SIBO, Yeast Overgrowth, Mood Issues & More – Podcast #169

Your gut affects your health in a variety of ways, and it's not just about digestion. The health status of your gut can influence the immune system, your weight, and even your mood! In today's part-podcast and part-Q&A video, let's join Dr. Justin Marchegiani and Evan Brand as they talk about gut health and how it affects us as a whole.

Watch and listen as they discuss topics like Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), yeast or fungal overgrowth, weight gain and weight loss, and even the link between your gut and your mood swings. So many people are diagnosed with SIBO, in fact, Dr. Justin says that almost 90% of his patients are suffering from this condition. Learn how to manage your gut health by taking the right supplements, eating the right foods, and preventing issues from wreaking havoc on your overall health. Watch this video for more info!

Dr. Justin Marchegiani

In this episode, we cover:

02:30   SIFO is Definitely an Issue

05:20   Conventional Treatment of Candida and SIBO

07:19   Urinary Tract Infection

10:00   Treating UTI by Just Hitting the Gut.

21:36   Top herbs for Candida Overgrowth

 

 

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Dr. J here in the house, with Evan Brand. We’re gonna do a live Q and A call. We may talk about some topics near and dear to us, what’s trending. And then if you guys want to come in on the side and ask any questions, feel free. We are here to serve. Evan, what’s cooking, man?

Evan Brand: Hey. Uh— not too much is cooking but I’m drinking some apple cider vinegar drink. Good old Bragg’s uh— with some cinnamons. So, that’s good. This is a good— like tummy tonic, and there’s a small amount of sugar in here but— Hey, I’ve got Stevia extract in here, some ACV, some little bit of apple juice. I could probably make this myself, but it’s so convenient for two bucks to go buy one of these and just have a nice little tonic.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: I know. Totally. Just that convenience aspect is really nice. I like the lime one. The lime one’s really good, too. IIt's only sweetened with Stevia.

Evan Brand: Oh, that one doesn’t have sugar.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. That one’s a good one.

Evan Brand: Oh. Yeah. I didn’t know that…

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Love it.

Evan Brand: existed.  

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Wow, man.

Evan Brand: Well, I did an interview uh—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Now you know.

Evan Brand: I did an interview this morning uh— with my— for my summit, and it was all about SIFO, so I figured maybe we could chat about that, like Small Intestinal Fungal Overgrowth are what we’re seeing. You know SIBO is such like a hot topic, but people aren’t really talking about SIFO, and you and you and I are seeing so many people every week. I’d say, it’s what— 90 percent of the people have yeast overgrowth?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. I think, when we look at yeast, for instance. You know, we do a typical SIBO test, which looks at Methane and Hydrogen gases, which are— you know— You give a sugar s— solution via lactulose to the per— person, and that sugar’s indigestible to the body, except certain bacteria that are dysbiotic. And when those bacteria eat that lactulose solution, they spit off Methane of Hydrogen gases, depending on wha— what bacteria they are. And that Hydrogen can either disrupt and cause diarrhea or increase motility, or can cause decrease motility via Methane, so— Of course, we see it with various gases indirectly. We don’t know the exact bacteria, but we know that those gases are there because the exhaust created by it. It’s kind of like, you don’t know a car’s in the garage if it’s not there, but if you smell the exhaust that it left a minute ago, you can kind of tell, right? So, it’s kind of like that. And of course, people can have— or patients can have symptoms in their gut via fungal overgrowth. And, symptoms can overlap pretty well, so you may have a fungal overgrowth or something else happening and you may think it’s a small intestinal bacterial growth. You may come back on the test with nothing in that area, but we may do some other testing that shows a fungal overgrowth is present.

Evan Brand: Yeah.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: So, SIFO’s definitely an issue.

