The Nightmare and Blessings of Horsehair, Nematomorpha, Gordian Worm - Strongyloides Stercoralis or Thread Worm Part 7

SEE THE OTHER POSTS AS I KNOW IT WASN'T FROM PERU NOW. I DID A REWRITE AND NOW I KNOW IT IS ACTUALLY AN INSECT PARASITE CALLED HORSEHAIR, NEMATOMORPHA OR GORDIAN WORM. IT IS SIMILAR TO HOOK WORM AND THREAD WORM. SEE MY OTHER POSTS FOR SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT ETC. TYPE IN "PARASITE" OR "HORSEHAIR" INTO SEARCH BOX TO FIND THE OTHER POSTS.

I don't know if you noticed that I changed the title of this post and made it a little different than I have for the other parasite posts. I added the word "Blessings" in the title as I am learning that my being able to figure out that all the problems are related to parasites is a huge blessing. Over the past few months, I have spoken to so many neighbors, family, and friends about this and they all have symptoms! 

Sunday, I went to a welcome home meal for a friend returning from serving as a missionary. I have been having horrible problems with my eyes this past week. I shared that I woke in the night to a lightning bolt of light in my right eye last week. I now have a blind spot in that eye. 

Every day this week, I feel like someone is shooting little spit wads in front of my eyes going in all directions and sometimes I will actually see a little black thing moving fast. When I go outside, I can see hundreds of things moving fast all over my eyes and it makes me dizzy with all the motion. 

I actually thought I was going to faint on Sunday as I led the music at church and prayed I wouldn't make a scene. I actually fell going into my house after church and thought I broke my knee cap for a few seconds. It has been sore to move for days now. With that delay after church, I was late getting to the dinner for the missionary as I was bawling like a baby after falling being scared about my eyesight and general health wondering if I was going to end up blind, damaged lungs, and if I will ever get rid of these horrid things.

I gathered myself together and changed so I could help clean up and we arrived a bit late. We actually changed where we were going to sit a few times and some of our neighbors that have moved away came in just as the people across from us got up to go. They were walking past us to sit at another table and someone grabbed the husband and started talking so his wife said, "If he is going to talk, I'm just going to sit here." 

She mentioned something about seeing flashing things in the corner of her eyes. My ears perked up. Her husband was sitting by that point and said she had been to the eye Dr. and he said nothing was wrong but she sees thing moving in the sides of her eyes and has seen flashes of light. I asked if she "runs out of air when she sings?" and she said she does. I remembered that when I was helping them move, she mentioned her husband has had some chest / stomach problems and I thought to myself, "I wonder if he has the parasite so many seem to have." I asked about his pain and he said he went to the Dr about chest pain and they told him he was fine. I asked if it felt like someone heavy was sitting on his chest and he said it did. I asked if he had any rashes. He said he had one in his hair and the Dr. prescribed antibiotics but it didn't clear it up and he realized after a few months that it was cyclical. I asked about a dry cough and he said he does get those as well. 

I shared that I thought they had the thread worm parasite and he said he has horses and they get that and he uses his manure to fertilize his garden and guess who shares his produce with the neighborhood? Guess what parasites lives in the soil? He said he found that if he put rubbing alcohol on a cloth and put it on his rash they would move around his head and the rash would leave the spot where he put the alcohol. I shared that it won't kill them but if he uses the peroxide, it should clear it up lots and if he rubbed the animal invermectin and albendazole on it, along with the diatomaceous earth, it really should clear up but he needs to see a Dr. I also told him about how I soak my hands in the peroxide etc. 

Because of what his wife said about the eye problems, it just reinforced my belief that my eye problems are from the parasites. I figured I had better be seen in case my flash of light is a retinal detachment. I also wanted to know what was going on before I met with the specialist this week. 

I called the eye Dr and asked if they could fit me in due to he blind spot and flashing lights. They told me to come right over but warned I would have to wait awhile. I went and while waiting, I saw the cute idea of making a frame with chalk paint and stenciling the words, "Most likely to..." on the frame and then letting people write what they want and then holding it in front of their faces. I thought that would be a cute prom idea or wedding idea. 

I then got into the exam room and got my eyes dilated. I look like a demon off of "supernatural" as my eyes are so dilated in the one picture. In the one after in the car, it was weird that my eyes were dilated differently. Once was still wide open and the other closed more. 

While waiting in the exam room, I was saddened by thoughts of my friend Ruth and her husband that passed away, (See a post about that here) as it was her husbands practice. They still have his diploma and certificates on the wall and it brought many thoughts to my mind. The picture at the top is her husband examining one of my children. I can't help thinking that I probably didn't want to see that anyway and with my eyes dilated, everything was blurry but who wants to see things that remind them of loved-ones lost.   

I was happy to hear that my retina isn't detaching. I was saddened to see that my eyesight has deteriorated significantly. I have never needed glasses except while pregnant in nursing school. Other than that time, I haven't ever worn them. Until two months or so ago, I could see very clearly. Now, one eye was 20/70 and the other was 20/50 and even though I could "read" what was there, I couldn't see it clearly. Lately, I will have to ask my kids to read things to me at the house. 

