Spring cleansing with a focus on parasites

I haven't had a stool sample tested or anything, but I have a feeling my partner and I could use a general digestive tract and liver cleanse. I've fasted every spring for the last four years, but this time I would like there to be a focus on ridding our bodies of tiny unhelpful creatures, both bacterial and parasitic. This is going to be my partner's first cleanse.

On our list of little bottles to buy: wormwood extract, stemona extract, clove bud essential oil, holy basil essential oil, and some kind of tea with tannins (supposed to make the rest of them more effective). Also plan to dig some oregon grape root and make tea, possibly as a longer treatment that will last into the summer.

I feel like I might hire an herbalist (but I don't know of a good one in the area), as most of the things listed above are potent, and anything that can kill a tapeworm can harm the rest of your system. Also not sure if you're supposed to take these kinds of things before, during, or after a fast.

We plan to start a vegan diet when we get back from WA on March 1st, and then start fasting around the 15th. I'm going for 12 to 14 days, my man will probably only do three or four days as it's his first time, and he's skinny. We'll use mainly fresh juices (I have a greenstar juicer), this is the only time of year I buy large amounts of produce from a store, and it feels weird but whatever. We use the "salt water flush" and laxative tea instead of enemas, it's just easier with our lack of an inside bathroom.

Anyone else use this process to clean out from the inside out? Tips? Herbalists (in cali or oregon would be awesome) to recommend?

marina phillips wrote:On our list of little bottles to buy: wormwood extract, stemona extract, clove bud essential oil, holy basil essential oil, and some kind of tea with tannins (supposed to make the rest of them more effective). Also plan to dig some oregon grape root and make tea, possibly as a longer treatment that will last into the summer.

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Also not sure if you're supposed to take these kinds of things before, during, or after a fast.

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Anyone else use this process to clean out from the inside out? Tips? Herbalists (in cali or oregon would be awesome) to recommend?

Black tea has tannins in it. Most leaf teas do. So does coffee. I drink coffee that's been brewed with cloves most mornings; it's tasty.

Lots of traditional beverages have wormwood in them. Absynthe has recently become legal in the US, but traditionally-made vermooth has wormwood, too (that's where the name comes from: think vorm-oot). Mugwort is similar enough that it might be worth looking into, since it can probably be had fresh. I would not use pure extract without a diagnosis and some expert advice, but I'm comfortable with the lower doses in traditional preparations.

Most of the things you list sound like they would not be good before or during a fast.

Be careful with the dosage on essential oils. They can be strong enough to hurt you in surprisingly low doses.

If you remove all the bacteria from your system, there are often bad consequences. A trusted culture like yogurt can help restore some of the diversity lost in that sort of effort.

Kombucha is interesting stuff, because it includes lactobacilli (which are symbionts with us; some parasites you're worried about would live by taking their natural place) along with other cultures that work together to repel most other sorts of microbe, although there are apparently some sorts of mold they can't defend against. It would seem to be antibiotic and probiotic at the same time. One part of the culture is a species of yeast, which Paul Stamets has pointed out is in a kingdom similar enough to ours that similar parasites are a concern, and evolved defenses often carry over between kingdoms. Kombucha seems to fall in the category of "not to be mixed with fasting": a cup a day or so over the long term has a good reputation, but efforts at intensive treatment have occasionally caused harm.

Thanks for the response, Joel!

We drink Kombucha about once a week, I don't yet have a mother for our own batches but intend to get one going when we have a more stable temperature home for her. (our cabin varies at least thirty degrees a day, sometimes more)

We've been taking wormwood, clove, holy basil, and oregon grape tinctures three times a day for five days. We'll start the fast here in a the next few weeks, whenever it seems warm enough. My sweetie is actually going to do a mono-diet rather than a "fast." Getting good bacteria back into our systems is a major goal of this whole thing. We eat fermented foods on a semi-regular basis but I've been lazier than usual about pickling stuff lately.

