From the Desk of Carolyn Dean MD ND
We are well into summer now, and if you spend a lot of time outdoors and in the water, you may be experiencing a surprise invasion of creatures called Parasites. Your digestive troubles might be more than a run-in with a bad potato and egg salad at your neighborhood BBQ. You may have encountered a parasite.
What Dr. Google or an MD might say about parasites:
Typically, you’ll see your medical doctor if you’ve been dealing with symptoms that could be associated with any number of digestive illnesses, including IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). But not every doctor is going to consider parasites as the underlying problem.
- Nausea and vomiting
- Diarrhea, gas, constipation
- Stomach pain and cramps
- Abdominal bloating
- Muscle and joint pain
- Weight loss
- Dehydration
- Fatigue
Naming the perpetrators
The most common North American parasites are giardia and cryptosporidium and they’re known to contaminate food and soil but also bodies of fresh water like rivers, lakes and creeks. And yes, your instincts about hot tubs, water parks, and swimming pools are correct; they are parasite percolators. Anywhere feces lands can be harboring parasites – hot tubs and swimming pools and also bathroom faucets, changing tables and door handles are notorious.
Unfortunately, diagnosing someone with parasites is way down the list of things your doctor’s going to explore if you come in with symptoms like gas, bloating, diarrhea, and constipation. Perhaps doctors are thrown off track by your symptoms of fatigue and irritability along with your gut symptoms. But we know that the toxins from parasites can cause these symptoms. Pinworms in children are notorious for causing grinding of teeth, ravenous appetite, along with the local symptoms of an itchy bottom. Parasites have a life cycle that makes them especially active during a full moon, which I can guarantee doctors don’t learn about in medical school.
To get your doctor to check for parasites, it’s a good idea to try and link the start of your symptoms with something you ate, drank, or contacted. Did you drink from a stream of water while on your hike? Just like yeast overgrowth, parasite infection is not something that your doctor typically rules out first; instead, their existence is largely overlooked.
Medical Tests
There is no simple blood test for parasites, and stool testing for parasites is notoriously inaccurate. There is a 50% chance of missing parasites when a stool sample is placed in a preservative and sent to a lab.
If you’ve been dealing with gut symptoms for some time and are seeking a diagnosis with your doctor or array of doctors, they might finally order a stool test to rule out parasites and other culprits associated with your symptoms. Then there’s IBS, which is a syndrome that is named when other illnesses have been ruled out. But as you can see, stool testing for parasites will not give you an accurate diagnosis.
Prescription Drugs
There are many drugs used to treat the diseases and symptoms caused by parasites. For example, malaria is a disease caused by parasites and there are at least a dozen drugs to treat various symptoms associated with malaria.
What we are interested in is the drugs used to rid the body of a parasite. But the parasite you’re hosting can only be killed with a drug specific to that parasite.
The first task is to have your doctor order a stool sample which I’ve already indicated are notoriously inconclusive. You actually have to find a doctor and a lab that deals with “tropical diseases” who will do a rectal swab that is immediately viewed under a high-powered microscope. No preservatives that drown and obscure a living organism.
What I say about parasites
A parasite is an organism that benefits from living in or on your body. Having a parasitic infection comes with similar symptoms to many gastrointestinal illnesses. In an ideal world, parasites would be ruled out early on in a person’s journey to identify the reasons for their unrelenting gut related symptoms.
When I was in medical school we learned about parasites as an exotic condition confined to third world countries and acquired by young people who backpacked through those countries drinking unfiltered water.
As a result of this lack of training in medicine, most doctors in North American place very little value on ruling out parasites in their patients so those patients tend to bounce around from doctor to doctor trying to find relief.
Since we now know that parasites can easily be lurking everywhere, my best advice is to do what you can to prevent parasites from invading your system. The following recommendations may come across as a bit extreme, but they are directed at people who have extreme symptoms. So, judge what I say accordingly and look at the following suggestions as an experiment to see if you can lessen your symptoms by following this advice.
Where does your food come from?
The first thing to consider is where your food and drink are coming from. I believe people put too much trust in the authorities responsible for food handling and don’t necessarily take food safety and cleanliness seriously enough. When you buy a package of mixed greens at your grocery store, you probably open the bag and pour the contents into a bowl with salad dressing, thinking the prepped food is clean. But there’s a reason that packaged veggies get recalled occasionally because of contamination.
