I'm still relying on hookworms for Crohn's, no other medication. I'm in my third year using them now. I got infected with 10 Necator Americanus last February 2009, then added 10 more in September. I think I'll add another 10 soon, as efficacy seem sto wane around the 6 month mark for me.
For over a year now, I've had normal ESR and CRP values. I've gained 30 pounds total since starting hookworms, and kept it on. (I'm actually getting too heavy and have had to cut out the bread and sugar since I can't afford new clothes.) I was really, really sick before trying hookworms, so the improvement has been pretty amazing.
I still go the bathroom at least 3 X a day - mostly soft and solid. I still have mucus between bowel movements. My Crohn's is most active in my descending colon and anus, and the hookworms reside in the small intestine. Human whipworms are used for UC - I may try them later on and see if that helps resolve the activity in the lower regions. Whipworms reside in the ilium and cecum, I believe.
I haven't had a follow up colonoscopy, but my blood inflammatory values were elevated always before, as well as some other values being off. I also was housebound, had chronic pain, and was emaciated, as well as anemic, malnuourished, and failed all available IBD meds.
I got my hookworms through AIT, but they were forced to leave the country by the FDA, and now will not ship to the US. You have to go to Canada or Mexico to get worms. wormtherapy.com sells hookworms in Tijuana, other than that, only TSO is available to your door. I've heard that there will be multi-center trials with TSO in Europe. Right now, there is one TSO study for MS at the U. of Wisconsis, but that is all. TSO is very expensive, but so is the initial purchase of hookworms/whipworms.
I've learned to do McMaster egg counts to track my infection. I plan to learn to incubate them so I can self infect. I've created a website that detailed all of my side effects and experience using hookworms for Crohn's:
www.waitingforthecure.com
I've been dealing with other issues; low magnesium has caused anxiety, insomnia, muscle fascillations, twitches, tics, and I had a miscarriage last fall, and lost a lot of blood. But supplementing with mag is helping, and I am now getting shots twice weekly. I don't know if the worms deplete magnesium, they are supposed to just affect iron, but in greater numbers. I am taking supplemental iron now because of the miscarriage anyway.
There was a recent NPR report on hookworms, as well as much news coverage lately. Because it is an infective live organism, I don't think it will ever be used mainstream, but the U. of Nottingham has done double-blind studies with allergies, asthma, crohn's, and will study MS next. In Australia, they've had a successful celiac trial and will be doing multi-center trials next.
Don't be squeemish; it's not like you know they are in you. It's not like pinworms, which are a nemesis for those who've ever had toddlers. The initial rash and itch are evidence, and you can have bad side effects in the beginning (I had reactive arthritis for 6 weeks at first; subsequent infections are usually WAY easier.) After they've reached your intestine and settled in, you can't tell you have worms, except that you get and stay well, until you lose them, which happened to me the first year; all symptoms came back until I reinfected. I don't know how I lost them; it may have been anasthesia from dental work, but I don't know for sure.
Good luck! I wish I tried this 10 years ago, and not had surgery to remove my descending colon. The science is really leaning in this direction; the hygiene hypothesis proposes our immune systems were shaped with parasites and bacteria - without them we have developed all of these autoimmune diseases and allergies.
Personally, I'd rather be well, eating what I like, and having no pain ,with 20 worms in me, then too grossed out, on Remicade, and still suffering. We all need to get over our prejudice of worms and bacteria - it's what we are meant to be made of.
