How to get Rid of Parasites
Article by Stefan Burns - Updated June 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!
From disturbing television shows like Monsters Inside Me to parasite warnings given to those traveling out of country, the threat of parasites looms in the public conscious, but is rarely given real serious thought. Most often, parasites are only believed to affect those living in third world countries, or our beloved cat and dog companions…the truth unfortunately is much more disturbing.
Talking about parasites that possibly live in the digestive system (or worse) isn’t a feel good topic, but it’s important because unless you know you’re free of parasites, it’s a possible pathogenic attack vector that can influence your behavior and damager your health. At the end of this article you’ll be armed with tasty foods you can add to your diet which will deter parasites and a more complex anti-parasite action plan. For anyone interested in gut health this is a topic that requires familiarization.
Unidentified hookworm on the left, and a Strongyloides sp. filariform staged larvae on the right
How Many People have Parasites?
At minimum 14% of the U.S. population has been exposed to Toxocara, and more than 60 million people in the United States are chronically infected with Toxoplasma gondii, the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis (an unfun situation). Another very common parasite affecting 3+ million people in the United States is Trichomonas, and another 300,000 people are infected with the parasite that causes Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi. These numbers totaled form a significant portion of the U.S. population, a country with “low parasite prevalence”. As most parasite infections go undiagnosed and scientific studies carried aren’t comprehensive in scope, the actual percentage of the population infected with parasites is likely much higher.
From the CDC:
A parasite is an organism that lives on or in a host and gets its food from or at the expense of its host. Parasites can cause disease in humans. Some parasitic diseases are easily treated and some are not.
Are you Ready to Heal your Gut and Microbiome?
This article on parasite removal is packed full of useful and actionable information, and I highly encourage you to read it, but if you’re tired of reading and piecing information together from various articles to find the gut health answers you seek, then the Holistic Gut Health Guide is for you. I wrote the Holistic Gut Health Guide to best help you heal any gut and microbiome dysbiosis problems you may have by providing you the best scientific and holistic information available on the topic and then educating you on the most effective natural methods I personally used to heal the severe gut health problems I had for many years. No gut health problems are unsolvable, and I’m here to help you solve yours.
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Information:
88 Pages, 12 Chapters
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Together the digestive system and microbiome are the foundation of health from which everything else is dependent on. Gut health problems range from inconvenient to debilitating and are never fun to experience, and luckily healing the gut and shifting the microbiome towards greater symbiosis can be done safely and effectively using natural methods like dietary and lifestyle changes, fasting, herbalism, certain exercises, and more. The Holistic Gut Health Guide provides the information and framework you need to finally heal your gut and begin enjoying the best health of your life.
In this eBook I share what I’ve learned works for me and others I’ve helped as well as the best available science on gut health. Not everything I discuss is backed by rigorous science. Some of the information in the Holistic Gut Health Guide isn’t common knowledge yet, but considering its effectiveness I believe it will be with greater public awareness and time. Give yourself every possible advantage along your gut health journey by reading an implementing the advice shared in the Holistic Gut Health Guide.
Helminthic Therapy
Parasites, since they feed from their host either directly or indirectly, rob the host of energy and cause fatigue, lethargy, and anemia. In most situations, having a parasite infection is a serious health concern (1). Since parasites are able to interact with their hosts in very complicated ways, in rare circumstances having a parasitic infection will alleviate the symptoms of larger health concerns.
For example a tapeworm can mitigate the effects of gross calorie overconsumption by feeding on those nutrients itself, or a parasite can feed off elevated blood sugar levels, helping to lower blood glucose to more normal parameters. Parasites have also been shown to have interesting effects for those with autoimmune issues (mostly digestive based), as the parasite unwillingly will redirect the immune response away from the body onto itself. Helminthic therapy as it’s known is being researched for therapeutic uses, but in almost all health situations being completely free of parasites is best.
Parasites can Alter Behavior
If you suspect you have a parasite infection or think you felt them moving, the feeling can be sickening. Coming to the realization that parasites live inside you will create a strong visceral reaction of wanting them out of your body. And there is good reason for this visceral reaction because parasites can kill. Parasites can also influence human behavior (2, 3), making you do things that perhaps you might not have otherwise. Parasite driven behaviors can manifest as unhinged outburst, anger, a craving for sugary foods, and other self-destructive behaviors.
