I’m using that particular platform to post these news items because it’s so much easier and quicker than adding a post here! Whatever may be said about Facebook, it’s certainly made posting comments and links a sublimely simple process!

So, if you want to keep up-to-date with what’s happening at the cutting edge of research into how worms and bugs affect our health for the better, just bookmark this Facebook page.

Disclaimer. The information here is presented in good faith and is accurate to the best of the author’s knowledge. It is offered as a courtesy for educational and informational purposes only, and is not intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of any disease. Nor is it intended as a substitute for the advice of a qualified healthcare professional.

Using MRI, they imaged the brain and found glutamate – a neurotransmitter involved in arousal – in abnormally high levels in people with RLS. (See here) The more glutamate the researchers found in the brains of those with RLS, the worse their sleep.

As there are already drugs on the market that can reduce glutamate levels in the brain, a pharmaceutical solution to this problem appears to be in sight. But do we really need this when an effective treatment for RLS already exists – and a natural one at that, which doesn’t require taking medication on a daily basis, with all its attendant side effects.

I first mentioned this nearly three years ago (here) when I reported how the same hookworms that had transformed my health in so many other ways had also completely stopped my Restless Leg Syndrome. And I have remained completely free from RLS during these three years except for a few weeks after I lost my helminths due to a very severe bout of diarrhoea.

I didn’t realise, at first, that I might have lost my precious Gut Buddies, but then forgotten symptoms began to reappear, including, eventually, the RLS, and it was this that made me realise that my “Old Friends” were gone.

I immediately ordered a replacement dose of 40 hookworms and, almost two weeks later, I was again enjoying a degree of relief, with the RLS being one of the first symptoms to recede.

That happened in December 2011, and I haven’t had a single moment of restlessness since. So I wish the researchers at Johns Hopkins well, but I’m really grateful that I won’t be needing their anticonvulsive gabapentin and enacarbil, as my own Dr Wriggly has a better prescription!

Disclaimer. The information here is presented in good faith and is accurate to the best of the author’s knowledge. It is offered as a courtesy for educational and informational purposes only, and is not intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of any disease. Nor is it intended as a substitute for the advice of a qualified healthcare professional.

Distribution of Autoimmune Disorders and Helminths

Clinical trials to assess the effects of reintroducing helminths are now underway at several centres around the world, but the trial process is so slow, and there is already so much evidence from epidemiological and other studies to support this practice that, in the last few years, many pioneering individuals have gone ahead and infected themselves with benign, therapeutic helminths.

Approximately 80% of these ‘citizen scientists’ have experienced remission from their disease, and the reports of over 30 worm-hosting Crohn’s patients are presented below.

“Out of the blue, the past four days I have been in a full remission…”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/1260

“… it seems to have worked…my doctor is pretty optimistic about it actually”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/1840

“… what can i say? life’s a party!”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/1981

“I feel like I have my life back.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/2712

“I continue to experience a gradual improvement in all of my crohns symptoms, but am relieved to see the lab work backs us my observations.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/2832

“Pain and discomfort are almost nil. No urgency at all. Best of all today had a solid bm… it is a real joy to see this definite improvement.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/2953

“… she feels good, good energy, good color, very little pain or discomfort. She sleeps well
and has a very good quality of life.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/2973

“One year ago I was ill and hospitalized. I could have died if I kept going the way I was going. My dad and I researched hookworm for 6 months and decided to go for it. I am living a normal life now. Living each day happy and healthy… I honestly believe the worms saved my life…”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/3008

“… my blood work shows that I am ‘healthy’. As my family dr. said, ‘You are
like a normal person.’ That’s something I have never heard!”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/3795

“… symptoms stopped when I took the TSO and subsequently the Whipworm… Plus now I am tapering off my Imuran without any worsening of my condition.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/4318

“… my allergies to the following foods have disappeared: avocado, cherries, plums, peaches, almonds… and am now in remission from severe Crohn’s disease.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/5348

“… the change is nothing short of spectacular and has really transformed my life.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/5901

“Gut wise i feel better than i have in many years, including when i was strictly on SCD for 2 years.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/6224

“My health is the best it has been for many years… Feeling really good and thankful…”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/6835

“We had the colonoscopy done yesterday with amazing results. The doctors first words to us after completion were ‘I’m now a believer in this therapy.’”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/6547

