For the last week, my symptoms have worsened somewhat; more mucus, more frequent stools, pain in my intestines. There’s always the wonder, “Do I still have worms? Have I lost some?” I need to do an egg count and assess; it’s really the only sure-fire way to know if they’re still in there, since a few months ago I got a 0 on my eosoniphil count; the next month it was 192. Lab error, or ? Standard labs don’t always catch light infections, though I admit, I haven’t sent in a lab sample since December. So an egg count is on my list of to-do’s again.
Or was it something I ate? Or do I have a touch of the flu? With Crohn’s, there are so many choices.
And if I find I do have eggs, then I wonder… Would more worms at this point make me better, or would I go through an extended period of side effects? Is it better to wait for the longest period possible before reinfecting? If 10 worms help, do 20 help twice as much? What’s the best dosing schedule long term?
The “nueropathy”, or whatever it is, has come back with the late summer heat and lots of exercise. My daughter had her toe cramp for the first time in this period, and was very scared by the involuntary muscle movement. I’m back to not being able to stretch at night without getting a “charlie horse”. I’ve forgotten for weeks to take my magnesium supplement, so hopefully that will help. I still have no idea if the iron shots were the culprit, or low mineral levels, or drinking too much caffeine, if I’ve got some new weird disorder, if the worms are contributing, or everything combined. I hate not knowing.
And since I don’t know what level of infection to maintain, or what level I have, I wait and wonder. I wish we had more answers now, years into this. I don’t like playing with worms.
2 Comments
How do you measure egg count? Do you do your own microscopic work? Modern medicine is great for coming up with ways to measure things, studies to look at ‘adequate’ balances etc. which would be so useful for you I imagine, too bad you’re on your own so to speak. Good luck with finding your ‘worm balance’
Yeah, I borrowed a microscope, got all the equipment, and am doing my own Mc Master egg counts. (see http://waitingforthecure.com/I/2009/05/29/did-my-first-mcmaster-egg-count/
for more details)
I tried Quest, Stanford, UCSF, and UCDAvis last year, and none of them would do an egg count. They could tell me if I was infected with hookworms, and perhaps say if it was a light, heavy, or very heavy infestation. Since I only got 10-20 worms, this falls in the very light infection range I imagine, not always detectable. So alas, I am on my own for now.
I agree that modern medicine has an adequate way of measuring these things. But so far taking worms for therapeutic purposes is such a strange idea, most doctors are helping people get rid of worms, not measure their egg output.
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