Parasite infections are more common than we think. The idea that these critters only thrive in third world countries is not exactly always the case. In fact, there are also a lot of cases of parasitic infections in people in developed countries as well.
Parasites enter the human body in different ways like consuming contaminated water, unclean food, or not properly washing hands. These organisms live and feed off inside the human body. When we are infected by these various critters, it can cause various symptoms that can lead to a more serious health issues.
In this episode we cover:
04:25 What Dr. Baris and Justin ate for breakfast
12:38 How parasites come in to our bodies
16:10 H. pylori and other common parasites
28:01 Lab testing methods for parasites
33:52 Common parasitic symptoms
37:31 Treatment protocols
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Baris Harvey: Thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of Beyond Wellness Radio. We have a great podcast for you today. But first, make sure you go to beyondwellnessradio.com and there you can sign up to the newsletter. By signing up to the newsletter, you will be able to get access to all of our interviews and all of our podcasts that we have created for you way, way, way in advance. About five episodes now, so definitely do that. Also we would really appreciate it if you guys give us a review on ITunes. Go into Beyond Wellness Radio and clicking on the review allows us to spread our message worldwide. So that is awesome. Make sure you guys also get the chance to go to justinhealth.com that can also be found at beyondwellnessradio.com. By doing that, you can see all of the awesome content that Dr. Justin has provided. He talks a lot about female hormones, infections and also you will have the availability to work with him. He works with clients around the country. So you can schedule a free 15-minute consultation with him. He also has a free video series. So go ahead and sign up to the newsletter there. Also make sure that you go to reallyhealthynow.com, which is my site, and you can sign up to the newsletter to be ready to receive my e-book. So with all that being said, how is it going today, Dr. Justin?
Justin Marchegiani: It is going great, Baris. Actually just got back from the Bulletproof Conference last week where I was treating patients. Gave a little talk action and I was able to play around with a lot of different bio-hacking tools. And I am also experimenting with Unfair Advantage. It is a new CoQ10-PQQ compound for cognitive performance and mitochondrial function.
Baris Harvey: Oh, yes. How was that going?
Justin Marchegiani: Pretty good. I am just doing a little bit more research on PQQ and its effects on cognitive enhancement, on mitochondria activation and just trying to sample it out and see how we do, and see how my focus is and my mental mindset, in general.
Baris Harvey: Yes, so is that one also has the CoQ10 in there as well?
Justin Marchegiani: Yes, I think it has 20 mg of CoQ10 and 10 mg of PQQ. And I am doing about 2 ampules of that a day so about 40 and 20. And I just given it a try and see how I do. And I like it; I like a lot of Bulletproof products. It is good stuff. Also I am shocking myself right now as we speak. I am using one of the PRS devices from Arcway to help to kind of drive some blood flow and help reduce some inflammation from an old wrist injury where I fell and did some cartilage damage. So I just try to biohack my way back to health.
Baris Harvey: Yes. Definitely. And it is funny that you mentioned that I am also having some electric stimulation right now. I have the Marc Pro device on my back. I am almost sore on the back so just getting the blood flowing.
Justin Marchegiani: Nice.
Baris Harvey: Helping as well for the inflammation and yes, I mean like football is not that healthy as I like it to be.
Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Baris Harvey: So if you have the ability to get your hands on any of these technologies to help with recovery that is like most of it right there, if you know what I mean?
Justin Marchegiani: Yes, it is huge. I mean obviously the diet and the lifestyle and the sleep, there is no laser or electrifying device that is going to ever replace that. But once you get that in place, then it is like, alright now, what is the next thing you can do? So, I think it is safe to say Baris that today’s show will be electrifying. What do you think?
Baris Harvey: Oh, yes. Definitely.
Justin Marchegiani: But before we start shocking our listeners, what did you have for breakfast?
Baris Harvey: What I had for breakfast today was, I actually cooked up some chicken.
Justin Marchegiani: Nice.
Baris Harvey: Actually, I had a whole chicken but I kind of just pulled it apart. Had some pulled chicken and had a little bit of mixed veggies left over from last night. Had some grass-fed cheese that was just put on top of that. Basically just steamed the veggies and I put them in the oven. Not too hot so I put some olive oil so it was not burning it but I kind of like the flavor when I bake with it. And then some sea salt and cheese just a little bit as I pull it out. Yes, broccoli, cauliflower and was it carrots? Yes, that stuff usually taste good with like salt and cheese.
Justin Marchegiani: Awesome, nice. This morning I did a little intermittent fasting and some coffee and butter and some MCT and I just finished up here before the show with some kielbasa and some Dijon mustard and some sauerkraut. I do not know just Kielbasa and sauerkraut they go together like peas and carrots, man. So good.
Baris Harvey: Yes. It is funny because sometimes we assume like, “Oh, these fermented foods and all these stuff are so foreign to us and they are gross but there are a lot of good tasting fermented foods.
