• HEALTH & RECOVERY
    Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules Thread Directory 1 Thread Directory 2
    Mindfulness Links Addiction & Mind
    Sober Living Partner Program (SLiPP)
  • H&R Moderators: VerbalTruist | cdin | Lil'LinaptkSix

Helminthic Therapy (Worm Therapy)

What 23

What 23

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 7, 2013
Messages
3,906
Anyone heard of this?

Anyone try it?

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helminthic_therapy:

Helminthic therapy, a type of immunotherapy, is the treatment of autoimmune diseases and immune disorders by means of deliberate infestation with a helminth or with the ova of a helminth. Helminths are parasitic worms such as hookworms and whipworms.
Helminthic therapy consists of the inoculation of the patient with specific parasitic intestinal nematodes (helminths). There are currently three closely related treatments available. Inoculation with Necator americanus,[1] commonly known as hookworms, or Trichuris suis ova (TSO),[2] commonly known as pig whipworm eggs, or inoculation with Trichuris trichiura ova,[1] commonly referred to as human whipworm eggs.
Current research and available therapy are targeted at, or available for, the treatment of Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), multiple sclerosis, asthma, eczema, dermatitis, hay fever and food allergies.
Helminthic infection has emerged as one possible explanation for the low incidence of autoimmune diseases and allergies in less developed countries, together with the significant and sustained increase in autoimmune diseases in industrialized countries.[3][4][5][6]
Click to expand...

I have heard mostly only success stories- of it helping from one degree or another, to those with these illnesses. I am not without doubts that it will work, for me, though. It is expensive-- Around $4K.

In my specific illness, I will be getting a few doses of hookworms, for treatment. Long story short, the bugs secrete their own brand of immunoglobulin (antibody) which works to blind the immune system to their specific presence. I guess it floods the receptors (? I think that's right?). This in turn causes whatever is causing the symptoms of the disease (in theory), to no longer bind with the affinity they had, or sometimes at all. People have been allergic to eggs, very badly, and afterwards, tried them, with no ill effect.

The infection is controlled. These parasites are harmless (in most cases) at these controlled levels. Any negative you hear about them is from out of control infections.

I will have my first 6 in the coming weeks.
 
I've looked into it for treating rheumatoid arthritis. The cost and the availability have deterred me from trying it yet. I don't think I will anymore, as I have found other things that work quite well. That said, I'm curious to hear how it goes.

Good luck!
 
can I havbe an update on how the therapy worked for you?

I've never even heard about these worms, but in theory, they sound great, that I have to say!

since my MS runs rampant, I'd literally try ANYTHING to stop it from progressing... :/
 
I can't believe modern medicine would consider deliberate worm infestation over simple herbal immuno-modulants like mushroom extracts. *face palm*
 
@Foreigner- Hmm. That's pretty closed minded. So what if that person is highly allergic to even trace amounts of mushroom, or chemically sensitive-- How clean are these extracts? And honestly I haven't seen any evidence that they can treat symptoms of food allergies, significantly, like these can. I know you're big on Eastern medicine and herbalism/Etc., but it's not the answer for everything. If you have decisive studies to show me that mushroom extracts send MS patients into remission, or that they have made autistic children "wake up", which helminthic therapy does have claims of... I'd be really interested to hear about it (and I will look into it).

It's really not that far out. Have you even looked into the logic behind it? These things co-evolved with us, and allergic disorders are more rampant in societies where we have all but eliminated them. Places where minor infections of this parasite might be common, have much lower incidence of asthma, for one instance.

I wouldn't call it an infestation. An infestation paints a picture of an uncontrolled infection. The amount of worms used, begins with 6-12. They cannot reproduce in the body. Eggs pass through feces, to begin their life cycle again, in soil. People are dosed intelligently, often in steps. I don't know how many are the top level, and it depends on the person/disease being treated I imagine, but I seem to think 24 is a round number where people end up. I've heard some in the 50s and some closer to 100. But those are rare. Once again this is a controlled infection (though infection still doesn't sound right). NOT an "infestation" (the state of being overrun).

