Problem in my throat and mouth

[Turd Ferguson]

Hi,
I have a problem that is kind of a mystery. I went on a protein sparing fasting program and lost a bunch of weight in a short time (3 months). After one month I got symptoms of "thrush" which I get sometimes because of an immune deficiency. I also had blisters on the back of my tongue and throat. My doctor gave me 2 treatments, nystatin and "magic mouthwash" with lydocaine in it. I refilled both of them twice and never had any results. We decided it wasn't thrush, but some kind of reaction my body was having to the fasting. I am now back on normal food, and for a week or so I thought it was improving, but after another week my throat is bad again. I can feel the blisters in my throat and it kind of feels like they go all the way into my stomach. I will probably see my regular doctor soon, but I thought I would see if you had any input on this problem, if you had seen anything like this. I had lost my sense of taste to an extent, which has gotten better lately as I have added solid foods.

Thanks.

[Dr Steve]

Hi,
I have a problem that is kind of a mystery. I went on a protein sparing fasting program and lost a bunch of weight in a short time (3 months). After one month I got symptoms of "thrush" which I get sometimes because of an immune deficiency. I also had blisters on the back of my tongue and throat. My doctor gave me 2 treatments, nystatin and "magic mouthwash" with lydocaine in it. I refilled both of them twice and never had any results. We decided it wasn't thrush, but some kind of reaction my body was having to the fasting. I am now back on normal food, and for a week or so I thought it was improving, but after another week my throat is bad again. I can feel the blisters in my throat and it kind of feels like they go all the way into my stomach. I will probably see my regular doctor soon, but I thought I would see if you had any input on this problem, if you had seen anything like this. I had lost my sense of taste to an extent, which has gotten better lately as I have added solid foods.

Thanks.

Turd:

It's not impossible that you have "thrush" that simply goes down your throat and into your esophagus. That kind of yeast infection (called esophageal candidiasis) won't go away with mouthwashes. I'd be interested in hearing more about your immune deficiency...how did they diagnose that, and does it have a name?

One of the things they may need to do is do an endoscopy...taking the fiber optic scope and looking around in your esophagus to see what they can see.

Losing taste can be caused by a lot of things, including an infection of the mouth. There are more infections than just yeast, though. An ENT doc may need to take a look at you if all else fails. B12 deficiency and thyroid problems are both things I'd probably check.

let me know what they find! If you have esophageal candidiasis, they'll give you a more powerful and systemic anti-yeast drug.


your pal,.



steve