The Dr. found that my vitreous is detaching and pulling in places and that is what has caused my "blind" spot and also caused the flashing lightning bolt that woke me. I had to cringe when he said, "You have threads floating around in the vitreous fluid" and explained that they may calm and get better over time and attributed it to age. I KNOW that those "threads" are parasites. I am so frustrated that no Dr.'s in our area seem to understand this parasite. I shared with him that if anyone else comes in with this similar eye problem, to please ask them if "they have bumps in the back of their throat" or "run out of air when they sing" to find out if there is a common problem and this is a problem for more than just my old neighbor and I. He said he would and I need to go back in a few months to make sure it isn't progressing further. 

I arrived home somewhat relieved but somewhat sad that I will have a blind spot for the rest of my life and it may get worse. There isn't anything they can do as if they mess with it, it can cause retinal detachment.So, I was stressed about this and figuring how many people are suffering from these type of problems and another friend of mine just came to mind. She told me she has the symptoms of running out of air etc and I just remembered that she was diagnosed with "macular degeneration" a few years back. I wonder if the parasites had something to do with that problem she has.  

I made some calls to find keys for the copy room at church as I am working on a songbook for girls camp and needed to go make some copies. My neighbor across the street had a key to the copy room at church so I walked out to go get the key from her and was stressing about my eyes and I look up as I come out of the garage and there is a HUGE, bright rainbow in front of me. I KNOW God was telling me it was OK. I wish I had gone in for my good camera but took these with my phone and the camera on my phone isn't the best as you can see by these pictures. I stared across the street and noticed a second small rainbow. 

A double rainbow. It took me back to my last court date when I was moving Princess Three to college the same day and I walked out to a double rainbow in nearly the same spot. (Click here for that post.) If they were behind the house, I wouldn't have seen them. They were right in front of me both times and both times, I was stressed and worried about life and my future. He is so good to reassure me that all will be "OK."

I was returning my neighbors key and she invited me in. It was almost ten and she was ready for bed but I felt like I should tell her about the parasites. Guess who has a high white blood cell count and is going to the Dr tomorrow for further testing???? YES!!! Can you believe it? I called three other people for a key to that room before calling her and not one answered their cell phone. I actually ran into one of them at the eye Dr. and forgot to ask her about the key. I am SURE I was supposed to tell her about the parasites as she has bumps in the back of  her throat and a high white count and she said she was going to try the hand soak thing. 

I don't know that the hand is the best place for everyone as they may not have them in their hands but more local to another area. The scalp and backside are more common for the rash as well as the back of the hand. Princess Five has some rashes on her feet but I had forgotten that and had assumed it was athletes foot from one of the camps she attended or something but now, I am going to soak her feet and see what shows up. She is always walking barefoot in the yard and my guess is we will have something show up after soaking. 

I wanted to share that as the parasite load in my body increases, so has my weight. Each month I have gone to the Dr, the past three months, I have gained 2-5 lbs a month. I eat one larger healthy meal a day and then yogurt, and banana once a day and some granola or grain crackers. That is it most days. It seems that the more parasites you have, the larger you get.

This is a blessing in a way as I know that if I can figure it out, it will bless many people in my town, state and who knows where else. Just coming up with the peroxide soak alone will help diagnose many. I thought a few weeks back that perhaps I could patent some of the ideas for testing and treatments and make some money but my Heavenly Father let me know this week that I need to give all the information I have out freely as he gave it to me freely. I will be posting some other things that I have come up with on diagnosis testing and some treatment things I have been trying to help speed up the process and pray that we will be able to come up with some cure for this awful little parasite that at the moment is moving around near my heart causing burning and others are crawling around my diaphram area litterally "creeping me out." so with this long post, I want to share one last blessing. 

I was stressing out the other day while driving as my mother isn't doing well and I need to schedule some time to head up and do our annual closet and apartment clean out for her upcoming birthday. (See a post about that here and here.) I stopped at a intersection while trying to figure out how to do this in my mind and I looked down to see this rather scratched penny just outside my door. No one was behind me so I picked it up. It did help me realize that I need to visit my mom but not to stress about it and trust God to help me figure it out. On the way into the mission dinner on Sunday after my little fall and melt down, I was sharing the story about my penny find as we left the car and were walking to the building. I didn't get halfway through my story of finding the penny when I look down and find this dime! It was right after falling and stressing about fainting and going blind etc. GOD is telling me it will be OK and that I need to TRUST in HIM! I wish I didn't need so many reminders. ha ha.

In the end, I am sure this parasite nightmare will bless many lives including those of my family and friends. I KNOW I had to have the super infection so I could document symptoms from every area. Before, I only had lung and thyroid issues with a few bumps in the throat. If I hadn't gotten the massive infection, I wouldn't have probably figured it out. The white blood count would have continiued to increase and I am sure I would end up with the Leukemia diagnosis my mother has and be on oxygen 24/7 like she is. So, really, this is a blessing to me as well if I can figure out a way to stop the progression and heal what can be healed. 

So from now on, I hope I can always look at this like a blessing and focus on that rather than the nightmare of it all! I hope we can all TRUST in Him in all we do.