Nasal allergies nuked by worms
“Snotty”
The most significant of all the many improvements to my health that have been wrought by my wonderful worm friends was the return of my tolerance to food, because my previous inability to tolerate not only all normal foods, but also most forms of special medical food, was potentially life-threatening. (See, Wriggling out of total food intolerance, M.E. and Crohns disease.) Yet the development that provided the greatest improvement in my quality of life was the ability to breathe freely through my nose.
My nasal problems began early in childhood, when my affliction won me the nickname, 'Snotty'. I was even ridiculed by teachers, one of whom presented me as an exhibit at an assembly, holding my arm aloft so that the whole school could see the silver streaks on the cuff of my black blazer that were the result of my needing to catch the incessant nasal drip at moments when I was unable to reach for a handkerchief - or when the latter was already so completely saturated that it was useless.
The unattractive nature of chronic rhinitis was an even greater drag during my teens and, to prevent it from ruining my chances with the opposite sex, I became a regular user of antihistamine nasal sprays, which inevitably caused rebound blockage and, eventually, effective addiction.
Avoiding dairy brings relief
By my mid twenties, bouts of sinusitis had become so frequent and severe that I was sent to see an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist who said that I needed to have my nasal passages surgically widened. There were no medical lasers in those days, so this would have been literally a hammer and chisel job, which didn't appeal to me at all, especially as my dad had had the same "treatment" and swore he would never submit to it again, under any circumstance.
Galvanised into action to avoid the surgery, I began to research the subject, though this was not an easy task in the 1970s, with no internet and an effective blockade on medical information by an extremely guarded and paternalistic medical profession. Nevertheless, I did discover that milk can cause nasal symptoms in some people, so I stopped eating dairy products and, to my surprise and delight, my nose began to clear!
The next time I saw the ENT specialist, he declared me to be no longer in need of surgery, since my previously inflamed nasal tissues had returned to normal, though he was clearly bemused by my account of dietary modification, and unable to comprehend any connection between milk and nasal symptoms.
I particularly remember two nurses who were present during this session with the ENT consultant, because they were so overcome with mirth - apparently at the thought of someone actually believing that a change in diet could have any effect whatsoever on their health - that they both had to make a very hasty exit from the room, with their faces buried in their hands!
The nasal nastiness returns
As long as I avoided dairy, I continued to enjoy freedom from nasal symptoms, until some years later, when I developed food allergies and intolerance, which eventually became so extensive that I was forced to rely increasingly on medically-prescribed foods. At this point, it wasn't just the milk-derived foods that caused nasal repercussions, but even those hypoallergenic foods that were manufactured using other protein sources, such as pork and soy. The longer I used these supposedly "hypoallergenic" foods, the worse my nasal symptoms became.
Eventually, I was transformed into a veritable snot machine, extruding copious amounts of psychedelic gunge which frequently blocked my throat at night when regular swallowing was suspended. Apart from this being uncomfortable in the extreme, and surprisingly difficult to clear, it cost me many hours of sleep, night after night. Regular nasal irrigation became a necessity and I took to sleeping with a brass "olive" (a metal washer used in plumbing fittings) lodged in at least one nostril in an attempt to improve air flow through my nose during the night.
Saved by an ancient healer
Then, just when I seemed doomed to drown in my own secretions, I encountered the wonderful Dr Wriggly - aka the human hookworm, Necator americanus - who put to shame all the many doctors I had consulted previously about this condition. The hundreds of years of collective experience that the medics represented was as nothing compared with the expertise gained by the forebears of my diminutive helminthic healer during millions of years of on-the-job training. Within the first couple of days, Dr Wriggly’s skilled ministrations began to stem the nasal tide.
Improvements continued to manifest, although these fluctuated wildly during the first few months, and they were accompanied, initially, by some unpleasant, though thankfully transient, gastrointestinal side-effects that resulted from me having been poorly advised to start with what is now recognised to be an excessive dose of hookworms. Once the full benefits finally came on stream, however, my slumbers ceased to be nightmares of nasal obstruction, and my days became completely free from the need to blow or even wipe my nose. I was also reintroduced to the forgotten phenomenon of crow bogeys - those nasal stalagmites and stalactites that had never had chance to form during the long years of continual discharge, but which, now, once again reacquainted me with the exquisite pleasure of being able to remove them manually!
After a couple of years of helminthic therapy, I was nasally more normal than at any time in my life. I could eat dairy products with impunity and I was no longer a victim of any of the environmental allergies that had previously plagued me with such a vengeance. I was, at last, free to dally among the dust mites, cavort with cats, and garden in the summer sun without any antihistaminic support whatsoever.
My experience, and that of others who have used helminthic therapy to treat nasal congestion, rhinitis and/or sinusitis, suggests that Necator americanus may offer the best chance of relief from these conditions. There is nothing at all in the orthodox medical armoury that can match the efficacy, along with the absence of any long term side effects, that are delivered by this humble hookworm.
By John Scott. (First published in January 2011 on the Foods Matter website. [1])
See also
Here are a few of John’s other articles about specific aspects of his helminthic therapy experience.