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Well, the miscarriage wasn’t complete and earlier this week, I had profuse bleeding, including the passing of large blood clots and couldn’t get in to see an OB/GYN since they were all out delivering babies. Finally got seen on Thursday, and there was one piece of placenta just hanging out by my cervix; she fished it out, and hopefully that is that. The bleeding has gone down to almost nothing, finally. Thank God.

But the bad news, is all of those iron shots in the Spring have been depleted. I haven’t tested how much blood I lost, but I am pale and dizzy, my heart is racing, and I can’t do much around the house. I’ve got that lovely wan look so favored in Victorian times. Now my red lipstick looks more dramatic! Read the rest of this entry »

So, looks like the FDA discovered Jasper and AIT’s orginization.  Doesn’t look good.  We may be on our own from here on out.  Considering the FDA has frequently blocked importation of TSO, which is supposedy created in a reputable pharamaceutical company in Germany and/or Thailand, I don’t think they’re going to OK a hookworm incubation in the US.

First incubation attempt will be today.  I’m going to try mixing the 31 eggs I just counted in their salt-water solution into a few grams of my husband’s stool, and smear it on a piece of filter paper, placing that in a petri dish with some filtered water, then place that in a dehydrator at the appropriate temperature.  I’ll write a hookworm incubation 101 if I’m successful.

The Australian celiac disease trial just released their data.  It worked!  Those with celiac disease were able to eat bread with much less intestinal damage than the placebo. And everyone elected to keep their hookworms.  And they were only given 15 worms total, so that’s pretty amazing.

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2009/s2721104.htm

and

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26244355-26103,00.html

I can contest that I was on SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) which was originally meant for celiac disease for 7 years before trying hookworms.  And one of the greatest pleasures of hookworms is the ability to eat sourdough bread.  I’ve since cut it out, mostly because I’m still suffering from nutritional deficiencies from years of Crohn’s, and I figure white flour isn’t doing me any good.  But there’s nothing like toast and tea for breakfast after years of deprivation.

Try some hookworms.  It’s good for what ails ya.

Not content to be one of the first women with Crohn’s disease trying hookworms, I thought I’d just throw a new loop in the mix.  I just found out I am pregnant!  Oh boy.  My new worms just attached yesterday as well.  Now, besides approximately 20 hookworms, I have a new parasite growing inside of me.  I have been wanting and trying to get pregnant for many years, and to no avail.  I actually just took an FSH test last week, wondering if I was entering perimenopause, but…er, no.

Only 2 weeks pregnant, and I shoudn’t be announcing it.  I had a miscarriage years ago, so I know this couldn’t take.  But I’m not the kind to hold things in, and if I miscarry, I’d rather have the support of my friends who knew what I was going through.

Still having insomnia and anxiety, which sucks.  I was just ready to go on an SSRI/ benzodiazapen combo, but…I guess not now.  Didn’t fall asleep unti 4 AM last night, but slept until 9:45, so at least I’m sleeping some.  Hoping the fatigue and exhaustion kicks in in a week, and I go back to a normal sleeping schedule.

Oh, how life is so interesting!

You can add fertility to the list of the benefits of hookworms.

This last week has been one of my more trying ones.  My husband left on Saturday, and that night, I didn’t sleep at all.  That reawoke the anxiety/insomnia that I’ve now experienced last month, and in July; always on my PMS week.  The first was when I was travelling, so I wrote it off to travel insomnia.  It took a few days of being home to go back to normal.  The next month I was fine, just a few teary days and night sweats before bleeding.  Then September, it happened again with a vengeance.   I tried Lexapro and it got 10X worse, so quit after a week.  I got more worms and the high made things all better.  Then I was sleeping fine, until my husband left, and it’s been one week of hell – every night, lying awake for hours, my heart pounding, my chest constricted.  I’m taking valerian, melatonin, hot baths, magnesium glycinate – finally, Benadryl the last 3 nights has allowed me to drop off around 12:00.  I sleep until 8, so at least I’m getting my sleep, but I’m a nervous wreck.

I saw am MD I used to go to and he feels that nutritional deficiencies – particularly low zinc, B6, D, and magnesium are contributing to the anxiety.  I got a magnesium IV, and I’m twitching WAY less, so I think this was key to that problem.  I’ll get another one next week.  I felt more calm – until I went to bed.  Then he started me on a huge regime of vitamins and minerals – chromium, vit D, K, A, magnesium, manganese, B6 and the other B’s…but now I have diarrhea, although I was kind of having sloppy stools before.

Then I went to an accupuncturist the next day. Before reading anything of my history, she checked my urine and read my pulse.  Said I wasn’t absorbing fats or proteins correctly, and asked if I had a lot of flatulence/ digestive problems?  Resounding yes.  She told me that in the late 30′s, PMS gets worse, but then mellows out somewhat for about 10 years before true menopause kicks in.  But my hormones are out of wack, but she wanted to get my digestion better by using herbal bitters and probiotics first before messing with the hormones.  She recommended VSL#3, which is what the gastroentrologists recommend, so I added that back in last night.  Hopefully that will help with the diarrhea.

I am approaching 21 days for this latest cohort of hookworms, so that may also be contributing to the diarrhea.  I had total night sweats last night, so my period should be arriving today or tomorrow – thank God!  I hope with my husband’s return, and PMS past, I will go back to sleeping.  But if I don’t tolerate the oral vitamins, I don’t know how I’m going to get my nutrients up to ward off next month’s doom.

My family is encouraging me to go to a psyciatrist and get Xanax, another SSRI, a sleep aid.  I just am so reluctant to go down that road.  And how will it affect the Crohn’s?  How will it affect the worms?  My brother said, your doctor should know, and I just laughed.  Does anyone know a pychiatrist who would be well versed in Crohn’s and hookworms?

I may add St. John’s wort to the mix next week, but  I am doing so many things at once, it doesn’t seem right.  But this anxiety/insomnia is one of the harder things I’ve gone through – and it’s not like my Crohn’s is doing well either.  I have no appetite, I have to force myself to eat.  I’ve gone back to SCD, but it’s not making a damn difference.

I thought the hookworms were the answer.  I don’t know what’s happening to me anymore.  It’s just a constant nightmare of one symptoms after another.  I wish I could go backwards and take supplements all along and had stuck more to my diet, so I wouldn’t have landed in this mess.  But I’m trying not to think that way.  That this too will pass.  That I will figure out what my body needs.

I just want to be well.