going to be over 10 parts per million or equal to or over 10 parts per million of methane on the breath test. The third type that we see is actually called hydrogen sulfide, very toxic gas, hydrogen sulfide producing bacteria. And this is a three gas test that they use. There's three different breaths over three different gases that they want to use to quantify it. So you have it. Then our fourth honorary member is going to be mixed because you have different types of SIBO that produce different types of gases. It's not always just one. And so there are breath tests you can use. They can be very expensive. So symptomatically, if you're eating something, especially something fermentable, sugars, carbs, fibers, these types of things, and within just a few short minutes you're popping up and starting to have some kind of issue, then it may be a stomach problem. But if you're talking like that 30 to 60 minutes, give or take, after eating food, you're starting to get gassy, bloaty, it seems distended up top here. You're finding yourself burping a lot. Maybe you have like a beige film on your tongue, noticeable breath and odor changes. That may be symptoms of SIBO. So symptoms are one thing. Testing is another. Some people like testing, some people go by symptoms. But given the prevalence of it, I would always assume that issues is a higher likelihood to have SIBO. And when going through protocols to remove the things, it's kind of like six birds with one stone. You can take care of SIBO fungus that works. So let's talk about what's next. We've talked about SIBO testing. What about parasite testing? I get asked this all the time. Josh, can I test for parasites? The long and short is yes, but not every test is accurate. The tests your doctors are running, one quick stool sample, running it through a PCR, it's going to catch them 1% of the time. So you're 99% inaccurate likely. Now the testing is going to vary, depends on who you ask, but the best testing you can do is through what's called microscopy. So microscopy is exactly what it sounds like, which is going to be microscope. So you're going to give a stool sample, basically going to poop in a box and you take a scoop, put it on a microscope and a parasitologist or biologist, whoever's doing the whatever, is going to look at this. They're going to put it under a microscope and say, okay, I found worms, eggs, ovum, whatever it is. One single poop test can be anywhere from 20 to 40% accurate. However, if you're doing a triple stool sample test over time, that's going to increase your odds dramatically from 20% roughly to 60 or 70%. Now why? Because different parasites actually shed at different levels. They have different life cycles. Some will shed at four weeks or hatch at four weeks. Some will be six weeks. Not all parasites are even in your bowel. You can have bowel issues even though they're in your liver, for example. So not all parasites are going to live in the bowel, which means you don't all see them through a stool test. There are many symptoms you can look for, rashes, hives, psoriasis, eczema, grinding your teeth or drooling in your sleep. You might have rectal itching, vaginal itching. There's a lot of different symptoms, sinus issues or histamine responses, rashes, hives, those types of things. There's dozens of symptoms you can look up for parasites. So even though a test might come up negative, you can still have them. I had someone come in one time with eight different tests over a five-year span, all negative, and she had worms that were three feet long coming out. So parasites can be there in spite of testing. So we have your microscopy, which is going to be your 60, 70% with three stools. Again, false negatives are common, especially on those intermittent shedders. We're talking like Giardia, Blastocystis hominis, and Cryptosporidium. Those are really gnarly ones. But other types of tests you can get is antigens via stool antigens or PCR testing, which we all know from the last five years or so. So those are some issues we can look for, some tests we can look at. Let's go on to Candida. What about a Candida test? Well, bad news. Remember we talked about SIFO, which is small intestinal fungal overgrowth? That small intestine, that's where the Candida tends to live. So if you have it in the large bowel, it means it's like super highly problematic. It made its way down to the large. Or you can have it in the mouth, you can have it all over the place, but after it's colonized out from the gut. So stool sampling for Candida is not super accurate. One of the things they can do is endoscopy, which means they'll actually have to go in with a scope and they'll aspirate and draw up fluid. What they're looking for in the fluid is anywhere from equal or greater to 10 billion to the three of colony forming units per milliliter of fluid. They actually have to go into your intestine and pull up fluid. That sucks. That's really invasive. Give me the easy stuff. So instead of aspirating or even doing what's called serology, where they're going to take blood samples and they'll measure to see if there's antibodies or antigens to Candida, what we can do instead is what's called an OAT, Organic Acid Test. It's a urine test. Candida produces a very easy to measure thing called arabinose, and you can measure this as a can't even spell. There's an N in there. There we go. As a byproduct of Candida. And you can measure this through urine. If it comes up high, typically over 20, if you're measuring through things like Great Plains Lab or now known as Mosaic Diagnostic, these tests can show systemic Candida. You can also see it with a white film on your tongue. Maybe you're prone to oral thrush. That's going to be Candida, vaginal thrush or vaginal yeast infection. If you're somebody who has what's called tinea bursicolor, you go outside and there's like a patch of skin that just doesn't tan. Everything else does, but this one's pale. It could be a fungal issue. Maybe you got a funny toenail, right? All these things can be Candida fungal issues. The symptoms like carb and sugar cravings, the works. But we can test their symptoms and we can test their actual tests. So those are the three types of tests we're looking at for Parasite, SIBO, Candida. So the next thing I promised you is the mistakes you're making