Evan Brand: Yeah. So let’s— let’s go through symptoms a bit. What if somebody know if— or expect that they have SIBO or SIFO? There’s gonna be the bloating, could be fatigue, could be anxiety, could be brain fog, uh— could be food cravings, sugar cravings could be possible. Uh— I mentioned the mood issues, like anxiety, because most people don’t think about it, gut being a cause of anxiety. But it is. And when I had gut issues, I had anxiety. I lost weight. I had brain fog. I had fatigue. It’s all because of my infections.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Hundred percent. And a lot of people who have gut issues, right? They’re gonna have a lot of mood issues or energy issues too. It’s very rare that someone only has gut issues. Like, they could have diarrhea, bloating or gas, or indigestion, or GERD, or acid reflux, or gastroparesis with their food, just sits in your tummy for a long time. But it’s very possible that you could just have mood issues, uh— brain fog— With fungus, it’s common to have joint pain. It’s common to have brain fog. It’s even common to have anxiety too. Uhm— the yeast, kind of metabolic products in the gut, uhm— when they metabolize, they can spit off acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde can then create a compound called salsolinol. Salsolinol can create apoptosis in the midbrain, where it— it can actually kill off some of the uhm— substantia nigra cells that produce dopamine— s, of course, you know, chronic yeast issues, severe yeast issues, but could potentially create more neurological issues due to all the toxic by-products.

Evan Brand: That’s a trip. Now, I know saccharomyces boulardii. We talked about it. We use it for the saccharomyces could do two things, maybe you colla— collaborate on this a bit for the saccharomyces as one, gonna help to crowd out the yeast, but can also kill the toxins that Candida’s producing. Can you speak on that? Do you know what I’m talking about?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. I mean, yeast, Candida can also produce [stutters]— As a by-product, they’re gonna produce mycotoxins, right? And these toxic by-products can disrupt digestion. Uhm— they’re also— you know, acetaldehydes, a stressor that’s produced by the Candida that I mentioned earlier. And Candida’s one type of yeast. You know, they’r— you can have, you know, the Rhodotorula species that— that the cal— Candida albicans, as the Candida of everyone refers to. You have the Geotrichum candidum. You have uhm— these species as well. So, of course these things can cause similar symptoms as SIBO and they can create toxic low because of the how it disrupts toxicity, how it disrupts uhm— digestion. You need nutrients to run our detox pathways. It can create this mycotoxins, which then have to be processed by our detoxification system as well. And of course, it can stress out the immune system because 80 percent of our immune cells live in our gut and it can create more permeability with the gut, i.e., leaky gut, which then gets the immune system fired up. Which is kind of like leaving the uhm— the faucet on in your guest bedroom that you never go into, and your water bill’s sky high that month.

Evan Brand: Yep. Well said. So, let’s talk about treatment a bit. I mean, some of the options that we use, conventional docs. Maybe let’s chat about that first. I mean, we always go straight to the functional medicine piece and assume that people understand that. But I don’t think many people understand what and how poorly conventional medicine treats Candida and bacterial overgrowth type issues.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Well, most of the time, conventional medicine’s gonna, you know, typically laugh at your face when you talk about Candida. And unless you have— number one, you have some type of skin-oriented rash, like a tinea versicolor, some kind of seborrheic dermatitis. That’s apparent on the skin, right? It’s like, it’s there. You can see it. It’s apparent they’ll recommend some type of antifungal cream, and they won’t ever look deeper in the gut, which tends to be the root of where it comes from. Or there’s like a vaginal yeast infection or there’s some kind of thrush, where there’s a white coating around your mouth or tongue. So, unless you have those two or three things, for the most part it’s not gonna be picked up. And the Candida like we mentioned can create a whole host of issues: fatigue, mood— It can create things that are none digestive. It can create things that are digestive. I already mentioned. And if you’re going to your conventional medical doctor, it’s typically not gonna be picked up. We can even see it via antibodies, too. So, sometimes people will do a stool test but we’;; actually see the candida via the antibodies. It’s hard to pick up so, we’ll always use clinical symptoms too. Oh, the other one was a fungal tell— fungal toenail.

Evan Brand: Yeah.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Like the yellow kind of thickened discolored toenail. That’d be the— the fourth one. [crosstalk] Mouth, nose—

Evan Brand: What about on the fingers, too? I’ve seen people with like a ye— a yellow nail, where it’s like…

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: It’s the same.

Evan Brand: …falling off.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: It’s the same thing, right? Toenail and fingernail is the same kind of thing.

Evan Brand: Yeah. Okay.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mp— that thickened type of fungal things we see on the nails, on the skin, Uhm— typically, on the mouth, and then typically, vaginal. And let’s say number five would be kind of like a uhm— seborrheic dermatitis, or like a cradle cap, or like a dandruff. It’s kind of in that same fungal category. So, five big ones: hair, mouth, vaginal, skin, nails…

Evan Brand: Got it.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: …toe or finger.

