This is my dream: To live as my forefathers once did - in harmony with the land that sustains us. A project to investigate and innovate the creation of a low impact home with methods of living in a form of permaculture designed to sustain my family and improve biodiversity. To leave the land richer than before and in doing so enable others to do so.
Your poo cured my asthma
Posted 03/04/08 by Matt B in the Health category
This post is special if only because it inaugurates a whole new subject - health.I came upon this story on the blog entitled Abandon All Fear which I read from time to time. The title of the post is When The Cure Is Worse Than The Disease and is not a story for the faint of heart. But we eco types are made of sterner stuff than that... right?
How to cure your asthma or hay-fever using hookworm - a practical guide (May 01, 2006) is the personal story of an American so tortured by Asthma and breathing troubles that he researched and acted on a theory that might make you feel a bit ill.
The tale involves walking in other peoples poo and traveling around the world to do so...
kuro5hin.org user luckbeaweirdo reports how he traveled to Cameroon to infect himself with hookworm what might surprise you is that it worked and the reason is reasonably well known. This form of treatment, I am told, is called helminthic therapy and while it is not a cure it does put the condition into remission.
Hookworms act on the immune system and as asthma is an autoimmune (over) reaction the immune system is corrected and the symptoms are removed. At least for as long as the "infestation" exists. The host gets to be rid of an illness and the worms get a home - everyone wins... if you can cope with the idea of adding to your internal flora.
I dug a bit deeper and found site that the guy had set up (or someone copied all his text and added photographs) asthmahookworm.com. It gives a lot more scientific background on the subject and cites a lot more references. Being a geek at heart I approve of all that sort of thing.
When I say references I mean 38 citations of scientific papers on the subject. So mad he might have been but mad with the backing of some sound research.
Is there anything in your life you would be willing to go to such lengths to "cure"?
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