What can develop is a “parasite brain”. Just like how a pathogenic microbiome releases strong neurotransmitters that cause food cravings, a desire for junk food, and fatigue, parasites can exhibit similar effects on the body and mind. Unless you have strong conscious awareness of every action you take and how you feel, parasites and the microbiome can sometimes highjack behavior as described, influencing your actions in a way that best suits their survival instead of yours.
How Parasite Infection Occurs
Drinking contaminated water
Eating uncooked or undercooked meat
Exposure to feces
Typically, the parasite enters the body through the digestive system, and some parasites live permanently in the digestive system. Worms are the most common digestive parasite, and these can be roundworms, tapeworms, threadworms, hookworms, and more. Amoebae and other microorganisms are also common. Tapeworms as long as 30 ft and greater have been extracted from unfortunate folks around the world, and tapeworms can live for up to 30 years, causing long-term serious health issues which are difficult to diagnose.
Parasites found in bad water include guinea worm, schistosomiasis, amebiasis, cryptosporidiosis (Crypto), and giardiasis. To avoid catching parasites from contaminated water, boil the water for 10-15 minutes or use a backpacking water filter.
Parasites from sushi are dramatically on the rise, having increased 283‐fold for Anisakis spp. from 1978 to 2015 (4). Fish farming is to blame, with heavily polluted unnatural conditions existing in most farmed fish operations worldwide. To reduce your risk of parasites from raw fish, always consume sushi, nigiri, and/or sashimi with a lot of raw ginger, and buy only wild caught or New Zealand sustainably farmed fish.
The most common parasite from pork is Taenia solium, otherwise known as the pork tapeworm, which can infect the digestive system, muscles, and brain of its host. The pork tapeworm can be contracted when eating uncooked meat, and has been fatal in thousands of cases, with victims having had their brains and muscles eaten out by the larvae. With the modern livestock industry raising pigs in deplorable conditions, it is best to avoid all pork, both for your health, and also to reduce your risk of contracting Taenia solium.
The most common parasite contracted by humans from feces is Toxoplasma gondii, which causes toxoplasmosis. Mice infected with toxoplasmosis exhibit changed behavior, actively seeking out areas smelling of cat urine (whereas normal mice avoid these areas). The full effects of Toxoplasma gondii on humans is not known, but headache, poor coordination, confusion, and seizures can occur. Most infections are asymptomatic, but if the infection becomes latent, then tissue cysts can form and persist for the lifetime of the host. These cysts and the latent infection is associated with numerous disease burdens and neural alterations.
This is not an exhaustive list of what parasites humans can get, merely a glimpse.
Where Parasites Live in the Human Body
As discussed, parasites can infect both the digestive system, which is still “outside” the tissues of the body, and also human body tissues such as muscle and brain tissue. Most commonly, parasites live in the digestive system, and are members of the microbiome. From mouth to anus, the digestive system is the path food and water travels through the body so nutrients can be absorbed for metabolism and growth. Until nutrients both from broken down food and metabolites produced by the microbiome (such as short-chain fatty acids) pass through the gut-blood barrier and into the blood stream they still exist outside the body. Weak tight junctions of the gut make it easy for microbes and parasites to slip into the nutrient-rich blood stream, causing a chronic immune response and systemic inflammation, which if left unaddressed will lead to autoimmune issues, food intolerances/allergies, and potentially life threatening diseases like IBD, Crohn’s, and Celiac disease.
If you’re wondering how to get rid of parasites in humans, the digestive system is the best place to start. There exist herbal supplements that contain herbs rich in tannins which are tough on parasites but relatively easy on the body. Synthetic anti-parasitic drugs are very strong, and unless you have a serious infection as diagnosed by a medical professional, it is better for your health and understanding of the situation to start with natural remedies. This is especially true for those who don’t have hard evidence of a parasite infection, but want a non-damaging way to investigate and potentially flush parasites out of their digestive system.
Natural anti-parasitic remedies like wormwood, clove, oregano oil, and black walnut hull are very effective at killing parasites at all their different life cycles (5), and when these herbs are combined with fasting, parasites can be expelled rapidly and the digestive system can heal fully. A full parasite removal plan is below, but first let’s diagnose the symptoms of having parasites.
