emla999/Lyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12606
posted
Determining whether parasites are playing a role in your health problems can be challenging because parasite testing tends to be fairly inaccurate...... meaning alot of false negatives.
With that being said, usually when a doctor suspects that their patient may have a parasitic infection they will often take a stool sample from that patient and then check that stool sample for parasites. Sometimes a doctor will also order specialized blood tests that can indicate a parasitic infection. ***Note: In my opinion, the average medical doctor lacks the knowledge that is required to correctly diagnose and treat chronic parasitic infections.
Testing for parasites via a stool a sample allows you to test for multiple parasites with one specimen. So, you would really only have to pay for the one test even though they are testing for multiple parasites. But on the down side, stool testing is HIGHLY inaccurate....... lots of false negatives. So, you may have to do 3 or 4 tests. And even then the test may come back negative even if you are infected with parasites.
Also, some labs are considered better than others when it comes to stool testing. The Metametrix DNA stool test for parasites seems to be recommended alot. Their website is on the link down bellow.
Also, if you ever do test for parasites via a stool sample then you might want to take the anti-parasite medication Albendazole the day before you collect your stool sample.
As for blood antibody testing. Well, blood antibody testing is considered a more accurate testing method for some parasites when compared to stool testing..... the strongyloide parasite is a good example of that.
One down side to antibody testing is your body's immune system needs to be functioning well enough to produce antibodies. So, if you are severely immuno compromised then your body may not make antibodies even if you are infected with parasites.
Another down side to blood antibody testing for parasites is the possible expense. Since there are sooooooooooo many different kinds of parasites out there you would have to order an antibody test for each suspected parasite. That could potentially be very expensive and thus cost prohibitive.
I have listed a few examples of blood antibody testing down bellow. ****Note: Antibody testing is also available for many more parasites.
Other doctors such as Dr. K and Dr. Simon Yu use various forms of energy testing such as ART and EAV to diagnose parasitic infections. I have no clue as to how accurate such methods are though.
Also, many people seem to think that parasites are mostly just a problem in third world countries....... that's not the case though. Many parasite infections are endemic to many parts of the United States.
Some more info about parasites that you might find helpful/interesting.
posted
i am treating myself for parasites for 1:my lyme treatment has not been responding that well,i have unfound gi issues which stool,and egd showed inflammation but as to what was causing it (i was put on proton pump inhib in which they could still see inflammation)they did not know.the terrible gi pain i have gone through and only somewhat being helped with antibiotics.i felt like something was still going on.i went the yeast route and again helped some but still problems.i have animals in my home for 10 yrs cleaned up after them and wondered if possibly i picked up parasites from one of them.i awoke one night to my cat enjoying my cup of water and wondered how many times that has happened.it is true that they do not pick them up in stools. the ones ema talks about above need blood tests.so for me i thought i would go a round with parasite meds and see how i would do. i have only tried one herbal remedy and because of the clove it really did a number on my stomach.so i am albendazole which has not been easy either.if you can get a doctor to order the blood tests that would be great.
Posts: 125 | From western mass | Registered: Sep 2010
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MichaelTampa
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 24868
posted
some would say that if you have chronic lyme, then parasites are a problem
Posts: 1927 | From se usa | Registered: Mar 2010
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