Are you sure you are parasite free?

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 11:53 pm

The first thing my doctor ordered when I sought help for chronic D was a stool culture and ova and parasites. Of course. It all came back negative. However, I've often wondered if that one sample and our current lab techniques are truly enough to rule out infections and parasites. Spending years in Latin America as a kid, I remember having worms, bouts of GI infections, etc. Our food and water supply is hardly 100% safe here either. How can I be sure these organisms haven't taken up residence in my body, contributing to this mayhem?

Are you confident that one stool culture is enough to rule out infections? Would it be prudent to have one, periodically (maybe yearly or when you are flaring?), to catch something you might have missed, or is this a waste of time and healthcare dollars?

Here's an interesting article written by an integrative medicine doc on Huffington Post. It connects giardia infections with chronic fatigue symdrome and a host of other ailments. I wonder how many people are walking around with a "missed" parasite?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-galla ... 04516.html

Incidentally, one of my cats puked up three worms today. She seems to get them once a year (at least that's when she has so many she's puking them out!!) She doesn't spend much time outdoors anymore, so I often wonder if the eggs are missed by the dewormer, and it's an ever-repeating cycle that will never be cured.

harma · Post by **harma** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 4:25 am

I had in the months before I was diagnosed with MC, two times a test for bacteria's, parasites and other possible animals living in my colon. Both times they were negative. At that time I wasn't convinced that the tests were 100% accurate, also because of a book I had been reading on parasites. Especially Giardia is easily to miss, since traces are only visible 4 of the 7days (or something like that). But, as soon as I got my diagnosis and got much better after entocort, I am sure that is the cause of my D.

Also, on the other hand, what I also have been reading, is that, looking at the past, it was more or less normal to have "animals" living in your colon. Also e reasonable amount of the western world population has a parasite without knowing and without any complaints. Of course you can get very sick of it, but why some get sick and others not, that is an interesting question.

As an alternative treatment for parasites the author suggested a diet, which was almost 100% similar to the paleo diet. Normally I would give the title and writer of the book, but it was written in Dutch by a Dutch doctor, so that will be useless for anybody here.

JLH · Post by **JLH** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 9:15 am

That was the first thing my GI tested for when I went to her. I thought it was possible because we only have lake water at the sailing club. We take bottled water or jug water which we bring from home in our little cabin. They finally got commercial water jug delivery at the clubhouse but they use lake water in the ice machine.......

hoosier1 · Post by **hoosier1** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 1:15 pm

I have been tested numerous times for parasites as well. Always a negative result.

grannyh · Post by **grannyh** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 1:26 pm

In the beginning each doctor ordered the "poop tests".. I carried my little plastic containers to labs all over town.. they always came back negative... No doctor was willing to believe the previous tests were satisfactory.. they had to have their own tests done at THEIR favorite lab.

grannyh

Kimberly M · Post by **Kimberly M** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 1:53 pm

My family doc was certain I had picked up a parasite when my symptons started. We had been in St John in the US Virgin Islands and he believed I got it there even though my symptoms started 2 1/2 months after our trip. He said they could lay dormant for a time then become active. He started treating me with an antibiotic before the stool tests even came back. The antibiotic didn't help so he added another one..............this just about did me in! He ordered another stool test and it came back negative. I told him if I had a parasite it was most certainly dead because I was almost there with these horrible antibiotics. I believe the antibiotics he treated me with made the symptoms worse...........I was a mess when he finally referred me to a gastro doc. Thank goodness the gastro doc did biopsies and found the MC.

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 2:49 pm

Granny i hear ya....

one of my docs did some test that the sample had to be frozen as soon as I had 'collected it' and i had to keep it at frozen temp until i got it to the lab. i had to do this when it was a heat wave during the australian summer... anyways

for at least 5 years or more, each time i went to the doctor with D, numerous tests for parasites and worms were done, with the reasoning that it was because i had travelled to Papua New Guinea for work.
Everytime the results came back, there was no conclusive reason for the digestion issues. On one of these occaisions Shauno my acupuncturist put me on a natural therapy worming treatment and the issues went away.

I do ponder if the tests conducted are adequate for highlighting the real issues. To read the tests and the results that Dr Fine has implemented shows that our poop does reveal alot about our digestion system.

Linda in BC · Post by **Linda in BC** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 3:17 pm

About 5 years into my MC, when I moved to Creston where I live now and saw a new doc, I was tested for parasites. My tests came back saying that I have an unusually high level of the parasite blastocystis. Blastocystis is apparently present in almost everyone's digestive tract and the general medical consensus is that it is benign ( does not cause D. or illness.) My numbers of it were apparently astronomical so thus started a treatment with many different antibiotics, including flagy, I remember, to try to get rid of it, but every time I got tested after an antibiotic, I was always still positive and very high. I even found a website dedicated entirely to blastocystis, for people who were convinced it was causing D. and making them very sick, and who were trying to get rid of it and not having success. The woman who started it had apparently a found a strong antibiotic concoction that worked for some,but its ingredients were not available in Canada, and my dr. couldn't prescribe it. He also didn't feel that it was the cause of my D., tho for a long time I did. I finally just gave up trying to get rid of the blastocystis and carried on dealing with the D. all on my own, until I found this site last spring. I actually haven't thought about the blastocystis for years.
Linda

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 4:03 pm

That's a great article Zizzle and certainly makes me think. Not that long ago I used to go on a lot of real camping trips (50 mile hiking / canoeing / fishing for your own food) trips. I was pretty careful about boiling water etc. but you never know.

Another interesting thought I have had would be is there a risk form our pets? Many of us have had significant exposure to various pets, could that be a risk factor? I hate to even have that thought with Nestle around but it is a possibility.

--Joe

hoosier1 · Post by **hoosier1** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 4:12 pm

Joe,

Good point about pets!!!

I had a bug (or a flare) a couple weeks ago. It was ugly. But I had spent the weekend with my wife out of town, cleaning up after my dog who had major dysentery. I asked the doctor if that could have caused a problem with me and he laughed it off. Well, suffice it to say that I had my hands in a lot of dog doo doo that weekend so one never knows how that affected me. At one point, I helped William (dog) up because he has hind leg weakness and he left a huge mess all over me as he got up on his feet. I was beside myself. I also feel compassion for Will because who I am to criticize an animal who has bowel problems.

One tries to stay clean but when dealing with pets, it is tough to be antiseptic.

Rich