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dixonpete

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Celiac.com - Celiac Disease & Gluten-Free Diet Support Since 1995

Blog Entries posted by dixonpete

  1. dixonpete
    Published 12 September 2024: Health-promoting worms? Prospects and pitfalls of helminth therapy
    A good summary of the topic with the low-down that more research is needed. In regard to celiac disease, the article says that while clinical studies haven't shown substantial results, self-treaters show consistent success (like me).
    I've mentioned this before, but doing a gluten challenge at 20 days post inoculation for a hookworm/celiac trial is doomed to fail. ...
  2. dixonpete

    Well how about that!

    By dixonpete,


    Hookworms
    I'm still trying my hand at hookworm incubation. This time I set 5 jars going all using the same method, namely small, hermetically sealable jars stuffed with a coffee filter smeared with a small amount of egg infected stool (mine) with about a 1/2 cm of mineral water at the base and left for 9 days. I made sure the filter paper always touched the water and that the stool was moistened well before smearing. To the best of my knowledge, I prepared each jar in exactly the same...
  3. dixonpete

    A two for four incubation

    By dixonpete,


    Hookworms
    Last week I set four small jars going, and today I gave them a look. Two of the jars were completely devoid of larvae. The other two were "B-" results, enough for inoculation but would require a fair amount of work collecting the larvae as the observed quantity was low. Think maybe 5% of best jars I've seen so far.
    I'm becoming convinced this is truly all about the quantity of eggs in the stool. If the colony is having an off day and not releasing many eggs, resulting...
  4. dixonpete
    Yesterday I inoculated myself with 25 Necator americanus larvae from the small red jar. There were so many larvae, all I had to do was find a couple of drops that had the number of larvae I was looking for and pipette them onto the bandage. No messing with sucking up individual larvae and placing them in a tube. Much quicker, and why having a large crop is a good thing. Why choose the number 25? I didn't feel like bothering with more frequent inoculations, and 25 was as high...
  5. dixonpete

    Incubation failure

    By dixonpete,


    Hookworms
    I followed the same technique I used last time that yielded such huge results, but this time basically I got zilch from two small jars. A few corpses and several uninspired zombie looking larvae moping around under my microscope's lens. Not enough to consider spending the time trying to get a harvest for an inoculation.
    The only thing different this round was the heat. It's been consistently over 30C in my non-air conditioned apartment this week. Damn global warming...
  6. dixonpete
    I had an interesting experience today. I set up 3 practice jars 8 days ago.
    The first of the large jars was ok, maybe a little light in larvae. The second large jar was BARREN! I think I saw one larva in my sample. The third, small jar was a surprise though, it was booming! Squirming larvae hanging from the chandeliers, partying like it was 1999. Huge numbers. We're talking 12 larvae in a 40X field of view! Previously I think the record was maybe 4, and that was searching...
  7. dixonpete
    When I first got into hookworms to treat my several severe GI immune conditions, I was confused and filled with trepidation. Six years later, it all seems pretty simple, but I suppose perhaps everything is like that when you are starting out. 
    The first step is to purchase larvae from a provider listed in the Helminthic Therapy Wiki and when they arrive, slap them on your arm.
    Afterwards to save money, if you are into DIY, several months later you can start ...
  8. dixonpete
    It took watching a YouTube video to figure out how to use it, and it's a bit touchy, but it does allow me to take pics and video of what I see under the microscope. The device came from AliExpress and costs under $5. 
    Here's a video of a particularly active larva. Let me know in the comments if the link isn't working.
    This larva was from a recent incubation and examined at the 6-day mark. Between the two jars there were hundreds of larvae.
    <...
  9. dixonpete
    I was in a bit of a rush and didn't finesse the job as well as I would have liked. I ended up using too much stool in one jar and not enough on the other. The overweight one might tear through the threads and sink into the water, and the light one might not have enough stool to generate many larvae. This experience tells me there's some technique to this, and I'm thinking going forward I'll tape down the threads to the outside of jars before placing the stool on the filter...
  10. dixonpete
    Probably more concise than reading through my blog entries. Note, I'm now doing 10 larvae every 2 months.
    Hookworms successful against colitis and celiac disease after medicine fails
    ⚭Home>Personal stories>Detailed stories>Hookworms successful against colitis and celiac disease after medicine fails
    I currently inoculate with 25 Necator americanus larvae every 5 months to keep myself in remission from celiac disease and ulcerative colitis. T...
  11. dixonpete
    This afternoon I tried the last one of those AliExpress sub-$20 microscopes. All told there were four, and I'm including a pic of the most promising one where the tube is suspended above a platform.
    Even with top and below lighting and a sample where I knew there was a larva directly in the center of the drop, I still couldn't see it. I could sort of make out other debris, but no, just no.
    It's still a cute tool, though. You plug into your computer's USB port...
  12. dixonpete
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHRZkZ_b1sg
    Ted Simon uses an incubator and vermiculite. His channel offers several other hookworm related videos, including one where he shows using a microscope to harvest the larvae.
    My method doesn't use an incubator or vermiculite and I get good results, but I can't claim consistency as I don't have that much of a track record yet.
  13. dixonpete
    I just had a last look at those two jars and this is what I came away with.
    The first jar's water probably had about 100 larvae total, the second had substantially more, in the order of 200-300. This estimate is based on how much water was in each jar and how much water I pipetted out of each into a petri dish and scanned. In the second jar that I launched 2 days after the first, I placed more stool onto the coffee filter. More stool = more eggs = more larvae. Collecting...
  14. dixonpete

