Apuman wrote:Considering that hookworms are migrating through tissue immediately and evidently using methods to avoid your immune system from the git-go, maybe 2 or 3 weeks before expecting to see some kind of noticeable effects?
That is a very unusual response time, more typical is six to nine months to respond. As you point out given the relapsing remitting nature of the disease it can be hard to be sure you are responding at all. But I also know many with RR MS have it seasonally, see this example who was in our first cohort in September, 2007:
http://autoimmunetherapies.com/candidat ... erapy.html
Quoting:
"Ric's" Account of treating relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis using helminthic therapy
At age 35 years I was in perfect health, at the top of my career and leading a very active lifestyle.
Early February 2003 I had a sudden MS attack and was given a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, completely paralysed from the neck down.
I consider myself lucky to some degree, my type of MS is Relapsing Remitting which means the body repairs itself but is susceptible to further attacks.
So far and with time I've recovered nearly completely after each attack, just experiencing residual damage.
I have experienced an attack every year around April-May like clock work since my first attack, until this year.
Here's a brief history of my MS attacks which required hospitalisation, of which I also have records and MRI scans.
First attack 2003 complete paralysis neck down.
Second attack 2004 limited use upper arms
Third attack 2005 vision loss
Fourth attack 2006 unable to lift left leg
Fifth attack 2007 unable to regulate body temperature
Attack Free 2008 (
note, he has emailed me updates but too busy to update site, he continues attack free as of late 2010)
Since the beginning of my MS I have always eaten a very healthy Low fat diet, exercised daily, and taken nutritional supplements - fish oil, evening primrose oil and a good multivitamin. MS Therapies tried thus far: Betaferon (Beta Interferon), Copaxone, Minocycline and Low Dose Naltrexone. Although these therapies work well for some, and more than likely helps slow the progression, I continued to have my annual attacks and my MRI scans showed activity.
After watching a BBC documentary showing low incidents of autoimmune conditions in Africa amongst those infected with helminths (parasitic worms), headed up by Dr. Weinstock and his experiments with TSO (Trichuris Suis Ova), I dug deeper and came across Autoimmune Therapies headed up by Jasper Lawrence.
I was part of the first group to receive helminthic therapy in the form of hookworms From Autoimmune Therapie's on September 25, 2007, Since my first inoculation I've been inoculated with a total of 100 hookworms.
Although this appears to have stopped my multiple sclerosis from getting any worse, as Jasper predicted it has not repaired the damage done up to this point. During the time of my annual MS attack I still experienced very light exacerbations of old MS symptoms which is a reminder that my MS is still present however under control. My hope is that over the next twelve months I will be free of the exacerbations as well. But, my MS is not getting any worse, and this year for the first time I had no terrible experience with paralysis or vision loss. Fantastic.
Also I would like to point out my hay fever and allergies are 100 percent gone!
So far so good!
Ric
End Quote
Others who have gone on helminthic therapy, for MS as well as other disorders, have reported major improvements even within the first week, but it's easy to see how the placebo effect may influence that. They usually tell people that they'll need to wait 8 weeks before starting to see benefit from hookworms. I'm certainly hoping for the quickest reaction, but I won't be surprised if I don't see one right away. There are antigens and misdirected T-cells circulating around in my blood that may take time to come into balance.
Another explanation for why people see a response so fast, apart from placebo, is that the infection and immune response distracts the immune system, which is a system of limited resources. I myself while in a bad asthma attack contracted a bad case of poison oak, and as long as I had a rash my asthma stayed gone. There is also an account online of a father of a profoundly autistic child, who got "hundreds" of chigger bites on his legs while camping with his dad. His dad remarked that his autism almost completely disappeared, and set out to find some benign infectious organism to distract his son's immune system. He is now a very active advocate for TSO for autism:
http://autismtso.com/about/the_story/
And then the question begs: If this relapse starts diminishing sooner than expected, can that be attributed to the hookworms, or is it like any neuro would say, just the natural course of the disease? I'll definetly be using my past relapses as a basis, (and I really hate to use two MS cliches in one paragraph) but there's very little about MS that can be said to be "typical"
Get a pre and post MRI, one of our clients did, his neurologist was not informed of his use of hookworm. The results were so good that the neurologist recommended halving his medication, ascribing the results to a strong response to Copaxone. This subject is going to be presented by us as a Case Study at this year's Autoimmunity Conference in Granada, if anyone wants to attend.
By the way, do you know of the MS/whipworm study that's underway at the University of Wisconson? I'm very interested in it, but it seems that it's constantly being postponed.
