Biomechanics.

I’m not sure how typical or unusual this is, but I found out last summer the hypoglycemic symptoms I’d been having, and also the electrical jolts in my extremities, the hair falling out, numbness in my face, the dimming vision and tinnitus — I found out this wasn’t early stages of MS, as I had feared, or any other major medical situation. Instead, I was referred to a great chiropractor, he adjusted me for the first time in my life, and this treatment alleviated all these seemingly disparate symptoms.

His explanation was pretty simple: the neck can slip out of alignment from bad posture in front of a computer, this compresses key nerves that send impulses to every organ of the body. An adjustment will “reboot” the nervous system, and reestablish these important connections. Realignment of “subluxations” can also improve blood flow to the scalp and brain. It took a few sessions for the benefit to stay consistent, and for the last few months I’ve been feeling pretty good.

Don’t ask me why I didn’t just go back to the chiropractor when things went haywire a week ago. Today I did, and I’m feeling much better. Not 100% yet, but much improved.

The question remains, why did the helminthic therapy effects seem to disappear, and once my neck and spine are behaving again will I suddenly feel that “worm high” coming back? Time will tell. Today I was noticing their characteristic GI disturbance again, this after many days of a normal gut, so I know my “old friends” are still with me. For now I’m just trying to focus on the big three: adequate sleep, a good diet, and consistent exercise.

TMJ, by the way!

My helminth express seems to be off the rails for a moment. Allergies are returning, anxiety is back, so are restricted airways, both in my chest and head. My neti pot offers scant relief for this strange congestion, as there appears to be no mucous, only inflamed tissues. You don’t realize how horrid asthma is until it’s been bannished for 60 days, and then suddenly returns.

Since it’s no fun to go from feeling good and carefree to fairly awful, I’ve spent the last few days trying to figure this out. Why did I suddenly start having blood sugar issues again? Was it that one fateful night I had a tiny sip of scotch (no irony, it was only half a shot) with friends, and stayed up way too late? Were my adrenals already hanging by a thread, and that slight nudge was enough to upset the whole apple cart?

Or did this frustrating turn of events happen when my jaw slipped out of joint? Seriously! TMJ,  or temporomandibular joint disorder has cropped up occasionally in the past. It’s annoying because it’s impossible to chew anything without pain, and then there’s the fear of further dislocating the joint. It was about a week ago when my overall health began to backslide, and the TMJ happened first. Is there a connection? Quite possibly, and it’s a strange one.

Apparently, trauma to the nerve near this joint can stimulate the release of “substance P“, which doesn’t get recycled in the body, and has endocryne-like properties. There seems to be no limit to the odd sensations and behaviors provoked by “substance P”, according to one article i read, including itchy skin and an urge to swear. $%@#!! No wonder. What resonates for me in the reading I did tonight are symptoms of tinnitus, and autoimmune issues — specifically, lots of pain and histamines, with acute inflammation. And let’s not forget anxiety and insomnia… or asthma, for that matter.

So is substance P actually the culprit, and is it capable of upstaging the helminth harmony? Or is this combination of factors, like adrenal fatigue from years of prednisone use, inattention to an optimal diet, lack of sleep from too much (half-caf half-decaf!) coffee, and stress from work — did these factors collectively take me off the HT track? Probably “all of the above” and it’s going to be a slow, steady road back. But I would love to think “Hey, man, it wasn’t me — it was the substance P.”

Eat, to avoid allergies.

Overall, my progress has been quite good with helminthic therapy, but tonight (day 58 post-inoculation) I had another allergic episode. It wasn’t as bad as some have been in the past, but I did need to shovel down a fair amount of vitamin C, maybe ten 1,000 mg tablets, though the course of it. This was unpleasant, as always, but I was able to gather what seems like really important information from the event.

It occurred to me these attacks always happen around the same time — mid afternoon to early evening. I wondered if maybe the helminths tend to be more active during those hours. Then another conclusion presented itself: low blood sugar. Most of the recent “worm flu” events I’ve had are consistent with getting caught up in work and skipping meals. On the days where I’ve been less focused on tasks, and eating solid meals, I seem to do just fine. So I quickly fixed a bowl of yogurt, added fresh blueberries, a dash of stevia, and a shot of whipping cream, for some extra calories. Not ten minutes later, my allergic response (congested nose, tinnitis and tightening throat) disappeared.

That got me wondering if there might be a connection between low blood sugar, histamines, and generalized allergic reactions. Lo and behold, there seems to be a solid correlation. In fact, the more I looked, the more it appeared to be the case — autoimmune issues, histamine intolerance, food and seasonal allergies, may be exacerbated by a lack of “fuel” — even conditions as far-ranging as narcolepsy. So next time you feel that “worm flu” coming on, take some time out and feed yourself. And if you want to steer clear of it all day long, eat frequent small meals with plenty of protein, as this is the best way of coping with hypoglycemia, from what I’ve read.

