Your intestines provide the perfect breeding ground for parasites that enjoy making their homes nestled within the impacted waste as well as in the linings of the intestine walls.
Living inside our intestines, these microorganisms can become a problem. They are able to adapt their life cycles in order to ensure the perpetuation of their species within their unsuspecting hosts.
The four major groups of parasites include Protozoans (single-celled organisms), Nematodes, Cestodes and Trematoda.
This is Ian’s story
Ian* is a 32 year old, male accountant who came to my clinic complaining of diarrhoea, weight-loss, fatigue and generally feeling unwell.
It had started two month’s previously, after a holiday to Canada. On his return he started to experience crampy abdominal pain and loose urgent stools. He was having four to eight foul-smelling yellow bowel movements a day, sometimes at night. There was occasional blood in the stools. He also noticed some early morning nausea and he experienced a 9lbs weight loss during the first four weeks of the symptoms.
He had previously been in general good health however he did state that he was prone to getting stomach upset and diarrhoea once to twice a month but it was manageable and also that his sleep patterns were not great as he frequently experienced insomnia. His normal pattern of bowel movements was once a day but occasionally he did experienced constipation.
When I first I saw him his presenting symptoms were three to four foul-smelling yellow bowel movements a day, however this varied. His weight-loss had increased to 13lbs and he felt very drained of energy and experienced embarrassing levels of gas and bloating most days.
Obviously at this point it was having a impact on his mental, emotional and physical state. He felt that his job may be under threat as he had taken so many sick days and when he was present his ability to concentrate was radically reduced and his frequent trips to the bathroom had been noted. He felt embarrassed about what was happening and frustrated because he did not know what was causing it.
He had consulted his doctor who had run various tests, which came back negative. The doctor had prescribe several different things over the period of time however nothing had resolved the problem. These included:
- Opioid analgesics ‐ to slow down peristalsis and cause the stool to become firmer
- Adsorbents ‐ clay‐like substances reduce the water content of stools and make the loose stool firmer
- Bulk‐forming medications
So, Ian was understandably gloomy and defeated at this point. I explained that I thought he had picked a parasite called Giardia and that if that was the case, it would require some changes to his lifestyle choices in order to create a platform of good health for his body to heal and a protocol which would involve herbs and support vitamins and minerals to get rid of the infection.
However first we would need to make a firm diagnosis. Ian completed a full Gastrointestinal Test from PCI Europe (parasitetesting.co.uk) that involves collecting 2-4 samples of stool and taking a swab of the stool, which is then sent to the lab for analysis.
His results showed that he did indeed have Giardia, a bacterial infection and also he was low in good bacteria. Based on the test results I created a plan of action that Ian felt very comfortable in committing to. This involved making changes in several area:
- Improvements to his dietary choices, quality of food (organic when possible) fresh live foods and less processed foods;
- The amount, proportions and frequency of food eaten;
- Stress management tactics;
- Tactics to improve his sleep patterns;
- Natural approaches to calm the symptoms he was experiencing e.g Saccharomyces Boulardii, activated charcoal etc.
When the above had been in place for a moderate period of time, an eradication protocol was put into place that involved several herbal compounds that have been proven effective in regards to Giardia and the pathogenic bacterias that Ian had tested positive for.
Ian proved to be a conscientious client, following the guidelines given faithfully and he started to feel better and see improvement immediately. Over the course of the protocol he did experience some die-off reactions, which is a common occurrence but if managed appropriately is not too problematic. Ian was advised about the signs and symptoms of die-off that could be experienced and also how to manage them, he also had ongoing clinical support.
To follow the removal protocol a repair stage was then instigated to heal the damage caused to the gut by the Giardia, bacteria and previous poor lifestyle choices, which had created the opportunity for the bugs to make a happy home in Ian’s digestive tract.
Once through the protocols all symptoms had disappeared and Ian felt better than he had in years. Because Ian felt so much better he has wisely decided to maintain the lifestyle changes he made. He feels they were easy to put into place and maintain and doesn’t see this as a hardship but rather an investment into his future health and a good defence plan against picking up uninvited guest in the future.
*Name has been changed to protect the patient’s privacy.