Consider this scenario: A farm worker may not have hygienic sanitary facilities in the field. If the worker has parasites, they may be passed onto the produce being picked and end up on your table. Most produce does not undergo any effective washing or cleansing process to deal with parasite contamination. Unless it is cleaned with grapefruit seed extract or an equivalent product in your kitchen, you may assume the food has parasites.
Parasites on food are not killed easily with a water rinse. Some health advocates even advise washing food in a basin of water to which is added one or two capfuls of bleach. But why would you “clean” your food with a product that carries skull and crossbones on its label?
Fortunately, there is another product that is not a poison. It’s called grapefruit seed extract, sold as Citricidal. Soak all your fruits and vegetables in a basin of water and add several drops of the extract. Citricidal can also be taken internally in capsule or tablet form to kill parasites in food when eating out. Take one or two during a meal when eating in a restaurant in case the kitchen staff didn’t wash their hands.
When I lived in Manhattan, I frequently had bouts of abdominal distress, and I made sure to wash my produce with Citricidal and take Citricidal capsules. However, in Maui, I have had no such issues.
If you’ve made several visits to your family doctor with ongoing gut troubles, I strongly suggest encouraging your doctor to rule out parasites earlier in your journey of discovering why you’ve been sick since your sushi dinner or your vacation in Mexico. Those all-inclusive resorts tell you that their cleanliness standards are the same as if you were eating and drinking at home. But are the ice cubes made from filtered water, is the bottled water just poured in from the tap, and is the produce washed with filtered water and cleaned with Citricidal?
Ruling out parasites is important because a case of travelers’ diarrhea or food poisoning that’s caused by a persistent parasite can be ground zero for post-infection IBS. The earlier the parasite is identified and killed with the appropriate medicine, the less long-term damage to your intestines.
Prevention is the best medicine:
Remember: I’m giving advice here to people who want to overcome existing gut symptoms and prevent them from worsening.
* Wash all produce in a sink of filtered water using 10 drops of grapefruit seed extract. This solution is very bitter and kills parasites. I say ALL produce whether it comes in a bag from the grocer or from the garden in your backyard.
* Take 1-2 grapefruit seed extract capsules whenever you eat outside the home, whether down the street or across the globe.
* When you’re travelling do not drink tap water. No drinking from hoses, fountains or water glasses at a restaurant.
* Do not brush your teeth with tap water. Don’t rinse your toothbrush with tap water.
* The bottled water you use must have a properly sealed cap.
* Ice cubes are often made with tap water. Don’t use ice cubes unless they’re from safe, bottled, filtered water. Those frosted, icy drinks might be off the menu this summer!
* While it’s tempting to get a taste of local culture, you might also get a taste of the local parasite if you eat food prepared by street vendors. Do you see them washing their hands between customers and handling money? Probably not.
Healthy options for parasites
Supplements:
Picometer Silver: This is a powerful, yet safe antifungal. Dosage can be up to 6 tsp a day and taken with an antifungal/probiotic.
Antifungals and Probiotics: I recommend a product that combines Saccharomyces boulardii and humic/fulvic antifungals and prebiotics and probiotics.
Note: In our customer base, we hardly ever hear of our customers being diagnosed with parasites. It’s likely because our formulas, especially for yeast overgrowth, do not allow parasites a hospitable landing site.
Diatomaceous Earth: This substance contains spicules that can pierce the exoskeletons of unsuspecting parasites.
Charcoal: This carbon substance has a vast surface area that traps parasites, toxins, and poisons. However, be aware that it turns the stool black, which can obscure dark stool from a bleeding bowel.
Herbs:
Note: Opt for organic herbs.
* Cloves: I use cloves as a “breath mint,” holding them in my mouth and very gently chewing them to release the volatile oils. Eventually, the clove will be macerated, and you can either swallow it with water or spit it out. The swallowed clove juice will help keep you parasite-free.
* Wormwood (Artemisia annua): This herb is included in most parasite formulas along with cloves, garlic, the green unripe hulls of black walnut, slippery elm bark, pau d’arco, butternut bark, lomatium root, neem, olive leaf, quassia bark, sage, southernwood, and male fern root.
* Garlic: Use this herb regularly for heart health and gut health.
Carolyn Dean MD ND
The Doctor of the Future
