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I may never be well

June 9, 2008 in studies by I | No comments

I have been researching digestive function. And concluded it’s far too late for
me to be normal.

http://microbiologybytes.wordpress.com/2008/05/30/gut-feeling/

The crux of it is; the human immune system is intrinsically linked
with certain bacteria, and bacterial dysbiosis may be a cause of
inflammatory bowel disease:
“A new study just published shows that symbiotic bacteria residing in
the mammalian gastrointestinal tract produce molecules that mediate
healthy immune responses and protect the host from inflammatory
disease. The authors propose that the mammalian genome does not encode
for all functions required for immunological development but rather
that mammals depend on critical interactions with their microbiome
(the collective genomes of the microbiota) for health.”

So I have my hookworms now, reducing my inflammation down to almost
zero. I only have 0.1 to go to reach normalicy. So why am I still
having diarrhea? Perhaps my flora is so unbalanced, that I am unable
to properly absorb certain foods. And as probiotics are shown not to
implant, what the hell can I do? I could carefully manipulate my
diet, take $500 of VSL a month, and it would barely alter my flora. It
seems impossible that one can ever return to a state of natural
balance, once that balance has been blasted by antibiotics,
longstanding disease, surgery, etc.

I’m realizing that despite hookworm’s efficacy, I may never be well.
How can a colon that’s had 1/4 of it cut out, with flora that’s been
permanently altered recover? No amount of diet or bacterial
intervention is going to recreate the appropriate mammalian microbiome.

Our outer biome and inner biome are permanently disfigured. I am
going to try to enjoy my time left, not knowing if my current health
(as it is) will last months or a few years. As microbrial balance is
fruitless, I am bringing the joys of chocolate and toast back into my
life. It’s like the patient dying of lung cancer. Should you offer
her the last cigarette?

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depression: try worms and dirt!

April 15, 2008 in depression, hygiene hypothesis, studies by I | No comments

Just found this new study;

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18328783

I just read the abstract, but basically it’s linking depression and
anxiety to our modern lifestyle. Is it just me, or are most of your
relatives on anti-depressants? My whole family needs worms!

I’m not surprised that in the inflammatory reaction period to
hookworm, some of us are getting depression. And then, some of us are
having moments of calm, elation, or just a lifting of a heavy burden
of dread. I’m so curious to see if my mental state changes radically
once I’m in remission. My husband is finding me much more humorous
lately. Perhaps since I am no longer living in fear of impending
death? Or its the hookworms; it’s hard to tell.

Amazing how the absence of microbes can cause so much
misery. I’m going out to the garden now to raise my spirits. It
seems that getting your hands in the dirt, literally, can cure depression;

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article1596735.ece

Worms, dirt, a pet pig (prevents Crohn’s as long as you don’t give
antibotic feed, then you’re more likely to get asthma). We’re getting chickens this
Thursday; I wonder what protection they’ll bring? At the very least, some good eggs.

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Week 10: More worms?

February 28, 2008 in helminth immunology, helminth therapy, studies, symptoms by I | No comments

Always an American, too many choices.

Oh, the selection in the hookworm market! I can a) wait and get no more larvae; if I’m not better by X amount of months I can b) get more slowly – 2 or 3 every few weeks or c) get more quickly and possibly suffer the ill effects. I’m impatient. I want wellness now. But which method to choose? I deliberate constantly.

The choice of worm burden seems arbritrary. Throw up your hands and choose between 10 and 50 worms, with no idea of how many will remain, how many at a time will “stick”, how the body will react. Worm Russian Roulette.

This study showed that 2 already infected healthy men, who added 50 worms, ended up with an immune response that basically killed the new infection, or displaced some of the old ones, so that they ended up with the same worm burden they started with:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16890593

So how many to add? Who knows? I don’t want to go back to Mexico to get reinfected. I live in the same town as Jasper, so perhaps we could reinfect locally. I don’t think this therapy should be illegal in the US – if it is proven that we as human animals are meant to coexist with helminths, then we should be able to get free worms, or just pick up a prescription in the larval section of your favorite drug store. But that is probably never going to happen. Most people will have to wait decades for the drug derivative.

But I am a walking scientific experiment. Dr. Pritchard gets the deserved admiration for infecting himself with 50 larvae as part of the dose-ranging trials of hookworm. They define the necessary eggs per gram of stool for therapeutic effect as 50 eggs/gram. All doses; 10, 25 and 50 (the woman who got 100 had to terminate due to relentless vomiting and diarrhea) resulted in the necessary egg count. I should test to see where I’m at, but I don’t know how.

Yet I’m tired, still so tired. Will more worms boost me or simply add to the fatigue? The Crohn’s study is still recruiting, so no one knows yet if 10 worms will be enough. The average worm burden in New Guinea is 25 worms, and one assumes they are gotten in little doses, starting from childhood, not 10 or 20 all at once. Which is where “trickle therapy” comes in. In an interview, Dr. Pritchard said,

“The average worm burden of a person in Papua New Guinea is 25 worms. It’s this sort of level that we think is beneficial. Whether we can mimic this in a hospital in Nottingham is difficult to say, because we’ll be giving ten worms in one dose after the person has already developed allergy. So the trial may not work this time. We may have to go back to ‘trickle infections’ where we give small numbers over an increased length of time.”

So should I try the trickle infection now, for lack of better knowledge? So many choices, just one body to experiment on. What do I do?

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Weeks 9 & 10: Flu

February 27, 2008 in studies by I | No comments

I’ve got the Flu From Hell. But my arthritis is totally gone. Hurrah! The only nice thing about the flu, is when you’re finally better, you’re just feeling lucky to be alive. And it usually temporarily helps the Crohn’s, after getting significantly worse, but only with a high fever. Sort of kills the bacterial overgrowth in the gut, or something.

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