RASH - GETS WORSE WITH WATER or CREAMS - OFTEN ON HANDS, ANKLES, FEET, WRIST, NECK, CROOK OF ARM, OR BACK OF KNEE - Like Hook Worm and Strongyloidiasis worms, this parasite also can cause a rash when the nematode burrows into the skin. I got the rashes on my hands by gardening without gloves, but have met others who have them on the ankle or lower leg from sitting in dirt, or gardening in shoes with ankle socks in shorts etc.
Also, I believe you can get it from being scratched by an animal infected with this parasite, or ingesting contaminated watery fruits and vegetable that you don't cook, such as - tomatoes, melons, cucumbers etc. The rashes get worse with water, oils, creams, and ointments.
Keeping the rash dry is the only "cure" I have found. I use Lugols iodine on the area and allow it to air dry, and then put diatomaceous earth (DE) over the rash. When possible, I cover the rash with a sock top where I cut out the bottom of the sock. I keep adding the DE under the sock until it the rash is gone. Hands are hard to keep dry, but I use DE after each hand wash.
BUMPS ON SKIN - Pimple Size - Several of my family developed little pimple like dots on different areas of the body. They DON'T ever come to a head, but if squeezed, a little “pop” would sometimes cause a little grain of sand sized white filling to come out. It wasn’t a hard center but was just the size of a sand grain. I attributed it to an ingrown hair as that was what it looked like to me as it was usually in a pore. I thought it weird that they were mostly on the right side of my body on my neck and shoulders at first. Eventually, as the parasite load got bigger, they continued down onto my arms, legs, stomach etc. Most often, they were on my upper arms on the outside.
I researched this as I wasn’t the only experiencing it. Many in my family were developing these. I now believe that the worms cover the skin pour opening with a biofilm waxy substance that clogs the pour keeping the moisture in and them safe, but when the skin gets wet, they come out a bit to get the moisture. The pimple is a clogged pour, but due to the worm inside.
DIARRHEA AND CONSTIPATION - If you eat something these parasites don't like, the ones in the gut will burrow out of the gut. Or, sometimes things you eat will kill them in the gut causing diarrhea. These parasites like water. If you don't have enough, you can get dehydrated. This isn't a huge problem, but it was just something I noticed changed depending on what I ate. They do NOT like: Indian spices like curry, cayenne, ginger, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds.
STOMACH CRAMPS AND ULCER TYPE PAIN OR PIN PRICK SPOTS OF MOVING PAINS - The stomach complaints for me got worse and worse. I would have such stomach cramps where I would just want to stay in bed curled up in a ball sometimes. The cramps weren’t consistent, but would come and go.
Sometimes, I would get “ulcer” type pain as if something was eating or chewing my insides in one spot. This would get worse if I was eating something that would make my stomach acid more neutral like lemons or lime.
As the infestation increased, I have pain not only in my stomach, but all through my digestive tract. I have pain and cramps almost daily. The stomach complaints get worse when eating ginger, hot peppers, spicy foods, curry, etc. as this causes the parasites to flee the gut burrowing out, and then when the food is gone, they will burrow back into the area.
They also hate ice. I found myself eating ice or ice cream especially when the burrowing was near my heart area which I will cover in another symptoms "heart burn" and burrowing.
GAS, BLOATING, LOUD STOMACH CHURNING NOISES, BURPING, HICCUP, FLATULENCE, AND ODD COMBOS AND TIMING OF THEM - I have different variations of this on and off over the years. When I have a hyper-infection syndrome, (superinfection, autoinfection, disseminated disease) I wake daily with horrible burping for about 40 minutes and I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from having not changed my eating habits. I also had horrible gas, flatulence, farting or whatever you would like to call it. My girls were home one weekend, and several commented on my gas saying that I rarely had gas so it was weird to hear me have it. I would wake almost daily to gas while stretching awake or getting out of bed. Not a normal thing for me. My stomach was almost hard with bloating. My belly was so engorged, swollen, distended etc that it was almost painful. My breasts would rest on my rounded belly feeling like I was being cut in half at the diaphragm and I would have pain in the top of my stomach valve. My gall bladder area often felt like it was burning so I would try to stretch and see if it would stop, which it never did.
I read that strongyloides worms often set up in the bile ducts and figured this one also does as I have all the symptoms of that parasite. I eventually had my gall bladder out, but I think they had moved on to other areas before then. I felt distended 24/7. I figured out if I continually eat things they don't like, such as walnuts, it cut down on the amount of parasites in the gut killing some off.
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This helps some, but eventually I got to the point where I make this pterodactyl noise inhaling air so quickly, as if trying to equalize the air pressure inside as the parasites burrowed out due to something I ate, so I only make this noise after eating something they don't like or drinking water.
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When the parasites aren't as bad, I will just do a weird hiccough / hiccup sound and many of my family also do this after eating certain foods, but we didn't have this until the parasites.
HEART BURN AND CHEST PAIN LEFT SIDE - As the load of parasites get greater, this symptoms gets more common as more are hatching. When sitting at my computer at night writing my blog and in my journal, I would have HORRIBLE burning in my left lung and heart area. It is extremely constricting and feels like someone had put a huge rubber band over my left lung and heart. I would shift in my chair, take deep breaths, hold my breath, nothing helped with this at first. When I take something that kills these off in my gut, this happens about a week later.
