So what exactly are the types of cleanses that everyone is on, are you guys seeing naturopaths that are giving your herbal tinctures/capsules specific for parasitic infestations?

I looked up numerous parasitic cleanses on the internet, and the amount of money they are expecting for them is overwhelming. I'm already just cutting up cloves of garlic and swallowing them whole, before i am able to get the amount of money needed for a cleanse.

http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/cond.../Parasites.htm

Interesting article above on parasites. It states that, "Parasites can deplete the body of nutrients such as vitamins A, B6, and B12, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, overwhelm the immune system (allergies), which can lead to severe illness" So lets see...if any of us are having any of the following symptoms that are related to the above nutrient deficiences:
B6: Anaemia, easily fatigued, depression, facial oiliness, hyperirritability, abdominal distress
B12: Anaemia; cold hands and feet, poor circulation, blue brittle nails with no moons on nails.
Potassium: Bone fragility, bone and joint pain, dry skin, constipation (just to name a few)
Magnesium: Eye twitches, cramping in the legs at rest, restless legs, high blood pressure, anxiety/stressed easily, lower back pain
Calcium: Cramping while moving, brittle nails, eczema, insomnia, depression
Vitamin A: Keratosis pilaris, Poor immunity, Poor vision, any eye problems, poor wound healing.
Also due to not absorbing nutrients properly, it can lead to malabsoprtion/dramatic weight loss.

I personally, have always been very skinny, and am unable to gain weight easily. (some people think im lucky) But it is very frustrating because i will eat alot and barely gain anything. Perhaps this is due to a malabsorption issue that i am having due to an impaired digestive system. If this is true i can eat as much as i want and still won't absorb anything! With the above symptoms i do have cold hands and feet and no moons on my nails (associated with b12 deficiency=anaemia), i have very brittle nails (no matter what i do they just will not grow) which i think is again associated with not absorbing the vital nutrients needed for proper nail growth.

When i was younger, i had restless legs and used to get alot of cramping but don't any more probably due to a better diet. I also sometimes do get ezcema just on my elbows but haven't had it for a long time (which Dora has suggested to be due parasites). Not only that, but i did have a VERY bad immune system when i was younger i was sick all of the time. Now i am much healthier but i do still get sick. I also do get lower back pain due to scoliosis which again is related to magnesium deficiency since magnesium relaxes the muscles if you are deficient the contracted muscles will pull on your bones changing the shape=scoliosis.

Rachel, we used a homeopath for our cleanses. He gave my girls homeopathics, but said I needed supplements, as homeopathics don't work as well for adults because we are too polluted. My program was pricey, but because this isn't something people talk about, I didn't have a clue about other options or what was involved. I eventually found out my chiropractor had a program to offer, as well as the acupuncturist I had gone to, not to mention the local health food stores. It really is pretty widespread, but people just don't talk about it for obvious reasons!

Alot of herbal companies and health food stores carry a simple program that apparently works. You can get tincture or pill form, but it includes just black walnut with green hull, wormwood and clove. I'm doing this one now for maintenance purposes, and am giving my daughter the black walnut and clove, along with one of her homeopathics to see if it helps the KP. I thought that if KP is caused by a parasite, it may take more than the homeopathic to get to it.

What's important on your first cleanse is to do a colon cleanse and candida cleanse before the parasite cleanse (or start a few days before). If you don't clean yourself out, you won't get to all of the parasites. If you don't get rid of candida, your digestive system will let parasites back in.

This whole topic is hard for alot of people to accept, but I have to say that everyone that I've convinced to do it goes through similar emotions: first a bit disturbed by what they see, then extreme curiousity about learning more, then finally apall that the medical community doesn't recognize this as a problem. Good luck to you!

Yes to: cold hands and feet, poor circulation (in fingers and toes, especially when cold), no moons on nails, used to have leg cramping when I was younger but not anymore, combination skin (some oily, some dry), have always been thin, keratosis pilaris.

I think that many people have several of these symptoms.. It is because most of us don't eat properly or pay attention to absorption or taking supplements.

Dora, do you mean what they see in the stool? just curious what we are going to be in for LOL Do you actually see the parasites? None have come out with the colonics (had my 3rd one tonight)

My colon therapist is going to this complete health spa place in Mexico with her coworkers and I asked her to ask about the KP when she is there. I mentioned before (I am not sure if it was this thread) that she has it so she will hopefully remember.

Well i've got KP almoast all over me, and I've had lactose intolerance when I was a child, not anymore. But I've always had too little calcium in my diet, since I haven't ever liked the taste of milk and didn't use to eat enough of cheese or other diary products. Now I'm just wondering.. If my body is using calsium to the skin, can that be a reason why my bones haven't gotten enough of the calcium (my bone density etc. has been tested when I was a child)? Or is the amount of calcium used in skin only minimum??