“I have found remission with the help of a tiny thing called a hookworm, Necator Americanus…”
http://lukecology.blogspot.com/2011/06/five-years-later.html

“I am feeling great – I haven’t felt like this in years. Total and complete remission.”
http://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=17&m=1914181

“I saw my Rhuematologist today and got my latest ANA, sed rate, CRP results. He had to re read them THREE times! Said he just couldn’t beleive it… the ANA shows me going into remission and the sed rate has gone from 350 to 40! and my CRP was near normal.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/7641

“HT is working for me! … It has stopped the crohn’s disease I have suffered from since the age of 12… I am now healthier than I have ever been.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/7655
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/7665

and yet more from this irrepressibly happy helminthophile: “Within 6 months I was off prednisone and achieved remission from CD… Symptom free and drug free after 33 years of illness! WOW!”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/7826

“Since using helminths I have been healthy enough to finish 2 Degrees and live and work abroad for the last 4 years without worry of being debilitated by CD… I would not be healthy and a productive human if it was not for helminths.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/7973

“My mom… was basically waiting for emergency surgery when she started hookworm therapy for Crohn’s disease. She only has five feet of small bowel left, and the surgery would have made it necessary for a permanent feeding tube. That was almost a year ago and now she’s far from needing surgery. She was living off Ensure and now eats food again… She started with 10 hookworms then six months later took 15 more. She’s not cured but has a quality of life she was never able to achieve with pharmaceuticals.”
(Reported in a private discussion, 2011.)

“I have had 3 resections with 6-8 inches of small intestine taken out each time. The last one was in 2004 and since going on helminthic therapy and gluten-free diet, I haven’t needed surgery.”
(Reported in a private discussion, Jan 2012)

“I have had five resections, and have had the helminths for 14 months and feel great. At the time I got my hw, I was heading for my sixth bowel resection, and permanent feeding tube. I escaped that scenerio by a hair. I do not get strictures anymore.”
(Reported in a private discussion, Jan 2012)

“…almost 2 years into therapy… and officially had my last infliximab infusion as they are no longer required as the worms are controlling my crohns, happy days. 12 months ago I wasn’t even lasting 4 weeks between infusions and was facing colon removal and permanent bag, so I had a 2nd hw infection and it just got better and better. Now my crp is low and I reach the 12 week between infusions and still have no symptoms so it is no longer required.”
(Reported in a private discussion, Mar 2012)

“I have now had 4 doses of 35 hookworm … I’m drug-free, have had a long period of being symptom-free. Well worth the trip so far.”
http://hookworm4crohns.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/day.html

“His disease affects his entire digestive tract from mouth to anus…. He has been hospitalized at least yearly more often multiple times per year since he was ten. We started combination therapy (hookworm and whipworm) in September of 2011. He has not been in the hospital since… No cramping, no bleeding, no loose stools.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/8918

“I have had Crohn’s since 2000. I have tried every drug out there with little success and a couple of near death experiences. I have basically been living in a recliner for almost a year. From August 2011 until May 2012 I was moving between the bathroom and the recliner. This is my 3rd dose of hookworms. I had little hope that this would work but the results are unbelievable (and) the last month has been crazy great!! I hit my 100 days and painted my entire house, inside and out! I used my painkillers not for lower left quadrant pain but for being so sore from activity that I couldn’t get out of bed!!! I love hookworms!!!”
(Reported in a private discussion, Jun 2012)

“It has been over two years now since we began treating Crohn’s disease in our daughter… (who was) diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at the age of 14 months… Treating our little girl with helminthic therapy was the single best decision we could have made… The treatment has enabled her to live a normal life… rather then one riddled with pain and fatigue, pills, injections, and steroids… She is now over three and a half, and is as happy, healthy, and beautiful as any parent could want…”
http://www.jasper-lawrence.com/the-story-of-a-all-in-one-place/

“Today marks exactly 600 days (20 months) since I have taken immunosuppressive medication of any kind. I suffer moderate to severe Crohn’s, since 2006. I dosed with hookworm late 2010 (22 months ago), and twice in 2011. After three doses totalling 150 worms, I estimate that the hookworm alone achieves 85% symptom relief for me. I rejoice at the phenomenal benefit to my life. It would be no exaggeration to call my case a small miracle. I hope to continue to experience this degree of relief.”
(Reported in a private message, Aug 2012)

