Most doctors assume that there aren’t many parasites found in the U.S. However, my experience has been very different. In this video I’ll tell you why we find many more parasites than other doctors, and what you need to know about parasites.

I’ve seen and treated a lot of parasites in U.S. patients over my 25-year career. And they’ve all been missed by the patients’ regular doctors and even their gastroenterologists.

Most doctors assume that parasites are extremely rare in the U.S., and therefore they don’t test for them. And of course, if you don’t look for them, then you won’t find them.

But we do extensive parasite testing in every single patient. And that means that we’ve tested over 10,000 patients for parasites. And although I wouldn’t call them super common, we certainly find and treat parasites on a regular basis.

Why Do People In The U.S. Get Parasites?

Most people assume that you have to drink stream or lake water to get parasites, or that you have to travel to exotic distant countries. Those things certainly will increase your risk of getting parasites, but in my experience most people with parasites don’t have any history of drinking stream or lake water, and only a few have travelled extensively.

Our modern-day world is really a very small place, and our food system is international. We all ingest foods that are imported from all over the world.  

Plus, many of us routinely come into contact with people who have been travelling to countries that are known to have more parasites.

So parasites now come to us. We don’t have to go to them.

What Are The Parasites I Should Be Concerned About?

Some of you are familiar with Giardia. When US doctors think of parasites, they are mostly thinking about Giardia. It’s the parasite that you are most likely to pick up if you drink from a stream or lake water.

But there are lots of other parasites, and most of them are not tested for when doctors do stool testing. These include Blastocystis hominis, Dientamoeba fragilis, Entamoeba coli, Endolimax nana, and others.

The vast majority of parasitic infections that I’ve diagnosed in my career are these types of microscopic parasites. You can’t see or feel them. They are only visible under the microscope.

The parasites that you can see are the worms. These include Ascaris, Necatur and Taenia, otherwise known as roundworm, hookworm, and tapeworm, as well as other worms.  This is what most people think of when they think of parasites, but in my experience, these are quite rare in the U.S.

How Do You Know if You Have Parasites?

You can’t tell whether or not you have parasites based on your symptoms. Lots of things cause diarrhea, gas, bloating, and peristalsis with borborygmi (that feeling of things moving around in your intestines).  In fact, most people who already think that they have parasites don’t have parasites.

And most people who think they see something like a parasite in their stool are really seeing some fiber or undigested food part in their bowel movement. I once had a patient mistake undigested bean sprouts for parasites. And I’ve had lots of other patients see things that turned out to not be parasites.

If that’s happening then you still need my help, but it’s not for parasites. It’s for your poor digestion.  

The only way to know if you have parasites is to do stool DNA testing for ALL parasites, and that’s something that most doctors aren’t doing.

If you’d like help determining whether or not you have parasites or help treating parasites, give us a call at 206-264-1111. We’ve literally seen them all and would be happy to help. And if it turns out that you don’t have parasites, then we’ll help you figure out what else is causing your symptoms.

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