Evan Brand: Yeah. So, let’s talk about UTIs for a bit. Now, when you hear about a Urinary Tract Infection, a lot of times, this is affecting women. Is that bacteria plus Candida [crosstalk] at the same time?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Typically— It depends. Typically, it’s gonna be bacteria. The— the number one way you can figure it out is typically bacterial vaginosis. We’ll have kind of a fishy odor to it. So, it’s gonna a little bit fishy, in women. No, it’s like— okay, it’s apparent something’s going on down there. Yeast infection, typically is not gonna smell like that. It may smell a little bit yeasty, almost like a buri kind of smell, but it’s not gonna have that kind of fishy odor smell. That’s the number one. Both are gonna have discharge. [crosstalk] Both are gonna have discharge, typically like you know, kind of a cottage cheesy kind of fim. Uhm— you know— We’re getting pretty graphic here but hey, this is— this is what we do, all week long. So, of course, that’s the big way. And then, typically, the UTIs can affect primarily the urinary tract, right? Bacterial vaginosis involves more the Gardnerella bacteria. Uh— the UTI is more gonna be the E. coli bacteria. And then, of course, yeast is gonna be more like your Candida albicans kind of thing. So, of course, like if it’s a UTI, you know, you tend to feel it. It tends to hurt more when you pee. A little bit of pain or stinginess when you pee; bacterial vaginosis, probably not as much. Maybe just itchy. And the big— you know, dividing factor would probably be the odor, as how you would know.

Evan Brand: Okay. And then [inaudible]—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Of course, you can get a culture. You can get a culture, right? You go see your doctor. They may do a culture, but in terms of treatment for bacterial vaginosis, we may do kind of an herbal formula, mixed with apple cider vinegar. And we make it like a douche applicator and flush that area out for a week or two. And then, we may throw some probiotics in, internally via the mouth and intervaginally to help shift the pH. Typically, getting more acidic pH makes it harder for that bacteria to grow. Obviously cutting out the refined sugar and the junk of your food, too. With yeast, similar thing. We have some Boric acid or suppositories that we’ll use. The help will also get the probiotics going. Cut out the refined sugar. And then for UTI stuff, we’ll typically use some Silver. We can use some D-Mannose powder. We can use Uva Ursi herbs. Uhm— we can do apple cider vinegar, lemon juice. These are all really good things that we can do to help acidify the p— acidify the urinary tract. Also we can do cranberry juice extract, unsweetened organic. We can also do some organic cranberry pills as well. That has a big shift on the pH in the urinary tract, which then starts to starve them out because they— they tend to not live as well in that nice acidic environment. They tend to grow more in an alkaline environment.

Evan Brand: So, let me ask you this. Could you successfully treat a UTI just by hitting the gut?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhm— you could. Uhm— again, like some of the things we’d want to do is to want to make sure we have some of those herbal metabolites make their way out the vaginal, you know. I mean, typically UTI it’s gonna go out, right? It’s gonna head some and go out, and so the urinary tract will be hit. The question is, “Will the vaginal area be hit.”  Obviously, for peeing it out, it’s not gonna be hit. It’s close in that area, but more than likely it’s not gonna hit it. That’s where you need some kind of an herbal douche formula to topically get in there. Same thing with the yeast. So, yeast, you kind of want to top like in there with a suppository. BV get in there uhm— with a— a flushing type of herbal mechanism, and just make sure you’re not pregnant, right? ‘Cause the— there could be some abortifactant uhm— mechanism there if it’s getting too close— you know, up the vaginal canal. And then, uhm— number three is the UTI that we could do internally, and we could flush out that way.

Evan Brand: So, could you go— I mean are there like professional grade herbal douche blends, or is that something you’ve got to piece together yourselves? Like, does the store-bought version exist?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. I have one that I use that works really well. It’s good to call herbal douche formula, and that we should choose an applicator when we mix— mix it with some apple cider vinegar, like the instruction’s say, and we flush one— one or two times a day. [crosstalk] I’ve got to shift the diet. I’ve got to shift the diet. Typically, it should do a— a really good probiotic intervaginally, as well, that kind of help shift the pH and shift the microbiome there.

Evan Brand: Is there a brand for that?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. I like one by Wise Woman Herbals.

