Discussion - Biological Treatment - Worms

[JustAYoungLad]

I saw a documentary on BBC one (UK) a few weeks ago were they looked at the effects of parasites and worms on the human body.

They had a segment on Crohn's and how people are treating themselves with worms.

Specifically pig whipworm, which lives in the small bowel. The pig variant only lives a short time and is eventually secreted into waste. Described as whipworm smoothies.

The programme explained that these worms don't attack the body to protect its own survival and they cause the immune system to calm down.

Described as a stand off between the worms and the immune system that can be beneficial to people suffering from Crohn's.

I would be interested in hearing about anyone who has tried parasites? What's your view? It's all a bit yak! But very interesting.

 

[lbligh]

We asked a pediatric GI at Hopkins about this. We had to be circumspect because our daughter was in the room, and I didn't want her to know we were talking about worms. So I asked the doctor if she was familiar with helminth therapy. That doctor knew about it and said that studies had shown it was good at getting people into remission but not at keeping them there. I don't, of course, know whether she is correct about that.

 

[nogutsnoglory]

I was very interested in these studies as well but it unfortunately failed to show muster in clinical trials. I don't know if the theory is completely dead but it no longer seems promising unfortunately.