Tag: helminthic therapy

Hymenolepis diminuta observations and paper

As described in my previous posts, I have started HDC helminth therapy on June 4th. It has now been over a month. So far I have taken HDC three times – 10 on June 4th, 10 on June 9th, and 20 on June 25th. I have also updated my NA by adding three more on July 6th. It has now been over two weeks since my last HDC dose, helminth therapy wiki suggests dosing every two weeks and adult dosing is in range 30-60 HDC bi-weekly. I am waiting for my next order of 20, the delivery has been slow, and it’s expected to arrive on Friday. After that I plan to increase the dose to 30 as is advised, 20 may be not enough of a therapeutic dose for an adult.

One important observation is that during my period, which happened soon after the third dose of HDC, I did not have to take any pain relievers. I see this as not just a coincidence because last such occurrence happened almost a year ago in July 2018, after I started NA therapy. After that one time unfortunately pain levels during periods went back to usual unbearable and as usual I would take at least two Naproxen gels, sometimes also an ibuprofen. Several times I had to leave work early or work from home. Therefore I was quite surprised that when my period occurred in the end of June the pain began as usual but did not increase to unbearable levels. I went to work as usual, I always keep Naproxen in the drawer in the office and at home, but the pain never rose to the level where I would need a pain killer. I would say that just for this benefit HDC is already worth continuing as not being crippled by pain made me feel more free. Even though it’s not my fault, I often feel guilty leaving home early or asking to work from home every month. I am also not pleased with having to take Naproxen as for me it causes acid reflux and it makes me think that I am undoing the benefits of my efforts to heal the gut.

Another observation was recently increased heat tolerance.  In beginning of July temperatures rose to over 30 degrees Celsius and there is no central AC where I live. In order to cool down the house, I usually have to install two window air conditioner units. These units were taken down for the winter, so there were several days of temperatures around 30 degrees inside. I noticed that my sleep was not as disrupted as it previously would during heat. Also in general I was not as incapacitated by the temperature, I did feel lethargic, but did not have as severe indecisiveness nor mood swings exacerbation that often occur for me during summer heat.

The new lab test results are also encouraging. Free T4 and T3 stayed at the same levels, within normal range. TSH went down to 2.0, which is below the previous value of 2.58. This is a positive result, since some research indicates that the optimal cut- off value of TSH is 2.5 MIU/L. Anti-TPO antibodies have also decreased.

TSH cut off point based on depression in hypothyroid patients

test_jul2019

On a side note, I found that someone wrote their undergrad honors thesis on Hymenolepis diminuta. “Impacts of Hymenolepis diminuta (benign helminth worm) colonization on chronic pain and the central nervous system in Sprague Dawley rats“. If I would go back in time, I would prefer to also study neuropsychology. Unfortunately in my undergrad I was calculating bond and option prices. Glad to hear whenever someone is doing research on treatments for autoimmune disorders, specifically the connection between neuropsychiatric problems and inflammation. “The results from this project partially support the tenets of the hygiene hypothesis. Though behavioral results following CCI surgeries were inconclusive, molecular investigation of cytokine levels in the hippocampus showed promotion of an anti-inflammatory cytokine milieu due to the upregulation of IL-10 and downregulation of its receptor. These promising results guide future research toward investigation of cytokine levels in other brain regions, such as the amygdala.“

Impacts of Hymenolepis diminuta (benign helminth worm) colonization on chronic pain and the central nervous system in Sprague Dawley rats

HDC Therapy for autoimmune disorders

HDC, hymenolepis diminuta cysticercoids, is a larvae stage of a nice and friendly rat tapeworm, an adult of this species can be 20-60cm long. You might have a thought now “what am I reading and why?”, but hold on. Humans are not the usual host of hymenolepis diminuta, rats are, and in humans this helminth does not develop into an adult. There have been very few cases documented of humans being infected with adult HD. For this reason the HD larvae, HDC, is one of the species chosen for helminthic therapy as it does not reproduce inside humans, stays in the gut, does not reach adult size, and yet modulates the immune system as it tries to survive.

