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I always felt like I’d find an explanation someday for my fertility issues. I have one healthy child but my husband and I have had two miscarriages and one stillbirth. I’m not infertile. I can conceive. But for me pregnancy usually only lasts about three months and then I have a miscarriage. As time went on, my pregnancies lasted for shorter and shorter periods of time. First, we had a stillborn baby at 5 months. Then, a year later, I had a miscarriage at 4 months. Five years ago we had another miscarriage at 3 months.
Recently, it’s come to my attention that I (and my husband and my daughter) have an infestation of parasites in our intestines. You can read more about our parasite story here but suffice it to say, I thought I was going to die and so I started looking for the problem. And I didn’t find it at a doctor’s office. I found the answer in forums and individual posts by people with stories similar to mine.
But while this article is mostly about parasites, women should also learn more about iodine deficiency and vitamin B12 deficiency because in addition to parasites, a lack of these two essential nutrients is very likely at the root of a lot fertility problems. I’ve linked to articles that I’ve written about both iodine and vitamin B12, but the iodine article I’ve linked to is about iodine and cancer. Don’t let deter you from reading it though because it contains information every woman should know not only about iodine and breast cancer, but also how to take iodine, how much to take, and what to expect during their bromine detox.
So what does an intestinal parasitic infection have to do with female infertility? Some worms will crawl out of your butthole to lay eggs at night and then “get lost” and go up the “wrong hole” into the uterus or the bladder. Inside the bladder and the uterus, they may lay eggs or take up residence creating all sorts of disruptions (including cystitis, for example). Parasites in the ovaries could cause the ovaries to shut down (theoretically that is, although I doubt that studies have been done on parasites and human ovaries). The ovaries are the organs that make female sex hormones and so it would obviously be undesirable to have a parasite in an ovary hijacking your body’s hormonal balance, especially if you’re trying to conceive.
Parasites in the uterus may compete with an embryo for resources ultimately leading to a miscarriage or a stillbirth. It makes me angry to think that doctors could have suggested a parasite cleanse before I became pregnant (or even following a miscarriage), but modern medicine doesn’t buy into parasites. At the ultrasound while our stillborn baby was still alive, my husband and I commented to each other about how skinny he was. I would guess that there were worms feeding off of my placental while I was pregnant and our baby starved to death. But if you go to the doctor to talk about parasites, be prepared to be laughed at. To medical doctors in the United States and Europe, parasites that prey on humans simply don’t exist. We’re a “clean” society. A First World Country, for crying out loud. Parasites? Not here. The CDC makes the claim that very few people are infected with parasites in the U.S., but parasitologists won’t lie to you. Parasites are everywhere! Even parasites have parasites! If you want to know why modern medicine resists the idea of parasitic infections, you can read my article, Why Your Doctor Never Told You about Parasites.
But that’s okay. Your doctor doesn’t have to tell you about parasites because you can learn about them on your own and you can even treat them yourself. In fact, you should treat them yourself, or at least consider treating them yourself with stuff like wormwood and black walnut tinctures that you can buy online or at the local Whole Foods, Alfalfa’s, or Vitamin Cottage. A lot of the prescription medication for parasites doesn’t work and it’s toxic stuff too. In contrast, herbal remedies are tried and true. People use many of the same plants to cure parasite infections throughout the world from the Amazon to Africa. Some prescription medicine for parasites in the intestines may cause you to lose your hair. This is NOT the sort of thing you want circulating in your body just prior to conception.
Before I say more, I need to make sure that you know that you should NEVER take wormwood during pregnancy because it can cause an abortion. Do a parasite cleanse before you try to become pregnant.