Justin Marchegiani: Oh yes. Absolutely, but sauerkraut is definitely a good one and if you mix it with kielbasa, I highly recommend it.
Baris Harvey: Uh-Huh. Yes. And one of the easiest ways to get it in is that you get like Applegate or some other like grass-fed, like 100% beef hotdog or 100% as long as it is one meat and not mixed with all these other stuff. And just like slice it down the middle and basically put, you know, all your toppings right inside of the hotdog and use that as the bun, yes that taste good. Like you can just use sauerkraut if you wanted to and just put that down the middle and it tastes amazing.
Justin Marchegiani: Awesome, very cool. And also a cool thing about PQQ that I am just kind of discovering and reading, it also helps with mitochondria. Your mitochondria is kind of like the powerhouse of your cell, right?
Baris Harvey: Yes.
Justin Marchegiani: Produces ATP. It is like the currency of energy in your body. But it also helps spontaneously regenerate new mitochondria which is pretty cool. And also it is neuroprotective which is one of these really interesting things out there, all these drugs and all these pesticides and chemicals they tend to be neurotoxic. And it is cool if you can use various nutrients to help, will not protect you but to regrow mitochondria. I guess that is pretty awesome.
Baris Harvey: Yes, definitely. And like you mentioned how it stimulates new growth in the mitochondria. A really good one to have and see it combined with the CoQ10 really often. So, yes. It is a kind of a new one that people are starting to see but there has been a lot of trials and then usually paired with CoQ10 because they are both involved with the mitochondrial energy production portion of the body.
Justin Marchegiani: Absolutely, I am going to be trying it because I want to push my brain to the max.
Baris Harvey: Yes, definitely. Sounds good. So in today’s podcast, we are going to talk about infections. So for people out there, we are not just talking about like getting a scab and getting it infected. It is a bit more complicated than that. And a lot of people do not realize that if they are having the infection that they might not be noticing the signs and the symptoms. Sometimes there are no symptoms. But often times I hear so often that like, “Oh parasites, like no! That only happens when you are in like a foreign country or something like that.”
Justin Marchegiani: Right.
Baris Harvey: So, often people think like it is so taboo and impossible to happen. But all the time, when people think that their dog is sick the first thing that they turn to is like, “Oh, does your dog have worms?” But it is like,” I did not take them to a foreign country.” So first off, why is there a stigma that for some reason in the US, we are immune to these parasites or we do not have them? Why is there such a stigma?
Justin Marchegiani: Well, first off, really great analogy with the dog because that is true. Like a lot of people when their pets get sick they are like, “Yeah, does it have worms?” Like that is one of the first things that is always thought of. So yes, that makes a lot of sense into that community we are able to make that connection but in the human side of things, we are kind of a little bit disconnected, right?
Baris Harvey: Uh-humm.
Justin Marchegiani: So I think the big disconnect is with the third world country, they are more malnourished, poor water. So there is like more immune compromised ability, if you will, right?
Baris Harvey: Uh-huh.
Justin Marchegiani: Definitely compromised immune system less energy. We have that big Kwashiorkor thing which is like malnutrition. We see the distended baby’s belly. And it is not that they are distended because they are overweight or obese, it is because of their being malnourished. And basically fluid is going outside of their cell and causing serious distention. So that is one of the biggest signs of malnourishment, it is that big distended belly.
Baris Harvey: Yes.
Justin Marchegiani: So come the malnutrition and come the lack of good quality water and hydration and the stress of you are not having a shelter over your head that is going to really mess up your immune system. And when we have that, again we are going to fall prey to infections. And when we do not have good sanitation because a lot of these infections are fecal-oral meaning they come from stool, they come from your bowel movement, if you will. And when there are poo in the streets and we do not have good plumbing, the chances of parasites are going to be super, super high. So I think, the disconnect is, we are healthier here. We have better immune system here and we have indoor plumbing and better sanitation and cleaner water.
Baris Harvey: What causes infections?
Justin Marchegiani: Well typically, we have an immune barrier that lines all of our mucous membranes. It is called secretory IgA. So there are a couple of different membranes, Baris. We have IgA which is more of a mucous barrier. We have IgM, IgG, IgE. So IgE is going to be there more with like allergies. IgM is like more for like acute infections. And IgG is like kind of more of like the vaccine kind of based immunity. Like the cells that you are going to make, the longer term memory cells for your immune system.
Baris Harvey: Uh-huh.
