Parasites

[AliB]

I thought that was such an excellent suggestion Jan, I decided to start a new thread on the subject, so now we have two to maintain!

It looks as if I may be in this parasite cleansing thing in the long term - they are apparently difficult little beggars to shift when they are anywhere but in the intestines. Taking away their yummy food with the diet definitely helps and may well work fairly well for certain parasites on its own that no longer have that food supply but it needs more than that to really be rid of others.

In the parasite section so will report anything relevant on here that I find (and would encourage anyone else to do the same with anything they find of interest!).

[Ms Jan]

Hi All,

We got into the issue of parasites on the SCD thread, but think a separate thread is needed as this is a huge subject in itself.

Having improved much since I started on the SCD two months ago, I still feel that something else is wrong.

Bedsides that strange feeling that something is 'alive' inside of my body, for about a year I've regularly gotten these funny long thin swells under the skin that ssuddenly appears, itch like H!, seems to move, only to disappear after a couple of hours. Then I realized that they occur especially whenever I've taken herbs with anti-parasitic contents, and I started doing more research, concluding that it could be strongyloids or another kind of parasite. In any case, the more I look into the issue of parasites, the more I get convinced that this might be my last major block to healing, since it seems I've gotten the candida under control.

I lived in Africa for several years, so I was checked years back for parasites, and the tests were negative, but now I've learned that very often parasites won't show up in tests, particularly if they have penetrated the body and live in the organs rather than in the intestines. I read in my conventional medicine handbook that it's difficult to cure systemic parasites with conventional medicine, since the medicine will have to be so strong that it might also kill the patient. So I have now put myself on a 6 weeks therapy of raw garlic, golden seal, pau d'arco tea and Paratrex, which contains wormwood, black walnut, grapefruit seed extract, male fern root etc. I also take probiotics and caprylic acid to keep the candida away.

If parasites turn out to be the main culprit for me (besides the celiac), it's still no wonder that the SCD helps a lot, since the parasites thrive on carbohydrates and sugar. Only I think it takes more than the diet to rid oneself totally of those bastards.

As Celiacs it seems our weakened systems are particularly prone to parasites - and if leaky gut is also present, the parasites will naturally invade the entire body - so I was wondering if anyone here have any experiences/thoughts to share on the issue: what types of parasites, which symptoms, which cures or remedies worked etc. ? Or perhaps anyone else who also suspects parasites?

Jan

[purple]

FYI...I read in my Nutritional Healing book, not to take goldenseal if you have glaucoma, pregnant, heart disease or diabetes (need doctors supervision). I remember b/c my mom has glaucoma. She takes echinacea but it can't be mixed with goldenseal. She is not a celiac.

I am glad you started this thread. I have had a "wiggly" in my lower tummy a couple of days in a row. Its gone now, hopefully for good! We have lots of pets...eeeww.

Anxious to hear everyones comments.

[Jestgar]

Echinacea, if taken continuously, suppresses the immune system. It also has drug interactions.

Open Original Shared Link

Actually most of the herbs listed in the first post can have drug interactions. As a general note, it can be dangerous to diagnose and treat yourself with herbs (or any medication) without consulting an expert

also note:

Taking goldenseal over a long period of time can reduce absorption of B vitamins. [9] Avoid goldenseal during pregnancy and lactation, with gastrointestinal inflammation, and with proinflammatory disorders.[8]

Open Original Shared Link

autoimmune diseases, such as Celiac, are proinflammatory.

[purple]

Echinacea, if taken continuously, suppresses the immune system. It also has drug interactions.

Open Original Shared Link

Actually most of the herbs listed in the first post can have drug interactions. As a general note, it can be dangerous to diagnose and treat yourself with herbs (or any medication) without consulting an expert

also note:

Open Original Shared Link

autoimmune diseases, such as Celiac, are proinflammatory.

That's right, we take echinacea a few times the first couple of days, only if we feel like we are getting a head cold. It works too.

It would be nice to know all the ins and outs about herbs

[Jestgar]

That's right, we take echinacea a few times the first couple of days, only if we feel like we are getting a head cold. It works too.

It would be nice to know all the ins and outs about herbs

I think it's a very complex subject. Not something to be undertaken with a book and an internet site....

[Mtndog]

i agree with Jestgar. I am on multiple herbs/supplements but all under the supervision of an MD.

