Tapeworm & other food poisoning.

[MaximilianKohler]

So I've been on raw paleo for over 3 years and maybe 1-2 years I was on raw ketosis. I never really had any problems and was doing good and gaining weight (from 175 to 195) until sometime last year I started losing weight and getting diarrhea from lots of different stuff, including wild caught bass, organic free range chicken, organic pastured lamb fat, clam that had an off smell & a dead crustacean in it, wild caught alaskan salmon, some beef heart mixed with coconut oil that I left in the oven(off) overnight with the oven pilot lights on(so fairly warm), and a couple days ago I got it from grass-fed beef tongue.

At the end of January I passed 1 flat white worm 1 to 2 inches long and less than 2mm thick and less than 1/2inch wide that was alive and moving, then the next day I passed a much larger white worm that was at least 24 inches long and I'm not sure if it was alive or not. I tried to look for pictures and videos of worms, especially tapeworms, but I couldn't find that much on google & youtube. But my guess is tapeworm since the massive length of the 2nd worm only fits the description of a tapeworm from what I know.

I have been taking Diatomaceous Earth on and off for a year or two and I think I started taking it again shortly before I passed the worms. So this may have been what caused the worms to exit. However, I have continued to lose weight. I'm currently down to 165lbs from 195. I have taken 3 different stool tests and they all came back negative for any parasites (they test for eggs only), and apparently this is the only test available to check for worms/parasites in the intestines.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about this subject? I'm currently frying my meat on low heat in deep coconut oil to try to avoid as much of the negative effects of cooking as I can.

I looked it up on google and the only suggestion of something other than prescription medication was ground pumpkin seeds. So I tried that and they made me feel really sick and nauseous and I was repulsed to eating more of it but I forced it down for a few days but nothing really happened. I even took them with some castor oil as was suggested. It gave me diarrhea but no visible worms were passed.

[ys]

I freeze all my meat and in 5 years had not had any evidence of parasite infection.
Instead of frying I recommend freezing.

I also avoid all fresh water fish.

[cherimoya_kid]

Did anything change in your diet or your routine around the time that you started losing weight?  Have you been eating less food? Working out more?

[MaximilianKohler]

Nothing changed except I started getting diarrhea from foods that were never causing me trouble in previous years. I'd been buying the same brand of chicken from the same store, and the same beef from the same butcher.

My appetite has been fluctuating a bit(sometimes I'm not hungry for hours in the morning, but other times I'm eating more than I was when I was at my max weight) and I've been feeling strange contractions/spasms in my intestines.

[Inger]

try wormwood tea. Avocado peel, and papaya seeds helps kill parasites too. Fresh ginger. Iodine drops (Lugol's) kills parasites too.

Avoid EMF's. they make your gut suffer. A healthy gut I think gets not so easy infected with parasites, at least that is my own N=1. I have had live worms in my fish not only once.. I recognised it too late... and I really have been taking some risks with food choices  just to see what happends..  but I never had any issues...

[Inger]

I was thinking if weak stomach acid also makes a issue when it comes to worms.. that normally it should kill them before they enter the intestines?
I always had a strong digestion.. I wonder if that is what have saved me too... because I sure know I have ingested live worms.

[cherimoya_kid]

Nothing changed except I started getting diarrhea from foods that were never causing me trouble in previous years. I'd been buying the same brand of chicken from the same store, and the same beef from the same butcher.

My appetite has been fluctuating a bit(sometimes I'm not hungry for hours in the morning, but other times I'm eating more than I was when I was at my max weight) and I've been feeling strange contractions/spasms in my intestines.

Have you tried wild-caught fish or shellfish, to see if they cause the same problems?

[LePatron7]

I'd been buying the same brand of chicken from the same store, and the same beef from the same butcher.

I would cut out the chicken first.

[MaximilianKohler]

I would cut out the chicken first.

That's what I did, and then even the beef gave me diarrhea.

Have you tried wild-caught fish or shellfish, to see if they cause the same problems?

Yes, I was only buying wild-caught fish. I never bought farmed fish.

[LePatron7]

That's peculiar. Well the next thing I'd look into is the sources of the animal foods. How they're handled, etc. If it's stored in a vacuum sealed plastic for a lengthy period of time, it could be that the bacteria are bad. If it's parasites, you could try freezing the food to kill parasites.

http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceRegulation/UCM252393.pdf

If your beef isn't grass fed that might be the problem.

Honestly I don't know though. Could you go in detail on how you eat, what foods you eat, the amounts of the foods you eat, what the animals were eating, etc. Just all the details you can come up with for how your diet is.

[MaximilianKohler]

I buy grass-fed, pastured beef from a local butcher. They butcher it and vacuum pack it and I pick it up the next day usually. Sometimes I take it out and put it on plates in the fridge and other times I leave it in the sealed bag. On the plates the outside dries and prevents bacteria from thriving, but does it really matter if they're kept in the vacuum packed bags?

I was buying wild-caught cod and salmon on occasion but I haven't in a while.

And nothing changed about the chicken. It was the same brand from the same store and I'd been eating it without problems for 2+ years.

I usually eat around 1lb of meat in a meal, 1-2 times a day. I have two meals of fruit, and 1 meal of vegetables, usually leafy greens. Most of the time I eat some suet or lamb fat with my fruit. All my fat is previously frozen.

[LePatron7]

I buy grass-fed, pastured beef from a local butcher. They butcher it and vacuum pack it and I pick it up the next day usually. Sometimes I take it out and put it on plates in the fridge and other times I leave it in the sealed bag. On the plates the outside dries and prevents bacteria from thriving, but does it really matter if they're kept in the vacuum packed bags?

I'd say it does make a difference. Try only leaving it out on a plate. The second you get it take it out of the plastic. It makes a big difference for me at least. When I let it defrost in the plastic, the fat will turn brown, so will certain parts of the meat, it'll smell.

I thought you might find this interesting.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/iodine/message/5207

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/iodine/message/2935

They describe iodine killing parasites. Lugols is inexpensive, and I've read good things about iodine killing parasites.

[cherimoya_kid]

I never eat vacuum-packed meat/fish, if I can avoid it.  I'd advise taking it out of the plastic as soon as you are able to.

I would cut down on the beef and try eating some NON-vacuum-packed fish for a few days.