Helminthic therapy – hello parasites!

So today is day five since I infected myself with parasites. With seven larvae of Necator americanus, a species of hookworm, to be exact. I have never heard of helminthic therapy or helminths until about a month ago, then I was sent a link to a Facebook group by a girl from adult PANDAS/PANS disease support group. Supporters of helminthic therapy have put a lot of effort and created a great wiki section with all the necessary information, you can find it here:

Introduction to helminthic therapy

The idea behind helminthic therapy is based on the same theory as probiotics for depression and autoimmune conditions. With the onset of industrialization we started living in more sanitary conditions, we stopped drinking unpasteurized milk, we no longer spend time with cattle, we don’t milk cows with our bare hands. Well all of this had many benefits – childhood mortality rates decreased dramatically, a lot of children actually used to die from infections obtained while drinking raw milk. Especially given that there were no refrigerators, often by the time the milk got to your house, it would be already somewhat spoiled. There are consequences through of this reduction of contact with bacteria. It seems that there has been depletion in the gut microbiome and decrease in its diversity. We have also lost our macro-biotics – helminths. Helminths are intestinal worms and humans have usually lived their whole life infected with them. People still do in less developed countries, but it’s rare that someone in US or Canada would have these parasites.

Helminthic therapy is experimental, there is no concrete proof that it will help, but the statistics based on user experiences show that 75% of users experienced reduction in their symptoms. Helminthic therapy is also safe because the parasite species that are sold for therapy are not able to reproduce within the human host. Therefore if you infected yourself with ten parasites, you will not end up with thirty in two weeks, then fifty, etc.You will continue to co-habit with the ten worms, if they all survive. Also from what I’ve read, it’s quite easy to get rid of the parasites if you want to, by taking anthelmintic medication.

How can helminths help?

The therapy works by inoculating yourself with larvae either by swallowing it or through skin contact, depending on the species. I chose to get infected with Necator americanus (NA), a species of hookworm, these get to the human intestines  through skin contact. Like all organisms, helminths want to feed and survive. They attach themselves to the walls of the intestines and drink human blood. NA are very tiny, about 1 cm, therefore the amount of blood that you loose given a small number of worms is insignificant. The little guys want to survive and stay in the intestine, they like it there, so they put effort into not being kicked out from the body by your immune system. The exact mechanisms of what helminths do to survive is not yet known, but possibly they excrete some molecules that train the immune system to not react to them. They tweak the immune system to be less active and this seems to be beneficial. In general users found that their immune system worked as well as before in terms of fighting dangerous viruses and bacteria, but their autoimmune symptoms lessened. That is the exactly the outcome that I wish for from any therapy for my autoimmune condition, therefore I was sold on trying this experimental therapy.

Case studies

One parasite immunologist, P’ng Loke, has observed some case studies with human patients and found beneficial results from helminthic therapy. “The results of Loke’s new case study—the most recent of only five studies that investigate helminthic therapy in people instead of animals—suggest that helminths may ease the symptoms of autoimmune diseases by increasing mucus production.“

Helminths could suppress immune disorders by promoting healthy mucus production in the intestine

You can read more personal stories on helminthic therapy wiki:

Helminthic therapy personal stories

Is it scary?

Not for me. Scary is doing nothing about my depression, thinking that it will never get better. Scary was imagining that the method with charcoal grills isn’t going to fully work and that I would end but brain damaged but still alive. Experimental therapy is hope, it’s exiting. I think I have already gotten quite far by not accepting my psychiatrist’s statement that my choices were either a state of psychosis or continuing being on anti-psychotics. I experimented with the autoimmune protocol diet, I received treatment with intra-venous steroids – not a standard treatment for depression. I built an incubator and started making fermented foods. The experiments were not randomly chosen, I have read multiple articles and came to a conclusion that these were the most promising methods for reducing inflammation. It did pay off, so I am all for further experimental therapy. I have started a blog this year, I got back to playing my violin. I am less terrified of staying home alone. I have more interest in things, just as I used to – not constantly thinking “what is the point of living”, but able to do something and enjoy it. Being able to simply watch a documentary on YouTube and be interested in it is already great progress for me. So I am all for experimentation, I am against staying in the same depressed spot.