“I’m going to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro for charity on sunday. It’s a pretty big thing for me, this time two years ago I couldn’t walk much more than ten meters without discomfort, and walking anywhere for more than five minutes was out of the question. I don’t half love my hookworms!”
(Reported to the Facebook Helminthic Therapy Support Group, Sept 2012)

“… the improvement from a year ago is stunning! Our beautiful little girl is yet again thriving… Suffice it to say in our family, we are convinced that we’ve chosen the most efficacious treatment course for our child. And are so far thrilled with the results of her helminthic treatment.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/9389

“I have crohns disease. I have had six bowel resections in the past, last one was seven yrs ago, and I have less than five ft left. I was heading for a feeding tube and surgery two yrs ago, when I got the worms. They work great for me, I am a super responder. All is under control now. I will make sure I always get topped up with hookworms, don’t want to live without them.”
(Reported in a private message, Dec 2012)

For information about Helminthic Therapy, see this post.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Helminthic therapy is an experimental approach to the treatment of asthma, allergies, chronic inflammation and autoimmune disease.

The treatment developed out of understanding gained from scientific studies showing that, while these illnesses have escalated in developed countries during the past 50-100 years, they remain much less common in parts of the world where intestinal worms are still prevalent.

Further studies have shown that the reintroduction of controlled numbers of carefully selected, small, benign intestinal organisms, such as hookworm and whipworm, can rebalance the host’s immune system to put these conditions into remission.

The organisms that are used had, until being eradicated in the developed world, coexisted with humans for millions of years, during which time we have become dependent on them to the extent that our genome is now arguably incomplete without their genes, and they have become masters of the human immune system.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Helminthic Therapy  A brief introduction from Wikipedia.

Helminthic Therapy Success Stories  A list of 240 accounts of success using helminthic therapy with more than 60 different medical conditions.

Helminthic Therapy FAQ  Answers to frequently asked questions.

Don’t Let Worms Give You The Squirms  For those who are interested in helminthic therapy but have an aversion to worms.

Hookworm Timeline  A timeline showing what to expect after inoculating with hookworm.

HELMINTHIC THERAPY SCIENCE

Distribution graphic for autoimmune disorders and helminths  A startling graphic showing that various immunological and autoimmune diseases are far more common in industrialised countries where the incidence of helminth infestation is low.

Reconstituting the depleted biome to prevent immune disorders  An article explaining why replacing our “old friends” may be the only reasonable therapy for a wide range of immune-associated disorders, including allergy, autoimmunity and autism.

Helminth–host immunological interactions: prevention and control of immune-mediated diseases  An excellent summary of the science underpinning helminthic therapy.

The above two articles would be ideal to give to a doctor who is interested in helminthic therapy but who is lacking information.

Helminthic Therapy Science Readings  A collection of links to 60 articles reflecting some of the medical science pertaining to helminthic therapy.

FORUMS

Yahoo Helminthic Therapy forum  This is the original helminthic therapy forum, which now has more than 1,300 members and a searchable archive of almost 10,000 posts.

Facebook Helminthic Therapy Support group  This is the most active HT group. Click on the “Join Group” button to request membership.

INTEREST

Pinterest Helminthic Therapy pinboard  This features more than 600 research and news articles about helminth therapy, gut health and their relationship with autoimmune diseases.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Then reports began to appear from individuals who had obtained hookworms to treat other diseases and subsequently found that their anxiety also subsided.

Below are a few of these reports.

“My symptoms of anxiety continue to get gradually better.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/719

“… the hookworms… kicked in about 24 weeks after inoculation, which ended my 15 month nightmare with the anxiety.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/6749

“I thought i am getting crazy… visited a psychologist … they even made a CT scan. But with the right diet and helminthic therapy… i am much more balanced now.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/7160

“One of the best benefits now is relief from anxiety and muscular tension. I’m waking up feeling rested, with a very relaxed back and legs, and am drowsy enough to take naps, which creates a virtuous cycle.”
http://gettinghealthiernow.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/hookworm-only-starting-over/

“My worms have seemingly completely zapped my anxiety. It takes a lot for me to feel anxious and it’s a huge relief after having anxiety and panic attacks starting in early childhood… They have also dramatically reduced my daughter’s anxiety. It was always bad, from infancy, but … she’s had the best school year ever, socially. She’s ten thousand times better, a completely unanticipated improvement. Our school psychologist said it was like she was a different kid.”(Reported in a private discussion, March 2012)

