From: sbharris@ix.netcom.com(Steven B. Harris) Subject: Re: King Philistine Date: 22 Apr 1998 Newsgroups: misc.health.alternative In <6hl901$qb7$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com> JDTree@aol.com writes: >I know of very few 'candida' advocates who maintain that the syndrome is >a systemic, blood-borne infection. Even the so-called quacks who run up >needless and expensive diagnostic tests to check for serum antibodies to >fungal antigens recognize that this type of infection is rare among >immunocompetent individuals. > >Most people familiar with the diverse and varied symptoms which are said >to characterize the disease attribute them to allergenic metabolites of >the fungus, which can be absorbed from the GI tract, and carried >throughout the body, provoking reactions in the process. Sure, there are >some folks who think yeast can freely migrate throughout the body, >evading the immune system like Ted Bundy on the run. I don't believe, >however, that they are representative of the "pro candida syndrome" >school of thought. Based upon my experiences, I maintain that these few >misinformed souls most certainly do not reflect the view of the majority >of health professionals who attempt to treat this complex. ---------------------------------------------------- Well, the guys who show up at the alternative fairs and expos, with various live and dark-field video microcopes, claiming that the large thingies in the blood stream they are seeing are yeast, don't look like the poor hillbilly missed-the-idea word of mouth folks. Those systems cost money. And they're being financed by selling a lot of tests to "patients." I did go and pull of my shelf my copy of Crook _The Yeast Connection_, and it is true that he does NOT claim live yeast in the blood. Nor, from what he says, did Truss in the original 1983 papers. Okay. So we have orthodox and unorthodox schools of thought in the area. The orthodox one (Crook) certainly makes better sense. That book has sat on my shelf while I've been to quite a number of quack expos. I wonder what Crook's doing these days. It's possible that yeast fragements of some kind are getting through the gut and causing symptoms. I can only report that I don't seem to see these in people who really have quite severe mucocutaneous candidiasis from tropical and athletic infections or large patches of skin, nor have I clearly seen it in women with pretty severe vulvovaginitis, who must also have quite a bit of yeast in the gut, since they don't clear except with the addition of chronic nystatin (I've treated perhaps a dozen of these cases) I say "clearly" because the list of symptoms which Crook gives for this syndrome reads like a textbook of general conversion symptoms, anxiety reactions, depression, fibromyalgia, and borderline personality disorder. Once again, when I get the time, I'm going to line up columns for mercury poisoning, yeast, fluoride, Aspartame, depression, anxiety, and placebos for each. Petty much identical. When I see THAT syndrome, it makes me shake my head and think that yet one more "practioner" has got hold of this group of forever anxious and ill personality problem people, and is trying to give them his/her favorite system of drugs and diet. It could be EDTA and filling removal as well as Nystatin and low carbos. Or it could be acupuncture and Chinese herbs. Or vitamins and manipulation. Homeopathics and clinical ecology. Xanax and psychotherapy. SSRIs and behavior mod. I'll bet you a wooden nickle they all work for all these things. Flip a coin. Which means we're not talking about medicine, by which I mean here narrowly chemisty. Rather, this is basically psychiatry, with shamanism. That offends my chemistry education. Also my sense of integrity, since the very same people who complain that doctors are chemical happy, are the folks who are putting EDTA and Nystatin and Nizoral (!) [it's an old book] into these people. Homeopathy might be better. Steve Harris M.D. |