HDC survive in humans only for about two weeks, therefore for continuous therapy, HDC would need to be ingested at these intervals. HDC will live in the small intestine and attach to the intestine wall. There are no reports in the scientific literature of H. diminuta mis-migrating to other organs in humans. In a scientific review of helminthic therapy from 2016, HDC was listed as one of the more popular helminths:

“Five physicians monitoring more than 700 self-treating patients were interviewed. The results strongly support previous indications that helminth therapy can effectively treat a wide range of allergies, autoimmune conditions and neuropsychiatric disorders, such as major depression and anxiety disorders. Approximately 57% of the self-treating patients observed by physicians in the study had autism. Physicians reported that the majority of patients with autism and inflammation-associated co-morbidities responded favourably to therapy with either of the two most popular organisms currently used by self-treaters, Hymenolepis diminuta and Trichuris suis. However, approximately 1% of paediatric patients experienced severe gastrointestinal pains with the use of H. diminuta, although the symptoms were resolved with an anti-helminthic drug. Further, exposure to helminths apparently did not affect the impaired comprehension of social situations that is the hallmark of autism. These observations point toward potential starting points for clinical trials, and provide further support for the importance of such trials and for concerted efforts aimed at probing the potential of helminths, and perhaps other biologicals, for therapeutic use.“

Practices and outcomes of self-treatment with helminths based on physicians’ observations

Here is another paper from 2017 reviewing HDC use by self-treating individuals. Unfortunately there are not many clinical trials with treatment and control groups, therefore we have to rely on information on experiences from people like me who are obtaining helminths and treating themselves. ” In this study, we describe the production and use of HDCs in a manner that is based on reports from individuals self-treating with helminths, individuals producing helminths for self-treatment, and physicians monitoring patients that are self-treating.” The authors from Duke University are quite optimistic about helminthic therapy: “Helminthic therapy, the use of helminths to treat disease, offers the best hope of decreasing inflammation via immunomodulation rather than immunosuppression, and probably also improves mucosal barrier function.”

Production and Use of Hymenolepis diminuta Cysticercoids as Anti-Inflammatory Therapeutics

I was glad to read that I already have access to the most hopeful treatment for inflammation. I have to say that I tried a lot of supposedly anti-inflammatory treatments  and was quite disappointed with most. Turmeric lattes, green tea extract, probiotic capsules, licorice root tincture…  Personally, I don’t really want to buy any more supplements, except basic ones such as vitamin D, since I live in cold and dark Canada, and occasionally I take fish oil on days that I don’t eat seafood.

The idea behind helminthic therapy, on the other hand, is quite logical to me. It’s not a promotion of another one magical super inflammatory ingredient. The logic is that humans and certain helminths have evolved to co-exist in a symbiotic relationship and therefore our immune system has also evolved  to be modulated by molecules that helminths produce. Recent eradication of helminths in humans in developed countries could be resulting in a destruction of a beneficial symbiotic relationship and increase in rate of autoimmune diseases.

“Graph the data points, and the trend is unmistakable. Since the 1950s, rates of multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, type 1 diabetes, and asthma have soared by 300% or more (1). Similar graphs depict concurrent spikes in hay fever and food allergies (2).”

“Prevalence of food allergy in preschool children is now as high as 10% in Western countries, but remains just 2% in areas like mainland China (). The number of new cases of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in Finland per year is 62.3 per every 100,000 children, compared with just 6.2 in Mexico and 0.5 in Pakistan (). Ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), is twofold higher in Western Europe than in Eastern Europe—6.5 per 100,000 people versus 3.1 per 100,000 ().”

In each of these disorders, either the immune system is overreacting to a trigger, such as pollen, peanuts, or pollution, or it’s attacking tissues it shouldn’t, such as beta cells in the pancreas in the case of T1D and in the intestines in IBD.”

News Feature: Cleaning up the hygiene hypothesis

 

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.