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^me during my first parasite cleanse
In my schooling & education as a nutritional therapy practitioner, we discussed all of the mechanisms of dysfunction in the body. Meaning: I had a REALLY good understanding of what might be going on (at a body systems or biochemical level) that is contributing to the symptoms or body language someone might be receiving.
But understanding what is going on and WHY it’s going on are two different things.
When I was in school, a fellow student (and dear friend) was expressing frustration. She had narrowed down her body’s priorities & concerns… but it didn’t make sense. Okay, I need bile support by WHY is she having trouble producing bile? I need adrenal support, but WHY are hormones & adrenals struggling? My enzyme or stomach acid production isn’t up to par…WHY?
If the body is needing support outside of itself to perform its normal function, it’s because there is something it is being consistently exposed to (externally or internally) that needs to be addressed.
If you remain curious & always ask WHY, in my experience, the right guidance will arrive. In this case, my deep dive into more root cause & foundational health concepts began to take root. When I first scoured every bit of education & material I trusted to get my hands on, it felt like beginning my health & nutrition education all over again. I felt the passion & anger - “HOW COULD THIS INFORMATION BE AVAILABLE, but not ACCESSIBLE?! Why isn’t this part of our mainstream health education?!” Who the heck is really in charge of that, anyway?!
Oof. Apparently, that is still a tender spot. Anyway.
My nosedive into one of my investigator-rabbit holes (as I lovingly call them) unveiled all kinds of variables & factors that can be acting as irritants, stealthy and opportunistic. Physical irritants like Mold, Parasites, retroviruses (lyme & co-infections, EBV & others) Heavy Metals, Environmental Toxins, and more steal resources from the body, add toxic burden to the body, and create stress/steal our precious energy when they aren’t kept in check. Any ONE of these could be a variable in our quest to understanding WHY something is dysfunctional in the body.
I write this to you as a thirty something woman, fully informed & educated, and very sure of herself. I learned all about parasites from others at first: colleagues, leaders in the health field I trusted, mentors, etc. I learned about their stories & process.
I would soak up the information for fun, but I truly didn’t think it applied to me. It wasn’t until I discovered a mold issue in our home imparting my health that I decided to address parasites, for good measure. My understanding is that, because parasites were mostly water (like humans) they can hold 6x their body weight in toxins. Because I have a known allergy to mold (anti-penicillin club woo woo!) I thought it would be a good measure to eliminate the possibility of a parasite in my gut, acting like a sponge & soaking up something my immune system HATES or might be reacting to.
So, as a primary measure of addressing mold in my body, I put myself on a parasite cleanse for the first time. Armed with absolutely anything I could have needed & thoroughly informed, I was ready to see WORMS (lol).
But, I wasn’t ready.
I really couldn’t ever have been ready for the waves of experiences that occurred over the next two months that I was actively “hitting” parasites.
Like the first time I saw a parasite in the toilet after it came out of my body. There is no preparing you for the feeling of disgust. Betrayal. Anger. Disbelief. Rinse, repeat. THAT? From me? No. No way. My body was was literally vibrating as I turned to look after I eliminated because I just knew. Sure enough, it was only ONE large worm in the water. (**In my case, this happened on the last day of my intro phase, just before I took any anti-parasitics! Just supporting my body’s natural “drainage funnel” was enough to start the process. The body is SO COOL!)
Or the rise & fall of feeling BETTER. So much more energy, clarity, it feels like you have full access & connection to your SELF, your mind, your body. Then, all of a sudden, you need to lay flat for 20 minutes & do some breathing exercises because your brain and body feel a little funny.
What I think isn’t talked about enough is the energetic & emotional release that comes with parasites cleansing. We are talking about a living thing, with a lengthy lifecycle, that has been in your body LIVING with your DNA, communicating with your cells, taking on or holding charged emotion (water holds energy & emotion, they are mostly water!). I would experience a tremendous emotional release or uplevel, and within minutes to hours my body would expel more parasites than I could keep up with counting.
Post-parasite cleanse, I had the most energy & felt the healthiest of my life. It literally felt that I was shedding old parts of myself that were no longer coming to the next stage. Old patterns or wounds that I was having trouble resolving or stepping out of were no longer a part of me. It was like I said sayonara to little energetic leeches that were wanting me to hold onto an old version of myself that I no longer wanted to be.
My experience & study tells me that every person is so unique. Parasites might not be the highest priority in someone’s inner health bucket. In my case, addressing parasites & keeping them in better balance helped me to:
Address long-standing drainage dysfunction (recurring skin rashes/Gut-skin problems)
Greatly reduce/Eliminate neuro-inflammatory symptoms - I could finally step out of survival mode. My brain health & bandwidth expanded.
Better balance histamine & immune function (reduced seasonal allergy & food sensitivities )
Improved digestion overall
See where I can make more informed choices to maintain my innate barriers & boundaries (in my gut AND my energy!
The whole parasite conversation is something easy to shy away from; it’s a BIG topic & a scary one. But it doesn’t have to be. It can simply be something that you take in & observe; decide if it’s something worth pursuing when the season is right.
In case it inspires, I’ll end with a list of things I wish I/everyone knew about parasites from a health perspective:
We all have them, AND it’s okay.
There are SO many ways to contract them & the most common ones are microscopic!
Parasites can live in synergy with our body. However, they take up resources (including our immune system), energy, and can be a drain over time.
There are specific symptoms related to a certain immune function/factor that can point you to know if parasites are a problem. If you have unexplained immune challenges, parasites should be on your radar!
A byproduct of parasites is ammonia & other endotoxins that communicate with our body chemistry (gut, immune, brain). All of it in an effort to create a more hospitable environment.
Worms will always come out dead. Always. Never fear.
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