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dixonpete

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dixonpete last won the day on March 26

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    Windsor, Canada

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  1. Ted also has a video where he shows himself performing his first self-inoculation:
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHRZkZ_b1sg Ted Simon uses an incubator and vermiculite. His channel offers several other hookworm related videos, including one where he shows using a microscope to harvest the larvae. My method doesn't use an incubator or vermiculite and I get good results, but I can't claim consistency as I don't have that much...
  3. I forgot to mention that there are likely many different, effective methods for hookworm incubation. The common theme of all of them is that the larvae must eventually hit the water after climbing out of the stool and be available to be collected for examination under the microscope. The larvae want to live and continue to play out their life cycle. ...
  4. dixonpete

    Health update

    I forgot to address the 'gross' factor you mentioned. Over these last six years that I've been doing HT I've come to greatly respect Necator americanus. It's supremely adapted to humans, and I believe its presence is actually a requirement for good health for many people. I think I read that most all mammals carry hookworms in their gut in nature. It...
  5. dixonpete

    Health update

    Hi Diana, The hookworms are a must for me as the improvement in colitis is life changing. Not having to worry and gluten or gluten contamination is simply a huge plus. You might remember the last time when I wrote about being without hookworms and consumed a meal of non-gluten-free oatmeal. I suffered a complete bowel evacuation and darn near passed...
  6. Also, I think I'll try reducing the amount of water in the jar from 1/4" to 1/8". There just has to be enough water so the stool doesn't dry out and harden, and for the larvae to have a place to swim when they climb down the filter. 1/8" of water would still be an ocean for them. Less water means less time searching for larvae.
  7. I just had a last look at those two jars and this is what I came away with. The first jar's water probably had about 100 larvae total, the second had substantially more, in the order of 200-300. This estimate is based on how much water was in each jar and how much water I pipetted out of each into a petri dish and scanned. In the second jar that I launched...
  8. Both were successful. I think I have incubation down pat now, though I can see how a few refinements of technique might lead to larger larvae yields, not that such increases are necessary if I'm only going to be using 10 larvae at a time. Once again, the technique is pretty simple. Just use a hermetically sealable jar with 1/4" of mineral water (not...
  9. dixonpete

    Health update

    I should have added, an every two month inoculation cycle isn't something I would have considered pre-being able to incubate as the cost would have been prohibitive. ~$200 a pop X 6 = $1200+ a year is a lot. But now that hookworm larvae are free, I can pick whatever inoculation cycle I think might suit me best. Monthly seems too much of a hassle. 5...
  10. dixonpete

    Health update

    For long time followers of this blog will remember my account of my time at the start of my GI-trouble journey, which largely started in 2005-2008 when I was hit with an abscess, multiple corrective surgeries, ulcerative colitis and celiac disease. This was a particularly bad time in my life. After going gluten-free things got much better, I healed, but I...
  11. I've ordered several el-cheapo, tiny microscopes off AliExpress that claim to be able to do 40X, as well as a couple of battery powered microscope LED light sources. I'm interested in seeing if they could work in a pinch when travelling and lugging along my microscope would be awkward.
  12. It was pointed out on the HT Discord Server that hookworm larvae can live up to 4 months sitting in water after incubation. That would mean that a person inoculating monthly could potentially only need to incubate 4 times a year.
  13. It's been a rapid few days of learning about hookworm incubation. Here's what more I've learned. Most importantly, any microscope that can do 40X will suffice. That's because it turns out the concern about the distance from the lens to the plate for pipetting was a red herring. All one needs to do is lay down a bunch of very small drops on the slide...
  14. I should have added that the jar and anything else that might come in contact with the hookworm infested water needs to be disposed of with great care. It's recommended that the jar be frozen for 7+ days before its contents flushed. While hookworm eggs in stool are easily killed by the sanitation system and pose no threat, live hookworm larvae are an...
  15. The incubation worked. The biggest expense was the microscope I bought off Amazon, an AmScope SE306. I picked it because it would give plenty of room for pipette work above the sample. I paid ~$370 Can. The other supplies needed were variously sized pipettes, petri dishes, mineral water, adhesive gauze bandages, bleach for cleanup, paper towels...
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