10 More Worms Go In

I just added 10 more hookworms yesterday. For the last month, my symptoms have been slipping. More mucus, bowel pain, looser stools, night sweats. At first I thought I had the flu – I’ve noticed since hosting hookworms that I respond to flus differently. Rather than getting slammed with 103+ fevers for days, I fight them off for a couple of weeks – feeling only mildly sick for a while, then either get over them, or finally come down with fever for a few days, then feel kind of bad for a few more. I’m not sure which is worse; sometimes it’s nice just to get it over with, instead of feeling general malaise for weeks. But I haven’t had the wish-I-would -die kind of flus at all this year….just give me time, I guess.

Based on this huge population genetics study, it seems that IBD is a response to whatever variety of parasites our ancestors were fighting off, and then a manifestation of illness from removing the parasite from our inner ecosystem. Based on this theory, perhaps those of us with Crohn’s are better at killing our parasites – we would have been the strong of the tribe, hosting the least amount of worms. What that means for us experimenting with the worms after the fact, is perhaps we need to be dosed more frequently than just once every few years. I lost my worms last year and don’t know how. I’d like to blame it on the dosing schedule, but I hosted worms until September, at least according to my EOS. (Since my baseline eosiniphil is 0). So, maybe dosing every 4-6 months is going to be my medicine. Much safer and more fun than Remicade every 6-8 weeks, is all I can say.

So 10 new worms went in. The itch was enormous. It’s itching as I type. I’m not really getting the hookworm high, at least not yet. But the nice benefit is my nausea has dropped off considerably. I went home after the infection and walked to a Thai restaurant and ate with gusto – I haven’t had an appetite for weeks. I then walked to the library and back home, and cleaned the house. I’ve been morose and sick feeling for about a month, so this was a quick improvement.

I also quit the Lexapro. After one week, all I had to show for its effect was a huge increase in anxiety, looser bowel movements, and constant nausea. I suppose I could have stuck it out, but why? Last night I slept, with no chest constriction at all, and made love to my husband for good measure.

My ilium still hurts, and I’m having mucus and loose stools. No miracles. But we’ll see what the weeks look like. I’m looking forward to my egg counts. (Could I have ever imagined I’d write that?) So curious what the new worms will do to the old. They’re swimming in my blood stream! And my skin is reacting like crazy to the invadors who are long past that entry point.

Month 7, and day 1. 20 worms total. (Assuming none have died, which is probably false.)

I persevere.