Re: Ascaris or Strongyles

They aren't moving through tissue. They are moving around tissue. Mostly (for me) they move between the layer of fat attached to my skin, and the muscle. Sometimes they run into a place where the connective tissue stops them. LIke at the base of my neck. They can't go straight up my neck into my head, because that connective is like a wall for them. But if they start out on the side of my neck, they can travel up over hte muscle and get behind my ear on my scalp. There are regular "routes" they can get through, but they don't just break through tissue (usually). When they did break through those two times, it was hellish pain. I was just going to a walk and it felt like someone stabbed me in the pelvic area. My body literally froze with the shock of the pain. I imagine it is similar to a bullet. Sometimes the move up the groves of where two muscles meet. They also move around a large blood vessel, up the track it makes. They do bite. Most of the ones that bite or hook (I believe) have a numbing agent in their saliva.

From a psychological perspective, I'll give you this. I always always doubt what I think I know. The worst is the initial grappling with your sanity. Wondering if you are crazy. Analyzing every clue you have to say "Is this real." For me, it took a while for me to let go of my denial of what was happening to me. And of course it doesn't help to not know for sure what it is, and to just be guessing.

Then there is the fear of death. I had to grapple with that. But I had been sick for 10 years before I knew it was parasites and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. So I was already dealing with that. Right at this very minute, I've got one sitting next to my jugular. The first time that happened my heart rate went crazy and I was afraid I was going to die. Now I know I might die. But chances are I won't today. So I put an oil on my skin that usually chases them away from my head. So, yeah, how do you get there, psychologically, where you can calmly contemplate the possibility of your imminent death? Well, after a year and a half of knowing what is wrong with you, the mind adjusts.

Then there is the craziness of laying on your side and feeling a large worm slithering and wiggling between your hip muscle and your skin. Now try to go to sleep like that. So there is that challenge.

I don't know how my mind, or how any human mind, can overcome all of these psychological challenges. For now I'm holding on.