"Yeast" taste in mouth?

[BeingK8]

I am posting this question to all of you because the folks on this forum seem to have a wealth of knowledge not readily found elsewhere, but it's about my best friend who has been experiencing a "yeast" taste in her mouth to the point of nausea for several days.
She thought I might know something, but I have NO clue.
She is NOT raw; she's that conventional wisdom "healthy"; i.e. low-fat, lots of salads and veggies, tofu, lots of unsweetened tea, sensible calorie intake, etc.
She runs 5 times a week, does a hardcore yoga class twice a week.
She's 36, never had kids, has no known health problems.
She DOES drink beer and pretty often.
She was in an accident a few years ago in which she lost many teeth and had to have dental implants and she was on antibiotics for infection complications which led to taking Diflucan for yeast infections for about a whole year, but that was several years ago and she hasn't had any yeast infections since.

Any thoughts? I suggested raw and she's so tempted to go all in, but as with so many of us, it's daunting to her and she tries it and is all gung-ho in the morning, but then by about evening, she's off eating cooked again.

Thanks in advance everyone! Much love!

[Charybdisjim]

That sounds like an oral yeast-infection/thrush. Usually that is caused by a change in either the enviromental conditions (dryness, ph level, nutrition availible, bacteria population/makeup) of the mouth or by an immune deficiency. Those most at risk of developing this include (from netdoctor.co.uk)

Newborn babies.
Denture users.
Adults with diabetes or other metabolic disturbance.
People with a dry mouth relating to side-effects of their medication or medical conditions.
People undergoing antibiotic or chemotherapy treatment.
People prescribed oral steroid medication or steroid metered dose inhalers.
Drug users.
People with poor nutrition.
People with an immune deficiency.

So poor nutrition may well be the cause. If they have a poor diet then going to a well planned raw vegan diet may very well help. Additional information can be found here:

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/...oralthrush.htm
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/oral-thrush/DS00408

[lafsalot]

Tell her to make sure she is keeping well hydrated and to gargle with diluted grapefruit seed extract tid, and see if that doesn't help. Is she having any of the symptoms that are usually associated with thrush (IE mouth sores, sensitivity, etc)?

[Charybdisjim]

^ Good simple advice to try. Also possibly gargling with sea salt.

One thing to consider as well is that if she has persistent bad breath and a history of frequent strep throat when she was young then she may have pseudo-tonsiliths which on which candida/yeast is flourishing. These pseudo-tonsiliths are fairly common but usually unnoticed unless diet leads to larger more frequent formations; the yeast flavor is also less common but not unheard of. This would be likely to be the case in the event that she did not have other thrush symptoms such as a sore throat.

This isn't a serious condition at all itself and is more annoying than anything else. It involves deeper and wider than normal tonsil crypts (crevices in/around tonsils) which were enlarged due to scarring after repeated infection - usually by strep. These enlarged crypts more easily trap bits of food along with mucus, dead skin, usually harmless bacteria and sometimes fungus. They form into waxy deposits on which the flora thrives which produce odd flavors and smells and eventually dislodge when they grow large enough or are worked out naturally. If they persist for extremely long periods or are the source of repeated reinfections, they can lead to true/calcified tonsiliths which are much harder to remove and potentially painful.

This is particularly common in people who, in addition to having enlarged crypts due to past strep infections, eat a diet high in processed grains in forms such as white bread. In this case going raw - and therefore cutting out glutaneous grains products by default - would at least make these tonsillitis extremely rare and likely prevent future ones entirely. Those already present can be removed gently and gradually by regularly gargling with either warm slightly salty water or some other warm non-irritating water-based solution. They won't pop out right away doing this, but eventually they all will and diet can help prevent them from returning. The alternative to diet would be surgical removal of the tonsils which I would suggest is far less preferable.