Week 4- the "rash" and making yogourt

I wanted to mention a little bit about the "rash" that develops at the site of hookworm infection because it wasn't exactly what I expected. The site where you put the inoculated band aid on your arm leaves a little rash afterwards. Every dot is basically where the hookworms enter into your blood stream. Its very itchy and its very tempting to scratch the area. I guess the specific itch associated is called ground itch. It lasted for me, off and on, for two weeks. It eventually changes from being small little flat dots, to raised little dots. Its been four weeks for me and I still have it. It looks almost the same except it is finally starting to fade a bit. I recommend not scratching it because it makes the itch worse, just like when you have a mosquito bite and it could lead to a scar. I thought it might be gone in a week or so, but its still here! My little reminder. My mom's only lasted two weeks, but I have olive skin and typically scar very easily.

I was told by Dr Llamas, who supplied my worms that its very important to take probiotics while doing helminthic treatment. He specifically said that he recommends making my own yogourt if my lifestyle allowed it; otherwise, buy any good quality refrigerated probiotic. I was kinda curious about this. I've tried probiotics before and I didn't really find it made a difference. After further inquiry, I found out the actual reason why probiotics are recommended and why homemade yogourt is the method of choice.
I knew the hookworms latched onto the inside (the lumen) of the small intestine and through it they feed off the blood. That's why its important to eat a balanced diet and to prevent anemia. However, they don't just gulp down red blood cells whole. They actually only eat part of the red blood cells. They take the blood protein and basically spit out the rest, kinda like a choosy child who picks out the vegetables from their casserole, or whatever. What happens is, because only the protein from the blood is eaten, the iron portion of the blood cell (or the heme group) is removed from the partly eaten red blood cell and discarded back into the gut. (Now there are tons of bacteria in the gut, called indigenous micro flora. There is the good bacteria, the harmless stuff we need and we basically trade space in our intestines and food, for them to help us digest our food and synthesis some vitamins. There is also bad bacteria in gut which we try to keep under control by over crowding them with good bacteria. This kind of bacteria can make you sick, or steal your nutrients from you if they become too numbered. If there is more good bacteria then bad bacteria, that means there is less space for the bad bacteria, less food and nutrients and their numbers remain small so they can't do much damage).
So basically now we've set the scenery. We have a little ecosystem in our intestines and by adding the hookworms we have inadvertently changed the environment. Now there is much more iron in the gut. Guess what the bad bacteria prefer to eat? Iron. We've basically given them a buffet of their favourite foods. In order to keep them under control now, we have to consume foods rich in good healthy bacteria, like yogourt or supplement with probiotics. That way, even if the bad bacteria have lots of food they want to eat and multiply, there is not enough room because the space is filled with healthy good bacteria and the bad bacteria are smothered. That's my interpretation of it anyways.
Yogourt is the recommended probiotic because we actually have natural defenses against bacteria, good and bad. This is in our stomach, in the form of the highly acidic gastric juices! When we take probiotics by themselves, they are much more defenseless than if we consume them with yogourt. Yogourt protects the good bacteria from the stomach acid, so more of the microbes can make it into our intestine. Home made yogourt is the best because for one, it tastes the best, second, its cheaper and thirdly it is free from all those extra additives and preservatives the store bought stuff adds.
I've started it making yogourt myself the last couple weeks. I was surprised at how easy, cheap and delicious it is! Obviously it tastes like plain yogourt, no sugar added but there are many ways to improve the taste. You can add jam, fresh fruit, pie filling, sugar, sweetener, honey... basically whatever you like. I personally prefer it just plain.
Here is the recipe and site I used to make my yogourt.
I definitely recommend it! :)

They grow up so fast...

Well its day 26 and the worms were supposed to reach maturity day 21. I have noticed still that my arthritis is gradually coming back. I had to take an Advil the other night because the pain in my shoulder and wrist was too much for me to tolerate (like a 6-7 out of 10). The Advil took care of it, so can't complain there! Before the hookworms, Advil would only take the edge off, so that is an improvement.
The last two weeks have been extremely stressful for me with school. I had two midterms, a ridiculous essay that I had no idea how to write and I have a presentation coming up tomorrow. I was surprised because I have been able to work fairly consistently without having to worry too much about fatigue and didn't have any real interruptions. There were no signs of a flare even with all the stress I was feeling. But measuring my blood pressure, which was elevated, and looking in the mirror, there are obvious signs of stress. My face broke out with so much acne (I'm 26!! Too old for this level of acne!).
Of course this weekend, as soon as I had a chance to sit and relax I started feeling.... not soo good. The last three days I've woken up with a fairly persistent headaches. Ibuprofen takes the edge off, but it still lingers mildly which mostly just makes me cranky. My stomach has been sore this week too. Feels sore right now, like a my guts are swollen and bruised. Probably didn't help that I indulged in some not too good for me foods (chips and ice cream). I usually eat a fairly clean diet, but sometimes I just have to give in to cravings.
The number of trips to the washroom have increased to about 4 times a day from.... 1. I've also been feeling fatigue. Fatigue is the worst part, feels like I'm running on empty. I've also had low grade fever for the last week which I didn't notice until I went into my Remicade appointment and they measured my temperature. Realistically, these symptoms are mild and very tolerable for me right now. I don't feel they are caused from the worms. They are typical symptoms that I normally get, really much milder than usual, and I think as soon as my Remicade kicks in I'll be back to good in no time. Probably no more than 1-2 weeks. My last infusion was 1 week ago today.

