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! :)
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