Justin Marchegiani: So when we are looking at like parasites and immune function, IgA is a big one and with chronic stress, right? And stress comes in three major forms: physical, chemical and emotional. When those are out of balance like too much, too little exercise, trauma, old injuries, for the physical side. The emotional side: family, friends, finances, religion, spouse and all that from the emotional side. And then also the most important, I think, because it is the most insidious, is the chemical stress. Because let us say, you have a whole bunch of symptoms and it is coming from infection and you do not know it is an infection. Well, that is going to be stressing you out just not knowing. So a lot of the chemical stressors like blood sugar and infections, adrenal fatigue and nutrient deficiencies and poor digestion, you may not notice that unless you are really seeing a good functional medicine doctor to get really assessed.
Baris Harvey: Uh-Huh. Definitely. Makes a lot of sense. And when we look at these stressors.
Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Baris Harvey: And that is what is basically bringing down our immune system and making us susceptible. Is it just that? Or maybe we ate spoiled food. Like I know, there is that portion of our immune system getting weakened.
Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Baris Harvey: What are the other factors that are going to be introduced to actually be the cause? So that is kind of be like the guard and our security.
Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Baris Harvey: Is it on guard basically, right?
Justin Marchegiani: Right.
Baris Harvey: They are tired. We stress them out. We have been working 24‑hour shifts and all of a sudden they fall asleep. Now they are off guard.
Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Baris Harvey: Now who are these parasites? How did they get introduced into our bodies?
Justin Marchegiani: So we have basically the whole IgA mechanism that I talked about. That is like our mucosal barrier. That is like in Star Trek, when the force fields are down, right? That is where they cling on to come and attack, if you will.
Baris Harvey: Yes.
Justin Marchegiani: And again with chronic stress, our IgA or our force fields are going to be down and we are more likely open to attack. So we have the chronic stressors that allow us to be open for attack.
Baris Harvey: Uh-huh.
Justin Marchegiani: And if we go and we get exposed to bad food or some bad water or someone is preparing food in a way that their hands are unwashed or in a foreign country when we are getting exposed to maybe a certain bacteria in food that we are not used to, that can be enough to trigger it. So we have like the chronic side of things, where we are chronically getting beaten down. There are a lot of stress in our life. It is compromising that barrier system, that IgA. It is lowering our force fields and then we are open to attack. That is kind of like the first step. And then we have the second step; we just get exposed to a whole bunch of parasitic antigen. So antigen is like the piece of the parasite. So obviously it is dose dependent. The more of an infection we get exposed to the more our barrier and body and our immune system has to deal with it. So small amounts, if we are in good shape, we may be able to handle it. Larger amounts maybe a lot harder.
Baris Harvey: Yes.
Justin Marchegiani: So when I was in Mexico earlier this year, I got a parasite infection.
Baris Harvey: Yes.
Justin Marchegiani: And it was really bad. I did not even have time to test it because everything that was coming out of me, let us just say, it was liquid and it was not good.
Baris Harvey: Yes.
Justin Marchegiani: So I did not have time to do a test. Not to mention doing a test without solid stool is very difficult to do. So I just treated myself with a good general antimicrobial parasitic program and then within 6 hours my stool went from pure liquid to solid. Like flipping a switch, it was like, whoa! Like herbs are very powerful. And if you are using them in the right dose they can really knock out infections. And I guess we will come back to this at the end of how to treat these things. Yes, because I never had experienced the parasite infection from that acute perspective myself. So that was like an acute infection and I treated it right away and it was amazing the results. But I see so many patients in my practice that they never put two and two together. And they are walking around with chronic symptoms that may not even be gut related. They may be. They have poor digestion, and IBS and Crohn’s, reflux and bloating and gas. But a lot of them may have other things, too. Like joint pain and fatigue and thyroid issues and depression. And they never ever make the connection because we live in a symptom-based model where symptom-drug, symptom-drug. The problem is you always want to trace symptoms back to the systems that are broken. And if we have infections and that is affecting our GI system, well, if our GI system is out of balance a whole host of symptoms can occur from that. So we only look at symptoms as a means to trace them back to the systems that are out of whack. And again it is not this linear A equals be B symptom. Oh, if it is bloating or gas it has to be GI. It could be fatigue. It could be depression. It could be so many other symptoms that we call our extra intestinal. They are outside of the intestinal tract. And we may never make that connection.
Baris Harvey: Yes. We do not have to wait until we develop ulcers.
Justin Marchegiani: Exactly.
Baris Harvey: Right. So what are some of the common infections that you see in your practice?
Justin Marchegiani: One of the most common infections is H. pylori.
Baris Harvey: Uh-humm.
