stomach parasites

[judderwocky]

OMG. So, i think i mentioned a couple of weeks ago that i started taking diatomaceous earth.

apparently i have some sort of parasite. thats not a medical diagnosis.... more of a recent observation ... you know one of those rare moments in life where what you see actually explains a lot and answers a bunch of questions all at once... my own little digestive Zeitgeist.

i'm a little shocked. i doubt I had this when i first got sick ... they tested me for infections and parasites supposedly... so i'm guessing its either a weird variety they missed, or i picked it up from around the house. we have a bunch of stray cats in our neighborhood, and they definitely hunt in our yard, i'm thinking i maybe picked up something in the garden. they say people with CFS are more vulnerable to infection by these kinds of "critters".

either way. the diatomaceous earth seems to be working, i wouldn't have even known i had something if i hadn't started taking it.

although,i would exercise caution... they release toxins as they die, and i can say it hasn't been pleasant.

ugh. i feel gross. and creeped out.

 

[knackers323]

where do you buy this? does it take a few weeks to work? I have some sort of parasite too that no one can seem to identify

 

[Karin]

Wow, interesting. I had never heard of this earth before. What exactly did you see? Big things? What were they looking like? Also, how can we be sure that this earth does not include eggs of something? Did you have any side effects from taking this earth? Does it irritate the gut or not? Thanks.

 

[HopingSince88]

There is a special kind of diatomaceous earth that is food grade.

Years ago I bought this once for gardening purposes. It is 'sharp' microbits of earth made from silica (glass) that dissuade crawling critters from attacking plants because it is physically abrasive, so the pests won't crawl over it. I seem to recall a warning on the bag to wear protective gloves and a face mask when applying it. Breathing it it can be hazardous, or some such thing. So what I bought was definitely not food grade version.

Make sure you get the right kind!

 

[jayhawk]

I was supprised when I took CFS sputum, stained it and looked under the microscope... as I found a yet unidentified parasite. It appears to be different than the Klapowi parasite but it is also very small and nematode like. Patients are often tested for known parasites via stool but it amazes me how many CFS patients have never had a blood smear or sputum sample examained under the microscope. Its like technology has replaced a common sense step one. These simple examinations can often be very telling.

 

[Stone]

I haven't read every word of this thread so forgive me if it's been mentioned already, but you can also de-worm your pets with DE. Just mix a little in their food once a week or monthly as you feel is necessary. You can rub it into their fur to control fleas and ticks, too. It's also great for pest control around the house. The pests (roaches, ants or what have you) crawl across it and it slices their little buggy feet to shreds and they kind of bleed to death after a while. To them, this fossilized plankton is like broken glass, which cuts their tiny exoskeletons so they basically just ooze to death, over a little while. For pests without an exoskeleton to speak of, such as parasites, well, so much the better<maniacal laughter>. Doesn't work as well on spiders because they walk more in their pointey tippy spidery toes, but if you splash a bit in their webs, they find other places to set up shop. You can sweep it into the crevices in your floors, or even down into your carpet where fleas and ticks live. I don't know if it works on bedbugs, but if I had them, I'd certainly give it a try. Bugs really hate the stuff and it's harmless to us, just don't eat tons of it or anything and don't get it in your eyes if you can help it. It's a life-saver for people with chemical sensitivity or MCS. Incidentally, we do consume a modest amount of this in our food without knowing it in the form of silicon dioxide. They put it in soup mixes and powdered things to keep them "free flowing" and prevent clumping. Sometimes you might even see it on dry beans or lentils. Keeps the rif-raf out.