“My younger son also had severe anxiety issues which evaporated after HW. He was on medication in fact for 2 years for it but hasn’t been on it in years now.” (Reported to the Facebook Helminthic Therapy Support Group, Mar 2012)

“He felt much less anxiety and much more social than he would normally. (I have noticed this effect as well and wonder now how much anxiety and a desire not to be social is related to inflammation…)”
http://turnotheworm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/update-part-iv-from-worlds-worst.html

“My anxiety is still significantly reduced from pre-inoculation. Things just do not bother me the way that they did. I really feel as though my anxiety just completely vanished with the first inoculation. It is a great feeling after dealing with a lot of anxiety my entire life.”
http://turnotheworm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/march-25-2012-saved-myself-for-last.html

“This therapy can be fantastic for anxiety reduction and we’ve seen it in every member of our family. My poor little girl had rampaging anxiety and nothing made it better. She had so much pain all the time that she was constantly anticipating more pain and very defensive. She couldn’t stand to listen to a story with anything scary (she didn’t want to listen to Mr. Rogers telling the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, that’s how bad it was). Then she got hookworm. Her anxiety vaporized completely, possibly for the first time in her entire life. She completely changed. Last year, she read all of the Harry Potter books and watched all the movies — that’s how much lower her anxiety and pain are now.” (Reported to the Facebook Helminthic Therapy Support Group, Aug 2012)

“I noticed the relaxed feeling with HW as well. They gave me an overall good feeling and relieved debilitating anxiety that kept me from doing things that I love doing and from seeing friends.” https://www.facebook.com/groups/htsupport/permalink/474883185900975/

For information about Helminthic Therapy, see this page.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

In many cases, this means isolation, an end to the type of life that most of us consider normal, and huge expense incurred as a result of having to purchase special chemical-free clothing, bedding and furniture, as well as chenical-free products for personal care and home cleaning, etc.

Fortunately, there is now hope for those with MCS, in the form of helminthic therapy, which is proving to be surprisingly effective against this condition.

Below are a few of the reports of success from people who are using helminths to control their MCS.

“I have MCS and I get (among other things) rashes from exposure to people wearing scents, going into buildings other than my home (due to cleaning chemicals, carpets, air fresheners, etc.), and exposure to the sun… I BELIEVE I’m seeing some improvement in rashes.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/5150

“… my MCS symptoms are also improved… the irritability I get after seeing fragranced students or clients is also gone.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/5678

“… my bronchial tubes no longer react at all to the myriad of lesser triggers (i.e. perfumes, scented products, smoke).”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/6216

“… I no longer need to worry at all about fragrance, so can entertain ‘smelly’ people, use ‘smelly’ taxis…”
http://blog.autoimmunetherapies.com/gut_buddies/2010/10/20/helminths-reduce-multiple-chemical-sensitivity/

“Her chemical sensitivity, identified by how much she can smell chemicals, has almost disappear…”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/7611

“So my problems ranged from :– chemical allergies especially pesticide and petroleum sensitivity, cold fever on exertion, no energy (running on empty feeling), reacting to nearly all foods, never confident of going out anywhere, mental confusion, ringing ears, extreme itchy ears etc, sensitive to odours etc. etc. (But, after 8 months) things are radically different. That whole dysfunctional autoimmune veneer I was smothered by has gone. Imagine walking out of a fog that has been with you for decades…” (Reported in a private discussion, 2011.)

“I suffer , or should I say, used to suffer from fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and multiple chemical sensitivities. I have hookworm, follow the SCD diet, ….and seem to be doing much better.” (Reported in a private discussion, January 2012.)

“My wife suffered from allergies, food intolerances and chemical sensitivity for about 13 years and we tried many therapies. 22 months ago, she started helminthic therapy and this is by far the best remedy we have found.”  http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/8886

For information about helminthic therapy, see the list of links here.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

If anyone using this article has any ideas or suggestions for its improvement, or any other observations, these can be added below as comments, from where they will be collected and eventually collated into a supplement to the article.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

The Yahoo Helminthic Therapy Forum was the original online meeting place for those interested in helminthic therapy.

It now has over 1,000 members and a searchable archive of more than 8,000 posts, all of which can be viewed without registering. However, those who do register as members will automatically be sent a detailed helminthic therapy FAQ and a list of over 150 accounts of success with the therapy across more than 40 different medical conditions.