Justin Marchegiani: H. pylori is a big one. And that is one of the infections that Dr. Marshall, I think he was either from New Zealand or Australia. But he won the Nobel Prize for Medicine about 20 years ago or maybe it was even more recent than that. But anyway, he was trying to conduct studies and he could not get the funding for the studies so he gave the infection to himself. And he had himself scoped. And he basically developed the connection that H. pylori causes ulcerations in the stomach. So that was really important. Also connecting the fact of increased stomach cancer risk in H. pylori. So that was prolific that he was able to make that connection and he won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in that particular year for that innovation. So that was cool. Now I see H. pylori in a lot of my patients. And H. pylori is like the common one that causes ulcerations. So we think high amounts of acid, right? It is causing high acid. But H. pylori is one of these critters that actually causes low stomach acid. And because of the low stomach acid food sits inside of you. It putrefies or rancidifies and ferments and basically rots. And organic acids from the rotting rise up and burn the esophagus. So, as of that we are having malnutrition, we are not absorbing food, and we have low stomach acids so we are not able to sterilize our intestinal tract or at least the stomach. So then we open up to so many more infections. And I cannot tell you the study showing that with H. pylori infection, that messes up stomach acid. A constellation of symptoms from one study can occur from just that one infection. And because it affects digestion and nutrient absorption and basically HCl is one of our other barriers that we are able to overcome things. It is kind of like sterilizing.
Baris Harvey: Uh-hum.
Justin Marchegiani: So when our HCl is down, it is another barrier that our body has that can, if it is down can open us up to even more infections.
Baris Harvey: Yes. And you know it is funny too, back to the commonality of something like H. pylori, we mentioned that there is this belief that we are not going to get infections such as this. They are not common.
Justin Marchegiani: Right.
Baris Harvey: But according to, and this is a reputable source and not just some hippie blog but according to the CDC, right? This is cdc.gov. Approximately two thirds of the world’s population is infected with H. pylori. Now that is a lot of people.
Justin Marchegiani: Exactly. And the question is who is symptomatic? And you may have that parasite and your immune system is able to overcome it. And once that stress accumulates, you may start having symptoms. But again it can go both ways. It could be the immune system is compromised and then you get it. It could be you have it but not a big deal because your immune system is kind of keeping it in line. And then you get stressed and then the symptoms occur. So kind of happens both ways. And I agree. It is definitely a problem.
Baris Harvey: Yes. Another thing that you noticed with those people that have stomach problems, there may be some reflux problems and they often are on medications for a long time. Or they are on proton pump inhibitor or these H2 blockers or something that they are taking. And maybe they have some temporary relief. But that is not going to be taking away the infection, right? Like what are we supposed to be doing about this?
Justin Marchegiani: So if we have chronic infections like this, proton pump inhibitors like Nexium, omeprazole, Prilosec they are just treating the symptoms. Because when we have infection the first thing that happens is infections can throw our body into a fight or flight state.
Baris Harvey: Uh-huh.
Justin Marchegiani: That is when our sympathetic nervous system is activated. What tends to happen is blood goes to the extremities, arms and legs to fight and flee, right? It does that so we can mobilize glucose, right? Cortisol and adrenalin that helps mobilize glucose so we have the fuel so we can fight and flee. Now the problem with this is that we are constantly stimulating the fight or flight nervous system. Digestion is a parasympathetic response, meaning the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system fires. And that drives blood into the center of the body. Why? Because we need that good blood flow, and we need that parasympathetic response so we can produce enzymes and digestive secretion and HCl. So if we are constantly in this fight or flight state, and let us say that fight or flight state because of an infection, well, we are going to be just set up to not produce, not stimulate the enzymes, not produce the acids. And then all of that are the dominoes for healthy digestion. So healthy digestion works like this, parasympathetic nervous system response we stimulate HCl where we have to be well-hydrated and have enough zinc in helping nutrients in our bodies. Zinc is really important as well as enough chloride. Because chloride is another part of the HCl molecule. That parasympathetic response allows us to produce HCl. HCl activates pepsinogen to pepsin which is our active proteolytic or protein digestion enzymes. So in the stomach, we are primarily digesting protein. Protein gets digested and it lowers the pH. So the ground up predigested food in our stomach known as chyme. And we want that to be nice and low because when that chyme gets released from the stomach into the small intestine, that acidity triggers our pancreas to produce lipase, trypsin and chymotrypsin, these enzymes that breakdown fat and protein. And it also triggers our gallbladder to produce bile salts which helps breakdown fat and it also helps with hormone metabolism. So you can see how a parasite infection can cause estrogen dominance and hormone issues and can lead to malabsorption stuff. So I let you kind of break that down just to make sure everyone has got their head around that.
Baris Harvey: Yes. So basically we want to make sure that we are supporting our body entirely just because, like I do not know but you probably mentioned this several times. I do not know whether we have mentioned this on the show. But it is actually hard to see where H. pylori actually comes from. And we know that it is either fecal-oral or maybe even oral-oral routes where it is transported. So the main thing is to make sure that we are supporting our body, its defense mechanisms. Making sure our bodies rehydrated, having enough HCl. So that way all of our defense mechanisms always kind of peaked out. So that way, in case we do come across something like this, our body can knock it out. So that way we do not have to be on drugs all the time.
