Horsehair Nematomorpha Parasite - Kraken Update

I haven't written about several things that have happened with the parasite situation recently so I wanted to write a post updating things so people can know how to diagnose better and also what not to try to get rid of these horrible little creatures. 

First off, I don't think I had ever posted the actual paperwork from the lab showing the diagnosis of "nematomorpha - Horsehair worm" so I thought I would put that right at the top in case anyone from the CDC or State Health Departments are keeping an eye on my blog for further updates. I think it is wishful thinking but as the list of people grow, perhaps someone will take notice. 

I posted about the HORRIBLE experience I had taking Pyrantel or Pin-X. (Click here for that post also showing a baby with the rashes and parasites coming up) I do think it may have killed a few of the parasites but the nightmare of not being able to sleep and them going into my muscles made it not a good option as they didn't die but just "hid" in the muscle. 

I then posted about how I was going to buy "Vermox" online and pondered about purchasing it but felt like I needed to not buy it but try other legal ways to kill this off so Dr.'s can have something to help patients with that is legal to them.

I did some research and found "Biltricide" or the generic name Praziquantel. It is a tropical fish dewormer so I was hoping that it would kill this thing off since it is a water worm. The Dr. could prescribe it so it is legal in the U.S.

I saw online that on the CDC website, this drug is said to cost $0.08 a pill. YES, EIGHT CENTS a pill. So, I am thinking it will be cheap and people can get it so I prayed it worked. I took one 600 milligram tablet three times a day and because this parasite has a life cycle of just under a month, the Dr. wrote the prescription for enough to cover 32 days or so.  

The pharmacy can't get enough tablets for that many days so they order in enough for 24 days. It was just under $8,000! So for a 32 day supply, we are looking around $10,000 for a month. I am so disgusted with our pharmaceutical companies! 

Vermox that worked for 30 years goes off patent and other companies make it so it is about $0.50 or less. It's generic name is Mebedazole. Companies come up with a similar drug calling it Albedazole and charge $333.33 per pill. Then, Vermox gets outed outed in the U.S. so you have to use the other pills but NONE OF THEM WORK! Can I just say that I am disgusted with the pharmaceutical companies and the HUGE markup on their pills. No wonder health costs are so outrageous.

So, I start taking the Biltricide and nothing happens. The only thing I noticed was some stomach pain but not much and I started having worse diabetic symptoms. Oh, that isn't true. I thought I was exhausted before!!! NOT EVEN CLOSE!!! I was so tired I couldn't function and the drug says right on the warning that it causes sleepiness and to not operate a car or machinery while taking the medication. 

I had bad diabetic symptoms on the Biltricide as I almost fainted several times and got really light headed and nearly fell. I was so terrified of this that I warned Princess Five that if I was sleeping whenever she came home, that she needed to make sure I was sleeping and not in a diabetic coma. 

So, I researched and several places said for different worms that you need more than the dose the Dr. prescribed due to my size and the type of parasite. I talked with my Dr, who also looked it up and prescribed double doses of what he ordered originally for two days or so and still had no results. Actually, my symptoms of burning in my chest and bumps in the back of the throat and coughing all got worse while I was taking the Biltricide.  

If I was on the highest dose of that medication for the month I would need it at least, it would have cost $40,000. How crazy is that! There has got to be a better way! 

So, I decided to try tobacco. Several people have suggested it as they use it for cattle. I researched several places online and talked to several people who have used it or seen it used for animals. There are a few places that say to eat 1 1/2 cigarettes worth of tobacco. That didn't sound good to me so I read more and one suggested making tea out of tobacco and others suggested eating it, one guy I know said to grind it into a powder and put it into capsules. The crap they put in as additives had me stressed but I went with the option of buying a bag of tobacco leaves and making a tea. 
 
I started out with just one or two leaves and put it in warm water and let it steep overnight. I drank a glass before bed and 3/4 gallon during the next day. I didn't notice anything other than a headache but that could be due to my thyroid medication as I said I have been doing a diabetic thing recently and wonder if that is part of the problem. 

The next day, I drank a small glass before church and then came home and drank a stronger tea. By the night, I was having itchy throat and red eyes and sinus issues with some kind of allergic reaction. It was making me nauseous as well and had to eat a banana slowly, take some Tylenol and a Benadryl before I could function. 

I don't know that my allergy was to the tobacco but could be from pesticides on the leaves as part of it is foreign and probably has all types of chemicals on it. Not one brand had all U.S. tobacco and NONE were organic. I guess if you want to kill yourself using tobacco products, you really aren't all that concerned if it is organic.  