Old friends — with benefits.

I went to a party tonight, an Indian BBQ. The balcony was full of people milling around the fire pit, acrid smoke combining with incredible smells of cooking marinated meats. I bumped into a friend I hadn’t seen in a while and he remarked I looked “really good”. I thought for a moment and remembered the last time we’d met was at this same house, months earlier, after I had been flaring badly with colitis. Back then I was a near stick-figure.

We caught up for a while, and I began to describe my adventures in helminthic therapy — the edited version, since folks were eating. As I told the tale there were a few raised eyebrows, but I explained the Old Friends hypothesis, and pretty much everyone who heard about it was intrigued.

It was obvious my helminth friends had real benefits, too, such as my increased weight — but one fairly dramatic change struck me right then, in the moment. “Remember the last time I came to a BBQ here I was sitting over by the front door the whole time?” A friend finished the thought for me “Oh, right — you were having trouble breathing. Asthma attack.” Indeed, only a few months ago I had been unable to stand anywhere near the fire, and there I was tonight, surrounded by thick smoke. Unaffected.

Progress! Bit by bit, every day a new reminder.

Next time I hope to be eating all the food… with a little help from my friends.

Day 53 — Stability.

Today offered the strongest clues yet that the side effects phase is beginning to resolve. I woke after a fairly sound sleep with decent energy, and only a little of the brain fog and dehydration I’ve come to associate with “worm flu”. My appetite is slowly beginning to emerge again, and I’m able to tolerate the fairly narrow range of foods in my current diet quite well. I’ll test myself with more choices later, once I know I’m not reacting allergically to the helminths anymore.

Exercise is a key barometer — I continue to not only tolerate it, but I am starting to thrive on its effects. Curiously, it really seems to mediate my body’s reaction to the HT. I can feel the strength returning to my legs, as I push myself along at a good clip, searching for fatigue that never seems to come. My breathing is consistently clear and unaffected by temperature, humidity, airborne allergens, etc. By all measures my asthma and upper respiratory complaints are gone.

And it’s also time to celebrate 3 consecutive days of no worm-induced GI disturbances. My gut no longer feels tender, and I’ve started to gain back the weight I lost due to several weeks of compromised digestion — 5 lbs in about 6 days. So I’m now 149 lbs, 11 under my ideal target weight. That’s significant!

Tinnitus is only audible these days when I’m having a reaction to the HT, which came again this afternoon. I was able to deal with the symptoms by taking five 1,000mg tablets of vitamin C. That’s half of what I’ve used in the past, and the attack only lasted 90 minutes — about half the duration of a typical episode. This is one more indication my body  is beginning to submit to the iron will of the worms. The total absence of tinnitus throughout most of the day suggests my adrenal function is normalizing.

I’ll be quite happy if the trend continues, with modest improvement, for the foreseeable future. Obviously, I’d like to start feeling some of the more euphoric moments like I did during the initial “bounce”, post-inoculation, but as my sleep patterns rebalance (I still feel a touch of insomnia), and my diet becomes more varied, I would expect the benefits to start ramping, perhaps even with some synergy.

Histamines and Helminths

Here’s a bit of a recap after some observation: due to its impact on my adrenals in the past, and other wide ranging side effects, I have chosen to avoid taking prednisone, or limit its use as much as possible, during the side effects phase of HT. In its place, I’m using benadryl to cope with the worst attacks, but otherwise am relying on fairly large doses of vitamin C (up to 10K mg per episode), which I’ve found to be a safe and very effective antihistamine. Guess what? In my opinion, vitamin C is actually more effective than prednisone for “worm flu”. Here’s why:

When I have an allergic response to the HT, it is transitory, almost as if the attack is triggered by one or more of the helminths moving from one “site” to another in my gut. I can think of no other reason why I’ve had a total of 6 such episodes in the last 50 days, at fairly random intervals. Several days ago I was convinced Lamb was the trigger, now I wonder if it may just be the HT on its own. Whatever the cause, vitamin C acts quickly and has no lingering effects, so it is tailor made to address the 2 or 3 hour bouts I’ve had with allergic response to helminths.

Secondly, and I can only suggest this based on an intuition, the effectiveness of HT may very well be built up over time, as our bodies react. In other words, mounting an immune response may be what provokes the immune-modulatory action from the helminths, so by blunting this, for an extended duration with a drug like prednisone, do we ultimately reduce the benefits of the helminthic therapy? I can’t say for sure, but this is yet another reason I’m using the more benign vitamin C to deal with acute worm flu. Perhaps it will allow a more open “conversation” between worm and host.