As well as being able to add posts themselves, members also have access to numerous other documents in the forum’s Files section.

The Facebook Helminthic Therapy Support Group is for Facebook users who want to learn more about the science of helminthic therapy, share feedback and personal observations about the therapy, and discuss how their own conditions are responding, etc.

As this is a “closed” group, no one else in a Facebook member’s network will be able to see that member’s posts, though they may see the list of group members.

To join, just click the “Ask to join group” button.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Then, by chance, I met a truly remarkable healer who was descended from a long line of immunology specialists – so long in fact that, between them, they had gathered millions of years of practical experience in the management of the human immune system.

Dr Wriggly, as I affectionately call my new specialist, is a worm – a one centimetre long, thin-as-a-hair hookworm – but what he doesn’t know about the human immune system is clearly not worth knowing.

With silent determination, he set to work on the catalogue of health problems that had defeated the best human healers and, after thirty years of steadily declining health, the tide was finally turned and Wriggly gave me back the life I had lost and thought I would never see again.

My problems had begun in early childhood with allergic asthma, which segued into perennial rhinitis in my teens and sinusitis in my twenties. Then, in my thirties, I began to experience difficulty tolerating food, at which point I consulted some of the best allergists in the UK.

This led to a diagnosis of food intolerance and IgE-mediated allergies to a number of foods as well as to many environmental allergens. I then tried all the treatments that orthodox medicine had to offer, including less common options such as desensitisation, plus a slew of complementary therapies, but all to no avail.

Eventually, my food intolerance became so overwhelming that it threatened my survival but, just when things were looking really bleak, my luck changed as a result of being given yet another diagnosis, this time of Crohn’s disease. This led, fortuitously, to me joining the Hookworm Therapy in Crohn’s Disease clinical trial at Nottingham University in late 2007.

This study was not designed to assess the efficacy of treatment with hookworm, but merely to gauge whether it is safe to give Crohn’s patients 10 hookworms each for 12 weeks. Nevertheless, the experience proved to me that these tiny creatures could be effective against food allergy and food intolerance because, with the help of my ten hookworms, I was once again able to tolerate a few normal foods.

After my involvement with the trial was complete and the trial team had declined to provide me with a further hookworm infection, I began to search for some other way to renew my relationship with this organism.

Eventually, I found a commercial source and inoculated myself with 35 Necator americanus larvae, with astonishing results. After 12 weeks, I was able to resume eating a few normal foods and, by 70 weeks, I was enjoying a full, normal diet for the first time in almost thirty years.

In addition to the miraculous reversal of the food allergy and food intolerance, all my environmental allergies have completely disappeared, so that I can now spend all day outdoors during the summer without even the slightest hint of a sniffle, even when the pollen season is at its height. The catarrh and sinusitis that had been such a bane for so much of my life are also completely gone.

My Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is now sufficiently diminished for me to be able to tolerate perfume again, and I have even been able to resume using spirit-based paints with no ill-effects whatsoever.

My Crohn’s disease is in remission, my eczema is much less troublesome and the severity of my M.E./CFS has been greatly moderated. My previously daily headaches and regular migraines have been dramatically reduced in both frequency and severity, and my Restless Leg Syndrome has completely disappeared.

Although the majority of people have still not heard of the remarkable healing skills of Dr Wriggly, there are already several hundred individuals who are enjoying greatly improved health due to his ministrations. Some of these individuals have related their successes online, and links to some of these accounts are listed in this document.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Another report aims to put vitamin E in the dock, with one group of researchers concluding that vitamin E and selenium taken together increase the risk of prostate cancer by around 17 per cent over a seven-year period. (“Vitamin E Tied to Prostate Cancer Risk, Finds Study.“)

However, both these studies have been critically reviewed (here and here) and they are both completely at odds with hundreds of earlier research papers that have demonstrated the benefits of vitamin supplements.