[Ms Jan]

Maybe I should just add that I don't act out of thin air, but have done extensive research (which I'm used to at a very serious level in my profession as a writer, and holding two advanced degrees in the economic sciences (I'm fully aware it's not medicine, but the demands for methodology are equally tough, believe me! )). I have furthermore consulted with numerous people, including health practitioners whom I happen to know personally, which is why I don't call them 'my practitioner' etc.

I'll always recommend anyone else to check with doctors.

But I've myself been misdiagnosed and mistreated in the 'system' so many times (sometimes with harmful consequences - like when at least five doctors/specialists for two years couldn't diagnose my larva migrans in the leg, and gave me dangerously strong cortisone creams and cut deeply into the skin, although I kept telling them it's something crawling and living, probably from Africa; and the dr who finally dx it, treated it with scar creating freeeze burns to no avail, until I myself through research identified the necessary conventional medicine, which I was then prescribed) that by now I consider myself the most trustworthy guide to my own health. And then I see doctors for tests or very specific ailments/symptoms.

But I totally agree that one also has to be very careful with alternative advice and herbal medicines, since these can very well overburden and/or be toxic and harmful for the body as well.

I also went to a plethora of doctors and had countless tests done over the last five years for my debilitating headaches/vomiting without getting any help at all (except a slight bit when one alternative practitioner dx leaky gut in 2005), before a health practitioner friend last november pointed me to celiac, and from there I myself went on to the SCD which has finally done real wonders for me. And I really learn so many valuable things from other people's personal experiences, picking out what I believe fits my body, and checking and trying things out very carefully.

So all I'm really looking for is other people's personal experiences, which I then hope to learn from ...

slowly adding to my own learning and research in this field ...

Naturally, neither I nor any one else should UNQUESTIONINGLY follow someone else's experience or advice.

I do still hope, though, that some people feel like sharing their experiences here ...

Jan

[AliB]

i agree with Jestgar. I am on multiple herbs/supplements but all under the supervision of an MD.

Well, you see, you are very privileged.

We don't have MD's over here in the UK who deal in either herbs or supplements. Ours are nothing better than glorified drug-pushers.

If I want herbal treatment I have to pay for it and then I still have no way of knowing how knowledgeable the person is who is treating me apart maybe through word of mouth from other people which isn't easy because there aren't that many around and I don't know many who use them!

I went to one for a while but he was so incredibly lacking in social skills that I ended up fleeing in tears never to return. I could spend an awful lot of money I don't have on trawling through different practitioners until I find one who understands my body the way I do and knows what to do with it - even if such a creature exists. Why go to all that trouble when I have already worked it out for myself???

Whilst one or two of the doctors at my local practice are sympathetic, they cannot help me. My health issues are outside of the realms of the NHS - if it ain't in the manual or the drugs list, they are impotent. In any case, the further away I can keep from drugs the less toxic burden I am putting on my body.

I parted company with my Diabetic 'Specialist' in October. He's the dork who gave me the Byetta that finished off my digestion (I am wondering now if the stuff ended up encouraging a huge growth of the parasites but that is another story).

This visit I had barely got in the door when he was foisting Statins on me. I refused them point-blank. He said I should take them as Diabetics need lower cholesterol levels (oh yeah, and what about all the people with low cholesterol who die of heart-attacks???)

I tactfully told him where he could put his statins because I think they are rubbish, then asked out of interest what my cholesterol level was on the blood test from the previous week. 3.8 came his reply. 3.8??!!! If it was any lower I would be on the flippin' floor!

Needless to say we agreed to differ and go our separate ways. Interestingly though there was a double-page spread in the Daily Mail 2 weeks ago that reported scientific findings that Statins can actually be dangerous especially when used as a preventative and that having cholesterol levels that are too low can be as bad as having them too high. I kind of felt vindicated!

I don't need a bit of paper to enable me to learn. I am an analyst - analysing is what I do. I analyse information. If doctors knew everything then no one would be sick! So I analyse information, I process it, I cogitate over it, I compare it, I look at the bigger picture and I attempt to come away with some semblance of truth. Unlike doctors who do as they are told whether it is right or not, my faith is not blind.

So, you see, I am my own physician. And I am healing myself.

PS. Years ago, a favorite doctor of mine turned to a locum who was sitting with her in her surgery and said "This is Alison. She usually diagnoses herself, and most of the time she is right"! Ironically that same Doctor eventually became so disillusioned with the Medical Profession she left it and went off and became a Homeopath. She was fed up being a drug-peddler and with not being able to cure anyone and actually make them better!

