Happy Hookworms!

Happy New Year to all those willing to experiment on themselves. I have lost all my hookworms and don’t know why, and am going to reinfect in a week and see what happens. Ahoy! To navigate the ship in uncharted waters, the immunological Bermuda triangle, and I am just as blind as I was a year ago. Because no one will measure my immunological changes on hookworms, I get to experiment on myself, yet again, and hopefully it will work with just one infection of 10 larvae.

Will I react more or less severely than the first time? Now that my immune system is primed: I infected a total of 8 times last year – the first with 10 larvae, then 10 weeks later 2, then by 2′s and 3′s every week until week 18, then I stopped. Now I’ve waited 8 months, and am trying 10 again. Oh the joy in not knowing what the hell’s going to happen!

Should I use endocort to temper the inflammatory intestinal response? Who knows? I may get some just in case, though I’ve never used it before, so I’m weary. Will I respond with diarrhea or a hookworm high? Will week 3 be difficult? Will it take sooner to gain effect, or will my immune system just automatically kill off the infection?

Oh, the loneliness of going where no woman has gone before. I hate that I don’t have a guide.  Sigh.