This is the account of a happily self-inflicted hookworm inoculation in the hopes of relief from allergies, sinusitis, and a misfiring immune function.
Ask me anythingSubmit
I was approved for a new type of immunotherapy called “rapid” or “rush immunotherapy.” They essentially build you up to a maintenance dose of the shots over one day, instead of over 12 months. Also, this regular 12-month period took me over two years to complete last time around because of the reactions, and backtracking they had to do on the dosage.
This new doctor expected me to get through 4 of the 8 shots before having a systemic reaction, in which case they have to stop. I’m proud to say I made it through all 8!
Also unlike most folks, I have to do this twice because of the number of things I’m allergic to. Once I make it to maintenance dose on this bottle, I do the one-day rapid therapy again for the other half of the allergens. This will probably be sometime in February.
My allergies have been pretty calm. I also have not been sick (with fever) in, I think, three months and then some. This is absolutely the longest period I have been illness and fever free! I am so excited at the prospect of having normal people allergies and illnesses, even if they don’t go away completely.
I have no scientific observations, but I think the hookworms, in tandem with the rush immunotherapy, are the reason for this.
I have much less anxiety about getting sick, and much more energy than before.
I got a cold or sinus infection this week, but never any fever and it was gone in a day or two. Also a record. No work missed, no other symptoms, just a plain old cold.
My partner brought a cat home last week. Obviously, this is contributing to the allergies and possibly the sinus/cold. The cat is a temporary resident here, and a good test of the actual results of all of these therapies. It’s clear that I’m certainly not cured… achoo!
Overall, I’m happy to say that things are looking up after years and years of constant infection, sickness, and allergies. It’s not much more than a gut feeling (get it!), but I am thanking the hookworms and my new doctors, and very hopeful for continued progress.
I hope all you other wormy and worm-curious folks are in good health and getting ready for happy holidays!
It’s interesting to read my accounts of the worm world from just a few months ago. By now, I almost forget about it all together. The stomach pains faded and completely went away in a few weeks from my last post. I got off the prednisone, and my allergies came back full swing, as expected.
I found a great immunologist and have been seeing her regularly. She specializing in primary immune disorders, and also, of course, allergies. They really put me through the wringer with testing, and I was honest about the hookworms. My first doctor wouldn’t touch me with a ten-foot pole after I disclosed even just my interest in hookworms, but he actually recommended my current doctor by essentially calling her “weird and out there.” Lucky for me, she is many other things that he was not, and all positive, academic, helpful and interesting.
Because of the frequency and severity of infections and illness, they hypothesized that I had an underlying immune dysfunction (other than allergies). However, the only thing that came up from testing is Eosinophilia. Now, this can be caused by parasitic infection, so I made sure to be clear about the hookworms. They compared my blood tests from before the hookworms and it was similar, just not as drastic as the post-hookworm count (eosin level). There was a lot of (confusing) talk about what this may or may not mean, and what may or may not cause this. They put me on a course of prednisone to see if this would “fix” it, and it did. The Dr. implied that if the eosin count went down from prednisone then it wasn’t hookworm related, because if it were just the hookworms causing the high eosin levels, the prednisone wouldn’t affect it. They later said other things that contradicted this, so I’m not sure if it is valid, or relevant.
I’m currently prescribed:
Rhinocort @ max dosage (2x each side, morning and night) - this is more than any other doctor has prescribed and seemingly works WONDERS.
Claritin - morning
Zyrtec - night
Singular - night
Inhaler - as needed (very rare)
My allergies seem to be slightly better than a few months ago. I think in large part this is due to the max dose steroidal nasal spray, and residual effect of multiple courses of steroids. However, I also think the worm friends might be affecting this, as well. The reason for this is my overall tolerance seems to be higher for all allergens. Whereas the nasal spray only affects inhaled allergens.
I have had very few “allergy attacks”. The sort that totally incapacitate me, anyway. I also haven’t been sick in about a month.
Unfortunately, after my last blog post I got sick with a cold or sinus infection or something. I can’t recall. I stayed sick for months with one thing after another, weeks of different fevers, and symptoms. It was rough. Since then, I’ve been in the clear for a record amount of time (a month or two).
Unfortunately, I don’t have much time for blogging, so I will have to continue this later.
Week One: Other than slight itching at the site of inoculation, the first week was symptom free. I was getting over an illness, so there was much deliberation about whether my coughs were from the little crawlers making their way to my gut from my lungs, or if they were just residual chest cold maladies. I’ll never know. I had a few nights with nausea and vomiting, but there is no way to make a direct connection between this and the worms. It could have been my regular ailments, or anxiety, or anything, really.