 

[judderwocky]

I haven't read every word of this thread so forgive me if it's been mentioned already, but you can also de-worm your pets with DE. Just mix a little in their food once a week or monthly as you feel is necessary. You can rub it into their fur to control fleas and ticks, too. It's also great for pest control around the house. The pests (roaches, ants or what have you) crawl across it and it slices their little buggy feet to shreds and they kind of bleed to death after a while. To them, this fossilized plankton is like broken glass, which cuts their tiny exoskeletons so they basically just ooze to death, over a little while. For pests without an exoskeleton to speak of, such as parasites, well, so much the better<maniacal laughter>. Doesn't work as well on spiders because they walk more in their pointey tippy spidery toes, but if you splash a bit in their webs, they find other places to set up shop. You can sweep it into the crevices in your floors, or even down into your carpet where fleas and ticks live. I don't know if it works on bedbugs, but if I had them, I'd certainly give it a try. Bugs really hate the stuff and it's harmless to us, just don't eat tons of it or anything and don't get it in your eyes if you can help it. It's a life-saver for people with chemical sensitivity or MCS. Incidentally, we do consume a modest amount of this in our food without knowing it in the form of silicon dioxide. They put it in soup mixes and powdered things to keep them "free flowing" and prevent clumping. Sometimes you might even see it on dry beans or lentils. Keeps the rif-raf out.

Exactly.... I wanted something i could deworm myself with , but not have to worry about dumping more poison into my body. The die off of these things is... intense... no need to make it worse

What i saw, were the shredded remains of what appear to be about 1 inch long clearish worms... also i think i migh thave gotten rid of some other sort of weird ciruclar parasite... some sort of flukes or whipworms....

Just make sure you get FOOD GRADE DE.... its bad to inhale any kind of DE the way it is bad to inhale any kind of dust or flour repeatedly... the lungs just don't like the irritation... but its completely safe to consume.

i have been reading some interesting thing about the role stomach parasites play in the progression of other retroviral states... particularly HIV... the parasites make you weaker and more susceptible to viruses and its actually thought HIV wouldn't have spread so quikcly in africa if the stomach parasites hadn't been so prevalent

the stuff i am taking is called "Codex Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth, Red Lake Earth, with Calcium bentonite!"
the package notes that it is approved for mass consumption by the FDA.

also as an aside... there are a number of farms and animal shelters that use this exclusively. I've read that individuals working with animals (people that have their animals tested frequently) say the tests and accuracy are pretty low... something like were only capable of detecting about 2% of the species, and we only get it right like 20% of the time.

One woman noted that she sent samples in from Five rescue dogs (actually 3 dogs, and 2 wolves) all known to be visibly positive for worm infestation. None of the samples came back positive, and there are a lot of these stories.

 

[HopingSince88]

Thanks for this tip, Judderwocky. I have a cat and a dog at home...and the occasion visit from a mouse or bat. So cleaning yourself out might be a really good idea.

 

[judderwocky]

Apparently the kill off with these things takes a while... the larger ones take longer and more diatomaceous earth to die off... i worked up from 1/2 teaspoon once a day... and am now up to 1 table spoon twice a day. the worms are much larger now. i'm horrified. its like a creepy sci fi flick. I wouldn't have even known to worry about these had i not started eating the DE.

 

[Stone]

My godness! Just think how much better you'll feel without those things sponging off your energy and nutrients. I sure hope you do find general improvement after all this. Please keep reporting how you're feeling. I'm thinking of trying it myself, just for assurance. I don't have any reason to suspect parasites except that I've lost about 30 lbs in the last 6 months while in bed....:worried:...but other than that, nothing in particular...

 

[judderwocky]

My godness! Just think how much better you'll feel without those things sponging off your energy and nutrients. I sure hope you do find general improvement after all this. Please keep reporting how you're feeling. I'm thinking of trying it myself, just for assurance. I don't have any reason to suspect parasites except that I've lost about 30 lbs in the last 6 months while in bed....:worried:...but other than that, nothing in particular...

Yeah... i just thought it would help my skin ... i have eczema and i heard the DE was good for skin and nail issues... i knew it could be used for internal parasites... i just didn't think i had any.... LOL

i'm still really in shock about this.

My guess is... it can't hurt lol!

Just go slow... they don't die quietly... and its definitely given me a fever, lot of nausea... etc... you might take antioxidants with it to help with the toxins they give off... I was taking N-A-C and it seems to help some.... but even green tea would help.... the DE itself is inert, but will bind some of the toxins as well... also if you get DE with calcium bentonite its supposed to bind up more of the toxins as well... the kind with the clay in it... people seem to think that really helps take the edge of it. apparently smaller animals/kids really need to watch the toxin levels... some worms are apparently really bad at producing poisons that make the heart palpitate. ..... and that can be a problem no matter what de-wormer you use... but at least with the DE youre dealing with just the parasites toxins and not the additional toxicity of the prescription... flagyl is supposed to be pretty brutal.

