ENLARGED (CALCIFIED) THYROID / DIFFICULTY SWOLLOWING / CHOKING AND GAGGING - I started having difficulty swallowing. I would choke on my food frequently. Two of my girls commented that I had a “hump” at the back of my neck similar to a fatty lump or dowagers hump which made me think I was having adrenal problems as that often presents with a “hump.” Many times, I would wake up at night choking on saliva or nothing. This isn’t the same as sleep apnea as I have that as a symptom as well, but it is actually choking on something / gagging on nothing. My thyroid is enlarged to the touch.

I have every symptom of thyroid problems including several abnormal thyroid tests. I have gained 100 lbs and FREEZE at night lying in bed for hours trying to get warm. I, for years, have used hot bags to get to sleep putting them on my feet, neck and lower back. Finally, I bought a heated mattress pad that I heat up for hours before getting into bed. I would lay awake until I got warm which sometimes was an hour even with the pad. I started rubbing rosemary oil on my thyroid over the last week at night and this is the first week in a few years, I haven’t needed the heater on to get to sleep.

On the pages I found about Hook and Thread worms, (strongyloides) it states that the thyroid can be compromised as the parasites come up from the lungs and out into the throat to be swallowed in their second phase of development. It is right near the thyroid and can cause calcification in the thyroid.

I believe that my main thyroid problems are due to parasites. I can feel a longer worm crawling around the thyroid area.  I also stopped eating gluten for the past 5 years and my TPO went from 590ish down to 187. Normal results are 0 – 3.9. I believe that the diet has helped bring down my TPO and I do feel somewhat better not eating gluten as it made me feel like I was drugged when I would eat it. Leaky gut is also a symptom of this parasite as in the gut, it bores holes and this allows the undigested proteins to escape causing the body to attack the gluten. The thyroid proteins look like gluten proteins so the body attacks the thyroid as well. (That is a very basic description of what is happening and there is debate on this so all I can say is that I feel better NOT eating gluten.)

I tried thyroid medication for three years with no results other than feeling toxic and swelling when I would take it, so I stopped.  I hope if I can kill off this parasite at some point, my leaky gut can heal, and my thyroid can start to work normally again. 

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SLEEP APNEA - I have never had sleep apnea before this. My former spouse and I were together for 15 years and there wasn’t one episode of it. I started waking myself gasping. It got more common and during my first hyper-infection, I would wake myself napping in the car for a few minutes, falling asleep on the couch gasping, in bed at night many times. It got worse as the parasites got worse. I tried sleep apnea devices and sleeping with oxygen at one point, but I would wake with so much air in my stomach that I would need to burp and the machine thought I wasn’t breathing so I would wake up 20 to 50 times at night ripping the machine off. I figured horrible sleep was better than no sleep and stopped using the machine. I tried oxygen but felt that with it on at night, I was having a harder time breathing during the day and it scared me so I stopped using it. My children won’t sleep in my bed because I wake them not breathing. I wake myself all the time not breathing. I have many family members and neighbors that now have it that never had apnea before moving here, and it seems like it is epidemic now in our area.

LUNG DAMAGE - LOEFFLER'S SYNDROME -BURNING AND DIFFICULTY BREATHING -

About four years after the main symptoms, I started to have breathing and lung problems. I am a singer, and when I would sing, I would run out of air and nothing would come out. It continued to get worse and worse until I went to the Dr. and got a pulmonary function test. It showed “ Minimal obstructive lung defect. The airway obstruction is confirmed by the decrease in flow rate at 50% and 75% of the flow volume curve.” This showed lung damage and the starting of COPD.

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I called the Dr. I’d seen in January of that past year and asked for the results of my chest x-ray as I could feel burning and tightness in my chest all the time. His office said my chest x-ray was normal. After I took the Vermox parasite pills, a few weeks later, I felt thousands of things moving in my chest.