It usually starts after sitting for about 20 minutes and a wave of fatigue comes over me. I think they put out a sedative to get the host to sleep so they can move, burrow and lay eggs. This now crosses over to my lung problems so see that section for more.
Along side the heart / lung burning, there is another type of heartburn. This HEARTBURN usually happens at night, especially when you drink water after about 5 p.m. as it pulls the parasites in towards the water. It feels like a swirling mass in the center of your chest area.
DRY COUGH AND TICKLING THROAT - I have a horrible time with dry cough. It would, and does, wake me often at night and sometimes when I'm places, I would have to leave due to not being able to control the cough. It got worse and worse and if I would bend over for a long time, I would generate the dry cough. It usually happens about once a month as the eggs hatch as the life cycle of this parasite is about 21-25 days or so. I realized that if I take certain essential oils in my mouth and swish them around, it helps drive them from the throat stopping the cough. This is also a common symptoms in hook and strongyloides worms. I carry around "Thieves Oil" by Young Living Oils in my purse so I can put a drop in with some spit and swish it around my mouth to keep the cough down.
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I researched bumps on skin, and it is called "Chicken Skin" and it is usually a lack of vitamin A. However, we didn't have this until the parasite, so either the parasites are taking our vitamins and causing this Keratosis Pilaris, or it is doing as I think, and they live just under the skin when small, either way, it is a symptom. I met a lady who had much advanced case of this parasite (all the symptoms with many pneumonia / lung damage issues) and you could see these all on top of her skin, not down in the pore.
This is my first video on the parasite after getting diagnosed. I share about how I got diagnosed and symptoms. It cut out part way through due to auto camera shut off so this is Part 1.
This is Part 2 of the first video I made after getting diagnosed with Horsehair Nematomorpha Parasite.
This is a worm that came out of the skin after a shower, we were watching a video and the t-shirt was wet due to the long hair dripping on it. I think it came out due to the wet shirt against skin, against a leather couch for an entire movie. I don't normally see them on the skin. The noise is a camera grind, not a fan.
I had tests for Toxoplasmosis, Strongyloides, Hook Worm and general ova and parasite tests. I also had tests for Lupus and other auto immune disorders. All came back negative.
I went to FOUR different Doctors including a Parasite Specialist . The specialist told me there was NO way I had any parasites because I had been on anti-parasitic medication. He offered me anti-psychotic medication. A week after the visit to that Parasite Specialist, this worm below was diagnosed thanks to my wonderful Family Practice Doctor. If you have symptoms, don't let one or two people discourage you. Doctors don't get much parasite teaching, and there is so much we don't know as things evolve. Lyme disease wasn't known about until 25 years ago. Keep taking in worms until you get a diagnosis or treatment that works. If you have a negative Dr. who can't admit he doesn't have all the answers, get a new one.
I sent in worms, stool, throat scrapings and everything kept coming back with a ? or "Unknown human parasite" until I sent in the worm that was 8 inches in this photo. I sent the other worms in baggies, alcohol, tape etc.
I felt like I should send this larger worm in normal saline so I used contact solution hoping it wouldn't break down the worm before it could be diagnosed and it worked! I read reports stating that alcohol breaks down the Strongyloides worm, so I figured since this worm has the same symptoms and life cycle, it was best to not use alcohol as that hadn't worked with my other specimen sent in. It was big enough they could identify what type of worm it was.
I could only find a few human cases of horsehair nematomorpha diagnosed, and all in Asia. I decided to start documenting everything as everyone around me has the same symptoms. Hopefully, they can develop a test so that others can just have a blood protein test for this specific parasite. However, there are over 2000 species of horsehair worms, so that may prove difficult.
This worm is extremely difficult to get out of the body alive. I have only ever gotten some out of stool before I ate things to kill them in the gut. I used 3% hydrogen peroxide soaks a lot before getting diagnosed, trying to keep them down in the extremeties. I put some peroxide in my ear and used this Q-tip to get it out and when I pulled it out, this worm was moving on the tip. The Q-tip is WET so this isn't just a dry cotton fiber blowing in the wind. I have a video of it I will share below.
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The only other one I got out alive was one I share about above on the black background from the wet shirt after a shower. It is scary to see how tiny they are on this Q-tip, to the medium sized one on the black screen, to the 4-5 inch ones I first saw in my stool and sent in, to the 8 inch one I finally was able to get diagnosed.
I can feel the longer worms move around my body. They especially like the back of the skull, thyroid, heart, and pelvic floor. If I put something on my skull they don't like if they are moving lots, (sometimes I will rub rosemary oil over the area) I will feel it move down my spine, which is a freaky feeling!
I have used Thieves oil, colloidal silver, 3% hydrogen peroxide, rosemary oil, oregano oil, diatomaceous earth, and Lugol's Iodine to keep the parasites down in and on my body.
A cough was one of the first symptoms, I found that I brought on a cough when I would drink spicy drinks like Spicy V-8. After drinking it, I could feel movement in the back of my throat and realized that it is the parasites burrowing out. It was one of the reasons I knew I had a parasite and it helped me get on the path to getting diagnosed. I found strongyloides and hook worms online with the symptoms search of "cough, lungs, bumps in throat" and was grateful to find a path that lead me to getting diagnosed.