I'm the complete opposite KA and absolutely loved milk as a child. I'd drink at least a litre a day up until about age 18 or so and I still drink a fair bit now. I'm not lactose intolerant and don't have any other allergy to dairy. I'm really not sure about the calcium theory at all.

Elleone - yes, that is what I meant:-). I believe I read that there are approximately 300 identified human parasites, and about 70% of them are microscopic, so you may not see anything (giardia, amoeba), but most everyone that I know, did. Some common things to look for are (google human parasites pictures) puffy white rice looking things, thread or filiment-like stuff, black specks, white specks, off-white colored chip-like things, things that look like flattened earth worms, brown, black, rust colored, etc.

Unless people believe that they may have a parasite(s) and are looking, most will write it off as being something that didn't digest properly. Popcorn and whole flax and millet seed are difficult for most people to digest and usually show up. But think about it when you see something like the above, did you really eat something like that?

When I did my colon cleanse I don't remember seeing any of the above, but then I can't honestly say I was really looking. With the parasite cleanse, I did. When they do come out, they are dead. And as I said before it can all be a little disturbing - but keep in mind, better out than in! Over the following year you start feeling so much better and problems that you took for granted as a part of life/aging just quietly go away as your body heals itself.

Nasty! But you are right, better out than in. I haven't had anything like that but I did have some mucoid placque come out once. That was pretty weird. I won't do the parasite cleanse for another 2 weeks (oh, joy, nice for Christmas!) but I'll be sure to check for it!

For proper Calcium absorption, you need Vitamin D. Fortified Cereals, fish (Tuna, or Cod liver oil) and margarine (avoid those with transfat, something like Becal is good) are some of the sources. Do some resistence training like light weights and/or calisthentics to help increase the density of the bones (you will gain weight but its not "fat" weight) - making use of the vitamins. Food is fuel, you need to "use it" otherwise it becomes wasted.

Dora, how's your KP after the colon and parasite cleanses?
Also, have you done a liver cleanse?

Hope4thebest-My 3-1/2 year old daughter is the one with the KP. We are not quite 1/2 way through the parasite cleanse; her KP looks lots better, but we have also cut way back on dairy. So why it looks so much better is too early to say. She did not have a colon cleanse as her life as been too short to really have accumulated much debris, nor have I done a liver cleanse for her. I think thats a good idea however, and if the parasite cleanse doesn't do the trick, that will probably be next!

Excuse me for butting in on the conversation, but I have been curious about this for quite awhile. I too had jumped on the colon cleanse thing a few years back. I started to do research and read things about mucoid plaque and parasite cleanses. I have a few relatives who have had to have colon exams and they drink Go Lightly before they go to rid all the waste. They have never seen anything like this when they went and they're exams showed perfectly pink walls...except for cancer and polyps in some. Now, I am wondering if it is something in these colon cleansers that makes this plaque that people rid. I am also wary of these parasite cleansers. What if you don't have parasites in you and its actually something in the capsules. Makes me apprehensive to put something like that in my body, ya know. Also, I've never done a colon cleanse long enough to see plaque. So for those of you who have done these cleanses, what is your opinion? Worth it or not? Marketing fraud or not?

Patchouli-you are certainly not butting in on the conversation - that's what this list is for. My understanding for the reason people could need a colon cleanse has to do with the change in diet in the last century, the less healthy eating habits. More refined foods, fried foods, sugars, junk, alcohol, etc. are being consumed, that have much less fiber and bulk (although now we are becoming more aware of what a healthy diet is). This can cause constipation and buildup on your colon walls. Additionally, these types of food, as well as antibiotics, can mess up the digestive system. Perhaps your relatives have always been healthy eaters? Or have regularly used laxatives or a product like metamucil?

As for the parasite cleanses, most are tinctures (liquid), or herbal supplements. That thought crossed my mind also when I first started (that what I was going to see, if anything, was from the supplements - I was a huge skeptic!), but then I saw something that left no doubt in my mind. As have several friends/relatives I know who have done this. Others have said that they saw something questionable, but all have said that it got rid of bloating, constipation, diahria, and cramps (after eating or before a BM), and made them regular.

If a person has always been a healthy eater, and doesn't have a digestive system that is messed up, they are unlikely to pick up a parasite. A good digestive system will digest anything they consume.

As a first hand witness to the benefits of cleansing (as mentioned before my older daughter's ezcema was cured three days into the parasite cleanse, the reason I believe KP could be caused by a parasite, although if it is, it appears to be a stubborn one:-), so IMHO definitely 'worth it', and not marketing fraud.