PPS. Apart from that and other ways I have been let down by the Medical Profession over the years, Medical neglect killed both my parents. Every day in the paper is yet another report of Medical failure. If you have a diagnosable Medical condition that gives them the opportunity to foist more drugs on you or cut you open then you are at their mercy - if not, you are thrown to the Wolves.

If you have had wonderful experiences in all your dealings with Doctors then you are even more privileged. Sadly all too many people would beg to differ.

[AliB]

FYI...I read in my Nutritional Healing book, not to take goldenseal if you have glaucoma, pregnant, heart disease or diabetes (need doctors supervision). I remember b/c my mom has glaucoma. She takes echinacea but it can't be mixed with goldenseal. She is not a celiac.

I am glad you started this thread. I have had a "wiggly" in my lower tummy a couple of days in a row. Its gone now, hopefully for good! We have lots of pets...eeeww.

Anxious to hear everyones comments.

Does it say why Echinacea and Goldenseal can't be mixed? I am aware that Goldenseal should not be taken when pregnant and neither should be taken for more than 2 weeks at a stretch, but if the two herbs should not be taken together at all, then someone should tell Holland & Barrett because the H & B pot I am using is a mix of the two.

Does it also say why Diabetics should not take Goldenseal?

Where did your 'wiggly' go? Did you take anything to get rid of it?

[AliB]

Echinacea, if taken continuously, suppresses the immune system. It also has drug interactions.

Open Original Shared Link

Actually most of the herbs listed in the first post can have drug interactions. As a general note, it can be dangerous to diagnose and treat yourself with herbs (or any medication) without consulting an expert

also note:

Open Original Shared Link

autoimmune diseases, such as Celiac, are proinflammatory.

Isn't it funny how the herbs are always portrayed as the 'baddies'??? It is never the drugs that are a problem............

........and just who might that 'expert' be???

Open Original Shared Link

My definition of an expert in any field is a person who knows enough about what's really going on to be scared.

P. J. Plauger, Computer Language, March 1983

(My answer to that definition is that if the estimated 95% Parasite infestation rate in the World's population is true then it is something to be hugely scared of and could well explain the huge galloping rise in modern diseases and illnesses!)

Everyone is expert at something. In fact, anyone who is more expert at something than you or I am is an expert.

I can paint, my husband can't, therefore I am the expert artist out of the two of us. He is better at gardening than me therefore he is the gardening expert out of the two of us. Where does expertise start? Where does it end?

Who decides the criteria that makes an expert an expert? Other Experts? And so it goes on......

Who decided that the Medical Profession were to be the 'experts'? The Medical Profession? By the same definition if I decide that I am an expert, who has the 'right' to say otherwise? If the Medical Profession can declare themselves experts then so can I.

There is only one true expert - God. You can't get any more expert than him.

[AliB]

Anyway, having got that off my chest, I am contemplating getting some Humaworm. I am taking some of the herbs but that product seems to have the lot! They are also pretty reasonable too.

I want rid of these things.

Funny - my Dad always used to say when he was hungry "the worms are biting". Ever a true word spoken in jest............

I was talking to a friend today who hails from Trinidad and she was saying that she remembers back 50 years or more her Gran giving her 'de-worming" stuff at the end of every month. Our old Grannies knew what they were doing. Shame we didn't follow their lead and have ended up going backwards and suffering as a result.

[purple]

Does it say why Echinacea and Goldenseal can't be mixed? I am aware that Goldenseal should not be taken when pregnant and neither should be taken for more than 2 weeks at a stretch, but if the two herbs should not be taken together at all, then someone should tell Holland & Barrett because the H & B pot I am using is a mix of the two.

Does it also say why Diabetics should not take Goldenseal?

Where did your 'wiggly' go? Did you take anything to get rid of it?

I had ordered echinacea with goldenseal mixed with it, but you are not supposed to take golden seal with those issues. I occasionally take them mixed...thats ok.

It doesn't say not to take them together. Yeah, we follow the 2 week rule but never take ech more than a couple of days about 2 times per year.

Under diabetics it only says not to take goldenseal more than 1 week at a time under docs supervision.

Wiggly...wiggly...wiggly...right outa me...I hope...IDK.

I took a couple of supplements: garlic, vit c, probiotic...haven't noticed anything so far. No major attack for it yet but the sups I took were for a sore in my mouth, oh and I had a drop of oil of oregano too.

