Learning With Annie & Emerson: April 2010

I am sharing this very personal issue as a form of public awareness....

For several years I have had weird annoying health problems...nothing major or too serious but a lot of minor irritating things like rosacea, painful tumors on the nerves in my feet (mortons neuroma), daily swelling of my hands and feet, carpel tunnel, bursitis of my shoulder, serious mood swings brought on by pain and hormones, hormonal imbalances, rashes that refuse to go away, gall bladder issues, weak kidneys, joint pain, slow digestion and the inability to lose weight despite regular exercise to name a few.

In November, I started going to a new medical practice. The Healthy practice has a doctor of Chinese medicine and acupuncture, a MD of western medicine and massage therapists on staff. I have seen a great improvement of my day to day life. Although I still have bad pain days, I have been generally feeling better. My body simply doesn't feel as "weighted down". Weekly acupuncture and massage has done me well.

The massage therapist mentioned to the dr that she thought I had parasites. She had parasites and was mis-diagnosed for 20 years until recently and she says she has never felt better. So, she had an awakening with me as she was working on my poor feet. She said it was the way I described myself and the fact that I am "puffy" puffy in places where I'm not fat...

So they had me fill out a questionnaire. It asked me questions about my moods, my pain, my stress, my symptoms, health issues, diet, habits, travel and work experiences. Based on my responses and the massage therapists insight, Dr. Butler decided to urge me to be tested for parasites.

Now this isn't a matter of a simple stool sample at a local lab...no. I had to send my stuff to parasite expert Dr. Ibraheem in Nigeria. What makes him different, besides the fact that he is an expert, is his microscope. Apparently he has a $50,000 microscope. OK....I asked my doctor the same question you are thinking, "Why can't the labs here find these and why don't traditional western docs test for parasites more regularly?" His response will not surprise you. He said number one, the labs here simply do not have the equipment, the average lab here in the states only has a $5,000 microscope and two, the lab techs are not experts. For example, he said, he sent a sample from a patient to a lab here in the states. He saw the worm wiggling in the sample. He sent it in knowing that they would identify it. The results came back negative. So he sent a second sample, worm wiggling, and wrote a note that said I see a parasite, please identify it. The results came back...yes, you guessed it negative.
I'm saying this simply because I am a victim and I really mean no disrespect, but basically we have idiots working the labs in this country and the lab owners don't want to invest in better more powerful equipment. So my holistic doc said the MD's don't trust the labs anyway.

Back to my story....Dr. Butler sent my stuff to the Dr. in Africa. My results came back positive. I have five different parasites and extremely high levels of yeast. This explains a lot. Dr. Butler told me that this could explain a lot of my symptoms. These worms are living off of me, taking my nutrients, excreting their waste in my body and making me feel like hell!!!!

Two of the most alarming are the beef tapeworm and a human round worm. Infections from the Ascaris lumbricoides happen when a human swallows water or food contaminated with unhatched juveniles. The juveniles hatch in the duodenum (1st section of small intestine). They then penetrate the mucosa and submucosa and enter venules or lymphatics. Next they pass through the right heart and into pulmonary circulation. They then break out of the capillaries and enter the air spaces. They can lay up to 200,000 eggs per day. Check out more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascaris_lumbricoides
And the beef tapeworm, Taenia Saginata, can grow up to 25 meters (that's over 82 feet). Here's some info from stanford University about them http://www.stanford.edu/group/parasites/ParaSites2006/Taenia_saginata/index.html

I also have two different types of Protozoan, mucus and pus in my stool....lovely....a lot of information, I know, but my intent is to educate.

So I will be starting treatment after my triathalon. Dr Butler says I will probably feel crappy so, I'm thinking I will wait the next four weeks and start right after the tri...I really don't have the time to feel crappy right now....treatment for everything will take a few months but I am so excited to get these parasites out of my body and simply the prospect of feeling better is overwhelming!

Wondering how I might have caught these friends? My guess is that I got them in Miami, in 1991/1992, doing hurricane Andrew Relief work. We had donated port a potties...they were never cleaned or emptied and we shared 10 of them with over 300 people a day for months. Many of these people were Haitian and Mexican immigrants and tapeworms are very common in developing countries. Also, I spent time in Mexico on a study abroad program in 1997. As for the beef tapeworm, I could have picked that up anywhere.

If you're brave go to you tube and search for Ascasis lumbricoides and taenia saginata.....