    Health update

    By dixonpete,


    Hookworms
    For long time followers of this blog will remember my account of my time at the start of my GI-trouble journey, which largely started in 2005-2008 when I was hit with an abscess, multiple corrective surgeries, ulcerative colitis and celiac disease. This was a particularly bad time in my life. After going gluten-free things got much better, I healed, but I was still left with many food sensitivities, including IBS symptoms and horrible gas.
    Since I've been using hookworms...
  15. dixonpete
    Both were successful. I think I have incubation down pat now, though I can see how a few refinements of technique might lead to larger larvae yields, not that such increases are necessary if I'm only going to be using 10 larvae at a time.
    Once again, the technique is pretty simple. Just use a hermetically sealable jar with 1/4" of mineral water (not distilled, not chlorinated) and put a coffee filter in that touches the water. You can probably see the threads hanging...
  16. dixonpete
    It's been a rapid few days of learning about hookworm incubation. Here's what more I've learned. Most importantly, any microscope that can do 40X will suffice.
    That's because it turns out the concern about the distance from the lens to the plate for pipetting was a red herring. All one needs to do is lay down a bunch of very small drops on the slide or Petri dish and use the microscope to find drops that have the required number of larvae. Note the placement of the ...
  17. dixonpete
    The incubation worked.
    The biggest expense was the microscope I bought off Amazon, an AmScope SE306. I picked it because it would give plenty of room for pipette work above the sample. I paid ~$370 Can.
    The other supplies needed were variously sized pipettes, petri dishes, mineral water, adhesive gauze bandages, bleach for cleanup, paper towels, a garbage bag to cover my desk, and glasses for eye protection. And of course, most importantly, nitrile disposable...
  18. dixonpete

    Incubation starts tomorrow

    By dixonpete,


    Hookworms
    I now have all my supplies and my microscope. I ended up buying a better one than I had planned because after doing extensive reading I decided I wanted a dissecting scope, and I justified the extra money by considering it a lifetime investment since I'll be using it for probably the next 20 or so years.
    Incubation will begin tomorrow and harvesting will occur 10 days after that. I'm not due for inoculation til April 5th, but there would be little harm in applying ...
  19. dixonpete

    No news is good news

    By dixonpete,


    Hookworms
    It's been more than a month since my last inoculation of hookworm larvae. No issues to report. All told, I probably consume the gluten equivalent of 3 slices of bread+ in an average day. My stools are perfectly normal and there's no sign of any gastric distress. A few weeks ago though, I did find one cheap brand of yogurt that made me ill, something I chalked up to it having too much lactose. I know I'm lactose intolerant. My regular yogurt has no effect on me. All other foods...
  20. dixonpete
    Back in the summer of 2018 I was reaching a pivotal moment in my life. I had had celiac disease and ulcerative colitis since 2006, but the colitis had flared to an 11 and wasn't responding to drugs. Prednisone disrupted my sleep but didn't even begin to take the edge off my colitis pain. Daily I was going into the shower, closing the door, cranking the radio, and literally screaming because I couldn't take the pain anymore. I had talked to my doctor several times about the...
  21. dixonpete

    A new journey

    By dixonpete,


    Hookworms
    In the last blog entry it was late July 2018 and my larvae had just arrived. Before going further there is a fair amount of history leading up to that moment that probably should be discussed.
    Back in 1999 at age 35 and single again I had my first inkling of what was to come. I was into body building at the time and consumed a fair amount of protein powder. I developed a painful reaction to it. I talked to the vendor. They had never heard of any problems. I shrugged...
  22. dixonpete

    Sorry for the delay in writing

    By dixonpete,


    Hookworms
    So I ordered my first hookworms around July 7th, 2018. 
    The sales and transport of hookworm operates in somewhat of a gray area. Authorities recognize that seriously ill people are trying helminths like hookworms tin order to get better, but the laws in all jurisdictions haven't caught up with what some people see as a medical necessity. Accordingly, providers of hookworm larvae prefer to operate on the down low. Restricting communication by email and payment by Bitcoin ...
  23. dixonpete

    A new batch

    By dixonpete,


    Hookworms
    A couple of weeks ago or so I started noticing GI issues. Occasional bouts of loose stool, stirrings of colitis, incontinence - all completely at odds with my usual experience. It had been more than 6 months since my last hookworm inoculation so I knew it was time to re-up.
    Things have changed since I started with Helminthic Therapy. I got hooked up with the Helminthic Therapy Support Group on Facebook and a contact there suggested I try another provider, one that used...
  24. dixonpete
    This time around I've been using a steroid cream to keep down the inflammation. The results still aren't pretty but I don't have the ugly blisters I usually get. Definitely worth using.
    The cream I used was a topical corticosteroid called Taro-Mometasone, aka Mometasone Furoate USP 0.1%, applied every 6–8 hours.
    After a week the mark should be almost gone. After multiple inoculations I've never been left with a scar. It has never hurt, just tingled initially a...
  25. dixonpete

    Day 10 post inoculation

    By dixonpete,


    Hookworms
    Not much to report. My GI issues have all cleared up, but that's probably because I've gone gluten-free for the month of June. My entry wound has almost entirely healed. Aside from a touch of redness it should be 100% in a couple of days. That steroid cream made a huge difference, not in pain or discomfort really but certainly in aesthetics. Previously the entry wound was ugly enough to scare children.
    The way the life cycle of the hookworms works after about a week...
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