Week 2

So far, this being the second week since being inocculated with hookworms, everything seems pretty much uneventful. My arthritis is still virtually non-existant. All I experience is maybe a few seconds to a minute of minor pain in my joints, a few times a week but that's all. Its also been 8.5 weeks since my remicade and no real signs of  a flare yet. I'm pretty stunned actually. If this is the honeymoon period, I wonder how long it'll last. I usually start to flare around 4-6 weeks after a remicade influsion.
The only thing I have noticed is that I'm starting to feel more fatigued, which started last weekend (today is thursday). But again, I can't attribute that to anything specifically because normally I feel pretty tired and need alot of sleep.

I was in the doctors office last week and I was looking at one of the health magazines in the reading room. In it there was an article about a man who was treating his IBD sucessfully with roundworms. That's so cool. I get excited when I see the media paying attention to this form of treatment. Its infuriating why there is not more public knowledge about it. I was surfing the net and found that autoimmunetherapies.com are actually offering a money back guarantee for individuals who have relapsing and remitting MS because  they've had positive results in 100% of patients. How is this being kept secret from the world?!

I also found some articles online which were promoting the development  of vaccines against helminths! I think that's astounding and very scary. The articles talk about how minor the effects of helminthic infection, how you need a heavy infection to even feel most sypmtoms (greater than 500 worms) and how they can improve allergies etc, and how they fit in the hygiene hypothesis. Then they introduce the vaccine. I think its targetted more towards the eek factor then anything rational. Just thinking how pharmaceutical companies could profit off this vaccine makes me feel sick. First, profit from the vaccine itself, then profit from all the drugs used to treat resulting autoimmune diseases and allergies arising from the loss of helminths around the world. Its not enough these diseases and allergies are more prominent in developed countries, let's bring them to undeveloped countries too!

I strongly feel helminthic treatment should be legal. People should be given accurate information and be able to make decisions for themselves. If we want to infect ourselve with parasites because it makes us feel better that's our choice! At least we won't have to worry about getting cancer from the hookworms or dying from an infection because our immune system has been purposefully suppressed for years!

Anyway, I've been feeling really good so far and am hoping it will continue to last. :)

Day 5

So far since being inoculated with the hookworms, nothing eventful has really happened. The infection site on my arm is still red, though no longer inflamed, just kind of bruised looking.  As time  has past, it has been getting progressively less itchy and the red spots went from being spots to actually being little raised bumps. It’s hard to believe that something so tiny left such big marks.

I think I’ve been experiencing some sort of honeymoon phase. Last week I was feeling on the verge of flaring and since then I’ve had a remarkable reversal of symptoms. Even my arthritis has been very mild. Also the abscess I had resolved on its own.  From what I hear from other people’s experiences with abscesses, I’m very lucky; through it’s probably more related to the Remicade then the worms. I spoke with my specialist yesterday and he is changing my Remicade back to 8 week intervals again. Hopefully the next time I see him in August, three months from now, we can extend that even longer. I have no idea yet how to taper off the medications, but I’m so excited to do it.

I love my GI specialist. He’s in Toronto, but I gladly make the two hour commute to see him. He is the third specialist I’ve had and by far the most caring and competent I’ve seen. He remembers me each time I visit and even small details of my history. When I see him I’m almost star struck or dazzled because to me, he’s my hero. He saved me and made me better when my last specialist basically ignored me and my symptoms. And he is on board with the hookworm therapy and supporting me through the process.

I’m not sure but I think I’ve passed the phlegm stage. A couple days ago I felt some heaviness deep in my chest and had a mild cough which has since resolved. It’s supposed to happen between day 2 and 8. Today is day 5. I was expecting something... more noticeable.

I wonder if I will experience any symptoms of the worms. So far it’s been clear sailing.