The only way I could describe it is when you see the little fishes in schools in the ocean and the current changes, and they all change direction, when I would move position, that is what it felt like was going on in my chest. It was so bad one night I couldn’t sleep so I prayed what to do. I felt that I should “huff” hydrogen peroxide into my lungs and hold it there. I did this twice and then “huffed” colloidal silver into my lungs as I felt like I was dying. Huffing those helped and I started doing that when the tight vice pressure would grip my chest / heart and lung area. When I did my first google search, I typed in “Parasite, lungs, sores in throat and high white count” and up came Löffler's syndrome along with “Strongyloides Parasites”. It is a secondary lung problem which is caused by a high white count and other lung damage due to parasites in the lungs. It can cause coughing, wheezing and pneumonia type symptoms. I wheeze at simple walks, run out of air more and more often and more quickly.

I finally went to a new Dr. and called to get my lab results from the first Dr.’s office I visited. When I got the chest x-ray results, I was so frustrated. The chest x-rays showed damage and my heart was smaller than it should be. Having had x-rays, heart ultrasound etc in the past, I have not had a diagnosis of a small heart so feel it is a result of the parasites as well. The report stated, “ Findings: Heart size is smaller than average. The lung fields are borderline hyperinflated. A scaphoid shaped density at the left lung base anteriorly within the lingular segments of the left upper lobe would appear to represent pulmonary scarring with some calcification. The lungs are otherwise clear. The mediastinal and osseous structures are unremarkable.

Impressions: Borderline pulmonary hyperinflation suggestive of possible reactive airway diseases and /or COPD. The significance of the radiographic findings would have to be determined in light of patient’s clinical presentation.”

My lungs burn all the time. I can feel things creeping in them even more than ever now. They burn daily throughout the day. There is a tight feeling like someone is sitting on my chest and I can’t get enough air. One day, I was eating some crackers I purchased that had rosemary in them. I could breath more easily. I went back to the store and purchased more. They helped me breathe better. I used to get some relief by putting rosemary oil on my chest, but no longer am getting relief from that. Once, I accidentally put frankincense in my mouth thinking it was different oil and there was an immediate reaction. I tried taking rosemary by mouth and both the rosemary and the frankincense caused my gall bladder and liver area to hurt. I think the parasites started “running” from the oils as I hadn’t had any pain in that area for a few months. 

I also noticed myself gasping for air at odd times. All the sudden, I would just gasp. I find myself holding my breath when I breathe as well. I take a deep breath and then hold it and then do it again and again. This is involuntary and I don’t always notice that I am doing it. I noticed that my youngest daughter has been doing this for years. I will bring it to her attention and she won't have noticed that she was doing it. I never noticed any of us doing it before the parasites. 

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Several of my daughters, and some other kids I know that have symptoms, will taste and cough up blood when they run. It is very discouraging knowing that their lungs are being damaged by something we can't cure. 

SORES IN THE BACK OF THROAT AND MOUTH  - For years, I've had sores in my throat. I always had little bumps filled with fluid and if I drank or ate anything with walnuts, they would be more plentiful and larger. They aren’t cankers, but fluid filled bumps similar to the ones on my arms, neck and body, but in the back of my throat. If I would drink Spicy V8, or something with hot pepper in it, (cayenne) the back of my throat would become alive and feel like a million little bugs were squirming their way out of my throat. Come to find out, that is exactly what was happening. This is a good reason NOT to share drinks or water bottles with people, even those you know.

My mouth is better when I drink the V8 with Cayenne daily, and also swish my mouth with a hydrogen peroxide containing mouthwash daily.  I also use Thieves oil in my mouth nightly. If I didn't do this, I know it would be worse as I saw my friends mouth and she had horrible bumps and sores. The Dr. told her it was nothing and to use mouth wash. She was the one that told me about the product I currently use from the dollar store. 

EXHAUSTION AND FATIGUE - I was / am EXHAUSTED!!! I sleep an average of 12 hours and still wake up tired. This is with my girls as well. I NEVER feel awake fully. I drag through life fighting exhaustion daily. I tried vitamins, iron pills, energy drinks, thyroid medication, and finally started drinking “Coke” regularly because I felt better while drinking it. Over the years, I gave up doing more and more. My house started to suffer as I couldn’t deal with house, cars, kids, activities, community service and feeling horrible and tired. I used to go out dancing at least once a month or more, dating, bike riding, walking, exercising etc. I learned to spend my energy doing what “had” to be done, rather than what I would “like” to do as I only have energy for a few things. I haven’t been able to find this online anywhere, but I think that the parasite, at some point in its growth, puts out a sedative into your system. When I have the burning in my lungs, I feel like I am drugged. I am SO tired I can’t focus and fall asleep sitting wherever I happen to be. (See a post about this here. I call it "sit-itus) Sometimes, I am even on the phone and starting to dream while still talking to someone.

