Pete Dixon

I did a 5-day fast in March that really messed up my stools making faecal sample collection problematic. Apparently I'm one of the few people that really need fiber always going through my system to prevent things going to hell, so next time I fast I'll be doing that even though it does break the spirit of fasting.

Celiac.com Sponsor (A13):
Seven days ago I set up 5 small jars for incubation. When I looked at them today 2 were barren of larvae, 2 were ok but a little sparse, and one was grade A. Having a good concentration of larvae makes the work of collecting them much easier. This time around all I needed were 20 drops or so on my Petri dish to find all the necessary larvae. I pipetted them onto a bandage and was good to go. Or rather I would have been if I had practiced with the new bandage and gauze I had bought. Turned out the transparent, waterproof bandage I had chosen was awkward to use. Frustrating when things don't go as planned and you have 25 hungry larvae soaking in the gauze waiting for a home and you are fumbling with a badly designed bandage.

Also, wrapping my arm with a stretch bandage with one hand wasn't easy. Larvae are dangerous in the sense if one got in your eye it could cause a lot of trouble. The process of application needs to be smooth and predictable and I failed in that this time. Eventually I got it right and I'm sure everything is fine, but I'm going to practice the hell out of the process for next time to avoid a repetition of today's fiasco. Even after a year of doing this I'm still learning.

Other than last month's fast-induced GI troubles things have been fine. My intestines appear to be ticking along, and I can't remember any reactions to food since I last wrote in this blog. I've been avoiding nuts and mayo as a matter of course. Actually, I'm not sure if I wrote about how in January I tried walnuts, thinking they were the most innocuous of nuts. Nope, they made me bleed, so as far as I'm concerned all nuts are verboten whether I've tried a specific type of nut or not. I like chocolate, so I've taken to making sure that any chocolate bar I buy is nut-free.

I've been talking up Helminthic Therapy with any doctor or nurse I run into on my travels. Most had ever heard of the concept before. I've reached out to the local Celiac and Crohn's and Colitis groups offering to do presentations but I've never gotten a response. Skepticism abounds on this topic, even among the people who would be helped most by it.