Do Parasites Cause Autoimmune Diseases?
Jul 13, 2013
I have recently completed 2 stool sample tests that have rendered the same outcome, positive for parasitic organisms but unable to identify. Now I have to complete the exam a third time. I have still not received any treatment and have experienced some serious health problems over the past few years, including an idiopathic cardiomyopathy a little over 2 years ago. Two years before this I was hospitalized for a serious virus that could not be identified. This involved a very high fever, diarrhea, vomiting, and the start of kidney failure, however I went to the emergency room at the right time. One month later, I had mono, then 4 months later, had a palsy in my left foot, then less than one year after, started experiencing chest pain, serious headaches, and extreme fatigue. The emergency room kept sending me home telling me it was a virus. Finally several months had passed after numerous visits to this ER, I went to a different hospital where they found a cardiomyopathy. My ejection fraction was 35%. I am only 37! Just after this, I noticed one day that I had experienced severe itching in the rectal area with several days of white discharge that had an odor of infection. I waited for a couple of months to see if things would get better, and they didn't, so I went to the ER. I told the doctor about the cardiomyopathy and previous mysterious illnesses, he completed a brief rectal exam, and said it was probably internal hemorrhoids. I asked if a parasitic infection was possible, and he said it was very unlikely because I hadn't been out of the country in several years. So he never tested my stool. Two years have passed, and I have had the same/similar problems since, and have reported this to the doctors over and over. For the past year and a half, I have developed new symptoms. Extreme fatigue, weakness, joint aches, headaches, constipation and diarrhea, greasy, yellowish stools, sweat that smells like ammonia, skin peeling out of my mouth, gas, burping, bad breath, weight loss and loss of appetite. In addition, I have mysterious skin rashes with hives on a daily basis, and started taking pictures of them to document this. In December of 2012, I tested positive for lupus with a positive ANA, and my doctor ordered the test because my eosinophil percentage had consistently been flagged on my blood reports as high. I still was not getting any answers, so I switched all of my doctors and have been going to the city. This is a world renowned hospital. Upon meeting my new doctors, they ordered a repeat of blood tests. This time the lupus was negative. The doctors quickly dismissed the lupus results prior, and said that sometimes people just test false positive, with no further explanation. Back in April of this year, my doctor informed me that my vitamin d level was very low, 12, should be between 30-40 he said, so I have been taking prescription vitamin d. I met with an infectious disease specialist a month ago, and she said she didn't think that I had parasites, but she would test because of my eosinophils. Bingo, I do have them, and now the doctors are trying to say they are parasitic but may not be causing my symptoms. For several months I have noticed that there is strange looking debris after blowing my nose into a tissue. Last night, I am about 99% certain that it was a small worm, certainly looked like one, and I was a teacher, so I am fairly well educated. I saved it in the tissue and put it in a ziplock bag. I don't know whether to call my doctor or not on Monday morning, as I don't trust him, and think he will once again be dismissive. I already went through the HIV phase with him, and told him I didn't have it, as I've only had 4 partners my entire life, have never had unprotected sex, I don't rim, and had an HIV test. I haven't been sexually active in about three years, so I knew I couldn't have it. I retested a couple of months ago to satisfy him, and it was negative once again. I have asked him if any of my past symptoms are connected, and he didn't think so. I disagree. The only diagnosis I have is another one of idiopathic nature, urticaria, (spelling) and says my blood work is fine, which it isn't, because my vitamin d was very low, and my eosinophils are still high. Any advice on what I should do? Prior to all of this stuff over the past 5 years, I was very rarely I'll. now I can no longer do many of the things that I used to, as I don't feel well enough, and I would really like to get some normalcy back in my life. Is there a doctor who can answer this without telling me that I am imagining things? The test results obviously indicate that I am not.
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What happens when the immune system can't take any more drugs,
does it shut down totally, and then what?
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I am actually feeling fine now but they called me in for the results ... I'm just a little confused as from what I've seen on travel health websites is that you can't get tick borne encephalitis in africa! I didn't know this at the time so I didn't say anything to the doctor. You get it in Asia and Europe..I did go to Asia about a year and a half ago but would it be possible for this to still show up in my blood?
I'm just a bit worried as I know this disease can be potentially deadly or cause lasting neurological problems and there's no treatment. I'd feel a bit better knowing I definitely caught it from the earlier trip to Asia as then I know it would have made me much sicker by now if it was going to.
