Update on "Monsters Inside Me" show

Did any of you get to see this show? 

 EPISODE 4 of 6: Masters of Disguise
Premiering Wednesday, July 22, at 9 PM e/p
Parasites are ruthless, single-minded and above all devious. To become the most prolific life forms in the world takes a degree of cunning that others can only marvel at. Meet the most deceptive parasites on the planet, the "Masters of Disguise."

Teenager Mallorie Greiner has Acanthamoeba keratitis, a parasite that's intent on eating her cornea. Doctors are bewildered at first because her symptoms look just like herpes. Runner Rick DiMichele is struck down with a debilitating disease. Initially, doctors think it's cancer, then malaria; eventually, they discover he has a tick-borne disease called Babesiosis. And not until he's staring death in the face do Mohammed Meah's doctors find the real cause of his problem: a parasitic worm called Strongyloides that's been lurking undetected in his small intestine and living off the steroids he was taking to combat his colitis.

I think it was the first one Acanthamoeba that they talked about it being able to change into a "cyst" form to evade detection.  Sound familiar? 

The second one was on Babesiosis which was why I was watching in the first place, was really interesting.  It mentions on their website that it "CAN" be passed thru blood transfusions and from Mother to baby.  Interesting....

The 3rd and last was a parasitic worm called Strongyloides which could go undetected for many years (60?) until the patient was given steroids then it really hit the fan. 

Hope you got to see it, if not I'm sure it will re-air.

KO

Thank you for the info. Wish I could have seen it.

CG, its TV they have to have a end, not hanging like the ones here do as a fact. maybe everyone here who has Babesiosis, who wright to animal planet, to give them the true facts of the disease. JMHO

I thought Babesiosis was considered an emerging disease.  How do they know so much about it like that it can be transmitted thru a blood transfusion and also from Mother to unborn child if it is?  They still deny that LD can be spread these two ways.

KO

CG that's so funny...the whole time sitting there I kept saying to my mom...they MUST have tested him for Lyme...but Lyme wasn't mentioned even once I don't think!

I didn't see the show but my Mom was telling me about it. If the guy with Babs had an acute infection, 10 days may be sufficient to put it into remission. And if he was treated for Malaria, maybe that helped...aren't anti-malarials used by some on this board for Babs? Just a thought...

I happened to be looking back at this series and specifically at this episode and came across these posts. Even though it's 10 years later I thought I would try to clarify some of the statements mentioned in the show regarding my condition. I was not completely cured within 10 days of beginning treatment, but I was feeling better. I had lost quite a bit of weight and my red blood cell count was still quite low. about a month or so after starting treatment I was feeling pretty normal. A couple of weeks later my wife and I went on a cruise and as far as I can remember I felt fine. To this day there have been no lasting affects from the condition. It was about 3 weeks from the time I first started exhibiting symptoms (initially fever) until a diagnosis was made and I began treatment. The fact that it was caught early probably contributed to my quick recovery. I don't know when I was bitten as I never saw a tick or a tick bite. If anyone is still listening and I can answer any questions please let me know. Rick

Of course and thank you for responding. The treatment called for 10 days on the medication, which I completed. At that point there was no further treatment and I gradually got better over time. BTW, even though the show aired in 2009 this all happened in 2006, almost exactly 13 years ago. If you or anyone else needs further info let me know. Rick

To be honest I've never thought about the possibility of a relapse. The doctor who diagnosed me never mentioned it so I assumed once the parasite was eradicated I was cured. I'm not a young man (currently 67), so if it was going to happen I'd think it would have happened by now. Coincidentally I spoke to a gentleman yesterday who had reached out to me to talk about babesiosis. He's been dealing with serious chronic fatigue and joint pain for a year now and they found babesia antibodies in his blood. Lyme tests came back negative. I really feel for the guy and thank god I was one of the lucky ones. Are you dealing with or have you in the past dealt with Lyme?

Rick DiMichele said...
Dumb question, sorry. I see now you have been treated for Lyme in the past. Hopefully it's behind you.

Yup - still treating - have/had Lyme, Babesia and Bartonella....
Majority of symptoms have resolved - have a few stubborn ones left that I need to get gone in order to have a decent life.

Hi Rick, thanks for coming on here to share your experience. I was reading the original post and was a little confused, they diagnosed with both babesia and strongyloides? They found antibodies in my blood work for babesia. And another holistic practitioner found strongyloides through muscle testing. My question is what anti parasite meds helped you get better? I have been taking several parasite meds and it'd be nice to know what has helped others.

Hi Rick, I saw the show last night...took me awhile to find it (there's 12 seasons of it) ...it's on www.animalplanet.com website and you can watch for free online with about 9-18 commercials during it....your story is on Season 1 Episode 4, the end segment of 3, right?...

I thought the show was good overall, but they didn't seem too interested in the history and science of tick borne disease and co-infections, it was either very quickly covered (albeit in a stylish, entertaining documentary-reality TV way) and they made it seem like co-infections like Babesiosis are/were an isolated thing confined to Nantucket area and spreading only from there...anyway that's just my opinion.

As for the vector spreading, they point to mice. But I don't think they mentioned air travel (birds and increasing frequency and volume of commercial air travel of humans). I'm no expert, but I think they got a few things right, and maybe left out some things.

Anyway I did want to thank you for posting this link to this show about parasites, worms, bugs and bacteria (ie. The Monsters Inside Me) I had gotten it mixed up with a show set in the Southwestern USA called something very similar, a documentary called something like The Monster Inside Me, about recovering Lyme Disease and Co-infections patients, that I haven't seen because I think it's still behind a paywall...

Also last question: were you ever given an IGenex Lyme disease Western Blot full panel (or other) test? How about a Galaxy Labs Bartonella test? What other tests were you given? ARMIN labs? StonyBrook? TORCH test?

Also something I was not aware of...that Babesia according to this show, only shows up in 1% (or 10% was it?) of the blood so hard to find in a smear. How did they find your Babesia antibodies so easily? Also great visualizations (though horrifying) about how Babs gets into red blood cells and kills/burst them from within...still not sure if Babs is a parasite or a malaria-like organism...or both.

I'm happy for you that you went into remission fully with no lasting symptoms. And this anecdotal evidence of Mepron and Z-Pak (Azithromycin) helps all of us customize our treatments accordingly.

Thanks again, I always like to learn more, shows like these and stories like yours definitely contribute to the conversation.

-Borrelio

Thanks for sharing your meds Rick. That's awesome that 10 days on those meds helped you to get better!

As for the strongyloides, I'm guessing that must've been a different patient on the show?