It seems many people have an emotional response to this. I have gotten over any "ew" factor.

@Suck@Bong***- I had the money, and was in process to do this, when I wrote this, but then God gave me a bout of diarrhea that lasted 6 months, and it wasn't the conditions needed to become infected. Then after that, I flooded my car's engine with water, and had to use a good chunk of that cash that I was going to use on the worms, for a new engine. I've since just put it way on the back-burner. It's so expensive. I've subscribed to a fairly active DIY group, on Yahoo, that you might look into. I don't have the address on this computer, but a google search could get you started ("hookworm donors" would be a start). Not to say it's a cure-all, or works for everyone, but I have read several accounts of people with MS, whose symptoms had never been better.

If there can be provided accounts of people going into remission, or greatly benefiting with herbs/mushroom extracts, then this way may be much less risk. At any rate, if they may help, you might try them, even if you do decide to investigate helminthic therapy. If interested in worm-therapy, I would suggest joining some of the groups, and talking to people with MS.
 
Last edited:
Since it costs 4k, I think you'd be just as well served investing a couple hundred (or the equivalent in time, such as reading books and studies and seeing specialists in other fields) in looking for alternatives. Imo this should be a last resort thing, not because I necessary doubt the efficacy -- I'm completely indifferent; feels like a figurative coin flip -- but because, gee willikers, the opportunity cost of 4k is quite a bit.
 
Yea, it shouldn't cost so much. The place I had looked into was around 3400. But they guaranteed infection for 5 years, I think, so if it controls illnesses better than alternatives, which it is claimed by a lot to, it is worth it. But getting over that hurdle of the initial cost is big. I was going to be allowed to pay in increments of 1100 or so, and receive first 6, then more as I paid. They are supposed to last 5 years. Some last 3. Some last more.

As mentioned, there are DIY groups, where people donate them to others, with incubation instructions so that they can continue indefinitely, and others donate. And this route is still something I am considering, but there is more risk involved. Even with the risk, though, if one becomes infected with too many, by accident, it is a mostly easy fix, with a round of drugs.

I haven't personally read of any therapies as promising, for food allergies. At least nothing accessible.

I have dropped thousands, and have attempted alternative treatments, which have worked for others (NAET, Acupressure), but I don't have much faith in them. I still haven't shut my mind completely on the last practitioner I saw, that used a form of acupressure, and plan to go back.
 
Last edited:
What 23 said:
Yea, it shouldn't cost so much. The place I had looked into was around 3400. But they guaranteed infection for 5 years, I think, so if it controls illnesses better than alternatives, which it is claimed by a lot to, it is worth it. But getting over that hurdle of the initial cost is big. I was going to be allowed to pay in increments of 1100 or so, and receive first 6, then more as I paid. They are supposed to last 5 years. Some last 3. Some last more.

As mentioned, there are DIY groups, where people donate them to others, with incubation instructions so that they can continue indefinitely, and others donate. And this route is still something I am considering, but there is more risk involved. Even with the risk, though, if one becomes infected with too many, by accident, it is a mostly easy fix, with a round of drugs.

I haven't personally read of any therapies as promising, for food allergies. At least nothing accessible.

I have dropped thousands, and have attempted alternative treatments, which have worked for others (NAET, Acupressure), but I don't have much faith in them. I still haven't shut my mind completely on the last practitioner I saw, that used a form of acupressure, and plan to go back.
Click to expand...

I saw this being studied at my hospital for Crohns, which I declined. Looks promising though! May I ask what your affliction is?
 
Really? Are you in the U.S.? Lots of people with Crohns write on the group forum I belong to, and I remember some positive. One guy even said he was free of symptoms for the first time, if I recall right.

I have food allergies. But I also think a lot of it is allergies to bacteria that's on the food (even if cooked). For instance I can eat chicken directly from the package (cooking it of course), but if I buy it after it has been behind the meat counter sitting for hours I seem to get a reaction. I can handle hemp seeds, if their bacterial load is low. I've gotten the analysis on batches that I could handle and those I couldn't and bacteria is the only major difference. I had chronic ear infections growing up so its possible that sensitized me to kinds of bacteria... But I don't know if that makes any sense.

