I've been tested positive for a few (!) gastro parasites

C

cvevri8000

Messages
15
As I mentioned in my introduction post, I never got proper CFS diagnosis and may end up not really qualifying for it, especially with this new discovery. Still, I think this post might be useful to people here.

After a suspected invasions I did PCR tests for a short list of most likely suspects and four tests came back positive. The doctor who suggested the test said that parasites are more common than patients and doctors alike tend to think and they might be the cause of my bad sleep, fatigue and other symptoms.

I don't want to get or share false hope that this will indeed turn out to be the root of my problems, but I still wanted to share this now to get feedback and let others consider parasites (even if they are not the root problem, weakened immune system can suffer from them more). I'll continue reporting whether there's any progress as I'll be going through therapy.
 
BrightCandle

BrightCandle

Senior Member
Messages
1,210
cvevri8000 said:
As I mentioned in my introduction post, I never got proper CFS diagnosis.
Click to expand...

People don't typically have a ME/CFS diagnosis. Usually what happens is a doctor does some basic blood tests, finds nothing and then claims the patient is depressed and tries to get them to exercise. This goes around a few times with the patient getting worse until the doctor tries to force them onto anti depressants and anxiety drugs and the patient looses confidence. It could be the case there are 20 already known causes of all ME/CFS but no GPs ever run the necessary tests. Its not like the disease doesn't show up, it does on immunology tests, on organic acid tests and numerous others, its that doctors never run them and refuse to when asked by the patient. Parasites and also severe gut dysbiosis all perfectly plausible explanations for the condition. I think people assume doctors have done all they could to exclude every other possibility before arriving at ME/CFS but that just isn't the case, people either get the diagnosis well before all the possibilities are exhausted or they run out of faith in their doctor long before that point probably because that doctor will never give them a diagnosis of anything but depression.

The more you read about ME/CFS patients the more you realise its a crisis in healthcare and how its practiced, its intentional avoidance of patients that are more complex than a basic blood test. Good on yours to bother looking for an explaination, one of the very very rare ones.
 
L

lenora

Senior Member
Messages
5,011
@cvevri8000......Good Morning! It's good to know that you have a diagnosis and I hope that you'll soon be feeling better than ever.

Since antibiotics are supposedly not used to kill parasites, exactly what is the treatment, apart from no sugar or junk food? I can believe that parasite are more of a problem than most people believe.

Good luck to you. I know that we'd most appreciative if you allowed us to follow you during your treatment. Be healthy! Yours Lenora.
 
C

cvevri8000

Messages
15
The diagnostician didn't prescribe treatment, it's likely I'm only going to meet up parasitologist and start treatment next week. I'm a little bit hesitant on listing my parasites cause the short list to test for was given after a thorough examination and it wouldn't be good if other people just test for the same parasites (and potentially find nothing)... If the treatment does go well, I'd like to help people figure out how to find the right beasts to look for. I'll ask the doctor team what are the most common hits / what are the odds of hitting them etc

One of the parasites that seems to be very common though is lamblia (giardiasis)

Thanks for the support, I'll be updating regularly (ha-ha, hopefully I don't get too poisoned at the beginning though~~)
 
C

cvevri8000

Messages
15
Quick update: I got Albendazole prescription for my parasites (along with some generic meds) and I'm taking my first pill tonight (it's a 5 day course). Doctors are hopeful eradicating parasites can help me, but also referred to check my thyroid (I'll write about that adventure separately). I'll keep you updated.
 
C

cvevri8000

Messages
15
Day one: not feeling much different, didn't sleep enough, but can't attribute that to medicine. Not that I'm supposed to feel any different just yet.
 
C

cvevri8000

Messages
15
Day two (and a third): a shadow of feeling improvement was hovering over me today, but I've been sleeping somewhat worse lately (unrelated to meds) so it's still really hard to assess.
 
C

cvevri8000

Messages
15
So I've finished the five day course. Not sure if my condition is any better or on the road to getting there. Unfortunately the stress from the war is affecting me too much at the moment. I got elevated levels of tpo antibodies too and will be seeing doctor about that shortly
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back