I made some kim chee the other day to be ready for eating after the cleanse. Miso soup and kim chee are amazing foods to use for coming off a fast. I'm buying some water kefir grains also (oh dang I need to paypal the lady....!), want to have some kind of pro-biotic drink on hand without paying out the nose for the bottled stuff (though it's really good).

I don't know if you can find this in the US, but epazote (Chenopodium ambrosioides) is used often in Mexico to get rid of parasites and amoebas. It has a strong taste (I've never taken it in tea or tincture, frankly) but it works. It's also used often in cooking with a double purpose: it taste good in small doses and acts as a medicinal food, mostly in a preventive sense. It's said that if the taste of epazote is unappealing, you probably have parasite. it looks like this:

we use epazote in beans to prevent, um, flatus. didn't know it was also good to nix parasites.

Thanks for that information, ceiba! I'll look for the tincture.

We got so busy with projects that I've had to push the fast back til probably the middle of april.

But we did a few weeks of black walnut, wormwood, oregon grape, and clove tinctures at least twice a day. I think our poo texture (yeah, sorry but....) improved from that quite a bit.

People give chickens pumpkins, seeds and all, as a de-wormer.
Pumpkin seeds are very nutritious to eat, although some have difficulty eating raw seeds. I don't see why it wouldn't translate to humans. Might be a safer way to go on the cleanse as opposed to essential oils.

Here in the Dominican Republic, people toast pumpkin seeds (add a bit of oil in a skillet like you were making popcorn) and eat them for parasites. The pumpkins they grow here are sort of squash looking to me. I don't think it probably matters. It is the easiest way we have found to treat our kids when they complain of stomach problems.

For Amoebas, take a garlic clove minced with coconut for flavor about 3x daily. Another way is to mince the garlic and if you are careful, you can pretty much wrap it in a glob of honey and swallow it like a pill. Don't take more than a clove though or it will bother your stomach and could make you vomit. The freeze dried garlic pills seem to work pretty well also and are easier to deal with.

I have also personally used oregano oil with good success for parasites. I think I took about 6 drops twice daily for two weeks.

Both of these treatments would probably only be appropriate for either mild cases or people who have built up some resistance to parasites. I'm no doctor, but people with bad problems should probably just skip the milder treatments, get tested, and take the recommended drugs.

Edited to add: The oregano oil is not recommended if you are pregnant. I don't know the risks, and I don't know about taking it while breast feeding. Actually, come to think of it, pretty much anything that is for parasites is contraindicated for pregnancy.

I have heard accounts of people who have gotten used to garlic, and chew and eat a raw clove one or two times a day. Seems like that sort of training might also build enough strength of character to overcome quite a few minor ailments.

We really need to fast again, too.
this is how we do it. first build up to it by eating shredded apple, and other fruit and drink three quarts of water for a day. Then take a quart of warm water with bitter salts and drink it all within fourty five minutes. Stay within easy reach of bathroom. Take only liquids after that. Boil a broth that includes clean potato peels, greens etc. called Rummler beer. Drink a cup of water with bitter salt if needed, to make sure you get all the gook out of your intestines. Husband would do this for ten days. After the fast build up to eating by starting out with a shredded apple and a spoon of yoghurt.

Are you familiar with Swedish Herbs? There are several recipies out, I use the one by Maria Treben. One teaspoon morning and evening in half a cup of herb tea. or take it straight. It tastes terrible, but works wonderful. we find that after taking a dose,a mouthful of applejuice will cut the bitterness . Raw carrots and soaked pumpkin seeds were traditionally used to get rid of certain worms. I think the pumpkin seeds to get rid of a worm that looks sort of like an earthworm. To do a "cure," start at the full moon and go until the new moon if you want to get rid of, flush out, cleanse. It is downhill for your system, to explain it in simple terms. To do it from new moon to full moon would not be as effective and sort of like going uphill. You may smile at this, but there is something to it.