Evan Brand: Okay.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: [inaudible] … for the herbal douche formula, and then the probiotics will typically do, you know, my Probio Flora or will do a Woman’s formula. But typically, the Probio Flora is enough as well.

Evan Brand: Cool. Okay.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Probio Flora too is uhm— the Phage in there really helps kill uh— E.coli too. So, if it’s any UTI stuff going on too, that could also help with that too.

Evan Brand: I’m gonna bookmark that. That’s really really cool. And this— I feel like the douche is something good where if you’ve got like a resistant infection or something that just keeps coming back. Sounds like that would be a good thing to add in.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. And then, typically though, even if we ever— let’s say, we do topically hit that area, we still want to make sure we systemically treat things too. Like, we would topically hit something ‘cause you want a faster results.

Evan Brand: Right.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Like, let’s say, there was a fungal nail, right? And maybe really hard to get rid of that fungus on that nail if we just hit it to the gut. So, we kind of want to hit it from both ends. So, we kind of want to put that critter between a rock and a hard place. Make it so it has nowhere to go.

Evan Brand: So, do you add apple cider vinegar, too. That’s— I know it comes [crosstalk] west.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. We’d add it to it.

Evan Brand: Okay.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Make it says like add six ounces of apple cider vinegar or something. If you read the jo— instructions on how to mix it.

Evan Brand: ‘Cause like in ingredients, it says it’s in a base of ACV. So, I was just curious.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Can you read the in— Can you read the instructions?

Evan Brand: Yeah. It says, “Add one tablespoon of concentrate per six ounces of warm water.”

Dr. Justin Marchegiani:Per warm water?

Evan Brand: Yeah.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Got it. Yeah. So then it’s the warm water then. So, the apple cider vinegar’s already in it. SO, we will just add that to the warm water.

Evan Brand: That’s really cool, man. I learned something new everyday.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: That’s it.

Evan Brand: Wow. Well, thanks. [crosstalk] Let’s look at some questions and see what we’ve got here, digestively. Uh— Evie ask you a question, “Dr. J, I’ve been taking your Digestive Supreme and HCL. They’re helping a lot. Thanks. Is it okay to take for a long time or should I stop after some time?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: So, typically, if there was an infection, we want to get rid of the infection and then we can taper it down. And then, the rest is gonna be based upon you. So, if you’re under a lot of stress during the day, you know, then we may want to take it during stressful period. If you’re eating food that’s maybe a little bit questionable, we want to save it for that. So, get rid of the infections. Get rid of the internal stress that’s causing the issue. You know, as long as your diet’s on track and the stressful environment is kind of under control or you’re not hydrating so much during the meal, then I think it’d be okay to reduce the consistency on that, for sure.

Evan Brand: And I— I— I’ll throw my two cents in.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yes.

Evan Brand: I cycle on and off enzymes, personally.So, I just got my Stool testback. I showed up with some gut bacteria, showed up with the cyclospora parasite. So, needless to say, I’m back on enzyme ‘cause I’m clearing out these infections because the last thing you want is undigested food particles feeding the bugs. Like Justin mentioned, if you’ve got an infection, something that— like H.pylori could be suppressing stomach acid. You know, that’s undigested food that’s going straight to the bad guys. So…

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. And I noticed myself. I was just having a— like uh— looser stools for the last few weeks only after coffee, and it was just— typically, was a different consistency. So, I just start on. I used to hit my GI Clear 4 and Para 1 up, and I noticed that it did start to solidify again even after coffee. So, I’m gonna be doing the GI Map Test at the end of this month…

Evan Brand: Good.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: …and see what at.

Evan Brand: Well let’s go through your results when they come.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.

Evan Brand: It’d be a fun show.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. I’m excited. Then also uhm— I saw your test last night. I saw the increased steatocrit on yours…

Evan Brand: I know.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: …and the increased beta-glucuronidase. So, definitely hitting it with the antimicrobial herbal stuff, maybe adding in some extra bile salts or lipase in there too would also help.

Evan Brand: Yeah. I appreciate it. I’m gonna uh— I’m gonna do that, and then also, I’m gonna add in some milk thistle too. Try to get that glucuronidase down.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yep.

Evan Brand: No probiotics can do it, but I think I rather probably do both.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Well, yeah. I mean, glucuronidase is gonna be— if you kill the bacteria, that— that will go down, too.  

