Parasites (not a metaphor)

Are parasites so low-status that doctors do not want (even in their own minds) to offend the patients?

BTW, why didn't the worms show up on the camera? Were they flushed out by the medically-induced diarrhea (but presumably some survived in some other part of the body and then returned back)?

I'm glad your symptoms went away! Sudden onset seizures sound terrifying. 

What made you think in the first place that the problem might be worms? Do you have any risk / exposure factors like the paper mentions?

Also note that at least 5 million people in the US (ie 1.5%) have parasites

Why wouldn’t doctors just tell everyone to take antiparasitic drugs every five years, if those are net-positive given a 1.5% chance of having a parasite?

This is why I love LessWrong.

Thanks, I'm saving this if I ever get any symptoms, and I'm also considering taking some mebendazole as a purely preventative measure (I don't remember that I've ever taken it, and I've been exposed to dirty work for years and years now).

My whole family takes a round of ivermectin every year or so for the same reason. Anti parasitics don’t really have bad side effects (often have good side effects such as -inflammation) so it’s just positives all around.

Interesting point about the medical assessment aspect. Where are you located by the way?

I did some quick searching just to find out a bit about combantrin. This and this have some good information about just what you would be taking. (Side note, I'm in the US and both these are US based sources but my initial search got hits primarily from Australia so might be other people would be more comfortable with or even that provide additional aspects for consideration.)

While might go without saying here, I'll say it anyhow, there are some indicated risks but that is all probably very conditional on the person so I would not just go out and give this a try. The other thing that I notices was that combantrin/pyrantel seems primarily to target pinworms but the information mentions it might be used to treat other types of worms. I didn't dig deeper on that to see if perhaps other anthelmintics might be more effective for other worms.

The way it works was also a bit interesting. The drug paralyzes the worms which are then expelled duing a bowel movement. I'm not sure if that leaves open the possibility that any worm not expelled could recover and you're still dealing with a problem. If so then perhaps a laxative after taking the pyrahtel would be a good idea. Or perhaps follow the pre colonoscopy proceedures.

For some that might not matter as one of the listed side effects of the drug is diarrhea. 

Huh, did you experience any side effects?

I tried this a week ago and I am constipated for what I think might be the first time in years but am not sure. I also think I might have less unpleasant stomach sensation overall.

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