Parasites Living in You

What's eating you? People usually ask this question of those who seem worried or upset in some way, but they don't mean for you to take the question literally. What if when someone asked "What's eating you?", you took the question literally? You may have no idea of what it is that I'm talking about, but believe it or not, there could very well be something eating you. Scary thought isn't it?

I'm sure that the majority of you have heard of parasites. You may be thinking that parasites can only affect your dog or cat, but you are one hundred percent wrong. It is incredibly easy for you to contract a parasite of some sort in your everyday activities. Do you go for runs on the beach without your shoes? Or maybe you run outside barefoot to get your morning paper? Do you always wash your vegetables before you make that dinner salad? Have you ever been licked on the face by your playful furry friend? I have one more stupid question for you, do you breathe on a regular basis? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you could have a few uninvited guests making themselves quite at home inside of you.

We all find ourselves wanting to be hospitable towards those around us, even when those around us are less than deserving. You even go as far as to offer beverages and maybe even finger food just to be the polite host/hostess, but did you know that it isn't only humans that you are making to feel right at home? Every time you fuel up with the nutrients that help your body to run through the day, you are inviting the parasites that could be curling up comfortably in your intestines to stay longer. They literally are sucking the nutrients right out of you, eating you out of house and home so to speak. If it's the Protozoan that's made its way into your intestines, you could very well have made a friend for life. They are extremely small and take up very little room but you might want to reconsider keeping this guest whereas he likes to explore your body by checking out your blood, tissues and intestines. Guests that help themselves are just rude, don't you agree?

There comes a time in everyone's life when they are asked if they have a little room to spare for the night, maybe for the weekend and usually this isn't a problem. But what happens when this guest gets a little too comfortable and decides to extend their stay for, oh I don't know, ten maybe twenty years. That would be the flatworm and just like that pesky guest, he is extremely difficult to get rid of once you open that door to your soft, cushy intestines. Now, maybe your guest realizes that he is taking up a little too much room so he only stays for a year tops. That's our little, oh I'm sorry, our big friend the Fasciolopsis buski ( or a very large tapeworm). See, he knows that he takes up more room than he should so he only attaches himself within the mucous membranes of your small intestine for the time he needs. He doesn't want to overstay his welcome. Make sure you wash your vegetables before eating them or you might as well be holding the door open for this guest.

One of the scariest things is the idea of something attaching itself to you and burrowing itself under your skin. Well, if you like to go around barefoot outdoors this is exactly what you could soon be looking forward to. All you have to do is step in area where a dog has pooped and you could easily exposed your skin to the hookworm larvae that can be found in feces. It can literally hook onto your skin and get under it to migrate through it until its eventual death. Before it dies, it can cause extreme discomfort so I'd advise you to put on your shoes before running outside to pickup the morning paper. I'd also suggest not allowing your dog to lick you in the face. That is unless you don't mind the idea of a tapeworm growing up to 33 feet inside of you and laying up to one million eggs a day inside of your gastrointestinal tract. Hey, whatever floats your boat, just make sure you can stand it for up to twenty five years. Well that's it for now! If you're feeling a little itchy, achy, or unusually full, you might want to think about what could be eating you...or go to sleep and hope for the best!