[purple]

Isn't it funny how the herbs are always portrayed as the 'baddies'??? It is never the drugs that are a problem............

........and just who might that 'expert' be???

Open Original Shared Link

My definition of an expert in any field is a person who knows enough about what's really going on to be scared.

P. J. Plauger, Computer Language, March 1983

(My answer to that definition is that if the estimated 95% Parasite infestation rate in the World's population is true then it is something to be hugely scared of and could well explain the huge galloping rise in modern diseases and illnesses!)

Everyone is expert at something. In fact, anyone who is more expert at something than you or I am is an expert.

I can paint, my husband can't, therefore I am the expert artist out of the two of us. He is better at gardening than me therefore he is the gardening expert out of the two of us. Where does expertise start? Where does it end?

Who decides the criteria that makes an expert an expert? Other Experts? And so it goes on......

Who decided that the Medical Profession were to be the 'experts'? The Medical Profession? By the same definition if I decide that I am an expert, who has the 'right' to say otherwise? If the Medical Profession can declare themselves experts then so can I.

There is only one true expert - God. You can't get any more expert than him.

AMEN!

[purple]

Well, you see, you are very privileged.

We don't have MD's over here in the UK who deal in either herbs or supplements. Ours are nothing better than glorified drug-pushers.

If I want herbal treatment I have to pay for it and then I still have no way of knowing how knowledgeable the person is who is treating me apart maybe through word of mouth from other people which isn't easy because there aren't that many around and I don't know many who use them!

I went to one for a while but he was so incredibly lacking in social skills that I ended up fleeing in tears never to return. I could spend an awful lot of money I don't have on trawling through different practitioners until I find one who understands my body the way I do and knows what to do with it - even if such a creature exists. Why go to all that trouble when I have already worked it out for myself???

Whilst one or two of the doctors at my local practice are sympathetic, they cannot help me. My health issues are outside of the realms of the NHS - if it ain't in the manual or the drugs list, they are impotent. In any case, the further away I can keep from drugs the less toxic burden I am putting on my body.

I parted company with my Diabetic 'Specialist' in October. He's the dork who gave me the Byetta that finished off my digestion (I am wondering now if the stuff ended up encouraging a huge growth of the parasites but that is another story).

This visit I had barely got in the door when he was foisting Statins on me. I refused them point-blank. He said I should take them as Diabetics need lower cholesterol levels (oh yeah, and what about all the people with low cholesterol who die of heart-attacks???)

I tactfully told him where he could put his statins because I think they are rubbish, then asked out of interest what my cholesterol level was on the blood test from the previous week. 3.8 came his reply. 3.8??!!! If it was any lower I would be on the flippin' floor!

Needless to say we agreed to differ and go our separate ways. Interestingly though there was a double-page spread in the Daily Mail 2 weeks ago that reported scientific findings that Statins can actually be dangerous especially when used as a preventative and that having cholesterol levels that are too low can be as bad as having them too high. I kind of felt vindicated!

I don't need a bit of paper to enable me to learn. I am an analyst - analysing is what I do. I analyse information. If doctors knew everything then no one would be sick! So I analyse information, I process it, I cogitate over it, I compare it, I look at the bigger picture and I attempt to come away with some semblance of truth. Unlike doctors who do as they are told whether it is right or not, my faith is not blind.

So, you see, I am my own physician. And I am healing myself.

PS. Years ago, a favorite doctor of mine turned to a locum who was sitting with her in her surgery and said "This is Alison. She usually diagnoses herself, and most of the time she is right"! Ironically that same Doctor eventually became so disillusioned with the Medical Profession she left it and went off and became a Homeopath. She was fed up being a drug-peddler and with not being able to cure anyone and actually make them better!

PPS. Apart from that and other ways I have been let down by the Medical Profession over the years, Medical neglect killed both my parents. Every day in the paper is yet another report of Medical failure. If you have a diagnosable Medical condition that gives them the opportunity to foist more drugs on you or cut you open then you are at their mercy - if not, you are thrown to the Wolves.

If you have had wonderful experiences in all your dealings with Doctors then you are even more privileged. Sadly all too many people would beg to differ.

I love reading your posts

I love the pic...who's the pretty baby...YOU??

[Jestgar]

Isn't it funny how the herbs are always portrayed as the 'baddies'??? It is never the drugs that are a problem............

Who decided that the Medical Profession were to be the 'experts'? The Medical Profession?

I said neither of these things and I'll thank you not to attempt to falsify my post.

