Common Candida Symptoms Most People Miss (and Why They Keep Coming Back)
If you’ve ever dealt with a yeast infection, you probably know how uncomfortable it can be. But what if you keep treating the infection and it keeps coming back? Or what if you’re having digestive problems, fatigue, brain fog, skin issues, or food sensitivities but don’t have what you would consider a typical yeast infection at all?
This is where candida can get tricky.
What is Candida?
Candida is a type of yeast that normally lives in the body, including the digestive tract. Having candida in your body isn't inherently a problem. The problem is when that yeast gets out of balance and begins to overgrow.
I see this fairly often in patients who come to me after dealing with the same problems over and over again. They may have treated a yeast infection multiple times, or they may have spent years trying to figure out why their digestion is off, their energy is low, or their body suddenly seems to react to foods that never used to bother them.
Sometimes the connection isn't obvious until we start looking at the bigger picture. So what are the signs that candida may be part of the picture?
Common Symptoms of Candida Imbalance
Some of the more obvious signs include:
Recurring vaginal yeast infections
Oral thrush or a persistent white coating on the tongue
Sugar cravings
Recurrent fungal or yeast-related skin problems
And then there are symptoms you might not connect to candida. This is the part that I think gets missed most often. Some patients don't come in saying, "I think I have candida." They come in because their stomach has been bothering them for years, they're exhausted all the time, their skin keeps flaring up, or suddenly they seem to react to everything they eat.
Less obvious symptoms often related to candida overgrowth include:
Bloating
Digestive discomfort
Brain fog or difficulty concentrating
Persistent fatigue
Skin rashes or eczema
Increasing food sensitivities
These symptoms are often dismissed or treated individually, without looking at the bigger picture.
Why Candida Symptoms Often Keep Coming Back
One of the most frustrating things about candida is when you treat it, feel better, and then the same symptoms come right back.
I've had patients tell me, "I've treated this before. It went away, but now it's back again."
When that happens, I don't think the answer is always to simply repeat the same treatment. It's worth asking why the candida was able to get out of balance in the first place.
Antibiotic use is a big one because antibiotics don't just affect the bacteria we're trying to get rid of — they can also disrupt the beneficial bacteria that normally help keep other organisms in check. Diet, stress, digestive dysfunction, and other changes in the gut environment can also play a role.
There are a number of things that can contribute to this, so we may need to look at:
The health of the digestive tract – Problems with digestion and the intestinal environment can make it harder to maintain a healthy balance of microorganisms.
Antibiotic history – Frequent or prolonged antibiotic use can significantly alter the balance of bacteria in the gut.
Diet – A diet high in sugar and processed foods can contribute to an environment that isn't particularly helpful when we're trying to get candida under control.
Food sensitivities – If certain foods are continually irritating the digestive tract or provoking an immune response, simply treating candida may not solve the whole problem.
Other digestive imbalances – Sometimes candida isn't the only thing going on. We may also see issues such as bacterial overgrowth, including SIBO, or other digestive problems that need to be addressed.
This is why I don't like looking at candida as an isolated problem. If it keeps coming back, there's usually a reason we need to find.
Sometimes We Need to Look Beyond the Symptoms
One of the advantages of a functional medicine approach is that we don't have to rely entirely on symptoms to try to figure out what is happening.
When appropriate, functional laboratory testing can give us additional information about the digestive environment and help us determine whether candida or other imbalances may be contributing to the symptoms we're seeing.
I don't believe every patient with bloating or fatigue has candida. That's exactly why I prefer to look at the whole picture rather than automatically putting everyone on the same protocol.
When the findings do point us in that direction, an individualized anti-candida approach can be very helpful. I've seen patients make significant improvements when we address the candida and the factors that allowed it to become a problem in the first place.
Still Dealing With Recurring Yeast or Candida Symptoms?
If you've treated yeast infections only to have them return, or you're dealing with a combination of digestive problems, fatigue, brain fog, skin issues, or food sensitivities that you haven't been able to explain, it may be worth looking at the bigger picture.
At Whole Health & Wellness, we look at the underlying factors that may be contributing to these recurring patterns and use functional laboratory testing when appropriate to help determine what may be going on.
Learn more about Candida & Recurring Yeast Support in St. Louis
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About the Author
Dr. Caroline Ricker, DC, DABCI, MTAA, is the founder of Whole Health & Wellness in St. Louis. Her practice combines functional medicine, clinical nutrition, functional laboratory testing, chiropractic care, acupuncture, and other integrative approaches for patients with chronic and recurring health concerns.
Learn more about Dr. Caroline Ricker and Whole Health & Wellness