and how to remove them safely. So let's get into it. There are a lot of mistakes when we're trying to get rid of these things because, well frankly, you're sick and you want to get the bad guys out of your body. The problem is by removing them too quickly or improperly, you make yourself worse. So if you're getting worse from detoxing or you're doing these killer protocols trying to get these things out of your system, you're creating die-off reactions. What's called the Herxheimer reaction. So the thing is that SIBO, Candida and Parasites are all closely related. Because Candida loves a parasitic environment. SIBO or Parasites can create SIBO and SIBO can lead to Parasites or Candida. They're all interconnected. And so the problem is not only do they happen to come up for a lot of the same reasons, but on top of that the protocols we use like herbs like black walnut and these types of things, they happen to both kill off Parasites, Fungus and Microbial Overgrowth. So you could be having huge die-off reactions and getting sick by simply trying to kill off some of the bad guys that are living in there because they all get killed off from the same thing. So what happens now, imagine you have a balloon full of confetti. And you pop that balloon. Where does that stuff go? Everywhere. It's all over the floor. Someone's got to clean it up. The problem is when you have microbes which contain toxins and all these little organelles and stuff, your body knows they're toxic. So you pop the balloon, you kill the microbe and all these toxins go everywhere. Where do they go? Into your gut, into your bloodstream, your immune system reacts. And this is what we call a Herxheimer reaction. Come with flu-like symptoms, rashes, hives, muscle aches, pains, joint pains. If you have Crohn's, colitis, autoimmune, like these flare-ups can happen. All kinds of nasty business. So the killers might be killing too much. We might be going too fast. And because they respond to similar things, we have to go very, very carefully. So the Herxheimer reaction is a bad one. Another mistake we often make is we forget what's called biofilms. Biofilms are normal. We need mucous layers inside of your gut. But the problem is things like Candida actually create a biofilm layer. They even use something when they're there long enough called fibrin. We even use that for blood clots. So they can actually be very dense, fibrous, thick films. Now these biofilms, if you have the Candida bad guys under here, they live under this like a bomb shelter. And a lot of the toxins, byproducts they produce actually live inside this biofilm. So we either A, forget the biofilms entirely and don't get to the full organisms and kill them off, or B, we end up breaking up biofilms too much, releasing too many toxins too fast. Or we break up too much biofilm. So there's nuances to this. I'm not trying to make it sound impossible. I'm just cautioning you. So we go too fast, we go out of order, we miss some steps, whatever. These are the big mistakes you're making. And so in order to do this safely and properly, we have to look at some very important preparatory steps. The first preparatory step we call drainage. Drainage is important. Drainage is how things get out of the body. Picture this, I have a cup full of water and the bottom of this cup is a penny. I want to get that penny out. I had to reach my hand in there to do it. If that cup's full of water, what happens? It overflows. That microbe in the bottom of your cup, that's the one you're trying to get rid of. You reach your hand into a full cup, it overflows, you get sick. Rather than understanding that what we need to be looking at is drainage. Empty the cup first so you can reach your hand to remove the penny without overflowing the cup and making yourself worse and getting all the stuff wet. It's very, very important. This is what drainage is. There are seven drainage or exit pathways in the body. The first is going to be your lymphs. Lymphatic system is a huge drainage pathway. Things move around. We need to be physically moving to get those to move. We also have your liver, your bile ducts, your bowels, your skin, sinuses, and kidneys. These are the seven exit doors that your body actually has. Now in the case of Crohn's, Colitis, IBS, the two biggest ones I see congested almost all the time are going to be liver and bile ducts. Because that bile, 95% of it actually recirculates because it's very expensive to make. So it captures toxins and excess hormones and all kinds of stuff. And if it doesn't get cleaned properly, you recirculate and reabsorb. It's actually called enterohepatic recirculation, which means entero, that's entero, that's going to be your gut. Hepatic is the liver. And so the bile gets injected into the small intestine, it gets reabsorbed into the liver, back to the gallbladder, and it's injected over and over collecting toxins unless you're cleaning it properly. So we need proper drainage. Liver, bile, lymph, bowels, sinuses, skin, and kidneys. These are your exit doors. We have to support those accordingly. What we also have to look for is what's called your controlling your immune system. Because if you're doing all this stuff and you're not paying attention to your body, if you're doing drainage or killer protocols, you're getting sick, maybe it's something small like bowels are ramping up, maybe you're getting a little anxious, maybe there's joint pain. These types of things produce different results. They can make you toxic. They can create immune reactions accordingly. Moving too much too fast through poor drainage, doing too much drainage too fast, all these things are part and parcel of getting yourself very, very sick. And I want to split the difference between drainage and detoxing. Detoxing is collecting the trash inside of your body. Drainage is physically bringing it out to the curb. So you're only draining if things are exiting through those seven main pathways. That's why it's so, so important. The next thing I'm going to look at, again, controlling your immune system, some simple things we can do here. So you've gone through, you're moving, you're sweating, you're doing red light sauna, you're doing liver support, using supplements like Tadka or Milk Thistle or NMC or Dandelion or a number of things you can use to help