What To Do if Your Doctor Cannot Treat Your Parasite

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A mother’s son in South Carolina is reportedly infested with parasitic worms, and was turned away by medical professionals. She wonders not if we can identify the worm for her, but simply if any of our readers have felt like this before in the queries they send in.

To answer our reader’s question: yes, we have a lot of readers who have experienced similar things, and have felt the same things. Our reader disclosed her humiliation and incredulity at the “dangerous and unprofessional” nature of the people she and her son consulted, and we have received a lot of mail from readers who are sure that there is a parasite involved, and are met with similar responses from medical professionals.

The thing is, the vast majority of physicians and other medical professionals have little to no training in identifying parasites, and so, in a way, you cannot blame them. Of course, that is not to say our reader’s feelings are not valid. No medical professional should display an apathetic attitude toward their patients. What our reader needs to do in this situation is find the sort of physician who has training and experience in this area. To do that, we recommending Googling either “infectious disease specialist in (name of her town or largest city in SC)” or “travel medicine physician in (name of her town or largest city in SC).”

Furthermore, although our reader did not provide pictures of the worms, she did give a substantial amount of context, which we appreciate, as it may provide other readers with a situation they can relate to if they are having similar issues. At first, our reader took her son to Urgent Care, where his doctor did not do any examining once he was informed that he was there for a parasite. He reportedly told our reader’s son to “go home to get his camera to prove there was a worm.” We can understand that in this context, this would have felt like a waste of time for our reader, especially in a country where every second spent in a hospital is a substantial amount of money being added to the price of one’s visit, especially for our reader’s son, who does not have health insurance. Later the same day, she went back to the same doctor, who then told her to take her son to the hospital as they were not prepared to treat something like a parasite infestation at the Urgent Care center, which is fair.

Following this, our reader took her son to a hospital in a different city, where the doctor also did not perform any examinations except for an ‘eyeballed’ oral examination, which the doctor did “reluctantly” at the mother’s request. After not being able to identify the issue, the doctor told our reader she needed to get Ivermectin, which was supposedly $400 per pill, which our reader could not afford. Our reader ended up giving her son their horse’s Ivermectin paste, which “has not helped.” This is definitely something we would urge our readers not to do. Do not give someone medication that was prescribed for someone else, or something else as in the case of our reader. The intended dosage for a horse will be vastly different from that of a human child, and nonetheless, one cannot know the potential side effects of giving a person medication intended for an animal.

Our reader concluded her query by saying that she would send over pictures, but as this situation is purely medical in nature, that will not be necessary. As we are not medical professionals, we cannot provide medical identifications, as that would essentially be giving diagnoses. Nonetheless, while our reader was not able to get the help for her son that she required from the medical professionals she did consult, we encourage her to keep pushing for her son’s health as she has been doing, and to consult an infectious disease specialist by doing one of the two aforementioned Google searches. If any of our readers have found a physician who was knowledgeable and helpful regarding parasites, please leave their name and contact information in a comment below!

 

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Summary
Article Name
What To Do if Your Doctor Cannot Treat Your Parasite
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A mother's son in South Carolina is reportedly infested with parasitic worms, and was turned away by medical professionals. She wonders not if we can identify the worm for her, but simply if any of our readers have felt like this before in the queries they send in.
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Share the knowledge

Author: Worm Researcher Anton

3 thoughts on “What To Do if Your Doctor Cannot Treat Your Parasite

  1. My husband and I were diagnosed with a microfilarea infestation by our primary care provider after the dermatologist at the Dallas VA tried to put my husband on Risperidone without any proof that there was not a parasite present. We were also referred to infectious disease doctor’s. The infectious disease doctor’s informed us that we couldn’t get a parasite if we hadn’t left the country. The last infectious disease doctor told us that the Mayo clinic was our only option. The mayo clinic told us that they couldn’t help us because they were only taking patients with gastrointestinal parasites. We are farmers from Texas and we know a parasitic illness when we see one. SHAME ON OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM!!!

  2. yeah, Well I’m infected also. Just wasting my time sitting here trying to believe that something is going change & I will be saved. WRONG! Don’t bother with looking in to those special doctors either. Your genius personal doctor has to 1st refer u then the parasite specialist has to except you. Fat chance. I’ve been dealing with this for 5yrs. Black Fly infection. river blindness. I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty that`s what I`m hosting. this isn’t rocket science. They are all neglected diseases. I`ve lost ever thing.

  3. I sympathize with any one suffering parasitic insects, worms or any thing that invades one’s body. I have been suffering bug infestation for over 6 months. I have been flat rejected by the medical community that I rely on. At long last I get to see a specialist or a least a skin doctor. This time I don’t see how I can be ignored as I have plenty of larvae, and pupa clearly visible on under my skin. There is a scar 8 inches long on my abdomen from these beasts. The ocs say I was imagining the bugs.That the sores were impetigo. I took specimens in and they were rejected. No scrapings or pathology has been performed. Now the bugs are emerging from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. . I’ve been sick as a dog for the last 6 months.

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