Justin Marchegiani: Exactly. And a lot of people especially in the Biohacking community are looking for optimum performance. And the infection connection is so strong. I just pulled up one study here. And this is looking at children in various foreign countries. And what they were looking at is helminthes. So helminthes are worms, like tapeworms or roundworms. And what they found was that people that have these parasitic infections combined with nutritional deficiencies had severe or had a strong association with cognitive impairments, independent of their education. So again, memory tasks were given and they found poor performance associated with parasite status. But no association was observed with educational attainment or memory function. So the study also examined various ways of assessing parasite load and kind of indexed those. But again basically the results provide evidence that parasitic infection and attention process. And again we talked about stress of an infection, where does it drive the blood? Outward towards the extremities. So what that does is activate the sympathetics. If the sympathetics are activated the parasympathetics cannot be activated because they are on a see-saw. Parasympathetics are needed for digestion. If we are not digesting, we are going to have nutritional impairments. So having a chronic parasitic infection and having nutritional issues I am going to submit that they are cut from the same cloth.
Baris Harvey: Yes. What are some of the other infections that you also see that are common?
Justin Marchegiani: So H. pylori is a big one. And let me just touch upon that real quick. There are about five or six ways to test for it.
Baris Harvey: Yes.
Justin Marchegiani: So you have to test all five or six ways. I think at the end, bring that question out to me at the end and we will breakdown the various testing methods, okay?
Baris Harvey: Yes.
Justin Marchegiani: So I am also going to send you over that study, too. And we will put that on the show notes because I think that will be good for the listeners.
Baris Harvey: Uh-huh.
Justin Marchegiani: So regarding other parasites, again other gut parasites such as Blastocystis hominis is a big one. Giardia. Cryptosporidium. Various amoeba infections like Diantamoeba fragilis. Entamoeba coli. One of the biggest ones, one of the biggest killers in the world is actually Entamoeba hystolytica. When you break it down it stands for “histo-” means cell and “-lytic” means cut. So it is cell cutting. That is pretty scary especially when it can travel up into your gallbladder or go out of your intestinal tract into your brain. That is a big one.
Baris Harvey: Yes.
Justin Marchegiani: So those are intestinal parasites right there, for instance. But they can go outside. And you can add worms to that list. Enterobius vermicularis, roundworms, pinworms, tapeworms. Again those can all cause problems. Again eat your nutrition, cause stress. But they also produce biotoxins which are like the chemicals that these little critters, that they spit out. Whether it is from defecation, they can poison your body. So bacteria produces endotoxins. Endotoxin is bacteria. Mycotoxins from fungus. SIBO and can produce lithocholic acid which is toxic and can unconjugate bile. Meaning it can unwind lots of metabolized hormone which can throw off your hormones. So again, parasite infections can cause PMS and hormone imbalance.
Baris Harvey: Yes. So I am seeing that a lot of these infections they often really easily be spread and kind of the best thing to do is to wash your hands and make sure you are washing your food. But in a lake and you accidentally swallowed some water or if the person who used the public bathroom before you did not wash their hands when they walked out and grabbed the door knob and you did and you did not notice. A lot of these things can be passing infections in a real subtle way. So like you mentioned, there is kind of this idea that like, “Oh, I do not have Crypto. I do not have H. pylori or Giardia.”
Justin Marchegiani: Right.
Baris Harvey: Unless it is like we have diarrhea for like five days in a row then it is like, “Oh, wait something is wrong.”
Justin Marchegiani: Right.
Baris Harvey: But like you mentioned, often times they can kind of be hidden and have these small chronic like, chronic basically stressing our bodies out. And in such a small way that it is taking away from our adrenals. And we are using a lot of energy to produce all of these fight or flight responses without noticing it too much on a day to day basis where it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse and worse. So like you mentioned before, what are ways that we can test for some of these different infections?
Justin Marchegiani: So we can always test via the stools. Stools are a good way because we can actually see the antigen. We can see a piece of the infection. Now not all stool testing is created equal. There is like three different companies that I primarily rely on for accurate stools testing. One being BioHealth Diagnostics. They are a good one. They run a 401H panel. Genova formerly Metametrix. You can run a 2200 or 2205, they just updated the panel as of September 3rd 2014. So I just maybe ran about fifteen of these new tests. So I will be getting some results back soon. But it seems to be more sensitive because they are looking at stool antigen as well as PCR which is polymerase chain reaction where you are looking at pieces of DNA as well so a little more sensitive. Doctor’s Data has a really nice 3-day panel and then Diagnos-Techs has a nice salivary IgA antibody panel looking at worms and amoeba. So I have a couple of tools in my tool bag to assess these infections. And then also looking at the blood can be helpful especially for H. pylori. I have diagnosed so many patients with H. pylori issues that do not show up on the stool. So I find that doing a blood test for H. pylori is a must if we have some of the chronic gut issues just to make sure we rule it out.
