Candida History

History:

When I was about 16, I remember getting food poisoning or the stomach flu and being so incredibly sick to my stomach that I was in tears.  After that terrible experience, my stomach was never the same.  Soon afterwards, I was diagnosed with IBS.  I remember it was the most traumatizing experience.  I had just been accepted into college and when I went to the family doctor to find out what was wrong – there was a college intern (who went to the same college I had just been accepted to) who sat in during the appointment (for developmental purposes).  He was probably 5 years older than me and I had to sit there and tell them about all my digestive problems – ugh, thinking about it still today makes me cringe.  However, I’ve become a little tougher about telling people what is wrong with me (on a need to know basis) but I’m still easily embarrassed.  My IBS problems continued throughout undergrad and grad school, but didn’t keep me from doing well in school, going out on the weekends, and drinking with my friends.  My IBS did, however keep me from staying away from the house for very long or going on a lot of overnight trips.  I knew my stomach would be sick in the morning and potentially any other time of the day, and again I didn’t want to have to tell people about my digestive problems. I tried several different types of hormonal birth control while I was in college but I didn’t seem to tolerate them very well. Throughout college, I maintained a very active lifestyle– never really sat and watched TV because I was way too fidgety for that… I always had to be on the go.  After grad school, I moved away and got a job.  My stomach was still bothering me so I tried probiotics but they didn’t work (only later I would realize that I just wasn’t taking the right probiotic).  The move from college to work involved a lot of changes – changes in responsibilities, locations, and friendships/relationships, which ended up being the most stressful time of my life.  I lost 15lbs during the transition… Although, I have to admit, I was probably drinking too much alcohol to help me deal with the transition. My job also became stressful and soon I realized that my stomach issues were progressively getting worse and worse. About 4 months after noticing that I was feeling worse, I got the flu (H1N1) and was out of work for about a week.  About two months after the flu, I got some kind of random virus that affected my joints and muscles and was out of work sick for about two more weeks.  For several weeks, I was so weak that I could not get out of bed but I slowly started to feel better. I could get up and clean the house for a bit without getting as tired (but still not 100%).  Four months after that virus… I knew something was really wrong.