 

[Stone]

I've taken flagyl before. It usually doesn't cause problems with normal people, as long as they do not drink alcohol. I haven't taken it since I've had CFS so God only knows. The list of things I can't take seems to be longer than the list of ones I can actually tolerate. I might try the DE but I've got a whole lot else on my plate right now. Still ponderin' in it.

 

[RustyJ]

Disturbing! Judders, any chance of IDing the worms?

 

[judderwocky]

Disturbing! Judders, any chance of IDing the worms?

some of them are too shredded from the DE to identify... others appear to be about the size of a pencil. I have no idea what species they even are. I do believe there were some flukes.

has anybody ever used artemesia annua? sweet wormwood? i read the walter reed medical center has tested it for malaria and its used for parasites supposedly giardia too... i'm kinda interested....

 

[Athene]

When my Dad was a kid in the 1930s, his mother used to make him drink a small bottle of castor oil once and month, which of course kept him on the loo for half a day. This "home deworminating" was completely standard among working class families in those days.
Nowadays we in the developed world think we're so clean that parasites don't exist here any more. Doctors never test for them and don't even think about them. The lab tests for them are useless, with reliability rates of 20 percent or less!
I think parasites are rife in the developed world. Scientists who know anythying about them usually write that there are still many types that remain undiscovered. I often wonder if the excess of allergies we have nowadays is because we no longer keep parasites under contorl, so we are overly filled with highly active eosinophils.

Thanks for this thread, Judders, and please keep us posted. Have you thought about taking some worms to a lab? There must be somewhere that could identify them.

 

[richvank]

Hi, all.

In talking to a physician in the Los Angeles area who is both a gastroenterologist and an internist, I learned that he finds that wealthier people have more problems with parasites. He believes the reasons are more foreign travel, more eating in restaurants, and hiring of domestic help to prepare meals at home. Very interesting!

Rich

 

[Levi]

Look anything like this?

 

[judderwocky]

Look anything like this?

the big ones look like this sorta... maybe a bit less dark...

http://www.petclinicgulfcoast.com/sites/site-2646/images/da36c04b-7f00-0001-5da7-5a1da29ab2c6.jpg

some of them are more shredded than others....

there are also some much smaller ones that look like:

To be honest. The more I think about this, the more I am pissed at the doctors that overlooked this... how can a doctor in this country miss this sort of thing?
I always assumed this was like a third world sort of problem.... I'm finding out more and more that we have a huge parasite problem in this country that... on top of everything else... also seems to be undiagnosed.

 

[Carrigon]

There are a few other things that can help. Tea made of cloves. If you drink cloves tea, sometimes you will see worms pass. Ginger, fresh ginger. If you eat fresh ginger, the powdered doesn't really seem to do it, ginger has been proven to kill worms. Pineapple, only the fresh kind, not the canned. Fresh pineapple for a few days usually helps kill worms. Fresh pumpkin seeds eaten whole with the shell, you can chew them. They have been known to expel worms. OTC, PinX for pinworms also works on round worms. I've been known to take PinX every once in a while and each time I do that, my stomach becomes totally quiet and settled.

I have no doubt most people are carrying some kind of parasite and many of them are resistant, too. I had a cat that had some kind of roundworm that we absolutely could not get rid of. We got all different kinds of meds from the vet, nothing worked. The vet started to call it the super worm. We couldn't get it out of the cat. He would still barf up a live worm. And that's with using modern broadspectrums on it. That cat slept like a hat on my head for half my life and I was the one who changed his cat box. I have no doubt I am infected with the same unkillable worm.

 

[camas]

As Athene mentioned, it used to be standard practice to worm people as well as animals. My dad and his sisters got the regular treatment growing up along with all the ranch animals. When I was a kid we regularly wormed our cattle and other animals, but not ourselves. I guess castor oil had just gone out of fashion.

Thanks for bringing up this subject. I hope getting rid of all those nasty old worms helps you feel better. I think I'll cowgirl up and get some DE too and see if anything turns up.