If you choose to leave your health to the whims of the internet, that's your prerogative. I can only hope that the majority of people that use this site will not so choose.

[Ms Jan]

I have taken golden seal for extended periods of time as part of my candida regimen - and as is recommended exactly for candida. But I guess the particulars depend on what type/strength of the goldenseal is talked about. Also, a lot of golden seal products are exactly combined with echinacea, as I understand it in particular when the use of the two are meant to work as an immune system booster.

Ali, are you aware of the Finchley Clinic:

Open Original Shared Link .

They are UK based, and when in Europe, I order a lot of my herbs from them. They also have a consultation service by mail/person in which one can get detailed advice on the herbs. I take their golden seal.

To Purple, to be sure to get rid of the parasite for good - you might want to consider continuing your regimen against it for longer, as most parasites will have laid eggs, so that you will be in a recurrent process unless addressing it over the longer term. Of course, it'll depend on the type of parasite how exactly to go about it, and lucky for you if it doesn't come back. But do watch it ...

I am myself in for a six weeks cure, and I might even strecth it to eight or twelve, I'll see when I get that far. Based on my reading and what my body functions well with, I have settled on: raw garlic, golden seal, liquid grape fruit seed extract and then the antiparasite complex Paratrex containing the wormwood, black walnut hull etc. It seems to be working: I had a burst of the welts the first couple of days, then none for a few days, and yesterday I had some new ones on my upper arms where I never had them before. So I think I'm gradually making my body so very inhospitable to all those bastards that they're dying and being expelled.

As to the discussion on doctors: I think that if one has been frustrated enough by the 'conventional medical profession', it would be odd not to begin to rely on personal learning/experience/research. Naturally, it must be done with great caution, but considering my own mal treatment by so-called experts (If I hadn't listened to and trusted myself I would fx also still be on Naproxyn and strong pain killers for my joint pains - which is exactly what destroyed my stomach ten years ago), I fully understand and agree with Ali's approach. Good for those who find/have great doctors, and particularly wise doctors dealing holistically with a patient's entire system. But for those of us who have never been lucky/rich enough to find doctors who knew how to handle our individual problems properly - well, I still think it should be considered commendable that we don't just lie back in bed and stay sick for the rest of our lives, but that we actually take charge and actively try to resolve our own problems. I see it as having been forced to become an 'expert' on one's own health. Not just an immensely self-empowering thing, but in truth also a basic necessity for simply getting out of bed every day ... At least, if I hadn't done it myself, I would still be lying there ...

Jan

[Mtndog]

Isn't it funny how the herbs are always portrayed as the 'baddies'??? It is never the drugs that are a problem............

........and just who might that 'expert' be???

Everyone is expert at something. In fact, anyone who is more expert at something than you or I am is an expert.

Who decided that the Medical Profession were to be the 'experts'? The Medical Profession? By the same definition if I decide that I am an expert, who has the 'right' to say otherwise? If the Medical Profession can declare themselves experts then so can I.

There is only one true expert - God. You can't get any more expert than him.

AliB- this post is off on may levels. It flirts with breaking Rule #1 but just because you have EXPERIENCE does not make you an expert. I can ride a horse, but I am not an EXPERT- there are other people FAR more qualified at riding than myself.

An expert is someone at the top of their field/craft. Just because you can click a camera does not make one an expert photographer!

And the medical profession does not have to mean a traditional MD- several of the people on this board who went through parasite treatment were being treated by either LLMD's or naturopaths.

[AliB]

My gorgeous daughter who is now 5'9" tall, 30 years old and has two beautiful boys of her own!

When I have lost all the weight, gained my hair back, lost the bags and the black rings under my eyes and look drop-dead gorgeous I'll post one of myself, until then I'll have to keep you all guessing.

The camera definitely lies in my case - I always look like someone else.

[purple]

My gorgeous daughter who is now 5'9" tall, 30 years old and has two beautiful boys of her own!

When I have lost all the weight, gained my hair back, lost the bags and the black rings under my eyes and look drop-dead gorgeous I'll post one of myself, until then I'll have to keep you all guessing.

The camera definitely lies in my case - I always look like someone else.

Thanks AliB, I have wanted to comment on that beautiful baby for a long time

[AliB]

AliB- this post is off on may levels. It flirts with breaking Rule #1 but just because you have EXPERIENCE does not make you an expert. I can ride a horse, but I am not an EXPERT- there are other people FAR more qualified at riding than myself.