Evan Brand: Okay. That’s cool.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: You can just throw in some extra charcoal to help bind that up too.

Evan Brand: Okay. Also, uhm— we’ll have to chat but uhm— where we’re getting our Para 1. There’s also a binder that they’ve got, which is like a Fulvic acid – Charcoal mix.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. I’ve seen that . I think that’s good too. Uhm— I find that— you know, the charcoal’s still really good as well. So, you could do either one [crosstalk] then. I like the charcoal.

Evan Brand: Yeah. And the charcoal’s so cheap.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: That’s the thing. The charcoal’s just a little bit more cost-effective, that’s why I like it.

Evan Brand: Yeah. You can’t beat it. Okay, [crosstalk] cool.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And it’s still great. I mean, it’s still— you know, you can use it for alcohol— I had— my Patriot’s play yesterday, my Tom Brady. They’re just freaking awesome, man. He used to go— and— you know, he is just like the perfect— like practitioner spokesperson for natural medicine. I mean, what he does, what his diet, and he eats basically a Paleo Autoimmune Template for the most part. He’s trying to keep inflammation down.

Evan Brand: Yep.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And uh— you know, he trains in a way that to support pliability and muscle length, and then which we’ll have to uhm— try to get his trainer on, man. I got to get him on…

Evan Brand: Good.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: …and speak to him. I know. We’re gonna work on that. But yeah, he’s a perfect practitioner of all these stuff. But uhm— in regards to—- where was I going? So, we just talked about?

Evan Brand: I think you were talking about—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Oh, yes! I’m sorry. So, I had a nice glass or two of champagne yesterday.

Evan Brand: Oh.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: So, I hit up some activated charcoal, and I hit up some Sulfur amino acids, and I feel phenomenal. No issues. Then, of course, I have a nice glass of mineral water in between drinks that prevents any— you know uhm— the antidiuretic hormone that’s being reduced. So, all the peeing that happen from alcohol, prevents any of those minerals from being washed out. So, that’s my little tip there.

Evan Brand: That’s cool. Uh— anybody uh— listening, watching, add your comments. We’re gonna go through these. We’ll try to answer as many that are on topic as we can. So, add your comments now. So, we’ll go through it now.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yes. And we’ll hit the ones that are on topic— is— is first. And then also, give us a share, give us a like, give us a thumbs up. We appreciate it, guys. Help us grow so we can help more people like you. Your benefitting right now. Don’t keep it all to you. Let it get out there. We appreciate it.

Evan Brand: Absolutely. Uh— what’s our time on? How much time we got left with these questions?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: We— we got five minutes. Let’s roll for it.

Evan Brand: Okay. Alright. So, we’ve got one here from Jeff. Uh— he says that he’s been taking the GI Clear 1, 2 and 5. Two caps a week for H. pylori. Yesterday was his birthday. He’s been so sick; nausea, headaches, panic attacks. How should I take the herbs on an empty tummy?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: So, number one, I‘m imagining that because it was your birthday, you may have gone off the—

Evan Brand: Oh, oh.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: …of the rings there, Jeff, maybe with some extra birthday type of uh— surprises or things like that. So, there could be that. Uh— number one, if we’re having some sensitivities, we need to come off the herb for three to five days, get back to base line, add them a ginger tea, and then ratchet up one capsule per day on each herbal product. If you hit the wall, meaning you start to have those nausea or negative symptoms, you  back off. Get super stable before you go to the next. And of course, if you’re having issues, take it with food, because the food kind of prevents a buffer. So, those herbs aren’t sitting up against an irritated gastric mucosa, add in the ginger and then we should probably throw in some activated charcoal in between breakfast and lunch away from food and lunch and dinner away from food. That will maximize absorption of any of the— the toxins. But dial in the dose. Don’t be a hero and push it too high and too fast. Take it with food. Take a couple of days off. And then, add it back in.

Evan Brand: Yep. Good advice. Now, the question here. Dr. J, I’ve been following your advice but not perfectly. I’ve had long term constipation, GERD, gastritis, H. pylori, bloating, abdominal distention, cramping. How can I help myself? I’ll answer this one.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yes.

Evan Brand: If you don’t mind.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: You got it. Do it.

