Archived News of the Week

Slithery Things: Part I

"Travelling light, I thought I was returning home with nothing but my notes. I stopped in Ethiopia to break up the long return journey and in those few days, I ate something poisonous. The morning I left Addis Ababa my bowels exploded, not simple squitters but an infestation.

'"Parasites,'", my doctor said. For months nothing seemed to work on easing my aching guts. I was inert, weak and with the odd debauched nausea of an extravagant illness. I felt like the cursed explorer in Edmund Lucas White's horror story, 'Lukundoo' who falls ill in Africa and breaks out in carbuncles, each septic bulge containing a plum-sized African head, 'hideous, gibbering with wicked wee eyes.' " Paul Theroux writing in Dark Star, his novel from 2003 recounting his travels overland from Cairo to Cape Town.

Last summer I had a double whammy: I slipped and fell into a mountain creek while hopping across slick rocks. I not only broke the ring finger on my right hand but as I went face first into the creek, I inadvertently got some creek water in my mouth. Since I was more concerned about my broken finger, the second whammy took me by surprise. A few days later, I had undeniable evidence that I had contracted a tenacious and bowel erupting case of giardia. Probably not quite as bad as the africanized parasite that Paul Theroux got in Addis Ababa, but certainly not comfortable and certainly very urgent at times. For two months, I struggled with roiling and aching guts and explosive diarrhea as the numerous non-pharmaceutical anti-parasiticals I was taking struggled to overcome the giardia.

Most of you are aghast and disgusted and even a little offended when I tell you that I have found parasites in your body. First of all, your body as a host for some unwanted living thing is a hard concept to grasp and secondly some of you think it's an attack on your cleanliness. Believe me, your hygiene can be impeccable and you will still get a parasite.

Parasites are ubiquitous. I would venture to guess that 85% of my new patients show up with a slithery thing or two. When you are hosting parasites, they eat the food you eat, the supplements you swallow and when they run out of food, they might even start nibbling away at you. All they do is eat, lay eggs and excrete toxins. Different parasites eat different things: Do you crave sugar? You might have a sugar-loving parasite. Do you feel achy and flu-ey? Could be the excreted parasite toxins building up.

Parasites can be as big as a 33 foot long fish tape worm with thousands of segments laying more than 1,000,000 eggs per day or as small as a bacterium. Regardless of the size, all parasites act the same way: They all suck energy and nutrition from their host.

You probably have no idea where you could have gotten your parasite.. So, it's time for me to revisit the ubiquity and tenacity of our little slithery friends who love to live in our gut, or anywhere else they can set up camp to do their dirty work.

How do we get parasites? Here, let me count the ways: You allow your pets to kiss you on the mouth, you allow your pets to sleep with you, you go barefoot outside of the home, on the beach, in restrooms and in spas, travel in third world countries including Mexico, travel out of your usual area into a different environment within the United States, travel to the Bay Area or any coastal area within the United States, eat lightly cooked pork, salmon or tuna, sushi (even if you order cooked sushi - the same knives that cut the raw maguro are also cutting your cooked sushi), sexual contact with someone who has parasites, inhaling dust laden with parasite eggs, as in changing cat litter, swimming in creeks, falling in creeks, hiking in the mountains with your dogs who slurp out of creeks THEN give you big slobbery kisses; drinking unfiltered water from the tap, including unfiltered well water.

I find that people who have had a parasite tend to get them back. So, a history of parasite infections is a risk factor as they are tenacious creatures who love to come back and haunt you. (I have had at least two parasite infestations just since my bout with giardia last summer, and am dealing with one as I write this.)Also, someone with poor digestion may not have the necessary stomach acid to liquify the parasite, so they will tend to recur in these patients unless enzymes are given on a regular basis. Someone on any acid blocker for GERD or chronic heartburn will also tend to get parasites.

What are the symptoms of a parasite infection? Fatigue for no reason, swollen or achy joints, increased appetite or eating more than normal but still feeling hungry or a decreased appetite. You could be nervous, irritable or depressed from parasite toxins being secreted into your brain. Damp lips at night (drooling), dry lips during the day, bed wetting (esp. in children), restless sleep, grinding teeth while asleep, night sweats, blurry vision, frequent colds/flus, chronic feelings of unwellness, constipation, diarrhea, thinning or loss of hair, allergies, irritable bowel, rectal itching, gas or bloating no matter what you eat, abdominal or liver pain, mucus in the nose that is moist or encrusted, dark circles under the eyes , numb hands, bowel urgency, skin problems, rashes, strange, lingering coughs, hives, itchy skin, vertical wrinkles around the mouth, pale, anemic or yellowish skin, foul smelling stool, low back or kidney pain, indigestion, goopy eyes, rash that won't go away, sudden insomnia.

You can see that the symptoms are widely varied and that parasites can manifest as almost anything. As one of my teachers used to so elegantly intone, "Sometimes you ain't got what you think you got." I find that medical doctors often discount the existence of parasites and how thoroughly they can invade any and all organ systems including brain, skin and lungs.

Depending on their specialty, they might treat you with Effexor for your depression, steroids for your itchy skin and a codeine-based cough syrup for your cough. However, since the parasite problem is usually not a discrete or localized issue, you will not get well and will no doubt travel from doctor to doctor with your unresolved issues until someone mentions me or someone like me. As a last resort and because you don't have any other recourse, you make an appointment with me and, at your first visit, I find that you have (drum roll please) a parasite which is causing most of your problems.

Next time: What are some of the more common parasites , how can we get rid of them and how can we prevent another infestation.

Please note: I have two spots left in my Cleansing and Weight Loss class starting April 18th. If you are interested, call me right away.

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