Baris Harvey: Uh-huh.
Justin Marchegiani: Those can be good things off the bat. Also one level deep will be Lyme disease. And in Lyme, we are looking at Borrelia burgdorferi and there are a couple different ways we can look at that. We can look at our standard western blot testing where we are looking at the various different bands, IgG and IgM. Now when we look at Lyme, we are looking for 5 IgG or 2 IgM for diagnosis. Or we can have a more sensitive criteria where we are looking at 3 IgG and 1 IgM. That is a big mouthful. Again, Lyme is really controversial because there are other labs like Igenex or Medical Diagnostic Laboratories that will look at other bands not tested on a conventional western blot. And those are ways where we can find other infections. And when we have Lyme for the most part, we also have other co-infections potentially like Rickettsia, ehrlichia, babesia or bartonella. Various protozoa attach to the Lyme as well. So again, there are a lot of things we can look at. The blood and stool are usually your go-to. And then again, we also have breath testing for H. pylori and/or for SIBO or small intestinal bacteria overgrowth. I did not really even mentioned candida as well. Candida is good. Sometimes candida is really hard to pick up on stool testing. Again some companies do it. But when we look at candida, it is very rare that candida is causing a major problem just by itself. It tends to be candida and something else. Candida and a parasite and the H. pylori and SIBO. And when we look at candida, you know it is really important looking at a person’s history. Because stool testing or antibody testing may not be enough. We may have to look at fingernails. What is your history of yeast infections? What is your history of dandruff like? Any yellow toenails or fingernails? Any rashes at all? So things like that, doing a really good history can also help detect things. And if we are seeing malnutrition, well, I am going to automatically think parasites because that can affect absorption. So I will let you break that down for a second, Baris.
Baris Harvey: Yes. Definitely. One thing that I noticed that you just mentioned right there which I think is so funny because it is common but it does not mean it is normal kind of thing, is the yellow toenails or any kind of fungus that we are seeing happening. And we often do not look at that much deeper. But yes, definitely something that is important that you mentioned is making sure that you get a lab panel done. And for H. pylori especially, the blood panel because it can definitely do a better job in ruling it out. But sometimes you might have to do two different lab tests.
Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Baris Harvey: Because guess what? Your poop is going to be different from day to day.
Justin Marchegiani: I want to just add one thing here just so while we are in the lab stuff. If anyone is having a hard time getting a hold of a good lab testing, feel free to go into justinhealth.com/shop, click on the side where it says lab testing and then all my stool tests are up there. So if you need access to good stool testing feel free and you can get access right up there as well. And again, you can also reach out to me and I can definitely order some blood work and/or stool testing for you.
Baris Harvey: Yes. Definitely. So one thing I think we briefly mentioned it but going about these that these are more common than may be people probably thought. Before we get into some of the ways that we can treat these things, what are just some of, I guess, key things to look out for? Because it seems like there might even be kind of a general protocol.
Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Baris Harvey: Because you do want to test, just like we had an interview with Steve Wright and we talked about every year he spends two, three, four thousand dollars on testings to make sure because that is part of his investment.
Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Baris Harvey: His health, being well-performing human being.
Justin Marchegiani: Exactly.
Baris Harvey: So we should be doing that, too. I know some people might not have that money but they might want to do like every year adding some type of cleanse or protocol or some kind of general thing to make sure that, “Hey, it might not be a very strong infection but maybe I have an infection and it is best if that can be wiped out.” So what are some common symptoms that we might be detecting? Whether that be weight gain or chronic fatigue. What are these symptoms that we might not be noticing but are common?
Justin Marchegiani: Alright. Here are some good ones. You grind your teeth at night when you sleep. You wake up with that tight jaw. You have that grinding of your teeth. I know that that was a symptom that my fiancée would always complain about, “You are grinding your teeth.” I am like, “Oh, I got parasites, it is not my fault.”
Baris Harvey: (Laughs)
Justin Marchegiani: And again why does that happen? So let us go one step deeper. Parasites are active at night.
Baris Harvey: Yes.
Justin Marchegiani: So again they are creating stress. And they are having fun. And they are doing their thing, having sex, partying inside your body. Kind of sounds gross but it is what is happening. The joke in graduates school is where the parasites party, I am going to ask you that. Do you know?
Baris Harvey: Where do parasites party?
Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Baris Harvey: Your gut, in your intestines?
Justin Marchegiani: No, they party at Club-Siella.
