Candida and Thyroid Disease

July 1997 -- Many of you have written, asking whether or not there's a relationship between candidiasis, or candida/yeast overgrowth, and thyroid disease. In some ways, this is a controversial question, because some doctors dismiss candidiasis and candida allergies as a "fad" diagnosis. Other doctors, naturopaths and herbalists are firm believers that this problem, brought to public attention by Dr. William Crook in his 1983 book, The Yeast Connection, is at the root of many hard-to-diagnose chronic illnesses.

Last year, my doctor, an M.D. acupuncturist, suspected that I was going through what appeared to be a major outbreak of candida. Whether or not candida can cause hypothyroidism -- as Dr. Crook claims -- or whether thyroid disease can allow candida to flourish is not clear. But there are anecdotal claims of a definite relationship. (My doctor believes that the impaired immunity of autoimmune thyroid disease makes you more susceptible to all allergens, inclucing candida.)

What was happening was that my system seemed allergically out of control. My symptoms? Irritable bowel, stomach bloating/pain after I ate anything, crawly/itchy/hot skin, severe aggravation of asthma-like response to allergies so bad that I could barely breathe and went to the emergency room twice with what we thought was an asthma attack, but wasn't. It was awful. I felt like I was allergic to the world.

My doctor, Kate, suggested that I read up on candida, so I bought The Yeast Connection and the Woman, the updated version of Dr. Crook's earlier book, which is now considered one of the "bibles" for candidiasis sufferers