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total thyroidectomy 2 months ago due to Graves disease, 3x since, I have experienced, edema of both eyelids, itching and redness, I am on Synthroid 0.1mg po/daily. The symptoms dissipate after about 2 days.Anyone post Thyroid removal ever have this happen?
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i've recently noticed this few bumps on the shaft of my penis and i became really afraid of what it might be. i'm only sexually active with my girlfriend for the past 1 year and this few bumps has been here since a week ago. there's a little itch but nothing serious overall. no pain or whatsoever.
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I woke up this morning and I took a shower, while I was in the shower I noticed Red bumps on my shaft of my penis but the thing is they don't itch or hurt, The day before they were kind of white but now their red, there's none on my head or around it, But I'm concerned because it happened last month but no burns when peeing or itchiness and nothing hurt.
I honestly haven't had sex in 2/3 months, and before that since last September of 2013. I used a condom. But she gave me oral without a condom....
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I am a 29 year old female. Around 19 years ago, I had slipped capital femoral. Around 6 months ago, the same pain started to occur. I went for a dye injected MRI and the results were inconclusive due to the pins interfering with the magnets. The pain has gone away for the most part with a few outbreaks but about two weeks after the injection, I found a pea-sized hard movable lump in my groin, painless unless manipulated a lot . I spoke to my general practitioner about it going on 6 months ago, and he said keep an eye on it but confirmed it was a swollen lymph node. I am scared to go back but the lump has stayed consistent, possibly enlarged. Should I be worried? I have had insomnia and I have narcolepsy, so it's very rare for me. I am always tired, but again have narcolepsy and hypothyroidism .
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i had unprotected sex on SUNDAY sept 1(pull out), plus oral and protected a week or two before that.
***note: it happened on burning man, with no shower, little water, a lot of sun, and i knew this guy was drinking a lot and taking drugs and not sleeping for a week. it was the end of the day 2 for me and i took a small amount of MDMA that day.]
5-7 days later i was feeling tenderness and a little tingling burning pain, but thought it was my period, which was unusually heavy as i`m on birth control.
MONDAY sept 9 i knew something was wrong. the tingling got worse and i went to some doctor i knew for blood test and he also gave me DOXYCYCLINE (he s not a gynecologist) i also asked for ACYCLOVIR in case have herpes. i started taking them at 4pm
TUESDAY morning i threw up with yellow stuff and had a lot of green/yellow/brown watery then cottage cheese discharge, which became yellow watery and by the end of the day pink. pain got worse
WEDNESDAY morning i went to free clinic, where they told me most likely it CHLAMYDIA or GONORREA, told me to continue doxy and gave me shot for gonorrea
THURSDAY i noticed the discharge got water and thicker, pain was still there. in the afternoon after a long flight and traveling i noticed red single BUMPS on my skin in my bikini area, between ******* and vagina and above the clitoris, some of the hurt, some itch, not considerably. 7 in total, plus one on the labia, just not sure if that`s a bump. the next day 2 of them had water inside. i immediately texted my friend i knew he has herpes and he said it looked like it 99% and we now can be in relationship ha! i wasn't sleeping all night, googling and googling, pain seemed to increase and the bumps itched a little bit.
FRIDAY i went to my gynecologist and he said it`s not herpes(the culture text will be ready in 10 days), not even STD, but YEAST. He said you are not supposed to be treated without knowing the reason and doxycycline is old and not supposed to be taken for a week but for 2 days. also the std test will show only in 2 weeks after the exposure.
stopped taking meds and taking xre of my yeast now, hoping for the best. and i got my lesson!!
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I am male and so likely have had less severe autoimmune manifestations than females since they seem to have stronger immune responses. However, I have had some difficult times with autoimmunity. It started in 1972 with antiphospholipid antibody syndrome which caused deep vein thromboses in both legs. I started taking coumadin at this time but the dosage was not high enough to prevent some further clotting and a number of the clots travelled to my lungs causing pulmonary hypertension. Eventually, in 1994, this became severe enough to cause heart failure and the clots were removed via a pulmonary thrombo-endarterectomy. Subsequent to this, I developed lupus symptoms and lost both my adrenals and thyroid to it. The other lupus manifestation was regular pleurisy attacks. Also by this time, despite the coumadin, I was getting regular small blood clots on the skin on my feet and ankles, many of which subsequently turned into painful ulcers. In 2006, after reading an article on the internet by a doctor in charge of a hospital ward who was giving his patients 5000 units of vitamin D3 to prevent them getting sick, my wife and I started taking 5000 units of D3 ourselves hoping to avoid colds and flus. The vitamin D3 worked in stopping the colds but, in my case, it had another even better effect. The blood clots on my feet stopped and I have had none since.