Evan Brand: Uh— You’ve got to get tested. I know you said, “I’ve been following…

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmmn—

Evan Brand: “… meaning you’ve probably been watching Dr. J’s videos, maybe some of the stuff that we’re doing together like this. But if you’ve knocked out the testing done, then you’ve— you’ve got uh— you’ve got to do that. If you say H. pylori— if it’s still there, you’re gonna have these symptoms. So, you’ve got to get some functional medicine testing. You can reach out. Get that done. And, we’ve got to fix the bugs. You’re never gonna fix constipation if you’ve got bacterial overgrowth ‘cause those gases are gonna change the intestinal motility time. Bloating; same thing. That could be yeast, fungus, bacteria, H. pylori. We know that’s why you’ve got the GERD, because that’s suppressing your stomach acid. You’re gonna have heartburn because your body’s not gonna allow the undigested food to go down. So, get tested and then we can use herbs to fix this.  

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: One hundred percent!

Evan Brand: Uh— let’s keep going here. We’ve got another [crosstalk] question from Kitty. Uh— She’s taking the beef protein powder. That makes her constipated so she take HCL and pepsin even though it’s a powder.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: I would say, you could try it, and see what happens. If it doesn’t work, there could be something in it that you’re allergic to so I would try a Collagen protein that’s in a peptide form and see if that shifts or changes it. ‘Cause that’s gonna be in a more broken down assimilated form. [crosstalk] So, try it. Try more enzymes and HCL, and see what happens first. And then try just a really clean— like— you know, my TRUCOLLAGEN. Try something in a collagen peptide form…

Evan Brand: Yeah.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: …and see if that fixes it. And then, let us know.

Evan Brand: Good advice. Another question, “Hi, Dr. J. I’d like to ask you uh— how to detox from heavy metals toxins, parasites, etc., naturally?” We’ve done a ton of shows on this. We’ll continue to probably hit this topic, but just searched justinhealth.com or search the YouTube channel here for those ti— uh— those titles, and you’re gonna find some stuff. But that— that could be an hours and hours and hours conversation.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Totally. Yep. Absolutely.

Evan Brand: Samuel. Want to read that one?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. “Is it possible to overpopulate with good bacteria using probiotics? And if so, what steps do you take to balance?” So, number one, we can see it with patients that tend to have like digestive issues or SIBO. We see an excessive amount of D-lactate, which can be caused by throwing a whole bunch of Lactobacillus in with the whole bunch of dysbiotic bacteria. So, we can see that. So, number one, make sure we’re starting from a blank canvas, not a canvass full of messiness from the start. Uhm— number two, probiotics tend to be transient. They’re not gonna stay around longer than a month or so. So, they are transient. So— Number one, a good steady dose of them is gonna be fine. So, you know, two to four capsules I think is a reasonable amount, like with my Probio Flora. And I think, you know, some couple sources of fermented foods that you want to throw in a weekly, whether it’s a lower sugar Kombucha, fermented pickles, sauerkrauts, uhm— those are all good standard options that you can kind of add in. And, I think, as long as your digestive symptoms are under control and you’re infection-free, I would not worry about it. If you’re having a lot of blow or gas because of probiotics, you probably have to look a little deeper and see what’s happening with the dysbiosis or other infections.

Evan Brand: Yep. One more questions right next to that. You want to hit that one too?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Top herbs for Candida overgrowth?

Evan Brand: Yep.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Oil Oregano, Berberines, Silver, not really an herb but it’s still something that we use, uh— Clove, Wild Indigo, grapefruit seed extract; I would say those are a couple, right there. Anything you want to add?

Evan Brand: Yeah. I’d like to add olive—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Anything like a medicine?

Evan Brand: Yeah. Olive leaf.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Olive leaf, yep.

Evan Brand: Uhm— the monolaurin, the lauric acid…

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Monolaurin, lauric acid, yep.

Evan Brand: Uh— I would also say— I mean, we’ve got so many formulas. I would just say to look at our— look at our GI formulas. Justin’s got several custom formulas I do as well. You could check our sites, justinhealth.com, evanbrand.com. We’ve got many. And these herbs in isolation can work— can work pretty good, but we’ve really like to focus on the synergistic effective herbs together.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. like, for instance, Berberines, and Artemisia. If you look at Stephen Buhner’s book, he talks about the synergistic effect that you have with those herbs together. So, like one and one equals ten, not two. So, combining some of these herbs, they have to work phenomenal.

