Anyone Here Ever Get Parasites?

[5MilesBack]

I got some back in the 80's in South America, but it was so long ago I can't even remember what the treatment or symptoms were.

Anyway, back in June my youngest daughter and I started having intestinal issues. One of my other daughters was already gone for the summer working at a youth camp, when she called up one day saying the same thing. So all three of us started these symptoms about the same day in June. I took my youngest to the Dr and he prescribed antacids, which didn't do diddly.

Anyway fast forward to early August and my daughter comes home and says she figured out her problem.......lactose intolerance. And sure enough, it fits........for all of us, especially with a little testing.

So, I'm a numbers and logic guy. The probability of all three of us suddenly becoming lactose intolerant without something causing that, all at the same time is about zero. So I start researching what can cause sudden onset lactose intolerance. The first thing that pops up is "parasites". So after some research I make my youngest daughter (the one that complains the most) another Dr appt. Funny thing is, last night I was talking to a woman I know and mentioned her appt for today. She asked what it was for and I explained the lactose intolerance that came on suddenly for all three of us. Her eyes lit up and said "Oh my gosh, do you think you have a parasite"? I asked her why she said that, and she replied that her daughter had been drinking the creek water when she was much younger and the only thing she would eat was yogurt. The Dr told her that was probably the worst thing to give her with parasites.

So, on to the Dr's appt today. The Dr says "sounds like lactose intolerance". I said "yes........so what caused it"? He says "Your bodies have stopped producing the enzymes required to break lactose down". So I say "OK, what caused us all to suddenly stop producing the enzymes"? He says "Genetics". Seriously? Genetics just suddenly shut down those enzymes for all three of us on the same day? Not buying it.

He said if it was parasites we'd have fevers and bloody diarrhea. Anybody ever have parasites without the fever and bloody diarrhea?

 

[Jeff Martin]

I can tell you brother, Drs are lazy. I have been dealing with this issue for almost 2 years and it has kept me out of the mountains. I have been to every kind of doctor known to man and for the first 6 months, they blew it off as staph

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[Jeff Martin]

BTW, have you Ben eating bear meat? Have you done a level 3 stool
Test? I would test myself if I were you.


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[Huntindog45]

everyone has parasites to some extent. what you had sure sounded a lot like giardia though

 

[archer wapiti]

I'd agree, sounds like something was going on. Dr didn't do a stool sample? Were you all together consuming the same food/water prior to your symptoms starting? Was there any time that that food/water was suspect?

 

[Beendare]

Uplifting topic Mike! grin

I had a neighbor that got parasites from her dog licking he on the face all the time....she thought it was cute.

Both she and her dog went through deworming procedures at the same time

 

[EastMT]

Jeff did they ever do a swab and find out what it was? I hope you got it figured out. I picked up MRSA from a hospital and it looked similar, kept giving me antibiotics and finally tested, turned out was resistant to the type I was taking.

 

[pwsINC]

I would be a stool test. You can have them done yourself. And/or try one of the parasite cleanse regiments.

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[Jeff Martin]

Jeff did they ever do a swab and find out what it was? I hope you got it figured out. I picked up MRSA from a hospital and it looked similar, kept giving me antibiotics and finally tested, turned out was resistant to the type I was taking.

Thanks for the concern man. I have had every test known to man bacterial and Anti- fungal and nothing. I have had 2 surgeries where they cut it to the bone and tested all skin layers. I could write a book on this nightmare. They are basically saying it is a bacterial infection that you have to stay on antibiotics for years until it dies. I stopped and said I won't do that. I am now better but not completely healed. I was clearing cedar on a deer property and was in St THOMAS chilling drinking bush wackers on the beach when the spots came up. Infectious doctors, dermatologist, surgeons, CDC, you name it, I have seen them....

I feel like it parasites although I have been tested. If I work out, my legs gets pissed off!!


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[missjordan]

Husband picked MRSA up from a cut he got on his leg that got infected. That's also some nasty stuff! Made him feel crappy for months even after he was done with the antibiotics.


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[dotman]

Had MRSA on my hand a few years back. Had to go to a hand surgeon and have it drain and all infection removed then packed with iodine. Had to soak it in hybicleanse for a long time. That stuff is good, hand surgeon said it probably did more to heal the wound then anything.

Once you've had MRSA you are now a carrier of it, if I get a zit looking bump I just wash it with hybicleanse and they always go away.