It would be nearly impossible to rid your body of parasites entirely. They’re always going to be there, but the key is to do bi-annual cleanses (unless you’re pregnant and then you’ll have to wait) and to eat foods that keep your intestinal ecology balanced. If you’ve been trying to conceive and had no luck at it, consider doing a parasite cleanse. Be aware that if you don’t feel ill initially, the cleanse may actually make you feel ill. And you might see worms in your stools (you don’t have to look if it grosses you out, BUT if you see them, then you may have discovered the source of your fertility problems!) The reason why a cleanse could make you feel worse rather than better is because as parasites die inside your body, they poop and fart out waste products that your body has to metabolize. You might have headaches and feel achy and generally awful. But, after the cleanse, you should feel more energetic, if you were having menstrual problems, it’s very possible that they’ll resolve themselves (or at least change in some way, which is a good sign), and maybe, just maybe, you’ll be able to conceive and carry a pregnancy to term.
In my article Parasite Symptoms: Our Experience I explain a little bit more about our story and in the article Treatment for Parasites I provide our recipe for the parasite cleanse. You can create your own too, but just make sure that you don’t overdose on wormwood. Wormwood is a potent herb and it is possible to overdose and die from it. Start with a lower dose and then increase the amount that you’re taking slowly over a few weeks. If you take a high dose at the beginning of a parasite cleanse you might feel really awful from a strong die-off reaction. It’s best to go slow at first and increase the dosage amount incrementally.
If you’re pregnant and you suspect that you have parasites, there are several things you can do. Eat apples, pumpkin seed butter or pumpkin seeds, and tahini for snacks either together or separately. These foods are aversive to parasites. Wash your southern regions several times throughout the day and perhaps once or twice during the night too. This will wipe away extra eggs laid outside the body and discourage transport of parasites into the bladder or uterus. And finally, take Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth twice a day. This stuff isn’t absorbed by your body. It just passes through your intestines and then out of the body. But when it comes into contact with parasites, it slices them open and then dries them out. Then they’re flushed from the body.
You can talk with your doctor about your parasite cleanse, but read this article first before you do: Why Your Doctor Never Told You about Parasites so that you can prepare yourself for your doctor’s reaction. If you’re looking for some of the reasons for infertility in women, parasites are a biggie in the United States. Read my article about symptoms of a parasite infection to learn more about why most people don’t realize that they’re infected.
UPDATE: If you’re struggling with infertility issues and you’re an American, it can make a big difference to take iodine supplements in the form of Lugol’s iodine or Iodoral (6 mg to 50 mg/day). Iodine is an essential trace mineral that’s needed in order for the reproductive organs to function properly. Most Americans are deficient in iodine even if they eat iodized salt and take vitamin supplements that include iodine because fluorine and bromine both compete with iodine in the body. Fluorine is in much of the water supply in the United States and bromine is used as a disinfectant in swimming pools, it’s used as a flame retardant on pajamas, it’s in commercial white breads, soda, and insecticides. So, it’s hard for the average American to get enough iodine in their diet. For more information about iodine deficiency, read Lynne Farrow’s book, The Iodine Crisis.
Recently, I read about an infertility treatment that makes use of a substance called dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). Dimethylsulfoxide has been FDA approved for use as an interstitial cystitis treatment, but shortly after it was approved, the FDA started working to hurt DMSO’s reputation because this is one of the most versatile, health-giving products on the market today. DMSO can be used to treat a phenomenal number of diseases including cancer. It works by increasing the permeability of membranes and in countries outside of the United States, some doctors are using this substance to help clear out a woman’s fallopian tubes. In Chile, DMSO has been used successfully in this way to promote fertility among other things. If you don’t know anything about this substance and you’re struggling to conceive, I recommend reading DMSO: Nature’s Healer by Dr. Morton Walker. DMSO is marketed in the U.S. as a “solvent” in order to scare people away from it because this substance is also a potent cancer cure that could be threatening to pharmaceutical industry profits should people learn about it and start using it. Don’t take DMSO while you’re trying to conceive or if you’re pregnant. Contact a doctor in the United States who’s worked with DMSO (there are names listed in the book by Dr. Walker above) to learn about fertility treatments with this substance.