So, I am now back to a huge blank of what to try or do. I can feel them getting worse daily and each time I almost cave to buy some Vermox from another country, when I ponder about it, I feel like I need to continue in my search for some legit way to kill them off. I know that Colloidal Silver works but I would have to have gallons to take it for a month at the doses to kill off the parasites. If I use the hydrogen peroxide too much, it kills off the normal flora causing yeast infections so I don't want to overuse that. 

I keep getting the feeling that I just need to keep informing people and asking them to get diagnosed so that people will realize there is a huge problem and start figuring out where it is coming from. 

Today I was going to head out and continue pruning my trees when I get the feeling I should call a certain friend. So, I call her while I am getting something to eat. She says, "I was just thinking about who I could call to help me and your name came to mind but I know you have been tired so I talked myself out of calling you." I asked what she needed. She said she has a friends whose daughter is visiting her who came home sick while she was serving as a missionary. She said the girl came to visits someone she knew from her mission and was staying with my friend as the girls friend was working. 

My friend had to leave out of town so the girl was just sitting at her house. I asked what health problems the girl was having when she came home. Right as soon as my friends said, "Chest pain" before she even explained that they couldn't find anything wrong with her, I KNEW she had the parasite! It was like God had her come to the ONE person in the world who could tell her what was wrong with her! I went and picked the girl up and we visited and I asked her a few questions and when I asked her, "Do you ever get black lines under your fingernails?" She got a weird look on her face and I told her I was sure that was a symptom of the parasite I had and that she may want to soak her hands in peroxide to make sure. 

She had no where to go so we soaked her hand in a gallon bag of peroxide. I think I need to still revisit how I do it. For some reason, if we soak it and pull it out after 20 minutes only one or two showed up but could be justified as something else. But, when we dipped her hand and then let it air dry and then dipped it and let it air dry about 10 times, up came all these white spots. Each time we dipped it, more and more showed up. (These are actual bumps with a center that pops out when you pinch it. THESE ARE NOT BURNS!) Click here to see them on my arm. You can see them on the baby's feet in the top link as well. I have several other posts showing these on my hands etc as well.

She described the same prickly pin feeling when they burrow to the surface. She complained of itchiness after many came up, which is exactly what happens. She then complained of fingertip pain. I have had that several times and as you can see on my thumbnail as I took pictures of her pinky in the picture to the left, I have white "dots" on my fingernail and those showed up when I had the finger tip pain. I told her I thought perhaps that it is when an actual worm is in the tip. If you notice, she has many dots near her nails and not as many on her fingers. I do think they are under the nails as that is why we get the black marks under the nail. It is a worm coming and getting stuck under the nail! 

Interestingly enough, she was bit by a friends cat when she was about ten. This "Chest pain" feels like a stabbing pain. Like I describe when I feel a worm burrowing. Hot poker type pain. They ran all sorts of tests and could find nothing. Sounding more familiar all the time. She also has lung problems and is at 60% capacity on her PFT. 

She is from a city about 4 hours from my home. I have never met her. She has had this problem for years and the pain is getting more frequent and her poor face had bumps all over it like I get on my arms. I don't think it is acne. I shared my suggestion for getting her Dr. to send parasites up to be diagnosed and how they may want to share that someone they know has "horsehair nematomorpha" and we both have similar symptoms to point them in the right direction to get the parasite diagnosed as mine was so hard to figure out. The poor girl was freaked out by the whole thought but the cat bite did give one reason to pause. I had never heard of the town she is from. None of my family know her. I had never met her before today. 

There isn't a day that goes past that I don't hear of another person having symptoms or talk with someone that is having them and is looking for an answer etc. I keep telling them that to get an answer, we all need to get diagnosed. For some reason, everyone is embarrassed or afraid to get an actual diagnosis. Everyone just wants me to figure it out and then tell them how to get rid of it. I keep telling them that if no one else gets diagnosed, we can't share what we have learned about the symptoms etc with all those people who are suffering and don't know why. 

I spoke with the parents of the baby that has it and I even dug stuff out of her poop but they didn't take it in. It is embarrassing as the dad works at the hospital. I get it! It is VERY embarrassing for me to divulge all that I have and talk about sifting through stool. HOWEVER, if I hadn't done all those things and been willing to be embarrassed by this, they wouldn't know what is wrong with their daughter!!! At some point, we all need to put our pride aside and get this diagnosed so SOMEONE will start looking at it!!!! I could have easily ordered pills online and treated my family. Who would that have helped? This is a HUGE issue. If I am running into complete strangers almost daily that have it, then there must be millions that have it as I can't be fortunate enough to just find the few that did have it if there were only a few cases. . 

Please, keep me, and whoever else you feel inspired to include on this issue, so we can get everyone the help that we all need!