Re: Cutaneous Larva Migrans / Hookworm

I have the exact same thing. I actually am aware of two different parasites that I have and doctors in the United States are useless to help. I ended up taking praziquantel from a pet store hoping to relieve some of my symptoms until my appointment with a infectious disease/ travel related illnesses Doctor that I'm praying will help me. These things have literally ruined my life. I was finally diagnosed by a local infectious disease Doctor and sent to a teaching hospital to treat me and they did nothing. They explained everything that was going on after extensive testing (X-ray, MRI, CT, blood, stool etc) and then just hours after admitting me to the hospital a single doctor came back (they usually come in teams of four) and told me that every single doctor was wrong and I was perfectly fine and they were discharging me. I have a spinal cord injury that happened a year and a half ago, now the surgery is supposedly failing so now a second higher spinal cord injury is occurring along with a slew of other issues from necessary skin graphs, to vision therapy and brain damage. This is what the doctors informed me before the single doctor came in and said they were all wrong... Eventhough everything they said made perfect sense in terms of locations of pain and further neurological damage. Anyways you have one of the two parasite I have. One is a freshwater fish Tapeworm and the second is a hookworm... I forget the complete name but it's the American kind that causes cutaneous larva migrans. The Tapeworm is caught by eating raw fish that contains cysts infected with Tapeworm eggs. An example would be salmon sushi or more likely sashimi in the United States or more likely if you have traveled outside of the country. I used to work in Mexico and Dominican Republic almost 15 years ago and believe I caught it then. The hookworms are caught is warm, wet sand (coastal beach or lake) that an infected cat or dog defecated in and then the larva entered your body through your feet or whatever body part you touched to it. I'm surprised you only have one. Mine are itchy like crazy at times and follow different cycles depending upon the larval development. I've seen both parasites just under my skin with the naked eye and they look just like the pictures. I drew what I was seeing and showed my doctor. One looks like a circle with a crown in it.... That's the hookworm stuck on my skin. The tapeworm is under my skin and in my central nervous system and brain and that looks like a black paint splash similar to a Rorschach test (I can post a pic if you want but it changes throughout its development... That's just how I was able to finally identify it). It sounds crazy but if you haven't found treatment yet then you need to before the real nightmare begins. I'm paralyzed from my chest down, I have double vision/ blurry vision, nausea/vomiting (for days or months on end at times), constipation or at times diarrhea, B12 anemia (fish tapeworm shows up mainly as this since there is no blood test to specifically find it), muscle spasms and pain, anorexia or extreme hunger at times that alternate, sores on skin that change from itchy pimples to deep ulcers with little white plugs sticking up from the center, poor circulation, asthma, numbness/ burning sensations in areas, and who knows what else I'm forgetting... My symptoms are likely overlapping and I'm sorry for the long message but I'm concerned for you since I don't know which one you have and what I have gone through which I worry by the pics you are close to.