They can cause multiple symptoms, and not only from the digestive system. Stomach and intestinal health affects our mood, sleep patterns, and stress levels. The good news is most parasite infections can be successfully treated usually AFTER the correct parasite is identified. 

What is a parasite illness? 

This condition occurs when a parasite enters the skin, body openings, respiratory or the intestinal tract. Parasites can live anywhere in the body, but most prefer to live and feed off the intestines. Most are microscopic. 

Parasites can cause a very wide range of problems. Some feed off the food you have eaten, leaving you hungry after every meal and unable to gain weight. Some feed off your red blood cells, causing anemia. Some lay eggs that can cause itching, irritability and even insomnia. Some cause diarrhea AND, constipation, often mistaken by patients and doctors as “Irritable Bowel Syndrome”, or “spastic colon”. When larger parasites grow and live in other parts of the body, the parasite may be initially mistaken as a cancer mass, despite modern imaging tests such as CT scans.  

How do you get parasites?

The most common causes:

• Contaminated food and water;  living or visiting areas known to have parasites. 
• Undercooked meat, especially after international travel.
• Exposure to prior poor sanitary conditions, especially in warmer climates.
• Eating or working with contaminated fruits and vegetables.
• Parasites may enter the bottom of the foot, especially when walking without shoes near or in lakes, ponds, or marshes. 

10 signs suggesting you may have a parasite illness

1. Middle to lower stomach pain not improving despite multiple medications and negative tests. 
2. You traveled and got diarrhea during or within 3 months after returning from travel. 
3. Persistent gas and bloating. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is often the initial diagnosis.  
4. Rash, or itching around the rectum or vulva. Most parasites are very small or microscopic. 
5. Feeling tired often, despite normal blood tests, proper sleep, and water intake. 
6. Seeing blood or mucus in stool, often without obvious signs of hemorrhoids. 
7. Painful, aching muscles or joints, NOT explained by multiple tests and blood work. 
8. Fatigue, exhaustion, persistent mood changes, persistent depression, without obvious explanation or abnormal blood tests. 
9. Food cravings, especially sugar,  (if diabetes is not the obvious cause). 
10. You’ve been diagnosed with anemia, without obvious cause, despite testing.  

Treatment 

1. Medications. Usually effective for your particular parasite. Treatment prescribed in the form of pills or capsules. 
2. Alternative therapies. Usually, medication can get rid of parasites faster, more effectively than with herbs or other natural remedies. Some natural remedies may slow the growth or even kill some parasites. There is likey no harm in trying these assuming the symptoms are mild and resolve in less than 1-2 months. 

• Eating raw garlic, pumpkin seeds, pomegranates, cloves, beets and carrots, have been used traditionally. 
• Drink a lot of water to help flush out your system.
• Eat fiber, which may help get rid of worms.
• Digestive enzymes and probiotics may help restore your intestinal tract to its normal state, which makes it harder for the parasites to live. 
• Herbs include dried extracts (capsules, powders or teas), or tinctures (alcohol extracts).

SUMMARY:

Initial testing for intestinal parasite infection is relatively simple. Most doctors can get your stool tested, occasionally needing 2-3 days of samples to get the exact diagnosis. While often your intestinal illness or problem is less likely caused by a parasitic infection, many people go undiagnosed for many years with an illness that may have a simple solution. This is assuming the patient listened to and understood. Suspecting the diagnosis of parasite caused illness, appropriate, cost effective testing, and best treatment, very rarely will occur, after a 10 or 15 minute, initial patient visit. Therefore, although many patients are infected with parasites , the symptoms vary greatly. This variability,  minimal time spent getting a detailed patient history, language barriers, and high expense of often unnecessary, expensive hospital based testing, is understably frustrating to the patients and family. 

“Patients do not care how much you know, until they know you care & understand”.