What are Parasites?

What is a parasite?

A parasite is any organism that lives and feeds off of another organism. When I refer to intestinal parasites, I’m referring to tiny organisms, usually worms, that feed off of your nutrition.

Some examples of parasites include roundworms, tapeworms, pinworms, whipworms, hookworms, and more. Because parasites come in so many different shapes and sizes, they can cause a very wide range of problems. Some consume your food, leaving you hungry after every meal and unable to gain weight. Others feed off of your red blood cells, causing anemia. Some lay eggs that can cause itching, irritability, and even insomnia. If you have tried countless approaches to heal your gut and relieve your symptoms without any success, a parasite could be the underlying cause for many of your unexplained and unresolved symptoms.

How do you get parasites?

There are a number of ways to contract a parasite. For those of you who have traveled over seas, you may have contracted a parasite from their food, water or environment.  Undercooked meat, is a common place for parasites to hide as well. Unclean or contaminated fruits and vegetables can also harbor parasites.

If you have a parasite and don’t wash your hands after using the restroom, you can easily pass microscopic parasite eggs onto anything you touch — door handles, shaking someones hand, the gym , your phone, etc. . Petting your dog can lead to parasites as well.  Traveling overseas is another way that foreign parasites can be introduced to your system. If you consumed any contaminated water during your travels, you may have acquired a parasite of some kind. Washing your hands consistently is so important to prevent parasites from entering your body.

Some Signs You May Have a Parasite

Constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating, or other symptoms of IBS

Food sensitivities

Headaches, foggy head, off balance feeling

Traveled internationally

Fatigue, depression, feelings of apathy

After you eat, you still feel hungry, not satisfied.

Arthritis aches and pains, joint pain, lower back pain

Have Hashimotos or some kind of autoimmune disease

Insomnia, wake up many times during the night

Skin irritations like hives, excema, rashes, itchy eyes and skin.

Conventional stool tests can identify parasites or parasite eggs in your stool, yet this test comes with many limitations. The problem with this test is that it is only conditionally successful. This test requires three separate stool samples that must be sent to the lab for a pathologist to view under a microscope.

Parasites have a very unique life cycle that allows them to rotate between dormant and alive. In order to identify them in this conventional test, the stool sample must contain a live parasite, the parasite must remain alive as the sample ships to the lab, and the pathologist must be able to see the live parasite swimming across the slide. While these can certainly be useful tests for some people, they are unable to identify dormant parasites, and therefore  see a high number of false negatives with this type of stool test. I am included in this. I had an extensive test done and nothing showed. It was extremely false in my case.

Bottom line, parasites can wreck havoc on your immune system and neurotransmitters and cause brain issues. Its better to have them out than in.