Evan Brand: Yeah, uh— you want to hit Tammy’s question?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. “I got stomach pain when I take Proteolytic enzymes. What does that mean? I had H. pylori and stomach ulcers twice in the past. So, number one, I’d make sure you’re not taking the enzymes on an empty stomach. I’ll take them in the middle of the meal. Okay? Number two, I would just see that, you know, if you didn’t take the enzymes, would you also have stomach pain? Or is it— Is the enzymes the only variable factor? And if you have a lot of stomach ulcers and those kind of things, number one, we need a support and start adding some healing and soothing herbs. Potentially, lower the dose and make the food more liquid or predigested in kind of like a crock pot type of format. So, the food is easier to process. Nothing raw. Even if it’s like, raw broccoli or like raw Paleo veggies, that may still be too much. So, I would look at crock pot liquid form, healing-soothing herbs and amino acids. Kind of what’s in my GI Restore. Uhm— add every variable in one at a time so that way you know. You get the foods dialed in, right? You get, you know, the type of food and the cooking process dialed in. You add some soothing herbs. You do the enzymes. You start with the very low dose. You work it up. You isolate. You do one of each variable, one at a time. So, you know what’s going on.

Evan Brand: Yep. And I would like to add. Make sure that you’re infection-free. You said you had H. pylori and stomach ulcers twice in the past. Uh— gastroenterology is very very very uh— inaccurate. Some of their testing. You can have false…

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.

Evan Brand: …negative [crosstalk] in every week though. Just get retested. Make sure you’re free and clear. Make sure there’s no other infections or that H. pylori plus vitamins factors, which is something we test for. Make sure that that’s not there.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And again, here’s the deal, too. If you’re having issues potentially with food or enzymes, then you sure as heck gonna have issues with herbs to knock out the infection. So, work on the first three R’s first: removing the bad foods, replacing enzymes and acids to the right dosage, taken the right way, healing-soothing nutrients and adrenal support. So, adrenals, ginger tea, amino acids, healing-soothing herbs, and then, make the food really palatable so it’s easy to process.

Evan Brand: Uh— Great. Great advice. Angel, “Do you recommend diet to Diatomaceous Earth for Candida?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: I think it’s great to help uhm— with the killing and binding effect that’s good at worms. Uh— I use it to kill ants in my backyard when I see them. Uh— Diatomaceous Earth has a high amount of Silica in it and it basically dehydrates the uhm— the exoskeleton of the— the insects. So, it’s a great non-toxic thing. You can also swallow it too so it can— it can dehydrate the worms, too, and kill them.

Evan Brand: That’s neat. Now, question from Narine, “You two are awesome.” Thank you, Narine. Where do you guys practice? So Justin, uh—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Everywhere, in the ether.

Evan Brand: Yeah, everywhere. Justin lives in Texas. I live in Kentucky. But, we are 100 percent via phone and Skype consults. That’s it. Uh— Riley, “ How long should you take the GI Restore 4 with probiotics after a parasite killing protocol?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uh— typically, combination— typically, if we’re looking at it objectively ‘til calprotectin goes down, which is an inflammatory uh— protein that’s produced by the gut when there’s inflammation, and/or ‘til you’re infection-free. So, for infection-free, then we really want to see that calprotectin go down, and ideally, that correlates with symptoms and improving in the gut mucosa just becoming better and feeling better.

Evan Brand: I would say, generally, though, the given number— I tried to get people to run…

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Two  to four months.

Evan Brand: …[inaudible] models.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yep. I think two to four months on average. I know Riley’s case in particular. You know, he’s had issues with H. pylori in the past. So, there could be just some— some thinning gastric mucosa, that’s just more sensitive, and we just need to make sure that infections crossed off our list. And then start the timer, you know, two to four months from when that infection is gone.

Evan Brand: Okay.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Kind of thing—

Evan Brand: That’s good. That’s good. Uh— Addy asks, “ Do we  recommend Grapeseed extract for Candida?” Yes. We use it [crosstalk] in our formulas. It can help.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Absolutely.

Evan Brand: Uhm— uh— another question here. “Thoughts on prebiotics supplements?” I think it’s our last question uh— that we have time for. “Do we need prebiotics if we have lots of vegetables in the diet?”

