Intestinal Worms
Symptoms
The usual symptoms of intestinal worms are diarrhea,
foul breath, dark circles under the eyes, constant desire for food, restlessness
at night with bad dreams, anemia and headache. Roundworms may give rise to
inflammation of the intestine and lungs, nausea, vomiting, loss of weight, fever,
nervousness and irritability. Pinworms and thread worms may bring on intense itching
in the area around the rectum. Threadworms may cause periodic bouts of diarrhea
alternating with constipation, loss of weight, cough and fever. Hookworms may
give rise to anemia and nutritional disorders. The presence of giardia may
result in pain in the calves and weakness in the legs.
Causes
The eggs of these parasites are introduced into the
human system through the medium of food or water, especially undercooked meat.
Roundworms may result from dirty fingers and food. Hookworms enter the human
body through the skin from infected water. The tapeworms are transmitted into
the body through undercooked flesh foods or foods contaminated by dogs. The
real cause of intestinal worms, however, is wrong feeding. The eggs of these
worms, taken into the human body through food and water can breed in the
intestines only if they find there a suitable medium for their propagation.
This medium is an intestinal tract clogged with morbid matter and systemic
refuse due to wrong feeding habits.
Treatment
The treatment for intestinal worms should begin with
diet. The patient should be kept on an exclusive diet of fresh fruits for five
to seven days. Thereafter he may adopt a well-balanced light diet consisting
mainly of fruits, vegetables, milk and whole meal bread. The diet should
exclude fatty foods such as butter, cream, and oil, refined foods and all flesh
foods. This dietary should be continued till the parasites are completely eliminated.
In some cases,
depending on the progress being made, the all-fruit diet may have to be repeated
at regular intervals. In obstinate cases the patient should resort to short
fasts on raw fruit and vegetable juices. This fast has to be of a fairly long
duration in case of tapeworms. It would be advisable to carry on this fast
treatment under the supervision of a naturopath, or better still, in a nature
cure hospital. During the all-fruit diet or fasting period, the bowels should be
cleansed daily with the warm water enema.
Home Remedies
Among the numerous home remedies found beneficial in
the treatment of intestinal worms, the use of coconut is most effective. It is
an ancient remedy for expelling all kinds of intestinal worms. A tablespoon of
the freshly ground coconut should be taken at breakfast followed by a dose of
castor oil after three hours. The process may be repeated till the cure is
complete. Garlic has been used for expelling intestinal worms from ancient
times by the Chinese, Greeks, Romans, Hindus and Babylonians. It is also used
by modern biological practitioners for this purpose. Both fresh garlic and its
oil are effective. An ancient method
of its medication was to place a couple of cloves of fresh garlic in its shoe.
As the person walks, it is crushed and the worm-killing garlic oil is absorbed
by the skin and carried by blood into the intestines as it possesses the
powerful penetrative force. This method is worth a trial by those who do not
like the taste of garlic and cannot eat it.
The carrot (gajar) is valuable in the elimination of
threadworms from children as it is offensive to all parasites. A small cup of
grated carrot taken every morning, with no other food added to the meal, can
clear these worms quickly. The digestive enzyme papain in the milk juice of the
unripe papaya (papita) is a powerful anthelmintic for destroying roundworms. A
tablespoon of fresh juice and equal quantity of honey should be mixed with
three to four tablespoons of hot water and taken as a dose by an adult. This
should be followed two hours later by a dose of 30 to 60 ml. of castor oil
mixed in 250 – 375 ml. of lukewarm milk. This treatment should be repeated for
two days, if necessary. For children of 7 to 10 years, half the above doses
should be given. For children under three years, a tablespoon is sufficient.
Papaya seeds are also useful for this purpose. They
are rich in a substance called caricin which is a very effective medicine for
expelling roundworms. The alkaloid Carpaine found in the leaves has also the
power to destroy or expel intestinal worms. They are given with honey. The
bark, both of the root and the stems of pomegranate (anar) tree, is well known
for its anthelmintic properties of destroying parasitic worms. The root-bark is,
however, preferred as it contains greater quantity of the alkaloid punicine
than the stem-bark. This alkaloid is highly toxic to tapeworms. Ninety to 180
ml. of the cold decoction of bark, preferably fresh bark, should be given three
times at intervals of one hour to an adult. A purgative should be given after
the last dose. The dose for children is 30 to 60 ml. The decoction is used for
expelling tapeworms. The seeds of the ripe pumpkin (kumra) are useful in
intestinal worms, especially tapeworms. An infusion, prepared from the seeds
after they are peeled and crushed, will kill parasites and help in expelling
the tapeworm. It will be necessary to fast for a day and empty the intestines
by taking the juice of boiled dry prunes. The next day, three or four tumblers
of this pumpkin seed infusion should be taken.
Source: www.healthlibrary.com through www.scribd.com
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