Which tests for parasites do you recommend?

[RosieBee]

My doctor has referred me to the London Hospital for Tropical Diseases for parasite testing. I made a good recovery from ME ten years ago, but relapsed after spending some months traveling around India and Africa and contracted typhoid (!) We wanted to see if there were any other nasties still lurking about. I would welcome any suggestions or advice to help me get the best testing and treatment, and so I am clued up with all the right questions to ask. Thanks.

 

[Sushi]

My doctor has referred me to the London Hospital for Tropical Diseases for parasite testing. I made a good recovery from ME ten years ago, but relapsed after spending some months traveling around India and Africa and contracted typhoid (!) We wanted to see if there were any other nasties still lurking about. I would welcome any suggestions or advice to help me get the best testing and treatment, and so I am clued up with all the right questions to ask. Thanks.

I also traveled to India and got "nasties." They didn't show up on stool tests but when I went to a parasitologist in New York he said they live on the walls of the bowel etc, and you need to take a scraping to find them. He did, I hardly noticed the process, and he found two nasties and treated them successfully.

Also they have different stages of growth and he said that once found and treated you need to be checked about twice more (about a month apart) to catch all the possible stages.

Sushi

 

[Vojta]

Hi, I got ME one year after my traveling in Vietnam and Cambodia. I'm still wondering if I have some invisible "nasties" too. No treatment helped me so far. Doctors did only blood tests for the most common tropical disease. And KDM did stool test but nothing "tropical" came out.

Sushi, can you please tell me names of "the nasties" you had? Did you feel better after treating them? Did the parasitologist see any marker in your blood (high eosinophils)? I'm also interested how much the examination was because I doubt I could find good parasitologist in my country.

 

[nanonug]

My recommendation: Metametrix GI Effects Complete Profile.

Distributor in the UK: Nutrition Geeks.

 

[powertool4]

I also traveled to India and got "nasties." They didn't show up on stool tests but when I went to a parasitologist in New York he said they live on the walls of the bowel etc, and you need to take a scraping to find them. He did, I hardly noticed the process, and he found two nasties and treated them successfully.

Also they have different stages of growth and he said that once found and treated you need to be checked about twice more (about a month apart) to catch all the possible stages.

Sushi

Sushi, was this Dr. Kevin Cahill? Did treating the parasites help your symptoms at all?

 

[Wayne]

Hi RosieBee,

I posted on another thread where parasites were discussed. Thought you might find some of the discussion on that thread to be interesting. The following is a link to my post:

Pumpkin Seeds for Tapeworms

A lot of people think it's good to do periodic parasite cleanses without necessarily doing the testing first. Not sure whether that would cover all contingencies, but it seems it might be more reliable than depending on current diagnostic testing that apparently often misses these infections.

Wayne
...........................................................................

Here's My Post From That Thread

Lisa, I've been meaning to get back to you regarding your tapeworm experience. I grew up with a story about how my grandfather had gotten rid of a tapeworm using pumpkin seeds. After I read your own account, I did a search of "Pumpkin Seeds for Tapeworms", and came up with links to several medical journals dating back to the mid-1850's. Below is just a handful of those links:

Northwestern medical and surgical journal, Volume 12

Boston medical and surgical journal, Volumes 46-47

The New York medical times, Volume 3

Medical brief, Volume 7

Eclectic medical journal, Volume 36

Each article seems to have a slightly different variation on the pumpkin seed protocol, but they all seemed to be equally effective. As I remember, it appears that pumpkin seeds don't kill the tapeworm per se, but temporarily paralyzes it. When this happens, it is not able to cling to the intestinal wall, and is fairly easily flushed out with a kind of purge, such as castor oil or epsom salts.

In short, given how easy it is to pick up a tapeworm, and how difficult it is to get a positive diagnostic test for it, it sounds to me like an occasional pumpkin seed remedy for possible tapeworms would make a lot of sense. You can do the pumpkin seeds on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, and do a purge a couple hours later. Apparently, pumpkin seeds are used extensively in China for all kinds of different parasites. It's on my agenda to give it a try. Sounds benign enough, even for my sensitive system.

Wayne

 

[Sushi]

Sushi, was this Dr. Kevin Cahill? Did treating the parasites help your symptoms at all?

Yes, Dr. Kevin Cahill,

The very noticeable symptoms from the parasites resolved completely within a couple of weeks. At that time I'm sure I had the beginnings of ME/CFS but I was still working full time and hadn't been diagnosed. I don't think I noticed a change in general health--but I wasn't paying that much attention then--just a resolution of the very uncomfortable gut symptoms.

Sushi

 

[RosieBee]

Apologies for not getting back earlier; I was not doing to well for a while and was offline.

Thanks for the comments everyone.

I believe the DNA tests seem to be the ones with the best results. Not sure if I can get those tests done on the NHS (UK). I will print off some information you gave me a link for Nanonug and see if I can pursuade the doctor to use this test.

Thanks for the pumpkin seed info Wayne .... I read that the Ancient Roman soldiers used carry little bags of pumpkin seeds with them to deal with parasites. Tasty too.

Sushi - what was the successful treatment you had for the parasites Doctor Cahill found?

Cheers
RosieB

 

[Sushi]

Apologies for not getting back earlier; I was not doing to well for a while and was offline.

Thanks for the comments everyone.

I believe the DNA tests seem to be the ones with the best results. Not sure if I can get those tests done on the NHS (UK). I will print off some information you gave me a link for Nanonug and see if I can pursuade the doctor to use this test.

Thanks for the pumpkin seed info Wayne .... I read that the Ancient Roman soldiers used carry little bags of pumpkin seeds with them to deal with parasites. Tasty too.

Sushi - what was the successful treatment you had for the parasites Doctor Cahill found?

Cheers
RosieB

It was 3 antibiotics, but they would vary according to what is found. I didn't take flagyl though!

Sushi

 

[RosieBee]

Thanks Sushi

 

[tiredlight]

Did the parasitologist see any marker in your blood (high eosinophils)?

One doc told me you could also have too low eosinophils with parasites because the body uses them so much.

I also havent found a good parasitologist.

 

[xrunner]

My doctor has referred me to the London Hospital for Tropical Diseases for parasite testing.

I was tested there also but they didn't find anything. I had another test a couple of years later and still negative.
In spite of that I made progress with Ivermectin.
I don't think testing for parasites is very reliable. As with other chronic infections, clinical evaluation and response to treatment may be more important.
Unfortunately, this approach doesn't agree with the tenets of evidence-base medicine which is what you get these days. But that's what I would ask for.

 

[Sushi]

Hi, I got ME one year after my traveling in Vietnam and Cambodia. I'm still wondering if I have some invisible "nasties" too. No treatment helped me so far. Doctors did only blood tests for the most common tropical disease. And KDM did stool test but nothing "tropical" came out.

Sushi, can you please tell me names of "the nasties" you had? Did you feel better after treating them? Did the parasitologist see any marker in your blood (high eosinophils)? I'm also interested how much the examination was because I doubt I could find good parasitologist in my country.

I just saw this question. Yes, there were markers in the blood which normalized with treatment. Specifically: elevated Neutrophils and Monocytes and low Lymphocytes. Eosinophils were at the bottom of the normal range.

The "nasties" (it is hard to read the doc's writing--surprise!) were: E histolytica cysts & trophs, T Trichouris, pus 4t. Sounds absolutely lovely! It wasn't!

I don't have the invoice any more, but the blood and other tests were expensive. But worth it! These are real nasties.

Sushi