If you believe you have parasites, but you’re not sure, I would also recommend looking into a product called MMS (Miracle Mineral Solution). MMS has also been scandalized by the pharmaceutical industry. It is also a potential cancer cure. MMS can provide a variety of health benefits. It is an anti-parasitic as well as an anti-bacterial and anti-viral. It chelates heavy metals. If you’re having trouble conceiving, consider doing a month-long MMS protocol and see if your health improves. I’ve taken MMS and had some amazing results. For me, it cured a decade-long battle with systemic candida which changed my life. Don’t take MMS while you’re trying to conceive. Under certain conditions it might be okay to take MMS while pregnant, but consult Jim Humble’s book on this topic before taking MMS during pregnancy!
Related Links:
Parasite Protocol: Anti-Parasitics and Beyond
ADHD? Depression? Anxiety? Consider Parasites.
Menstruation Problems and Parasites
Thank you for this wonderful information. Conventional fertility treatments completely ignore the sheer significance and importance of gut health to our endocrine system. I just purchased by first bag of Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth yesterday. And yes, parasites are everywhere. The AMA would like us to believe we live in a sterile bubble, but microbes, toxins, parasites, etc., abound. Our ancestors KNEW this, and as awareness grows, we are reverting back to their traditions and beliefs because Big Pharma has failed us. Thank you again
You are amazing!! Thank you for posting. My beautiful friend is trying to get pregnant and we needed this just to confirm my significant evidence.
I am happy she can read about someone else who had such difficulties. Thank you again.
I just found out that my three year old has pinworms. She was scratching her vagina with a vengeance, and when I checked to see what was the problem, I found one pinworm at the edge of the opening to her vagina. I saw nothing around her anus. I went straight to the nearest pharmacy and bought their brand of pin worm medication. I treated our family of five and will do so again, ten days from the day we took it (for the eggs that will inevitably hatch). I had pinworms once when I was around five, and I will never forget it because my mom reacted as if she just found an alien inside me (which she pretty much did), and as if I were about to die (which I clearly didn’t). So I have always known about them, and always been terrified that my kids would get them. I know how common and easy they are to get. I wasn’t satisfied with the otc medication; something just wasn’t sitting right with me. I started looking at parasite cleanses on Amazon, reading the reviews, looking at the pictures. I became very aware and horrified at the realization that pinworms are just the tip of the parasitic iceberg. God only knows what else is inside of us, as we all have a slew of symptoms that can be linked to a parasitic infestation. There is so much contradictory information on how to rid yourself of these life sucking bastards. Some say the parasite cleansers will only kill worms in the digestive tract, that it can make the worms try to escape and migrate to other locations outside of the digestive tract, that the uterus is its own cavity- unaffected by anything you put in your guts to kill them. So what if that pinworm I got out of my daughter had just come out of her vagina as it’s established residence, rather than having just migrated and got lost from her anus that night? What if she has an infestation in her vagina that have or are living inside of her uterus? Will she get endometriosis from that and never have children of her own? What if we have worms in our brain, our lungs, our sinuses and ears? What if we can only win the battle, but never win the war? I know that I can’t go to the doctor about this. I know that they will look at me like I’m crazy, and either tell me I have nothing to worry about, or tell me I have parasitosis and put me in a mental ward. I know that even if they would take a stool sample, it won’t show anything, that they only test for a couple types, that it all depends on what stage of life the parasites are in. I’m not sure if they really don’t believe in parasites, or if our symptoms are what funds their practice, and big pharma- so they would never ever admit that they aren’t in the business of cures, but rather in the business of putting a band-aid on our parasitic symptoms to keep themselves in business. I do know that I have read a review from a doctor who stated that she didn’t believe she had worms based on their teachings in medical school (oh but they did have worms when they took that cleanse). I’m sure it’s a mixture of both ignorance and evil greed. I know I need to get some black walnut, wormwood, cloves, DE, garlic cloves, clean up our diet, and get our bowels moving three times a day. I also know that we can take activated charcoal to alleviate our die off symptoms. I also know that I will forever be on some kind of maintenance schedule, and so will my kids, and I will be telling everyone I know, what I’ve learned. I’ve learned a lot in a week’s worth of research. I still don’t have answers to those questions I asked earlier.