Baris Harvey: Ohh.. (Laughs)
Justin Marchegiani: (Laughs) I know it is terrible. It is really Klebsiella, it is a parasite infection, it is a bacteria. Again that is a nerdy humor for you. But again grinding your teeth is a big one. And the reason why is because of the inflammation that is happening at night that is putting your body into a sympathetic nervous system state, right? Think about it, when you are really tense you may even like close your mouth shut. If it is really cold you may start shivering, right? So, that can happen there. Achy joints, skin issues. Obviously there is like inexplicable reason why you are so tired. Like I am sleeping so much, I am supporting myself, I am tired. Why? Not feeling satisfied or satiated after your meals. Again, if you are at the table and another person sitting right next to you is stealing off from your plate, well it is pretty obvious why you are still hungry. But if someone inside of you is doing it, you may not be aware of it. So feeling like relieved not satisfied after the meals. Being diagnosed with an anemia like this could be B12, like B vitamin based like B6, B12, B9. These are called megaloblastic anemia. And also microcytic anemia like iron, being low iron. Now let see, trouble falling asleep. Waking up in the middle of the night. Having history of food poisoning, like an acute history. Like going to Mexico and coming back, right? Travelling internationally, that is a big one. And also unexplained constipation, diarrhea and/or symptoms of IBS. It is a good little shortlist if you are having any of these issues you could definitely be motivated to run some stool testing. The analogy I give is, imagine pulling out of your garage or parking spot, ever feel like ever drive away like with the e‑break on a little bit. You ever feel that feeling like, ahh! It is not quite moving like I do, I am not getting momentum like I do,” and then you look down and you are like, “Oh, my e-break is on.” And let go and you are like, “whoa! Alright, this is cool.” And that same analogy I have given hundreds of times to patients that is kind of how we are with our health. We could be paleo, AIP, doing good with sleep and stress and meditating and exercising. And then it is like we have this infection and it is like we are walking around with the e-break on. We get rid of the infection it is like, “Whoa! Okay.” Skipping my step. And again like the study I showed you with cognitive performance, it is like, “Oh, I can focus a little better, I have better attention, better memory.” So that is a pretty cool benefit from just getting rid of these lingering infections. Again, the infection connection is quite prolific.
Baris Harvey: Yes. Definitely. So, next will be what are some of the protocols that we can use? I know there are some conventional treatments as well if you got a test and you went to your normal western practitioner and you are probably given some type of antibiotics. Then there are also some natural treatments.
Justin Marchegiani: Yes one, on a scale of 0-10, like 0 like you are in the grave, so let us start with one. One, you are like bed-ridden no energy. 10 you just feel amazing. So if you are under a 6 or 7, I recommend strongly that you work with a health practitioner. I think everyone should. But under a 6 or 7, I recommend you work with someone. Because treating an infection without having foundation in your hormones and your diet, you are more than likely going to get re-infected. I find getting rid of the infections sometimes can actually cause more symptoms than the infection was causing before it was even addressed. So we want to make sure, if there is adrenal fatigue, if there is digestive malabsorption, if there is diet and lifestyle issues that are going on, if they over exercise, if there is hypothyroidism stuff, we want to make sure that a lot of those hormonal issues are addressed so there is a foundation for the hormones, for the body to lean against. And again the hormones help control stress. The sympathetic nervous system response like I talked about that is mediated by our adrenal glands. And our adrenals and thyroid are intimately connected. So if you have adrenal and thyroid problems we are going to have a hard time maintaining healthy nervous system functions. We want to do that before we really get to the infection. Now again, there are some herbs that you can try. Again, my main foundational herb that I am starting with whenever I deal with an infection is Artemisia. And Artemisia is a really awesome herb. It is otherwise known as wormwood, sweet wormwood, annua. These are really powerful herb. It has been used for tens of thousands of years. Now I use very high doses of this herb. Upwards of 3 gram. I do not recommend someone doing this without being under a care of a doctor because again you can have an elevated liver enzymes, ALT, AST. So you want to be monitored and you want to make sure the right protocol is being followed by stabilizing the adrenals, diet, lifestyle and nutritional deficiencies. All of those things leading up to that before you do it because it can cause more problems than you may be able to deal with.
Baris Harvey: Yes. Definitely. I just want to ask the exact product name?
Justin Marchegiani: There are two different ones out there. I mean using higher end. Higher end companies are going to be the way to go like Thorne or Allergy Research Group that is really using the right amounts is very important. And then also combining it, like for instance, wormwood is more powerful when you use with licorice. Now, not a lot of people know that. So if you have someone on the adrenal program and they would really thrive using the right licorice while they are on an adrenal program, while they are being supported with the wormwood can also be very helpful. But it cannot if you have higher blood pressure, licorice maybe contraindicated. So there are a lot of variables going on. And if you are chronically ill, monitoring liver enzymes via blood work maybe a good thing. So again, we have wormwood, we have various Berberine such as Berberine HCl, Oregon grape, goldenseal. We have black walnut and we have burdock root. Again, we have oil of oregano, we have colloidal silver. And then again depending on the infection, I tend to vary the herbs according to the infection. Like for instance, I got a bartonella infection last month. So bartonella henselae is commonly caused by cat scratch fever. You can also get it from ticks to. With bartonella my hands swelled up really big.