My girls have the same problem when sitting for more than about 15 minutes, it feels like the parasites send out a sedative. I recently read about a parasite that is spread by the bite of a tsetse fly that actually does sedate and cause sleeping in humans and I think this parasite will be found to do the same thing. It feels like you are drugged. I have noticed several members of my church congregation have this situation as well.

I accidentally took a few drops of frankincense in my mouth one night feeling so tired and drugged. I was finally almost asleep after about five minutes of taking that. All the sudden, I was wide awake. It was like something gave me a shot of Adrenaline. I will share how when I pull one out of my skin, my eyes freak and I see things, perhaps the frankincense kills them off and they were all sending out their “notice” to the other worms, but it was very obvious to me. It was also weird in that it seemed they were moving down my system. At first, my brain woke up, then my throat and then chest felt better and finally, they ended up in my gall bladder, liver area after about five minutes, and that area then started hurting.

I wish I could find someone who has done more research on that, but they are not a problem as much in the developed world so I don’t think as much studying has been done on them. I figured I would share this in hopes that someone may know more and enlighten the “CDC”, “UP TO DATE” and other sites that Dr.’s may go to for information when treating this.

WEIGHT GAIN - MALNUTRITION - I had been thin my entire life. I started gaining weight about the same time I got parasites symptoms. Over the years, I gained more and more weight. It didn’t matter what I did trying to diet and exercise. I did our cities “Healthy Town” where you weigh in and use that as an incentive to diet and not gain weight over the holidays. I NEVER cheated, I dieted, worked out (which caused me to get nothing else done due to being so tired after working out) and at the end of the month or two, I GAINED WEIGHT!!! I did this many time trying to lose weight and I gained more. I decided that working out, being exhausted from it, and starving myself wasn’t a good plan as I seemed to gain weight more quickly when I did. I think the parasites eat all my nutrients leaving me in starvation mode so anything I eat / ate, stayed with me. My friend that I mentioned in the mouth sore section, is gaining weight at a rapid rate as well and just recently said that she has been dieting and working out and hasn't lost a pound.

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My mother also gained lots for the amount she ate as her assisted living provided one meal, she shouldn't have gaining weight like she did. She went up two pant sizes in a year one year and I have gain over 120 pounds since I started seeing Dr.'s for this. In fact, the second Dr.'s I saw, I used to work with and he didn't recognize me when I went in due to my fast and huge weight gain. 

LYMPH ISSUES AND EDEMA WITH TINGLING AND NUMBNESS – I have been fighting swollen hands and feet on and off for a few years. More recently, I have had really achy pains on the tops of my feet and hands. I kept asking my family to rub them as I couldn’t get rid of the pains. When I sprayed the peroxide on my hands and soaked them in peroxide, and the bugs died in my hand, it had that exact pain that I have had in my feet and hands for a year or so. My hand swell for a few days, but also I do feel my lymph has been sluggish for years and now I understand why. This parasite lives in the lymph during phase two of its morph, if it follows the exact life cycle as the Strongyloides parasite. Since all the symptoms I am having are the same as that parasites, I believe it does, because, when I soak in 3% peroxide, the parasites come and die just under the surface of the skin, and you can feel the bumps under the skin. If you pick at the bumps, they will "pop" and out will come a white blob and you can see a burrow trail under the parasite, it looks like you pulled a sliver out of the hole. 

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Since that time, I have developed tingling in my feet and legs feeling like thousands of little fish are swimming around. It feels similar to your arm waking after it has fallen asleep but different. I have had others state they feel this, and with that many parasites in the lymph, there is swelling in the extremities after more eggs hatch. It gets better for a few weeks, and then the swelling comes back once more eggs hatch. This is worse in the mornings as the parasites are nocturnal.