How to Know if you Have Parasites?
Intestinal parasites like simple energy sources like sugar, so the first thing to do which will help dramatically with a parasite cleanse is to break a sugar addiction if you have one and remove all added sugars from the diet. Eliminating excess sugar an other empty calories has it’s own wellness benefits in addition to helping starve out parasites. If you’re struggling and eating too much sugar, the best thing to take away from this article is to master your sugar consumption. Many of the 100+ health issues common today are born out of a poor diet, bad gut health, and chronic inflammation, and without the right dietary conditions in place, no parasite removal plan will ultimately be successful.
Parasite infections can cause a slew of health issues, and these unfortunate health symptoms can also be caused by other factors. It is important when discovering your health problems and fixing them to patiently pursue all possibilities and experiment safely. With time and faith, the root causes of your health issues can be identified and the appropriate dietary, environmental, and behavioral changes can be made to return to good health and wellness.
You might have a parasite infection if you have any of the following chronic health issues:
Anemia
Chronic fatigue
Muscle pain
Constipation and gas
Diarrhea
Itchy anus
Bloating and cramping
Joint pain
Jaw pain
Teeth grinding (bruxism)
Insomnia
Hives, rashes
The more overlapping symptoms from above you have, the more important it is to uncover if your gut health is as it should be and to do what you can to improve your situation.
Natural Treatment for Parasites
As already discussed, the first step for parasites is to eliminate sugar from the diet. Added sugars, heavily processed acellular carbs (i.e. flour), and junk food must all go. Following the FoodFast Method is one way of improving diet while also incorporating fasting for maximum health benefit.
The second thing that can be done is to include anti-parasitic foods into the diet. These foods are natural and healthy, with pumpkin seeds (6), garlic (7), and dried papaya seeds (8) being especially effective. Lectin found in cucumber seeds have also shown promise for intestinal parasite therapy (9). The compounds and oils found in these four foods are anti-parasitic and anti-microbial while not being harmful to human health.
Pumpkin seeds in particular are a very nutrient-dense food which should be added to the diet regardless of parasite or not.
Cucumber, garlic, pumpkin seeds, and papaya seeds can also be eaten preventatively to ward off parasites.
The third step would be fasting; abstaining from food for a period of 24-72 hours. A 48 hour fast is excellent at resetting the digestive system, helping to heal the tissues of the gut while also shifting the microbiome to a more helpful symbiotic state. A 24-48 hour fast is easily accomplished with a little bit of preparation and common sense and will starve or seriously stress any parasites living in the intestinal tract. The stress from nutrient deprivation weakens pathogens, making the other other steps taken more effective, particularly step 4.
The fourth step is to supplement with natural anti-parasitic herbs like oregano oil, wormwood, clove, and black walnut hull, which parasites can be directly killed by. A combination of these herbs can be found in natural parasite cleansing supplements, and typically a herbal parasite cleanse is run for 14-30 days. These four herbs used together will kill adult, larvae, and eggs.
The supplement I recommend for this is SCRAM by HealthForce SuperFoods. I purchased SCRAM for my own experimentation, and I was impressed by the quality of the product. All the ingredients are TruGanic certified, which means they are third-party tested for botanical identity, pesticides, GMOs, heavy metals, microbiological activity, and gluten. Opening up the bottle, you can smell the intense aroma of the clove, and with a dosing of 10 caps a day, you’re receiving enough active ingredient to kill and drive parasites out of the body.
To condense and summarize, parasites can be removed from the body using a four step method.
Parasite Cleanse
Remove added sugars, acellular carbs, and junk food from the diet.
Incorporate anti-parasitic foods into the diet like pumpkin seeds, cucumber, garlic, and oregano.
Begin fasting occasionally, starting with 16 and 24 hours fasts and progressing to 48+ hour fasts as safe and appropriate. Green tea fasting is particularly effective.
Run a natural anti-parasitic supplement protocol involving oregano oil, wormwood, clove, and black walnut hull. I recommend using oregano oil and SCRAM.
My Experience with SCRAM
On the supplement label, it is stated that SCRAM can be used to:
“Help promote optimum microbial balance and cleansing in individuals with a healthy digestive system and intestinal tract”
When I first began using SCRAM, I was already at the very end of a years-long journey to heal my gut. For me, doing a parasite cleanse was the final item on the checklist. Even though my gut health was exceptional at the time, I wanted to explore all avenues, and using SCRAM (which could also help further balance my microbiome) was a good idea.