What kind of helminth? Why did you decline?
 
Last edited:
I think worm or helminth therapy should be decided by each person.

Before getting into this, are people also aware that each worm will be feeding and that is blood that will nourish them?
How many helminths for a 100 lbs person or 170 lbs. person, it must likely be more for the heavy person.
What about reactions? A worm to make the changes in a person is like an insect injecting some fluid that contains what? Do people really know what this stuff that the helminth
will be giving into the system of the host?

It scares me, I do not picture something like a leech sucking me but like multitudes of tiny suckers, that's the part that scares me.
But how about if one wants to end this thing, can it be done in a few days?

I have talked to some farmers with cows, pigs and chickens. There are drugs that they use in case they want to get rid of
the worm in their animals , such as levamisole or similar stuff. Anyway, this farmer actually showed me the tablet for a
full grown cattle, it is a very large tablet. When I saw it, I regretted even seeing the tablet.

But there is another I also had discussions about helminth with someone else and the talk went to an alternative to helminth.
There actually is an alternative to helminth and it is from herbs and plant stuff.

View here
 http://follownaturesway.page.tl/Helminth-Alternative.htm




 
Last edited:
One sure fire way to know if something is a quack medicine is by what conditions it claims to treat.

1. If it treats everything, it's quack medicine.
2. If the success stories are all things like cancer and MS, MS in particular, it's quack medicine.

You can make anything appear to work for cancer and MS and similar. They are conditions that spontaneously go into remission for no clear reason whatsoever. So virtually any so called treatment imaginable will SEEM to be associated with complete remission in a certain proportion of the people who try it. People write about it, people publish it. For the people it doesn't appear to work for, people move to the next quack medicine until it goes into remission on its own and it serves as a success story for that quack medicine instead. And they write nothing about it, seeing it more as not working for them than it being BS the whole time and thus admitting they believed in something that was BS. Or on the rare occasion they do write something it's seen as an exception and not published.

Yet despite all this being the case ignorant people fall for it again and again. If you don't know much, then everything seems to have as much validity as everything else.
 
I have had worms before and it was the most repulsive experience of my life. They alter your behaviour and food cravings to suit them.

This is not a cure, even if it works. It's just another psychotic symptom management tool.

You don't "treat" people by infecting them with parasites!!!
 
To learn more about helminthic therapy, you should visit the Helminthic Therapy Wiki, the largest reference work on this topic on the internet.
http://helminthictherapywiki.org


There are full details about all the organisms used and the companies that supply them, as well as hundreds of scientific papers, media articles and many hundreds of personal stories by helminthic therapy self-treaters.


“The results strongly support previous indications that helminth therapy can effectively treat a wide range of allergies, autoimmune conditions and neuropsychiatric disorders…” (Liu et al, 2016) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27240605


“Twenty years from now everybody is going to have a helminth, and no insurance company will begin to cover you if you don’t have your helminths ... We’re very confident in the science, that every single human being needs a helminth. It’s part of our biology.” (Prof William Parker, Duke University, 2016) quoted in:
http://pamplinmedia.com/pt/9-news/302838-180108-hooked-on-hookworms-and-other-parasites


And the cost of this therapy has come down a lot from the prices mentioned in posts above!


“What was a costly and sometimes risky venture into the unknown, undertaken by only a few 10 years ago, is rapidly becoming a readily available and well-established resource currently used by thousands of individuals.” (Cheng et al, 2015)
http://www.yourwildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/galley-proof-v2.pdf
 
I had hookworms when I was a little kid. Maybe that's why I never got Crohn's disease or MS.

An out of control infection causes extreme exhaustion and malnutrition. Be careful.
 
Hi Socko. If you had hookworms when you were an infant, it's possible that this helped to set up your immune system to prevent against developing autoimmune diseases like Crohn's and MS. Genetics also play a part.

Only organisms that don't multiply in the body are used in helminthic therapy, and dosing is carefully controlled so it's impossible to get an "out of control" infection.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top