Expert: Dr. Kristina Conner - 5/2/2006

Question
Dear Kristina,

Since you are an N.D. I hope you can shed some light on my problem, as noone else has been able to answer this question so far.  

I have been studying alternative medicine for many years trying to figure out what to do for a variety of ailments I am experiencing that Medical doctors have no answers for...namely systemic yeast or Candidiasis.  This due to frequent antibiotic use when I was a young boy and continuing into adulthood, which as you know will destroy intestinal flora and allow a fungal infection to literally take over the body.  

From what I have read, at least from a naturopathic point of view, allergies can be caused by these candida cells penetrating and crossing the blood/brain barrier and allowing toxins to enter the bloodstream and spread throughout the body, including the sinuses, which is where my problem is right now.  I suffer from chronic sinus headaches, mostly due to allergies.  Right now the pollen levels are wreaking havoc and I have a severe headache.

So my question is:  since we know the mucosa in the gut contains bacterial Flora which keeps yeast cells at bay and prevents them from growing out of control, I'd like to know if perfectly healthy mucosa in the sinuses also contain a population of flora to fight off possible harmful organisms or foreign particles such as pollen that may be inhaled ?   So far nobody has been able to answer this question.  Perhaps it is not known ? But it made sense to me that if our gut contained flora which is part of our natural defense against invaders, maybe our sinuses do also ?  

I look forward to your answer.

Thanks,
Gary  

Answer
Gary,
Thanks for your question.  
The sinuses are considered sterile, that is, without any normal flora.   The effects that candida can cause in the sinuses are colonization of yeast in the sinuses and creation of anti-yeast antibodies when there are high amounts of yeast in the GI tract.  These can enter the bloodstream, and the result in the sinuses is increased irritation from the body reacting to these antibodies.  There is no way to increase the defenses in the sinuses themselves; treatment is to decrease all the yeast in the body instead.  
I hope that answers your question.  Please feel free to write if you have any others.    
Dr. Conner