I purchased two bottles so I could run the parasite cleanse for longer than the typical 17 days. I ran the full SCRAM protocol of 10 pills a day for 22 days.
I never noticed any negatives from using SCRAM. Many people report experiencing a deep cleansing of their gut (diarrhea), but since my gut was healthy, it easily adapted to the anti-microbial effects of the supplement. I apparently don’t have any parasites in my digestive system, because I found no traces in my stool. What I noticed using SCRAM is that it was a great supplement for balancing the microbiome.
5-10 pills of SCRAM a day will kill off any pathogenic microorganisms causing gas or bloating, normalize intestinal motility, and firm up stools. This effect can cause slight constipation at the beginning for a couple days. Outside of using SCRAM for a dedicated parasite removal, they can also be used whenever the gut feel unbalanced and requires a little help.
I was surprised by how well packed these pills are, the herbal mixture came out fluffy and was very pleasantly aromatic. You’re getting a great value with SCRAM
A parasite cleanse involving oregano oil and a product like SCRAM is best done with a gut that is already in okay shape. While I wouldn’t say that supplementing with SCRAM was particularly stressful, any change to a digestive system already at maximum stress can cause problems. In instances like that, fasting or a liquid diet are the two things which can begin healing the gut.
SCRAM is a safe an effective supplement, but it’s step four because steps 1-3 are more important as it relates to parasite removal. If the digestive system is unhealthy or diseased due to many different factors, a parasite cleanse will not solve all the problems present and may complicate the situation. When you begin pushing back against parasites and/or a pathogenic microbiome, the microorganisms that are being selected against will be everything they can to improve their situation, from increasing junk food cravings to creating irrational mental urges and behaviors through neurotransmitter production.
Having a sound diet is the foundation of all health success, and for parasite cleansing it’s no different.
Confirming your Results
When parasites leave the body you’ll find them or pieces of them in the stool. Some parasites are too small for detection while some parasites like worms are visible to the eye in stool. Parasites found in stool can be alarming, but this is a good sign that treatment is effective. If doing everything right and no parasites are found, then there was likely no parasite infection in the first place. If you suspect that you still have parasites, then visit a medical professional for an assessment and possibly more serious treatment.
As it relates to all health matters, you have to trust your gut instincts. Best of luck!
References:
Alum A, Rubino JR, Ijaz MK. The global war against intestinal parasites—should we use a holistic approach? International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2010;14(9):e732-e738.
Flegr J. Effects of toxoplasma on human behavior. Schizophrenia Bulletin. 2007;33(3):757-760.
Thornhill R, Fincher CL, Murray DR, Schaller M. Zoonotic and non-zoonotic diseases in relation to human personality and societal values: support for the parasite-stress model. Evol Psychol. 2010;8(2):147470491000800.
Fiorenza EA, Wendt CA, Dobkowski KA, et al. It’s a wormy world: Meta‐analysis reveals several decades of change in the global abundance of the parasitic nematodes Anisakis spp. and Pseudoterranova spp. in marine fishes and invertebrates. Glob Change Biol. 2020;26(5):2854-2866.
Tagboto S, Townson S. Antiparasitic properties of medicinal plants and other naturally occurring products. In: Advances in Parasitology. Vol 50. Elsevier; 2001:199-295.
Li T, Ito A, Chen X, et al. Usefulness of pumpkin seeds combined with areca nut extract in community-based treatment of human taeniasis in northwest Sichuan Province, China. Acta Tropica. 2012;124(2):152-157.
Ankri S, Mirelman D. Antimicrobial properties of allicin from garlic. Microbes and Infection. 1999;1(2):125-129.
Okeniyi JAO, Ogunlesi TA, Oyelami OA, Adeyemi LA. Effectiveness of dried carica papaya seeds against human intestinal parasitosis: a pilot study. Journal of Medicinal Food. 2007;10(1):194-196.
Mukherjee PK, Nema NK, Maity N, Sarkar BK. Phytochemical and therapeutic potential of cucumber. Fitoterapia. 2013;84:227-236.
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