Second Nature Care Blog

Parasites Don't Discriminate

[fa icon="calendar'] Apr 21, 2016 11:32:27 PM / by Isadora Guggenheim & Winter Ninivaggi

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Parasites do not care if you are a child or an adult. Parasites are an equal opportunity colonizer.

 Most of us can't wait for summer to get here so we can kick our feet up by the pool with a cool drink and relax. But it is helpful to keep in mind that some of the most common parasites in the United States make themselves right at home in open and swimming pool water.

Having a parasite typically presents itself in the form of diarrhea and in some cases gas, bloating or abdominal pain. Fatigue, muscle pains, and joint pains can also be indirect signs of a parasitic infection.

How do you confirm that you might be infected with a parasite? A comprehensive stool profile is the best way to test for parasites without presumption.

The two most common parasites in the U.S. are Cryptospyridium and Giardia lamblia. There have been multiple outbreaks of Cryptospyridium due to its ability to survive standard public water treatment.  With Giardia, it is possible to ingest without drinking untreated water and children are equally, if not more susceptible to becoming infected.

Giardia can triple your risk of getting irritable bowel syndrome and chronic fatigue years after an original infection.  By the end of summer l have patients come back from camping trips or foreign travel and I diagnosis them with Giardia.  We start immediate treatment to eradicate this nasty bug.  This bug will take you down.  Patients come in exhausted and experience a number of gastrointestinal complaints with bloating, foul gas, headaches, and general malaise. 

Cryptosporidiosis is a protozoan infection and I remember this one in the news at the height of the AIDS epidemic.  Crypto can be passed from human to human via fecal-oral route, animal to human and or thru waterborne transmission.  Crypto oocytes (eggs) are highly infectious as you only need between 10-1000 for an infectious dose.  The eggs invade the intestinal cells and cause diarrhea due to intestinal permeability, chloride secretion and malabsorption in the small intestines. Immunosuppressed individuals can have persistent chronic diarrhea. 

There are a variety of parasites that that are harder to diagnose as they often present themselves without the usual symptoms. It is hypothesized that some may be pathogenic and some may not.

 Enterobius vermicularis (pinworm) is the most common intestinal parasite in the United States. Pinworms live in the small intestine, but the gravid female will travel to the anus and deposit eggs in the perianal skin folds, typically at night then they migrate back into the anus and lower intestine, causing retroinfection. Eggs may be released into the air or onto fomites, where they can then be swallowed. The majority of infested patients are asymptomatic. The most common complaint is anal itching. The diagnosis is made through microscopic identification of ova and female pinworms from perianal swabs.  Several patients have come up positive with testing from Genova who use the most specific PCR DNA testing.  I used natural medicines to treat the whole household.  I joke that my patients need a vet to get de-wormed.  You have to wash all clothing and bedding.

There are a couple of prescription medicines that are used in the treatment of parasites, but come along with side effects. Metronidazole is the most commonly prescribed but it is not easy on the patient. You can expect fatigue, headaches, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping, diarrhea and a metallic taste in your mouth. There are also Tinidazole and Nitazoxanide both with similiar side-effects.

When a patient has a parasitic infection we use all resources to eliminate the infection - pharmaceuticals, herbals, RX homeopathic, I.V. ozone, rectal ozone insufflation and colonics because the health stakes are too high.  Then I focus on repair, rebuild and recolonization to bring you back to an even better normal.  

Your good health begins in your gut.  It is important to not ignore gut issues, get tested and get treatment. We live in a small global community that shares food, water and parasites.

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Isadora Guggenheim, ND, FNP, RN, MS, CNS, LMT, owner of Second Nature Naturopathic Care, LLC
For all appointments: Tel: 845 358-8385 Fax: 845 358-2963 drguggenheim@msn.com