I have not yet read your link to your story, but reading that you cured yourself gives me hope that I can cure us too. I’m on the verge of finding a homeopathic doctor and probably paying them a load of money. I just hope that if I get to that point, they know what the hell they are doing. I don’t want to get to that point. I’m going to read your links, and hope that I finally find some answers that I can intuitively accept, and some anecdotal evidence will be nice to see 🙂 Thank you for sharing. So many of us need all the anecdotal evidence we can get!
Can I do a cleanse using wormwood for days 1-14 of my cycle and then try to conceive on day 15? I want to do a cleanse as we have been TTC for 10 months. I would not continue taking wormwood past the day of ovulation.
Hi Ashton,
I know this reply comes a little late (I moved to Mexico in early 2017 and dropped the ball on a number of things), but other people might benefit from your question, so I wanted to respond to it.
As far as I know, wormwood doesn’t cause birth defects, but it can cause a spontaneous abortion/miscarriage. Taken in too high of a dose it can be toxic and possibly even kill you. That being said though, when our family had parasites, we took rather high doses of wormwood, black walnut, and cloves.
Wormwood is used for a variety of things from parasite infections to amenorrhea (a lack of menstrual periods). It is also used to alleviate depression. It’s easy to connect the dots on wormwood and wonder if parasite infections CAUSE the amenorrhea and the depression. I don’t know the answer for sure, but it seems probable. So, if you’re trying to conceive, and you’re taking wormwood, it’s very possible that you won’t conceive. I wouldn’t personally use wormwood as a contraceptive though! (Just saying)
Another thing I want to mention here is that if you believe that your infertility issues stems from a parasite infection, plan to work on the infection for 6 months to a year before seeing a lot of progress. One of the reasons why parasites can cause infertility is because they eat up important nutrients. So, as you do the parasite cleanse, consider doing a diet of fresh, organic juices at the same time. Eat a diet that includes almost exclusively fruits, veggies, and some grains. Remove refined sugars from your diet and instead use honey or maple syrup to sweeten your food. Replace refined table salt with Sea Salt at the same time. Table salt is just pure NaCl (Sodium Chloride) which can cause a displacement of potassium from your body. Sea Salt in contrast contains a more balanced array of minerals including potassium, sodium, copper, etc. Better yet, get rid of salt from your diet completely (tip:you can use lemon juice to make food SEEM salty).
In terms of fertility, Americans especially can benefit from hyper-nourishing their bodies. Juicing removes much of the fiber from fruits and veggies so that what’s left is just pure nutrients, which is really easy for the body to absorb. Refined sugars are empty calories that cause inflammation in the body. Refined salts help maintain that inflammation. And inflammation is the enemy of good health and natural processes that lead to fertility and conception. If you’re passionate about conception, look into the Gerson Diet as a health-booster that will help your body rebalance sodium and potassium levels, rebuild lost nutrients that result from the Standard American Diet (SAD).
I became pregnant during a cleanse on diatomaceous earth! II now have a 3 month old little girl.
Holy cow! Congratulations! Thank you for sharing, Amy! 🙂
Thanks for yor article. I am wondering tho, if the parasites are in the uterous do those same recepies wor, or do they anly work in the digestion tract?
Hi Suzie!
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how anti-parasitics work when there are parasites in places outside of the digestive tract (for example in the bladder or uterus). My guess is that parasites find their way to the uterus and the bladder because the intestines have gotten so crowded that good feeding spots are no longer available. When the intestines are less infected, the uterine or bladder parasites may pass back into the intestines. This may sound like a bad thing but the truth is you don’t want to get rid of ALL the parasites. You want to simply have fewer of them. People who don’t have any parasites end up with other problems. The digestive tract is a long landscape of tiny communities of various organisms. Diversity is good in the digestive tract! You want a few (but not too many) parasites in there!
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