It may be no coincidence that this new attack on supplements has been launched at the same time as the FDA is putting forward a new mandate that will restrict the availability of nutritional supplements and herbs in the US, and this makes me wonder whether we might one day see this kind of attack against helminthic therapy, once it reaches the point of actually threatening Big Pharma’s profits. Perhaps, if this does happen, it will be the indicator that tells us that helminthic therapy has finally “arrived”.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

“My symptoms of anxiety continue to get gradually better.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/719

“… the hookworms… kicked in about 24 weeks after inoculation, which ended my 15 month nightmare with the anxiety.”
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/6749

“I thought i am getting crazy… visited a psychologist … they even made a CT scan. But with the right diet and helminthic therapy… i am much more balanced now.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/message/7160

Related posts:
Can you worm your way out of depression?
Depression: worms may be better than therapy

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

The pin/threadworm has been the most successful human helminth of the Western world and some 50% of children in Europe and North America may have been infested with this worm around the middle of the twentieth century. “Pinworms have been with us since before we became human. They have done us little harm, and might prove to be unexpected friends.” (A missing link in the hygiene hypothesis?)

One lady with Crohn’s disease, who recently became infested by pinworms, didn’t eradicate them and has reaped huge benefits to her health as a result.

Admittedly, her new therapeutic companions may give her an itchy bum at night, but they have proved what a few helminths can do for someone with an inflammatory bowel disease, and she now has the option of obtaining an alternative helminth that will deliver the same benefits without causing itching or any other long term side effects – the hookworm, Necator americanus.

There are 19 personal accounts of success with the use of helminthic therapy to treat crohn’s in the Helminthic Therapy Success Stories document in the Files section of the Yahoo Helminthic Therapy Forum. Once you log into Yahoo, the Files section can be accessed here.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

My GP theorized that there may be a problem with the pressure of my cerebro-spinal fluid, but neither he nor anyone else has been able to confirm or dismiss this theory, or to offer any solution, so I have been left to manage the problem as best I could.

I tried all the usual remedies, with little success, and have had to rely on the regular use of paracetamol (acetaminophen), which I have always used as sparingly as possible, only taking 1/2 tablet at a time and then waiting 3/4 hour before taking another half, if necessary. Occasionally, however, the headache would escalate to monstrous proportions and would necessitate the addition of dihydrocodeine to the maximum permitted dose of paracetamol.

Being aware that the regular use of such drugs can actually perpetuate headaches, I have periodically stopped taking them for several weeks at a time to ensure that this was not the cause of the problem. Unfortunately, this strategy has never resulted in any diminution of the headaches and I have always been forced to resume taking the drugs.

My intake of paracetamol had remained fairly constant for many years, fluctuating between 2 and 3 tablets per day – 56 to 84 tablets each month.

During the two months preceding my first inoculation with helminths, I averaged 57 tablets per month. Then, in the first 4 months following the introduction of 35 hookworms (Necator americanus), there was a slight increase in my need for pain relief, with an average of 74 paracetamol tablets being required each month.

Once the hookworms began to “work”, at 4 months, there was a noticeable, sudden drop in my need for pain relief, with an average of only 36 tablets being needed in each of the next three months.

When I added the human whipworm, Trichuris trichiura, after having had the hookworms for 7 months, my need for pain relief again increased slightly. This increase in pain coincided with an increase in allergic symptoms, and it could be that the whipworms may have initially impeded what might otherwise have been a more rapid reduction in head pain as a result of the effects of the hookworms.

The following 16 month period, during which I added several further hookworm doses, saw my need for paracetamol steadily decrease to the point at which I now only need 6 tablets per month, a mere fraction of what I needed to take before adopting helminths.

It’s conceivable that some of this reduction may have been due to changes in my diet that were made possible by the introduction of helminths. For example, the ability to take a range of food supplements that I had previously been unable to tolerate may have helped. In particular, ginkgo biloba, which is known to have a beneficial effect on headaches, may have been at least partly responsible. However, even if this was the case, the helminths were still indirectly responsible as, without them, I would not have been able to take the ginkgo.

The graph below shows the number of 500 g paracetamol tablets required each month to control my chronic daily headaches during the last 2 1/2 years. Each bar of the graph represents one month, and its length indicates the number of tablets taken that month.

last 2 months before helminthic therapy

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (53)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (61)

Introduced 35 hookworm (HW) larvae

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Added 100 whipworm (WW) ova

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Added 200 WW ova

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Added 800 WW ova

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Added 10 HW larvae

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Added 10 HW larvae

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Added 10 HW larvae

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Added 10 HW larvae

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I’d love to know how much this progressive reduction in head pain is due simply to the length of time that I’ve hosted helminths, and how much it has been influenced by the additional doses. I’m also particularly eager to discover exactly what the final outcome will be. Will my headaches eventually disappear altogether? It certainly looks like they might.