I’m also drinking plenty of water, to flush my body of histamines. Here are some clues: since eating foods with high levels of histidine (which converts to histamine) seems to make me feel worse, I’m guessing my histamine levels are high, overall, and most likely due to the HT itself. Since too much water without electrolytes can be unhealthy, I make a point of adding a potassium/magnesium/calcium formula a few times daily, to fortify these fluids.

The results? Well, today I had the least amount of GI disturbance since the side effects began, which felt like a fantastic achievement, but suffered a smaller scale 2 hour allergic reaction this afternoon. I’ll call this yet another example of nonlinear progress.

The Fog of Worm — Week 7.

As luck would have it, a week ago, that glorious day of my last entry, was the high point thus far. A brief triumph for harmony, between a man and his helminths. All subsequent days have been filled with fatigue, GI discomfort, and various other aches and pains. Throughout it all I’ve been trying (and usually succeeding) to stay in motion, eat decent meals, push fluids and get plenty of rest. Tonight, sleep is elusive, as my stomach hurts too much to drift off.

But when I strip away the discomfort, I can still see glimpses of huge progress. For example, here i am celebrating at least 5 weeks of diarrhea. Why on earth is this a positive? Well, back in the olden days when I was suffering from active UC, just a few days of running to the can would have triggered a bloody mess of inflammation that ultimately would lead to hospitalization. The last time I flared up was a year ago, due to food poisoning in a restaurant. It took 3 days for me to flare, get a systemic infection, and by the time I landed in the ER I had a temperature of 104 and nearly croaked. Thanks for the Levaquin, doc! Now that I’m doing helminthic therapy, I seem capable of withstanding intestinal contortions of Olympic proportions. No bleeding, no inflammation at all. This is most impressive.

And despite fatigue that makes crawling out of bed in the morning pretty tough, I’ve got a surprising amount of endurance on the treadmill, or walking around my neighborhood. In fact, it feels like the more I move around, the more groovy worm secretions are coursing through my system, easing my non-transient aches and pains. For instance, I injured my knee in a motorcycle accident, and this has plagued me for years. During my “bounce” (week 1, post-inoculation) the pain disappeared, and after returning slightly during the peak side effects phase, it’s almost entirely gone again.

Nasal congestion is primarily resolved, too, once I wake up, and my lungs are perfectly clear — no asthma symptoms any more. Amazing, really. And the Happy Helminth mental boost is there, too, despite the daily grind of worm flu — depression and anxiety are now best identified by their absence. In moments, I even feel echoes of last Monday’s giddiness, but for shorter bursts. So I lay here feeling stoic, glad to have my new “old friends”. It’s becoming quite clear this is merely a waiting game now.

Six Weeks — Hooray, Helminths!

Today I woke up early feeling a touch of worm flu. I’d only slept a few hours (friends came late the night before) and for some reason I had… an odd bit of energy. Sure, I was dried out and congested, which is par for the course these days, but I just hydrated myself with water and electrolytes, and then went about my work day.

Trips to the bathroom? Oh, yes, indeed. More than a few — the usual routine. However, my earlier attention to fluids and minerals seemed to help dampen that immune reaction after a while. I trudged onward. By lunch, my appetite wasn’t huge, but I ate anyway. Several hours later, I quit working for the day.

Still feeling fairly good, I went out and took a walk, then settled in for a nap, and fell asleep easily. Not 30 minutes later, I woke up spontaneously, with a burst of… real energy. Hmmmm… my nose was suddenly wide open, my gut felt calm and happy. My mood was… really upbeat.

Taken aback by this, I tried to put all wishful thinking out of my mind and conducted an objective inventory of my senses. Nothing was quite where it had been yesterday, not at all. In fact, aside from the faintest ringing in my ears, I hardly recognized my body. For quite a while, I just laid there, grinning.

Is this the beginning of not only a new uptrend, but what it feels like to be… getting well?

Day 41 — Good Vibes.

Do I continue to run to the loo, constantly? Well, as a matter of fact, yes. Does my gut hurt now and then? Of course. Am I a bit dehydrated and skinny? Uh-huh.

Am I bothered by any of this? Not in the least.

Today was day number 3 of a profound new development — absolute calm, improved breathing, and increased energy during exercise. I enjoy walking so much now, being outside, just floating along through my neighborhood. It’s meditative, relaxing, enjoyable — and this is happening for the first time ever.

I’ve probably always had a problem processing adrenaline. Ever since I was a little kid, I remember having some difficulty breathing during vigorous exercise, and I’d get pretty amped up, jangled, when I exerted myself. As a young man, it would take me a while to “come down” after a workout, too.

Here in mid life, thanks to some new “old friends”, I’m starting to break free of all that. It’s nothing short of incredible.

How long will this last? I’m not assuming anything. I’m taking things day by day, and just enjoying the ride.

Thank you, helminths.