Author: Dr. Blake Myers
Are you wondering if it’s possible to have Candida gut issues and have a negative stool test? I can tell you from direct practice experience, it is.
There are a few reasons this can happen that I’ll share here.
1. Stool tests are not perfect.
Some companies that offer comprehensive diagnostic stool analysis use culture to test for fungi in the stool. This is where a sample is placed on a petri dish and over a few days, the lab tests what grows on the culture medium from the sample. There are a few troubles here.
One problem is that most Candida overgrowth in the gut takes place in the small intestine. This is where the majority of the nutrients they desire reside. In one sense, there is little need for them to move to the large intestine if the environment is good in the small intestine. If your digestive tract is working appropriately, the ileocecal valve – an anatomical separator of small and large intestine contents – should also drastically reduce bacteria and yeast movement between the two areas.
A culture will only grow what is present in the stool sample. It is very possible for Candida to be overgrown and a problem in the small interestine but not get picked up in a random sample of stool.
When at all possible, I choose to do a PCR stool test. This tests the presence of DNA of microorganisms and doesn’t necessarily have some of the same issues as getting a stool sample that requires living organisms to then “take root” and grow on a culture dish. Even then, I have seen negative results when Candida actually was an issue, but it’s preferred.
2. Biofilms
Most microbes can form biofilms as a natural way to enhance their survival – Candida included. Biofilms are a physical barrier that Candida can hang out in with other pathogenic bacteria and parasites. One benefit of biofilms to Candida is that they can still utilize resources and it also protects them from antifungals – both medications and supplements.
Unfortunately, biofilms can also help Candida hide from testing. It does not, however, keep them from causing problems.
3. Pathogenic Candida Morphology
Candida exists in a yeast form and a hyphal form. The latter is bad news. This is how Candida creates biofilms and invades tissues. Theoretically, you could have relatively normal Candida levels but the majority have switched to the hyphal form, causing symptoms even in the absence of a major overgrowth problem.
My Suggestions:
1. Get an Organic Acids Test (OAT)
This is a urine test that looks at a number of metabolites from your own body, as well as from bacteria and fungi. I have seen stool tests be negative for Candida but then there are high levels of organic acids present in the urine that are made by Candida.
2. Consider Candida immune complex testing
This is a blood test that shows levels of immune system activity related to Candida.
3. Do a therapeutic trial
If you have many symptoms that relate to Candida but testing is negative, you might consider working with your healthcare provider to try a trial of dietary changes, along with CanXida’s Formula Remove and Restore. Alternatively, the medication Nystatin is a relatively quick way to see if symptoms improve with treatment. If symptoms improve significantly with Nystatin, this tells you Candida is playing a role, whereas Remove is toxic to many other types of organisms as well and isn’t necessarily specific, i.e. improvement could be because of improving bacterial dysbiosis. You can’t know for sure.
If a Nystatin trial gives improvement, it will probably be helpful to stay with it for a month and then I typically would recommend switching to CanXida’s protocol due to the many other issues it addresses along with Candida.