Parasites

If you are here because you were told or suspect you have parasites and are freaked, you can do a round of Para-Cleanse, but please read this info so you can reduce your susceptibility, i.e. so they don’t come back.

A parasite in the most general terms is any organism that gets its nourishment from another being. They can be found in the intestines but often are found in other places of the body.  Just like us they are looking for their food.  And for many they are interested in dead or dying or inflamed tissue, i.e. tissue lacking nutrients, or circulation, or damaged by stress/trauma therefore in various stages of dying.

How do we get parasites?  Commonly we get them from our pets, but also in our manuered gardens, fresh produce, etc.  Parasites and their eggs are found in the water, the air, on our produce and meats.  Their eggs are microscopic and can travel through the air.  So they are ubiquitous and inescapable!  Tropical varieties are often contracted when traveling in countries of the sub temperate and tropic zones where parasites survive their winter.  Most susceptible are those with deranged digestion,  those with insufficient stomach acid to process/sterilize the food they eat, those on acid blockers and/or those with slow stubborn bowels that allow any eggs surviving the stomach acid to hatch in the bowel before the stool exits.

What kind of symptoms accompany parasites? [Keep in mind the following symptoms exist without parasites, but are often blamed on parasites.]  Some of the more common symptoms attributed to parasites are chronic gastrointestinal complaints, bowel cramping, gas and bloating, arthritis, chronic fatigue, “multiple food allergies”, depression, muscular pain and weakness, headaches, flu-like symptoms, rashes, night sweats, low-grade fevers and high white blood cell counts.  Modern medicine has trouble finding these as their tests often give false negatives, and the symptom picture does not allow a clear or convincing diagnosis.  But even so….

Parasites are not the root cause of health problems.  Coexistence does not mean causation.

Are all parasites bad?  Nope.  Biblically speaking none of them is, since everything GOD made He said was good. So they do have purpose, AND they are programmed to survive just like we are. Even medicine has found use for some parasites to carefully eat up dead tissue, and in such a capacity we can call them, “God’s little surgeons.”  (Remember the Bible says we are eaten by worms when we are dead, but, we can have local areas of dead tissue of interest to them.  Killing them does not address the underlying cause of why they are there.)

So how do we get rid of them?  In my humble but experienced opinion the most reliable and long term approach to reducing parasite population is to not be a host, i.e., take away their food (parasite food=inflamed, dead and dying tissue).  That is to improve circulation and  digestion and energy in that order, so all our cells are healthy.  Getting blood everywhere ensures healthy tissue and immune transport.  A robust digestion creates an unfriendly environment for them.   And good energy is needed to fund our immune response and to clean up the cellular debris they are looking for.  This approach has not only been effective but many herbs known to help with parasites do exactly these things!

There are many worm eliminators that our ancestors have used and found effective for thousands of years. Artemisia Combo (#787-6) contains the Bible’s wormwood and other aromatics used for this purpose.   BUT, aromatics  encourage circulation and digestive secretions!  And Wormwood is the major ingredient in most digestive bitters formulas which our ancestors have used to improve digestion.

If you are squeamish skip this paragraph. People with whom I’ve worked have described and/or brought to me many different kinds of parasites: those looking like white corn kernels – all nested neatly along a branch; or like jellyfish, rolled up on the edges; or like stretched out sea horses; or long and white wrapped around the stool; or 4-inch long red worms, or those the size of June bugs, etc. Sometimes they will pass with a little blood. Sometimes there will be a little cramping. But about 30-40% of the time you won’t notice anything.  Sometimes there will be evidence in the stool that parasites are leaving, but this is not always the case.   (I do not encourage people to bring samples to me. I will not be able to identify them! I will take your word for it that you passed weird stuff.)

Finally, there is often an emotional aspect to contracting, or, not being able to permanently rid oneself of parasites. It deals with vulnerability to being parasitized.   It can stem from a childhood or traumatic experience where you felt taken advantage of or parasitized.   As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.   There are affirmations or emotional remedies, and emotional healing work which may need to be employed if the parasites continue to be a problem.

©Pat Block ND 2007