How Do I Know If I Have Yeast/Fungal Overgrowth? (0:59)
If you have yeast or fungal overgrowth, symptoms include fatigue, recurring yeast infections or fungal conditions, bloating, IBS and itchy skin. Watch functional medicine expert Elizabeth Boham, MD, share these red flags and how to do a saliva test.
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There's a couple of ways you can know if you have a yeast or fungal overgrowth. The first is a simple saliva test. So you, when you wake up in the morning before you eat or brush your teeth, you want to spit into an 8 ounce glass of water. If that saliva starts to descend to the bottom of the water or create these tentacles or spider legs into the water that can be a sign of yeast overgrowth.
In addition, you want to think about other symptoms you might have. If you have recurrent vaginal yeast infections, athlete's foot, fungus on your toe nails or finger nails, bloating after you eat, irritable bowel syndrome, itchy skin like itchy head, itchy ears, itching in the anal area, if you have two or more of those symptoms, that can be a sign of yeast overgrowth.
Another main symptom of yeast overgrowth is fatigue, exhaustion, having a foggy head, having a hard remembering what you just said. There's that exhaustion also a real big sign of a yeast overgrowth.
Elizabeth Boham, MD, MS, RD is a physician and nutritionist who practices functional medicine with Dr. Mark Hyman at the UltraWellness Center in Lenox, MA. Dr. Boham is also on the faculty of the Institute for Functional Medicine.