Whatever the end result, the degree of progress achieved so far is nothing short of miraculous. To be enjoying not only whole days without any headache, but also entire weeks, is just incredible, and especially welcome now that paracetamol has been linked to blood cancers!

In addition to the reduction in daily, M.E.-related headaches, my migraines are also greatly reduced in both frequency and severity – experience that tallies with that of a fellow migraineur following his adoption of helminths.

What amazing creatures these helminths are!

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

When he explained the procedure that was required – the sculpting of the tooth to accommodate the gold crown and adhesive – I realised that this may involve a need for local anaesthetic – a daunting prospect for someone who relies on a healthy team of hookworms to remain free from a multitude of very unpleasant symptoms.

While they don’t kill hookworms, local anaesthetics (lidocaine, novocaine, etc.), like antibiotics, can cause a loss of efficacy for up to eight weeks, so I discussed this with my dentist and he said that we might be able to manage without using anaesthetic, at least until he got near to the gum line. At this point, he suggested, it might get a little “sore”, but he thought that anaesthetic dribbled onto the gum might be adequate and that there would probably be no need to inject beneath the tooth.

Had my dentist been conversant with the use of the gumEase device, I would have opted to try this, but, like most dentists, he hasn’t explored this idea yet.

In the event, I took 1,000 mg of paracetamol (acetaminophen) and 30 mg dihydrocodeine two hours before my appointment and experienced only brief moments of mild, dull pain which were quite manageable, so I needed no anaesthetic at all.

Benzodiazepine hypnotics (Versed, etc.), as used routinely during procedures such as colonoscopy, do not adversely affect hookworms, nor do narcotic analgesics and opioid pain killers (Fentanyl, etc.), so, taken at high strength, the latter may be a suitable substitute for local anaesthetics in some situations.

If the use of a local anaesthetic is unavoidable, the period of time that hookworms will be adversely affected can be shortened – perhaps to as little as two weeks – by obtaining a small additional dose of worms after undergoing the procedure.

If there is a need for a general anaesthetic, propofol, which is by far the most commonly used general anaesthetic these days, will not harm hookworm or whipworm (although it may be fatal to the laboratory worm C. elegans) and propofol can be used alone, without the addition of nitrous oxide which, even in very small amounts, will kill hookworms stone dead. (More on this here).

Any helminth host facing surgery should discuss this issue with their anaesthetist well in advance of their procedure, and be sure to request that no nitrous oxide be used at all, under any circumstance – not even as an adjunct to propofol.

Nitrous oxide can also be encountered in the home, in the form of whipped toppings and other “foods” contained in aerosol cans. These use the gas as a propellant, and just one whiff of this will wipe out an entire colony of hookworms!

Another unlikely source of an anaesthetic-like substance is kava tea, whose active ingredient is kavalactones. These can create mild sedation without disrupting cognitive function, and act as a muscle relaxant, with higher doses having an effect similar to that of a local anaesthetic, according to this report, so this tea may be best avoided by helminth hosts.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

The mucus barrier is a complex mixture of salts, water and large ‘sugar-coated’ proteins called mucins that give mucus its gel-like properties. Muc5ac, which is one of these proteins, is rarely present in the gut but, when it is, it alters the physical properties of the mucus gel.

The researchers had previously found that mice that were able to expel the whipworm Trichuris muris (closely related to the human equivalent, Trichuris trichiura) from their gut, made more mucus and, critically, the mucus from these mice contained Muc5ac.

Mice that were genetically incapable of producing Muc5ac were unable to expel the worms, despite having a strong immune response against these organisms.

The researchers claim that Muc5ac is also essential for the efficient expulsion from the gut of other types of worm including hookworm and the spiral threadworm.

This discovery has been hailed as a potentially significant step towards preventing mortality and morbidity in the one billion or so individuals worldwide who harbour large numbers of gut worms and, so far as I am concerned, anything that might provide an alternative to anti-worm vaccines is good news, for the reasons explained here.

This work may also lead to a means of identifying those who are, and those who aren’t, susceptible to intestinal worms – knowledge that could perhaps assist in optimizing treatment protocols for those who use small numbers of worms as a therapy, and may also help explain why Helminthic Therapy is not effective for an unfortunate few.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.