Help to clear parasites

[Joeyis7]

Can anyone recommend a functional medicine practitioner in North East England who can prescribe if necessary? I have Genova parasite results and need to clear blasto and h pylori.

Thanks.

Joeyis7

[gabkad]

If you have H. pylori, there's a breath test for it. Your GP should be able to send you for the test and provide a prescription to treat.

I don't know what Genova does, because H. pylori will result in antibodies but this can happen if you HAD the infection as well as if you HAVE it. That's why the breath test is both the appropriate means by which to determine if you are actively infected and afterwards as a follow up if you have been successfully treated.

[Joeyis7 in reply to gabkad]

Thank you for this information, Gabkad. Much appreciated.

Joeyis7

[gabkad in reply to Joeyis7]

Usually, if metronidazole is part of the H. pylori treatment regimen, this kills protozoans as well.

The triple drug therapy for H. pylori has been modified over the past few years because it seems the bacteria is resistant to some antibiotics these days.

Back in the 1950s peptic ulcer was treated with tetracycline. Then in the 1960s the psychologists decided it was caused by mental stress. (Just the same as today with thyroid problems and CFIDS. If you can't find a cause, it's mental......nothing new under the sun.)

If you look up Dr. Borody's website for his clinic in Australia, the medications used now are listed. However, there is also information on line that there are people who, despite repeated applications of the standard drug therapy, continue to test positive on the breath test to H. pylori.

The antibiotic therapy can be rather harsh on the system for some people.

Good luck.

[Joeyis7 in reply to gabkad]

Crikey Gabkad! I can't see my GP calmly accepting all that if I take it into the surgery! It's a very poverty stricken area with high unemployment and I suspect hardly anyone doing their own research. He has thousands of patients due to his socialist mission, having worked in the slums with Mother Theresa of Calcutta. To be honest I doubt that local hospitals will take me seriously. We are stuck in the 1960s here. But thanks.

Joeyis7

[Joeyis7 in reply to gabkad]

By the way, I've already HAD the stool test results and they show blasto. I just want it cured because from things I've read, parasites can worsen thyroid and adrenal disorders, certainly cause chronic fatigue. I hate that term 'chronic fatigue' because of course it's a cop-out.

I've read that h. Pylori (which I don't know if I've got) can cause sufferers to need 37% more thyroxine than their normal dose. That describes me exactly. And the weird increased need followed a bad food poisoning episode in spring 2013, caused by underdone fish in a bistro, after which I've never been the same again.

Yes, it could be coincidence but my Genova test did record blasto hominis. My doc at the time said no action needed, everyone has this. But since then I've been Googling night and day.....

Another thing is my test results were skewed because stupidly I gave the samples while on Ecobalance ( a candida remedy) and the report noted oregano oil. So now I'm thinking there was more damage than just the blasto and the worry is eating away at me. I can't begin gut cleansing regimes or start on repopulating with 'good' bacteria until I'm sure in my mind about the bad.

All in all I suspect it will beyond the range of my highly-motivated but overworked GP and I feel inclined to seek someone who specialises in parasites. And I had an NHS stool test last spring which recorded NOTHING! But the same poo recorded blasto hominis with Genova Laboratories.

I may be barking up the most wrong of all wrong trees here! My guts may be ok, the blasto not really a problem, the h pylori non existent! BUT people don't get fatigue like I've had for a year or more without reason. There is a reason why my thyroxine seems to have been replaced by compressed talcum powder instead of effective hormone and I'm going to find that reason out.

Many thanks.

Joeyis7

[gabkad in reply to Joeyis7]

The problem with taking a whack of antibiotics is Clostridium difficile. If you had any of this hanging around (and if you've ever eaten ground meat you probably have it) then knocking out the 'good bacteria' can permit this to take over and give you pseudo membranous colitis. A near death experience if there ever was one. You may have picked this up in the bad fish experience too. Some other bacteria can get chronic as well. E. coli is a normal gut inhabitant except it has nasty variants that can make a person very ill. The problem with C. difficile is it has spores that are quite heat resistant. So if it's in something (like ground meat) cooking it won't kill the spores.

If you want to try a biohack which will adsorb a lot of the bacteria not belonging in your small intestines, don't eat anything for a day. Then mix 4 tablespoons of raw potato starch and 1 level teaspoon of psyllium into a big glass of water. Drink it down. It will pass through the small intestine undigested but bacteria stick to the starch granules as they go along. Your colon bacteria will ferment the potato starch. But the psyllium will keep things going well and spread the starch all the way along the colon instead of the bacteria fermenting it only in the cecum and ascending colon. You may get gas, you may not. Depends if you have a really good selection of microbes. Some bacteria eat the gas that other bacteria produce. If you don't get gas, then congratulations. You have a great selection of bacteria in your gut.

You can eat an hour after doing this because it takes 2 hours for the starch to make it to the colon.

Try to eat a cup of cooked beans every day because the inside of the beans maintains resistant starch which will also adsorb bacteria from the small intestine. Probably one of the reasons why people in India manage to survive so many gut infections is the fact they eat a lot of pulses which contain resistant starch. One preventive they use is the water from washed raw rice. The starch in solution is a good way to flush microbes that don't belong. It is being added now to the hydration solutions for cholera.

[Joeyis7 in reply to gabkad]

Thank you!

Is ground meat what we here in north of England call 'mince'? If so, yes, I've eTen it, buts lay a couple of times in the last ten years since my son left to get married.

Is the potato starch routine you describe a cure or merely a test? And where get potato starch? From real potatoes from a green grocers? Excuse my ignorance!

I appreciate the beans idea but like many auto immune sufferers I'm allergic to all beans. The reason why is a set of numbers I can't remember but I found it on the Kris Keller site. I read there about Resistant Starch also, but didn't concentrate on it because I don't eat starch just now.