An expert is someone at the top of their field/craft. Just because you can click a camera does not make one an expert photographer!

And the medical profession does not have to mean a traditional MD- several of the people on this board who went through parasite treatment were being treated by either LLMD's or naturopaths.

I won't argue with you otherwise I would be breaking rule 1 ! I have made my personal observations and feelings (because that is all they were - and ever are) known on that subject and it is now closed.

What exactly is an LLMD? We don't have them over here.

I can't afford to pay for treatment. My husband is on basic pension and I have not been well enough to work. Our UK insurance system is limited for private treatment and I wouldn't be able to get any even if I could afford to because I have ongoing health issues. My Doctor can't help me. What other option do I have than books and the internet???

Thank goodness, says I, that I have that - there is a whole world of information open to me now that wasn't a few years ago and I now can find - if I look hard enough and long enough - enough information to be able to help myself. Perhaps if I had had all this at my disposal years ago I would not have been so sick for so long.

Apart from one very good Naturopath I was able to consult for a short while some years ago, my foray into alternative experts' territory has been spectacularly fruitless and a total waste of time and money and I can't play that game of russian roulette with my (our) already extremely limited funds any more.

Like you Jan, I use the Medical system mainly for tests where they may be available but even that is extremely limited here.

I took the Goldenseal and Wormwood preps for about 10 days and have now switched to another prep containing black walnut and some Milk thistle capsules so am just monitoring to see if they make any difference. I feel that, although there seems to be some improvement, there is still more to come. I might just switch between the two lots for a few weeks and hopefully the two-pronged approach will do the trick.

Has anyone tried any drug treatments with any success? I would not discount them out of hand - I am just concerned about the distinct likelihood of drug resistance. Resistance is a real problem, as the issues with antibiotics has demonstrated and according to different reports it seems that parasitic resistance to drugs is on the increase too.

That problem does not appear to happen with herbs.

[fig girl]

Thanks Ali and Jan for starting this thread. I've been wondering if parasites might be part of my slow progression to not being able to eat more SCD legal foods. The last 2 weekends i've juiced about a third of a garlic clove w/carrots and last weekend i added a little kale. It seems if i dilute it with a little water as Elaine suggests when first starting to juice, i do ok with it. This past weekend my stomach didn't bother me as much as it did the weekend before after juicing the garlic so maybe it's helping. Maybe i could do the raw garlic on the weekend and grapefruit seed extract during the week for a couple of weeks and see how i do. I looked up grapefruit seed extract (gse) and it doesn't seem to interfere with any medications - i believe grapefruits can increase the absorption of medications but gse doesn't do this from what i've found. I'm on bio-identical hrt so i don't want to increase my estrogen absorption.

How long do you guys wait in between taking the antifungals and probiotics? I have been drinking about 1/4 tsp of baking soda w/a pinch of salt in about 5 oz of water to help with alkalizing - every now and then i'll feel acidic (burning bum when pass gas and have bm) and i read on pecanbread that this helps to alkalize and it seems to be helping. Do parasites thrive on an acidic environment?

[psawyer]

What exactly is an LLMD? We don't have them over here.

You may have them. It is not an official accreditation, but rather an abbreviation for "Lyme Literate Medical Doctor." It refers to an accredited Medical Doctor who views Lyme Disease outside the parameters accepted by many of their colleagues in the medical profession. The term is usually used by patients with Lyme disease.

[purple]

Thought we could use some links...

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

got any more...pass 'em on

[ginnybean32]

To the person who has something wiggling in your belly you should go asap to a medical doctor and take a stool sample so they can identify the beastie and then take the meds the doctor recommends to kill it. If you can feel it that means its HUGE!! and you probably have many of them in there which can ball up together and block off your intestines. No amount of herbs in the world can kill them for good. Only meds like Vermox and Flagyll and some others. I have taken the last two meds when I got hookworms and girhdia from my little poodle. My doctor said because I am a celiac I have a lowered immunity to fighting off parasites so this will be something I have to watch for the rest of my life. I was so sick with my infestation I cant imagine not doing what it takes to get rid of them but that is me I guess. Tapeworm larvae can get into your brain and other organs if left untreated and then some of them still might not die and have to be surgically removed. Agggg could you imagine. Please see a regular doctor and tell them to treat you. We have enough issues absorbing nutrition from food due to damage done by Celia than to let some worm or parasite come and take the rest of it from us. Dont you think?