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: I think you can throw in some resistant starch either some unripened banana flour or a little bit of a cool potato flour. I think that’s great. Throw in a protein shake. Uhm— we typi— and I think my Probio Flora, and maybe your probiotic, there’s a little bit of Inulin or Chicory root, which can be helpful. Uhm— but in general, some of that starchy carbohydrate, and it can start with the very small amount, can be helpful. And take a look at my videos on resistant starch for more info on that.

Evan Brand: Oh, good. Good. Good. Good. Glad you got a video there. Well, that’s all we got time for, question-wise. I think we hit most of them, though. Unless there were some off-topic. But, we hope this was helpful. Make sure you guys hit Subscribe if you’re not subscribed to the channel. Go ahead. Hit subscribe right now, because you’ll get notified. Make sure you hit the bell too, ‘cause we—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Hit the bell!

Evan Brand: …we’re back [inaudible]…

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Everyone’s like, “Hey, Dr. J, like when are you gonna be live?” So, we’re gonna try to let you know a day ahead of time. But if you hit the bell, It’s gonna pop-up on your YouTube app, on your computer or phone. It’s gonna say, “Dr. J and Evan are live.” And then, you’re gonna know.

Evan Brand: Generally speaking though, you guys should expect us here every Monday at anywhere between 11:30 and 12:00 Eastern.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. That’s the general kind of gist and I’ll be online typically 9:30 to 10:00 CST, which is 10:30 to 11:00 EST on Fridays, for our FAQ for you all.

Evan Brand: So, s— you know, go ahead and stalk us here. Subscribe, hit the bell and we’ll be back for more content very soon. If you have…

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Oh, one last question here.

Evan Brand: Yeah.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: One last question. “Can you overdo with herbs?” Yeah, you can, Charlotte. So, just make sure if you’re— people thata are sensitive, they kind of already know it, right?

Evan Brand: Yeah.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: They have issues with Vitamin C and issue with probiotics or issues with HCL, and it’s like— these are patients like we got to take our kid gloves and put them on ‘cause we got to go. Everything has to be very slow and very gentle. And it’s not that you’re— you’re weak or have— you know— It’s not anything— It’s not a negative on you. It’s just your system, where it’s at. So, if we go a little bit slower, it helps. It’s kind of like, you want to take a cold shower, get in the shower. Get it on warm and then just inch the dial a little bit co— you know, to the cold direction. And then, before you know it, in three to five minutes, you’re in a cold shower. And it wasn’t that difficult. So, if we have to, we can go slow. Of course, working on ginger tea and soothing nutrients to get the gut lining more tonifying, relaxing things, adrenal support. And then we can inch into the herbs as well. So, for sure. Absolutely.

Evan Brand: Oh, I’m gonna advise, two cents…

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yes.

Evan Brand: …because you made some word adrenal. Yeah. If your adrenals are weak, you gut protocol is going to be much more uh— heavy hitting on you. So, if— if you’re working on with a practitioner and you guys are just looking at the gut, make sure you’re asking questions about thyroid and adrenals and hormones. Because, you know, Justin and I are utilizing a Three Body System Approach, which is adrenals, gut, thyroid detoxification. Things like that.And if all these other pillars aren’t there, and you’re just hitting one avenue really hard, you’re gonna crash out. So, make sure those other— other pillars are involved. Otherwise, the progress will not be as well. And I could explain why you’re not handling the herbs as much.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And it’s human nature. Once people find out they have a critter in them, they’re like, “Get rid of it! Oh, my gosh! This is awful.” And I— I get it. So, normal reaction, but we have to make sure the bigger picture is we don’t to get reinfected. The bigger picture is we don’t want to feel worse either. So, there’s this a sequence in which we have to do. And it takes a little bit of trust because the normal reaction is, “Get rid of it now.” “Get rid of it yesterday,” right?

Evan Brand: Yeah. For sure.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Okay. Awesome. Well, great call. Slam that bell. Give us a share. We appreciate everyone watching. And hope everyone’s health takes one notch in the right direction today. [crosstalk] Appreciate it all.

Evan Brand: Take care.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Bye, Evan.

Evan Brand: Bye.

---

References:

Wise Woman Herbals herbal douche products at http://www.wisewomanherbals.com/

TRUCOLLAGEN https://justinhealth.com/products/trucollagen/

Probio FLora at https://justinhealth.com/products/probio-flora/

Just in Health at www.justinhealth.com

www.evanbrand.com