I would be more than happy to carry out the process you describe though. Can't kill me and might lead to progress!

Thanks very much.

Joeyis7

[gabkad in reply to Joeyis7]

Kresser's blog? If so, he's good.

Potato starch is a powder. It's used for gravy thickener and other things as well. Sold in boxes. You should be able to find it in the same aisle in the supermarket as corn starch.

What happens if you eat beans? The 'bad' stuff is in the skin. Smaller beans, like black eye peas, if you soak them for 24 hours and then cook them are not bad. The bigger beans are difficult.

What about split peas that have been decorticated? I.e. have no skin?

[Joeyis7 in reply to gabkad]

Kesser not Keller, sorry. I'm making typos because I'm worried.

I get what potato starch is now, thank you. When I eat beans I feel as if I have a hangover next day. Tired, fuzzy headed, depressed. That is so not me! It's been a year of just a few allergies, to mould, to beans, to tonic water. Before that I was bouncing with health and could eat anything!

I could try soaking the beans, certainly.

Is this potato starch procedure a treatment or just to see if I have bacteria?

Many thanks!

Joeyis7

[gabkad in reply to Joeyis7]

The potato starch flushes bacteria out of the small intestine. Psyllium gives it some thickness so it doesn't go through instantly.

There have been studies done as to which kind of bacteria adsorb to the starch granules. These tend to be the gram negatives. As I mentioned above, given the supremely unhygienic situation in places like India, people would be in even more trouble than they are if it weren't for the resistant starch content of the diet.

Have you read VegetablePharm? vegetablepharm.blogspot.ca/ My friend Tim writes that blog and he's the guy who brought resistant starch to the attention of the health bloggers. Kresser would not have mentioned it if it wasn't for Tim.

You can email him and he can help you out with suggestions. He's a total gutbug nerd.

But if you have a symptomatic H. pylori, for sure, then only antibiotic therapy will rid you of it.

[Joeyis7 in reply to gabkad]

Well that's real progress, thank you SO much, Gabkad!

Joeyis7

[gabkad in reply to Joeyis7]

There's a lot of discussion as to gut microbes. Some people have so many huge problems it takes a long time before they are getting better. There's a woman in Australia who had a terrible bacterial infection or overgrowth. She's been working on getting well for quite some months now. There's no magic bullet, so to speak. Even people who get fecal transplants don't necessarily get well right away.

I was very sick in 1996 with a terrifying viral infection. This entirely destroyed my guts. Even by 2000 my gut was not absorbing nutrients the way it should have. I don't know if I could have done things different or better but I took a lot of supplements and vitamins and whatnot. Felt a bit better but got supplement fatigue. Incredibly, even though I'd been taking B12 my level was not stellar. I don't have PA.

Given my very close contact with donkeys for a couple of years, 2007 and 2008, I'm sure I picked up all sorts of 'interesting' microbes. But these actually made me healthier, whatever they are. You have the Donkey Sanctuary in Devon and lots of satellite farms too. I was grooming donkeys and mucking out the barn for a couple of years and it was the best thing I ever could have done for my health. Both mentally and physically it was a five star experience.

[Joeyis7 in reply to gabkad]

Oddly, I've got a detailed account on resistant starch and AOR Probiotic3 from you in my inbox alert to my home email account but your actual message is NOT appearing on this health unlocked site! Strange! But I've got the information and will look up Art Ayers blog and act on the resistant starch procedure. It's impressive advice and knowledge. I can't tell you how grateful I am. Trawling forums can be dispiriting when your health is down but occasionally one finds a nugget of gold.

Many thanks!

Joeyis7

[gabkad in reply to Joeyis7]

I sent you a pm because there was too much detail to put here.

Heisenbug on his blog addressed the article: (He does not think that probiotics are needed. Just a change of diet)

mrheisenbug.wordpress.com/ The September 8th entry.

[shaws Administrator]

I'm sorry I don't know but I know that Pau d'arco is good for parasites. If you buy in capsule form, you can split capsule to make a tea.

paudarco.org/benefits.php

[Framboise]

I can't recommend anyone but would love to know how you get on once you do find someone to treat you. I've recently done a similar test with a different lab and it too showed blasto, as well as several other nasties, but the only reaction I've got has been 'everyone has all of those'. Like you I want to find and treat every possible cause of whatever is wrong with me.

Good luck and please come back and let us know how you get on!

[Joeyis7 in reply to Framboise]

I will, Framboise, I promise! Your name conjures up pictures of summer picnics in French woodlands. Where once I was.

Joeyis7

[Framboise in reply to Joeyis7]

Thank you Joeyis7 I do hope you find someone to help.

Ah French picnics, wild myrtilles and mirabelles, strawberries and raspberries, and local wine in plastic bottles, those were the days I used to live just over the border and often wish I still did!

Good luck

[helenbones]

Manuka honey is supposed to help h pylori - expensive but use it like medicine, a teaspoon 3 x a day. Best to get raw and 20+ strength - Waitrose sell it . Good probiotic capsules help repopulate the gut (not at same time as the honey) , going paleo helps the gut strengthen again by avoiding possible inflammatory foods.

Hope you get help from your GP, but it seems that helping yourself seems to be the lot of most of us

[Joeyis7 in reply to helenbones]

Thanks for this, Helenbones. I've read of manuka honey. It's a question of which herbs/products in which order. So I'm seeking help and there's lots of web advice. I suspect I will be better checking in with an expert.

I can get the honey no problem. If you read Gabkads advice above too, it will be a strange diet! On different days of course.

Yes, I know I will have to take responsibility myself. Thanks for replying.

Joeyis7