 

[johnsd16]

I can tell you brother, Drs are lazy. I have been dealing with this issue for almost 2 years and it has kept me out of the mountains. I have been to every kind of doctor known to man and for the first 6 months, they blew it off as staph

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I'd recommend going to a big, really big medical center and have another opinion. I hope they've looked for mycobacterial infection and cutaneous lymphoma. The latter can be very difficult dondiagnose at times. That isn't staph.

 

[CoSwede]

Had an issue in the late 80s when I was stationed in Hawaii (I know rough duty). I was feeling pretty bad and I rarely bothered seeing a doctor. I lost my appetite as everything messed with my guts and I spent a ton of time in the bathroom (did NOT have a fever and bloody stool the OP referred to) . After losing about 10 lbs I went in and the Dr said I was "stressed" and probably had an ulcer and had me drink a bottle of Mylanta each day. Weird, the only food I could tolerate was watermelon and I was still losing weight and getting weaker and weaker. He did all the tests he could think of (upper GI, lower GI etc etc) and found nothing. Still the only thing I was ingesting was watermelon and Mylanta. This went on for several months and I lost of total of 30 lbs from my normal 160 lbs. I was so weak I had to use the hand rails to pull myself up stairs. Finally, one day I got a call from the doctor (actually a PA) asking me to come in with a stool sample as he had an idea. When the test came back he called me all excited that he finally solved the mystery of my illness and said I had giardia and with some antibiotics I should be back to normal soon. When I first contracted it, I was doing a lot of snorkeling/cave diving in underwater lava tubes. I would swim these lava tubes and look for air pockets to stop and get a breath and continue on. Some of the pockets had some pretty stagnant water as they didn't get the tidal flush as others did. I may have come across the parasites that way - hard to say for sure. Within a week I was feeling much better and back to eating normal foods and got back to my normal weight in a few more months. I used to joke and tell people that giardia is the ultimate diet plan - there is no cheating on that diet. The weight WILL come off!

 

[5MilesBack]

Jeff, those totally look like MRSA. My mom picked that up in the hospital, nasty stuff.

All three of us were pretty much eating and drinking the same stuff, but that's the problem. You never know how long something takes to show up after eating or drinking. I think I got giardia in 2003 after drinking creek water, wasn't right for years.

The one thing I've been wondering about is ocean water. We all went to Padre Island for Spring Break and did a bunch of boogie boarding in the Gulf. Is there giardia in ocean water? Or something else in there that would manifest itself a couple months later? My youngest seems to be the worst. Again, just last night she said "OK, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make this go away".

I can deal with almost anything, sitting here drinking my coffee full of cream. But I really need to get her fixed. Next stop may be the gastroenterologist. I even said that to the Dr and his reply was "That isn't the next step". Darn military medicine. Proverbs 14:7 came to mind so we got up and left. "Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge."

 

[Jeff Martin]

I would get a stool test . Their are a lot of good companies that test. See below link as example. I think wellness FX is a really good company.

I wish this was MRSA, I know how to kill it. I have been tested for MRSA close to 15 over 18 months...notta

https://www.gdx.net/product/gi-effects-comprehensive-stool-test


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[5MilesBack]

I would get a stool test . Their are a lot of good companies that test. See below link as example. I think wellness FX is a really good company.

Looking at your link, they require a doctor's request to do the testing. So we'll end up at the doctor either way.

 

[Jeff Martin]

I have several companies that do not require DR. Standby and I will provide. Wellness FX I think being one of them.


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[Tod osier]

I could see that you would all have picked up some new intestinal flora, so bacteria, not parasites. Your intestinal flora, or the community of microbes in your gut, can change when you pick up new bacteria. This is one potential explanation that works with your observation that you all changed at once. In just a quick search, there seems to be some kind of link between your intestinal flora and Lactose Intolerance, but that isn't anything I have any larger knowledge of. Something to think about anyway.

 

[austinphps]

I could see that you would all have picked up some new intestinal flora, so bacteria, not parasites. Your intestinal flora, or the community of microbes in your gut, can change when you pick up new bacteria. This is one potential explanation that works with your observation that you all changed at once. In just a quick search, there seems to be some kind of link between your intestinal flora and Lactose Intolerance, but that isn't anything I have any larger knowledge of. Something to think about anyway.

Building on this; I heard about this in the news a couple years ago when I was living in Portland; you could get a fecal transplant. Sounds disgusting, and it is; but it's essentially taking healthy shit; and swapping it out with yours so the good bacteria in your gut can regrow (to my understanding anyway). Don't know if your symptoms would fit the bill; but something to look in to.

 

[Mischief209]

Have you tried any probiotics?