Talk:Helminthic therapy

message: Thanks for everyone's contributions to the page. i am really new to this and the way it is now is much better that what i did, although I am working on a major revision offline right now with a friend.
You asked about how common the use of helminthic therapy is, citing your allergies. Ovamed has a pretty active discussion board on their web site and Yahoo has two groups titled Helminthic therapy in one form or another. I think the common revulsion for intestinal worms means the therapy is less commonly used than one would expect given how effective it appears. I actually "cured" my asthma and seasonal allergies and mild irritable bowel all with hookworm infection by Autoimmune Therapies.
I also know of one other of their patients who cured, or more correctly, put into remission his exercise induced bronchospasm and is experiencing a great improvement in his psoriasis using their therapy (hookworms).
If you read the boards for Asthma, Crohn's, Colitis, etc., you will find the occasional post from mostly Ovamed patients, they seem to have been around longest. Most report very positive results, except for cost.
thanks again.
FQ1513 05:00, 6 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Many thanks for the great edits 

message: Hi, am relatively new to Wikipedia and am looking for someone to guide me in improving this page. I am happy to do the work. I want a mentor so that I can make this page as well-constructed and written, as authoritative and as complete as possible.
I have many more references I could add for instance, but don't want to festoon the page with too many. I am also wondering about the structure and organization of the page. For instance is there a way to located the greatest examples of the wiki, I could then just emulate the way that the page is organized, referenced, etc.
Thanks and sorry for being lame.
FQ1513 (talk) 19:08, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: The term "Featured article" (FA) is used to describe the best Wiki content, and you can see a list of medical FAs (for example, Treatment of multiple sclerosis) at Wikipedia:Featured_articles#Biology_and_medicine. I would also recommend reading through Wikipedia:Manual of Style (medicine-related articles). I wouldn't worry so much about finding a mentor if I were you -- most people can succeed in this environment as long as they read, understand, and consent to Wikipedia:Five pillars. But if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask, either here or on my talk page. --Arcadian (talk) 16:55, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Guidance/Mentor 

message: Why can't you just analyze whatever is secreted by the parasite, and make that into a drug in itself? --131.215.166.4 (talk) 09:02, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Sounds like more of a pain in the ass than simply using the actual worms, no? But that is the goal of the current research. CalumetandHecla (talk) 07:51, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

text: Because the parasite is not secreting something, the effectiveness is caused by the immune system's reaction to the parasite's presence.--HarryHenryGebel (talk) 04:25, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text:  Well, that is the hypothesis anyway.  The anonymous contributor's question would make an interesting test of the hypothesis discussed here. Rangek (talk) 20:12, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

text: Absolutely, and the key here is of course to solve the problem, not to prove that curious and fun treatments like purposefully taking worms can solve serious problems (it's not about "worms' rights" issue after all).  Have a look here (http://www.jimmunol.org/cgi/content/abstract/180/6/4265)  for the details looking at the role that filarial cystatin plays in this context.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.26.184.68 (talk) 20:56, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

text: Actually, there are peptides prepared from some worms and I believe they're used in a similar fashion to helminthic therapy (I'm not 100% sure about this, because it's extremely difficult to find information). However it is very hard to find more information about this therapy, let alone to find the therapeutics. I haven't been successful. Renowned CFS/ME expert Paul Cheney has mentioned the use of "earth dragon peptides" as a very effective treatment, but there seems to be no information about them on the web. DiamonDie (talk) 08:38, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  extract secretions as drug 

message: I have placed a NPOV tag on the article. I think it altogether balanced towards the promotion of this unapproved therapy. We do need some actual reference that it is unapproved, and if possible why. DGG (talk) 01:52, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: NPOV

message: I changed their categorization to symbionts which is correct, parasites are a form of symbiont, and further believe they should be mutualist as both organism gains a benefit from the relationship. Therefore, they are not parasites.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.169.9.12 (talk) 09:20, 13 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Helminths if therapeutic must be symbionts, not parasites 

message: Hi, I recently published an article on helminthic therapy elsewhere and was taken to task by someone for my characterization of helminths used therapeutically as parasites. His assertion was that they were symbionts, of which parasite is a class, and not parasites but commensal or mutualist.
In reading the Wikipedia entry for Symbionts I learned that he was right, so I came back here to correct what I believe is an error in labeling helminths used in therapy as parasites and my effort to change it was rolled back with the argument that helminths are commonly viewed as parasites.
Rather than get into a rollback war I went to the individual's talk page to make the case but could not get them to agree although I remain convinced that this change is correct.
Any thoughts out there? Please refer to the Symbiont page here on Wikipedia to understand the difference between the classes of symbiont I am talking about amongst which are parasites, mutualists, commensals.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by FQ1513 (talk • contribs) 19:02, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text:  Is Necator americanus approaching a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with humans?  -  this research article from "Trends in Parasitology" claims that Necator americanus might be approaching a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with humans --OmegaGX (talk) 02:44, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Helminths as parasites or mutualists? 

message: So you guys refer to "beneficial parasites" in this section.  If the 'parasite' benefits the host, it isn't a parasite, right?  I'm gonna come back and change this in a week or so if no one objects. Universalss (talk) 21:14, 4 May 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I object. Helminths are parasites. Delicious carbuncle (talk) 21:26, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

text: I recall that we've already had this discussion on my talk page. Helminths are parasites. Don't get your facts from Wikipedia. Delicious carbuncle (talk) 13:18, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
replies: text:  Is Necator americanus approaching a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with humans?  -  this research article from "Trends in Parasitology" claims that Necator americanus might be approaching a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with humans --OmegaGX (talk) 02:50, 23 September 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Theoretical explanation of helminthic therapy 

message: Where do we include the link to the yahoo board that has a huge wealth of information as it has a few hundred users, most of whom have tried helminthic therapy? 
Also, where do we put the links to the latest research about Helminthic Therapy from reputable medical journals such as
http://www.ijcb.co.in/april2010issueofijcb/109-110.pdf
and 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1856386/pdf/136.pdf
Thanks.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by OmegaGX (talk • contribs) 15:30, 13 May 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I haven't look at the other links yet but the first to the Yahoo board is not a reliable source and doesn't belong in the article.  HTH. --CrohnieGalTalk 17:37, 26 June 2010 (UTC)
replies: text:  http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/helminthictherapy/files/  << this link contains copies of research studies from reputable scientific journals regarding this therapy. Please review them.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by OmegaGX (talk • contribs) 11:23, 27 June 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: A yahoo group is not a reliable source in any shape or form. Please review WP:MEDRS. If the group contains research studies, then those studies can be added themselves. The second link you give is not suitable since it does not appear to be pubmed indexed, and the third one is already in the article. --sciencewatcher (talk) 16:24, 27 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  References and more information 

message: For the Good of the Gut: Can Parasitic Worms Treat Autoimmune Diseases? Dec 2010. reports TSO used to control symptoms of ulcerative colitis. Rod57 (talk) 10:30, 8 December 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Interesting, but just a case study. More importantly, we should probably discuss  in more depth in the article - it is actually a placebo controlled trial (the only one that has been done, AFAIK) and it gave a positive result. I was under the impression that no placebo controlled trials had been done. --sciencewatcher (talk) 15:48, 8 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: News

message: Important part of an encyclopedic article, no?  how did it start, and who started it?  (And yes, worms have been around for a long time, but they didn't publish) Midgley (talk) 10:36, 25 August 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  When did it start? 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: https://aeon.co/essays/gut-worms-were-once-a-cause-of-disease-now-they-are-a-cure
If someone wants to work it into the article, go ahead.  Keith Henson (talk) 17:29, 31 May 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  new article