drainage in the liver and bile, even like lecithin, things like that. We need to control our immune system, help regulate those inflammatory responses through positive signaling. So certain supplements that actually take like Saccharomyces boulardii, don't ask me to spell that, still can't, been doing it for a decade. But it's got an H and an M and a Y and some things, I don't know how many I's in boulardii. Anyway, Saccharomyces boulardii, it's a yeast-based probiotic. It's anti-inflammatory, controls fungal overgrowth. Amazing to take after antibiotics as well. We got to support with proper high quality vitamins, minerals, again, sunlight, fresh air, basic exercise, quality food to help regulate your immune system during these detox, drainage, and killing processes to get rid of parasites, SIBO, candida. Very, very important. So we've gone through, we've done drainage, we've supported the immune system, giving the tools it needs to replenish. And now we can start going through that root cause, identify what comes first. Ultimately, how'd the parasites get in there? Was it a door handle? Was it a vacation? Was it a piece of unwashed fruit? Was it sushi salmon? Whatever it was, was it a moldy environment that dropped your immune system so it was unable to fight the parasites coming in? That also can happen a lot. There's a lot of reasons why your body's going to be getting sick. We have to go back to that root cause, figure out what dropped your immune system. In an ecosystem like your gut microbiome, candida is natural. It doesn't overgrow on its own. Something has to create the space for it to overgrow. What was it? High stress, antibiotics, poor diet, alcohol, drug use, something created a space for it to overgrow. Once you can figure out what that is, we can begin the reversing process. Something to keep in mind while you're going through this, you're doing drainage, you're doing immune support, you've even gone back to the root causes and you found out there was mold in my home, I got rid of that. Guess what we still have to keep in mind? It's a little something we like to call throttling. Throttle on, throttle off. If you're taking a bunch of drainage and detox support and you're getting sick, back off. Maybe you can only tolerate two days on and one day off or really low doses as you go. Maybe it's two days on and six days off. That's okay. You're still moving things in and out of your system. We have to understand to throttle. Another big mistake that we're making going through this process, we've talked about the mistakes. You've missed drainage, you've missed immune support, you've missed root causes, you're not throttling and almost more importantly is you are not completing cycles. Just like when you go on antibiotics, you take them, doctor says 10 days, you feel good after three, you don't stop taking them, there's still more death to be dealt. You have to go through and kill those antibiotics or kill the bacteria with them. So not completing cycles, one quick either seven-day parasite cleanse, damn near guaranteed you didn't get rid of them. They probably got agitated, went dormant or went deeper into your body and they'll cause a problem later. So oftentimes, long-term parasitic infections, if we're throttling on and off, supporting the immune system, going to tolerance, depending on the severity of your situation, Crohn's, colitis, IBS, going through a parasite protocol might take you three to six months to do properly. So one week off Amazon is not going to cut it. It often takes recurrence. And then it's redoing on an as-needed basis. Maybe you're doing a parasite protocol twice a year just to be preventative, right? Or again, you're missing those roots. So you're not checking your water, you're not checking your air, you're not checking your home. I don't see mold in my home, doesn't mean it's not there. I've seen houses that have no visible mold, brand new houses, not just old, with mold down to the studs. So it can come from a lot of different places. Here's all I've got for you for today. Now, I want to open the door for you to say, look, I need help and that's okay. That's why I do these, to make sure you have the help here on YouTube or on the podcast. But if you need help outside of this, you can always reach out. Just check the links down below. You can schedule a call with me and my team. You can send me an email, ask a question. There's a ton of resources. You can grab information there. But ultimately, this information is here to get you the help that you need. If you're sick of just guessing and playing a guessing game, you've been doing this for years, trying to figure it out on your own. You don't have to. I'm here to help. My team's here to help. We can simply schedule a call. The first call is always free. We just want to know, can we help you? And our job on that call is to go through and say, here's what we have going on. Here's what I think is driving your issues. Here's where it likely came from. Here's what we're going to have to do in the order and how long it'll probably take. We can give you an estimate on time, on cost of supplements. If you need any lab testing, we'll give you all the information. And then if you choose to work with us, we can go from there. If you want to do that, all you got to do is just check the links down below. We'll get you some help and talk about what that looks like. Thanks so much for being here. I'm going to see you next time. One of my favorite things to hear as an IBD specialist is something along the lines of, I learned more from you in 15 minutes than from my doctor in 15 years. And if this for the first time is really starting to click and it's starting to make sense, you're going, wait a minute, this might be reversible. I think there's more that I can do. This condition came out of nowhere. It happened to me out of the blue. I was healthy for 10, 20, 30, 40 years, and suddenly I wasn't, and you're telling me there's no cause. If you're understanding finally that there is a cause, that something is driving this, I want to invite you to check the link in the show notes below. Send me an email. Ask a question. See if a program is the right fit for you, because I promise you, this doesn't have to be a lifelong sentence. You're not doomed to this, and IBD can be reversed.