This first month has been a bit of a whirl wind in my life as applied to new companies after returning from traveling around Southeast Asia from October 2017-March 2018. I was a nervous about the side effects of helminthic therapy impeding my job search but I can tell any of you reading this and considering helminthic therapy that it's been overwhelmingly bearable and a great conversation starter (for my weird and wild friends) - which I find a great co-benefit of doing this! 😆😅I also got two job offers(!) and had an intense and quite stressful week of salary negotiations and decision-making. Now I start work on Monday after 9 months of 'funemployment'.
Often I notice that my psorasis get worse with stress, which is well documented. I'd say after that eye-lid flared up earlier in the month I haven't noticed any other flare ups despite the added stress from a job hunt coupled with an increased Eosinophil count (which can cause side effects).
I have to be really honest here when it comes to trying diet to control psorasis, I've given it a full 60% effort on that front. What do I mean by that? Twice I've tried an elimination diet (see Amy Myers Autoimmune Solution or Whole 30 Diet) which is basically the Paleo diet minus legumes and most nuts. Buttt I've only tried them for a month and haven't given it the 90 days people say it needs to work. I'd say I eat overall quite healthy but enjoy burritos and cheese here and there and have been traveling a lot as well which means I've wanted to try various local dishes.
So let's just say over this month I haven't changed my diet at all - which I think is good to isolate the effect of the NA helminths. I am a moderate social drinker (2-5 drinks per week on average), eat gluten, diary, and smoke weed on occasion. There's plenty of things I know I could change and improve my condition, and some people said that it would be wise to make those changes fully before trying something more risky like helminthic therapy. I would agree on that front it's definitely less risky, but also definitely not as interesting and also not as easy. I mean the worms do all the work to regulate your immune system for you and all they ask is a negligible amount of blood in exchange! (Ancylostoma duodenale draws a lot more blood than the therapeutically used species Necator americanus (NA)).
On the lack of keeping with an anti-inflammatory diet, I'd say its been both a lack of self-discipline and a conscious trade off between improving my psorasis condition which is very irritating but not debilitating versus eating whatever I want and trying new food when traveling. The willpower to heal often means changing habits like unhealthy dieting (or smoking or over-working yourself) which is a decision anyone with a chronic condition often makes only when the pain of not changing overwhelms the comfort of staying in place. Being in the sales professional I know quite well that pain or the fear of loss motivates people much more often that a promised future. Behavioral inertia is a powerful force - its just a basic part of human psychology. For example, most people who turn to helminthic therapy have tried a lot of other things like myself with a lack of results.
The the fact many people have only needed to inoculate NA 1-3 times over a few years to see big improvements in their conditions is much more accessible therapy than daily UV therapy lasting 10-30 minutes or even bi-monthly shots of biologics!
Optimistic Progress or Placebo?
(Probably Placebo)
For the past week I have dramatically cut back on using my topical steroid Clobetasol Propionate - and my psorasis has not markedly flared up (as it has about a week later in the past). I know it's way early for the worms to generally start working but I want to see how my skin gets on without a lot of intervention. Perhaps chalk it up to positive thinking or the placebo effect.
Note: I still have a lot of plaques and they are a constant presence but they vary in how scaly the skin is and how itchy. Often when I'm stressed they get a lot worse and despite the hectic job hunt and week of tough decisions I went through they haven't gotten too bad.
Note: I still have a lot of plaques and they are a constant presence but they vary in how scaly the skin is and how itchy. Often when I'm stressed they get a lot worse and despite the hectic job hunt and week of tough decisions I went through they haven't gotten too bad.
Side effects
Overall the effects this month have been relatively mild. I experienced moderate lower abdominal cramping about 2-3 weeks after inoculating , especially when I'm biking, which felt like bad gas. That lasted about a week and has since lessened its effects.
A Note on Diet
So let's just say over this month I haven't changed my diet at all - which I think is good to isolate the effect of the NA helminths. I am a moderate social drinker (2-5 drinks per week on average), eat gluten, diary, and smoke weed on occasion. There's plenty of things I know I could change and improve my condition, and some people said that it would be wise to make those changes fully before trying something more risky like helminthic therapy. I would agree on that front it's definitely less risky, but also definitely not as interesting and also not as easy. I mean the worms do all the work to regulate your immune system for you and all they ask is a negligible amount of blood in exchange! (Ancylostoma duodenale draws a lot more blood than the therapeutically used species Necator americanus (NA)).
On the lack of keeping with an anti-inflammatory diet, I'd say its been both a lack of self-discipline and a conscious trade off between improving my psorasis condition which is very irritating but not debilitating versus eating whatever I want and trying new food when traveling. The willpower to heal often means changing habits like unhealthy dieting (or smoking or over-working yourself) which is a decision anyone with a chronic condition often makes only when the pain of not changing overwhelms the comfort of staying in place. Being in the sales professional I know quite well that pain or the fear of loss motivates people much more often that a promised future. Behavioral inertia is a powerful force - its just a basic part of human psychology. For example, most people who turn to helminthic therapy have tried a lot of other things like myself with a lack of results.
The the fact many people have only needed to inoculate NA 1-3 times over a few years to see big improvements in their conditions is much more accessible therapy than daily UV therapy lasting 10-30 minutes or even bi-monthly shots of biologics!
UBiome Test
Just today I got my results back from my UBiome Sample I took Day 10 (4.14) post my inoculation. I will do 2 more on around the 3rd month and then 6 months out.
Summary: Overall since my first test 7 months ago, August 2017 my gut microbiota has become less diverse overall which I attribute to taking antibiotics 3 times during my 4 month trip through Southeast Asia (twice for Paronychia finger-infection and once for a stomach bug.)
Observations: I've seen an increase in the fat-digesting Firmicutes and a drop in Bacteroidetes. There's been a casual link establish between obesity and a higher rate of Firmicutes than Baceroidetes. However, I don't have a weight issue. I've also seen an increase in Proteobacteria. Although all of us carry these microbes, folks with inflammatory bowel disease seem to have more Proteobacteria and fewer varieties of other bacteria. I've also seen a total drop in my number of microbes UBiome classifies as having "often-noted probiotic qualities" from 0.07% to 0% which isn't huge in relative terms except the average is 1%. This is definitely something to look into.
Here's the results:
Summary: Overall since my first test 7 months ago, August 2017 my gut microbiota has become less diverse overall which I attribute to taking antibiotics 3 times during my 4 month trip through Southeast Asia (twice for Paronychia finger-infection and once for a stomach bug.)
Observations: I've seen an increase in the fat-digesting Firmicutes and a drop in Bacteroidetes. There's been a casual link establish between obesity and a higher rate of Firmicutes than Baceroidetes. However, I don't have a weight issue. I've also seen an increase in Proteobacteria. Although all of us carry these microbes, folks with inflammatory bowel disease seem to have more Proteobacteria and fewer varieties of other bacteria. I've also seen a total drop in my number of microbes UBiome classifies as having "often-noted probiotic qualities" from 0.07% to 0% which isn't huge in relative terms except the average is 1%. This is definitely something to look into.
Here's the results:
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