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Parasites... All Those Gut Bugs! The thing about parasites is that if one family member has them, chances are all family members do. To treat all stages of the parasites life cycle, three things were often recommended - wormwood, cloves and black walnut hull- be used together - Note: WORMWOOD can have very serious side effects including permanent nerve damage, hallucinations, depression and tendency for suicide - so definitely talk to your doctor on this one before taking it! It was found in low doses in over-the-counter medicines/herbal supplements. The cloves were what actually killed the eggs. Word of caution... these products tasted terrible and were not easily masked. Note that most hospitals only check for a very very limited amount of parasites... so, you may be a little more "on your own" on this one. There were plenty of over the counter products available to treat parasites. I tried to find something to treat a variety of parasites, including hookworms (so often found in the brain of schizophrenics), pinworms, etc. It appeared most products required a prescription... yet, most doctors did not appear to treat for these things. Perhaps "naturopaths" would be more willing to assist in this issue. Lead and copper were apparently also seen frequently in schizophrenia sufferers. Note that abnormal zinc-copper levels were also found in autism. As with everything in life, each parent had to look into these possible issues and decide for himself/herself what was best for their child. I was still researching this one but wanted to provide this interesting explanation for schizophrenia, and other possible gastrointestinal issues in autism for others who may be interested in researching this as well. I had seen many parents on autism discussion boards discuss parasites, and therefore, I wanted to at least mention this given that it was a well known fact that autistic children had "a leaky gut" - perhaps this made them more susceptible to parasitic infections... I don't know. I understood "leaky gut" to simply be a "weakened intestinal membrane"... Things like hookworm (found in brain of persons with schizophrenia) could enter the body via the bare feet in infested areas (hookworms were found in the feces of dogs and cats, etc.). There were many many ways to get parasites. A great deal of literature suggested that perhaps everyone had these "gut bugs" unless specifically treated for them. This issue of parasites concerned me greatly. Therefore, I researched "parasites" on the Internet for over a day. I soon realized that all people most likely have parasites (unless treated for them specifically) and that if one family member was infected, chances were that all were. The worse offenders for getting such parasites were meats that had not properly been cooked and pets. Improper hand washing after bathroom use was another source of infection. I found certain supplements in local health food stores could be of help. These supplements include: Pure, fresh squeezed lemon juice with water (no sugar added of any kind), black walnut hulls (found in many over the counter supplements), wormwood (also over the counter... very toxic though and can have serious side effects such as permanent nerve damage) and freshly ground cloves (black walnut hulls kill the intermediary stage, wormwood kills the adult parasite and ground cloves were the only herb known to kill worm eggs... from what I had been able to find). There were also over the counter supplements for pinworms, like PIN-X. That would only treat for pinworms though. I wanted something to treat for more of the "parasite spectrum". So, my dilemma now lies in finding a good product I can give to Zachary and the rest of my family. Again, I apologize for "disgusting aspect" on this one... but, just another "had to share" in case it can help you and/or your child! The goal of my site was to help parents best I could and provide valuable information... and at times, that information could be a little graphic... but, there was no way around that. The following website provides an excellent summary of "parasite stuff". This is not for those of you with weak stomachs! http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~parasite/home.html A story on parasites... again, not for those of you who have a weak stomach... but, if you can get through it, it will help you see parasites in a whole new light too! I wanted to share with you a story as it related to parasites. This was not for those of you who have a weak stomach... but, if you can get through it, you will really learn something here... guaranteed! I will forewarn you, this stuff gets disgusting! I knew an "average woman", basically healthy, no funny symptoms of any kind that would lead her to think there was anything wrong. She decided to do a "juice fast" to "cleanse" her body. She purchased a juicer and made her own vegetable juice for a period of 10 days. That was all she would ingest (eat) during the entire 10 days... vegetable juice made with carrots, celery, greens (lettuce, spinach), etc. Each night, she used a water enema to "clean out her bowels"... that, she said, was a must. In addition, pure, fresh lemon juice was taken with water each night (juice of one lemon plus about 8 ounces of water). This process of "juicing", was supposed to really "clean out her digestive track". I know this person very very well... well enough to discuss "parasites". :o) She stated that everything was going great the first 5 days... then things started to happen. This was where it gets rather disgusting: On day 5, she passed parasites via her stools, specifically, worms. She described them as being about one and a half inches long. On day 7, she passed more... pinworms this time...they were much smaller. On day 9, she passed the worst thing of all... worms that were about 2 - 3 inches long each. Needless to say, by this time, she was thoroughly "grossed out"... (as I'm sure many of you are right now... but keep reading). She called a doctor's office to see if she could get a "broad spectrum" prescription to kill a bunch of different types of worms at once and explained everything to the doctor's office. When she called a doctor's office to get a broad spectrum parasite killer, she was informed that a stool sample would be necessary, that each "worm type" would have to be brought in, analyzed and "cultured", etc... surely requiring several hundred dollars in testing alone... and so on. She also explained she felt a stool sample would not capture everything... that "the really bad ones" took close to 10 days for her to pass... they were that far up the digestive track. A relative of this woman had worked in a medical lab in the past and had told her that for the most part, stool samples for parasites were "really not that reliable anyway" because, by the time the lab got them, they were basically "useless" and the tests would most likely come back negative. She was informed that no prescription would ever be given without the above procedures even though the nurse herself also agreed that there were issues with "lab samples". What truly bothered me when it came to the issue of parasites was the fact that animals such as cats and dogs were regularly treated for them by veterinarians... yet, human doctors failed to do the same for their patients - why? Humans lived with cats and dogs... and if cats and dogs had these parasites, there certainly was a good probability that they could spread to humans also! Once again it appeared to me that animals were getting "better treatment" than were humans - much as was the case with the removal of aluminum from animal vaccines - yet, this toxin remained in human vaccines - why? When it came to "conventional medicine"... , unfortunately, needless to say, I had lost a great deal of respect for its "practices" or "lack of practices"!
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