In addition the pleurisy attacks almost ceased. With some additional experimentation, I found 10000 units of vitamin D daily (in split doses morning and evening, stopped the pleurisy attacks altogether. I remain free of the autoimmune effects since I started on the higher D3 dosage. I discussed the dosage with my hematologist and he felt up to 15000 units a day should present no problems in causing calcium over-retention (stones). I would recommend to anyone with auto-immune problems to try at least 5000 units a day of vitamin D3 to see if it reduces autoimmune problems. If you are concerned, you can discuss it with a doctor first but I have been taking 10000 units a day for several years now with no ill effects.
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I am a 29 year old female and I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis at the start of the year. I have been having problems with my right eyelid in that over the course of the day it progressively becomes droopy and the only thing that relieves it is when I close it. When it becomes droopy it makes my eye feel like there's something in it and I end up rubbing it. It's only when I look in the mirror that it's droopy.
In January my endocrinologist ran an autoimmune profile (but not for every single antibody) and rheumatoid factor and these are the results of it:
Rheumatoid Factor - 9IU/mL (<20 negative)
HEP2 - Positive
Type - Speckled
Anti-DSDNA - 7IU/mL (<30 negative)
(Positive antinuclear antibodies but no significant disease association found)
ENA screen - Negative
Autoimmune profile
Antinuclear Abs - Positive
Anti-Smooth muscle Abs - Negative
Anti-Parietal Abs - Negative
Anti-Mitochondrial Abs - Negative
Anti-LKM Abs - Negative
Anti-Thyroid Peroxidase Abs (Anti-TPO) - 141 kIU/L (<34 negative)
I am posting here because I have a suspicion that I have Myasthenia Gravis. Not only have I got the problem with my eyelid but I tried to follow some physical tests for muscle weakness such as holding my arms out straight in front of me and deep knee bends.The results of these home tests I did:
Holding out arms stretched in front for 60 seconds - pain in both arms when it came up to the 60 seconds and left arm dropped slightly
10 deep knee bends - did all 10 knee bends but the last 3 made my legs feel weak and shaky
5 sit-ups (sitting from lying down) - could only manage 4 sit-ups
I have an appointment with my GP on Friday and since this has now appeared I'd like to mention my concerns to them.
My main concerns are :
Wouldn't my endocrinologist have tested me for Myasthenia Gravis if it's an autoimmune condition? If so what antibodies would she have tested and would any of the ones I had tested have shown I have Myasthenia Gravis?
Who do I need to request to see to get a confirmed diagnosis?
If it is indeed Myasthenia Gravis would it be because my current autoimmune condition made it worse? I have read that this is possible and I became very hypothyroid yesterday as I had very bad Reynaud's flares when out and about.
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So now I feel like a complete hypochondriac. Ladybud (who is fabulous, btw) has helped me tremendously. I am wondering if any of you have had your ANA patterns change. I am having muscle aches, dx with small fiber neuropathy and Raynaud’s, my RBCs and C-reactive protein have been low throughout the last 3 years. I now have been dx with a reactivation of the Epstein Barr virus and alopecia due to “granulomatous Dermatitis” (getting 2nd opinion later this month).
These are my titers and patterns over the years:
10/2011 ANA Titer: 1:320 Pattern: Homogeneous
11/2011 ANA Titer: 1:320 Pattern: Homogeneous
10/2013 ANA Titer: 1:320 Pattern: Homogeneous
5/2014 ANA Titer: 1:160 Pattern: Homogeneous
AND NOW:
6/2014 (AVISE SLE 2.0 TESTING (1st time with this test) ANA Titer: 1:80 Pattern: Diffuse fine speckled
Negative on all markers. I am HLA-B27 Positive, but negative for ankylosing spondylitis (AS).
Now my rheumatologist stated all my blood work appears to be normal and I have ZERO autoimmune positivity.
Huh? I feel like such a hypochondriac.
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Has anyone looked into treating the autoimmune part of sarcoidosis, if so, what was the outcome?
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Does that mean that we women are more susceptible to viruses, respiratory infections, etc.? Do most follow a certain diet ?
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Has anyone read or been told by their doc they should "not" take probiotics if they have Hashimoto's or other autoimmune illness?
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