Week Two: Week two went by with mostly no fuss. I started having an upset stomach on Sunday (end of week two), and decided to start a low dose of prednisone. It is not recommended that anyone take prednisone for the sole purpose of preventing side effects from hookworms. However, I was due to be on a course of prednisone anyway from my perpetual infections and illnesses, and also was starting a new job on Monday and couldn’t afford any sick days. Not yet, at least.
Week Three: Prednisone seems to get rid of the stomach bug! Week three was filled with extreme fatigue, and slight nausea, however. Managing my energy has been extremely difficult, and caffeine is not my friend. I survived, but I slept 9 to 12 hours each night and woke up still feeling exhausted. I really struggled with energy levels throughout the day, and pretty much crashed as soon as the opportunity presented itself each evening.
Week Four: Mostly the same as week three, and then a major downturn… By the end of the fourth week the fatigue was at its worst and the stomach issues returned. Each day has gotten a little worse. It began as pain in the evening, and started occurring earlier and earlier each day until it was pretty much constant and consistent throughout each day. I have been entertaining the household with incredible belching to try to relieve the pressure that builds up. I’ve tried to ascertain whether certain foods make it worse or better but as far as I can tell, regardless of what I eat my stomach will be in knots for hours. It has kept me up at night at the worst of it, and been a nagging pain for the easiest parts. There were a few days that I started to think something was wrong, but I’ve started taking some super-probiotics, and fiber. I’ve seen mild relief, but am certainly not through with this phase yet.
Week Five: This week has been much of the same, but I’m glad to report that my energy levels have leveled out. I am no longer exeriencing the intense fatigue of weeks three and four. I began tapering the prednisone, and expect to be off of it completely in a couple of weeks. Hopefully the wormy stomach symptoms won’t return. I haven’t been able to determine whether my stomach problems have been due to the hookworms, or perhaps at least partially due to the prednisone itself. The prednisone seemed to relieve the initial symptoms, but I think have caused separate stomach symptoms of their own. There really is no way to tell, though. I decided to stay the course with prednisone instead of risking tapering too quickly and affecting my natural adrenaline production, and/or experiencing unpleasant side effects from the hookworms that the prednisone has been masking.
I am hoping that this week will start to level out these stomach pains. I’ve been learning to manage it, but every day since the stomach pains began has been a battle and I’m beginning to feel pretty defeated.
ALLERGIES: I have experienced almost no allergic symptoms in weeks. However, this is more likely to do with the prednisone than the hookworms. I have high hopes, however.
IMMUNITY: I have not gotten sick with fever at any point during the five previous weeks. This, in itself, is astounding, but there’s no way to say what the cause is. I would say that my general lack of allergy and inflammation has allowed my regular immune response to work as its supposed to. Whether this is the prednisone or hookworms… we’ll see!
I intended to document this process much more frequently and in depth, but it happens that I partlicularly dislike writing about myself. Who knew?
If anyone has questions, I’ll be glad to post them with responses.
The package arrived! I called my favorite friend, who also happens to be a nurse, to assist with the inoculation. It turned out to be an extremely simple process, but it was nice to have an extra pair of hands.
AIT e-mailed a pdf of instructions, which we followed diligently. Basically, you draw the liquid into a dropper and place it very carefully on a bandage. In the end we realized there was one drop left in the vial that we missed and just to be safe, got a second bandage and put it (with the drop on it) below the original bandage. Apparently, there was at least one larvae in that tiny drop, because there was one of the characteristic little red dots under the second bandage.
The stinging/itching began after about 5 minutes or so. At first it was a light scratch, and then became a more apparent stinging in small spurts over a short period. After the initial half hour the itching and stinging mostly subsided. Every 30 minutes or so throughout the night it would all start itching again and then let up pretty quickly.
I took the bandages off after about 8 hours. The instructions recommended 4 - 12 hours, but I was having trouble sleeping and hadn’t felt any further itching/stinging/activity for a few hours.
Today is the third day since inoculation, and the site on my arm has a small rash with all the little red dots that are beginning to join together. It itches like a mosquito bite on occasion, but usually doesn’t feel like anything at all.
I haven’t noticed any change in my allergies or asthma, as some have reported in the first few days of therapy. If anything, my allergies have been pretty bad. I’ve had allergy attacks that seem to come out of nowhere and I can’t pinpoint the trigger, so maybe these are a reaction to the worm invaders, but it could be anything, really. I’ve had to take benadryl twice a day for the past two days since inoculation. Again, there’s not evidence that this is related, however.
Feel free to ask any questions, or unload your concerns!