Baris Harvey: Yes.
Justin Marchegiani: And I used a combination of neem, morinda or noni and silver along with some cordyceps and it worked phenomenal. It worked awesome and in three days my infection was gone. And my hand was swollen. I got to do a video on that because people just would not believe it. I had literally purchased antibiotics and I had them like on my office desk. I am like looking at them like, “Alright, I trust this natural medicine,” and I have been doing it for ten years. I believe the herbs work and I have seen it hundreds of times. This stuff is legit. But I still had it because you know when you start seeing things get really bad, you want a backup plan. You want an escape route. And I had them there and never had to use them.
Baris Harvey: Uh-Huh. Definitely.
Justin Marchegiani: So again, one, enough of the herbs is really important. Most people do not use the herbs long enough. And it is really hard. I am not going to give out protocols here because it really needs to be on an individual basis and needs to be worked with, again you know, a functional medicine practitioner so it is specific to you. Because side effects can be nasty. And also, using things like ginger or chamomile or peppermint, these things can be very helpful for lymphatic drainage from the infection because we are just pulling all these dead soldiers, if you will. Like the dead soldiers meaning the dead parasites in the battlefield, the battlefield being your gut. And your lymphatic system and your immune system and your detoxification system, they are like medics trying to pull these soldiers off the field, in our gut. We have to process these parasites.
Baris Harvey: Uh-huh. Definitely. I notice one thing that sometimes when people try to deal with themselves they are not introducing a biofilm disturber or biofilm buster and that sometimes can be the key because a lot of times these microorganisms, these infections are encapsulated.
Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Baris Harvey: And it is like in exoproteins and they are basically protected. And sometimes you need something like a biofilm disturber to break that down. Can you talk quickly about like…
Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Baris Harvey: I know like myself I have used like interface. But tell me something about like why that might be important?
Justin Marchegiani: Have you watched the movie 300 hours? See all of these Spartans they are fighting, right? One of the big things they have is that shield in front of them.
Baris Harvey: Yes.
Justin Marchegiani: And then they are able to kind of poke up their spear in between. But that shield is like a biofilm. And again, these critters use the biofilms as a way to decrease exposure to some of these antimicrobial medicines. So again, things like ginger can be very helpful. Things like licorice can be helpful. Andrographis. Eleuthero. These are natural biofilm busters. Interface plus these enzyme products with various enzymes and EDTA which is the chelation agent. And I typically will use this during probiotic phase because it is not as antimicrobial. And I will use that to break up biofilms in people to have more gut symptoms. So it is really specific. Sometimes just the adrenal support and some ginger and that can be enough. Other people need a little more. So it really is on a case by case basis. But the more virulent your gut is definitely getting some biofilm busters, a good simple one will be ginger off the bat.
Baris Harvey: Yes. Awesome. Sounds good. With that being said we want to make sure that people go to beyondwellnessradio.com. Make sure you click the link to go to justinhealth.com. When it comes to these situations like you said if you are someone who feels just fine maybe you can do a general protocol. I know you have one on your site that is just something simple. You know it is the New Year and you want to just make sure you clean everything up. But if you feel like you are having some of these symptoms, make sure you work with somebody like Dr. Justin and really take a lab test. That way you can identify what you have so you can fix the problem. You can get a free 15-minute consultation to see if this is for you. So make sure you go to beyondwellnessradio.com and redirect yourself to justinhealth and get that 15‑minute consultation.
Justin Marchegiani: Yes. That is a great point, Baris. And I also wanted to touch upon the good parts of parasites, the so-called good parts. So there are parasites effects on more of the TH1 branch of the immune system. So to keep it really simple, we have two major branches: the TH1, TH2. So the TH2 is going to be more of the antibody side. We are going to see that with like food allergens and autoimmune conditions because our bodies are producing antibodies that are potentially destroying our tissue. And then the TH1 is more like the natural killer side. So our TH1 is more active in parasite infections. TH2 with autoimmune conditions. So for instance, I will pull up a study here and the study is looking at the impact of the parasite infection on MS. And what they found was parasite infections associated to MS indicate that parasite infection can actually regulate the host and can alter the course of immunity in MS. Meaning they found that when the parasites were treated in MS, it actually caused more MS activity on MRI. So there was like more brain lesions. And some of these is actually, the supposition of the underlying reasons why is because the infections are shifting the immune system. So in certain autistic kids, they are also finding that potentially giving them worms can be helpful because it is shifting the immune system. If they are TH dominant and then you give this infection that is now driving the TH1 part of the immune system. Well, there you go and then you can balance things out a little bit. Like that is the reason why they find that so many people in the third world countries are so prone to viral issues like they are so much more sensitive to viruses. It is because their TH1 immune system is so ramped up from infections that now they are actually weaker when it comes to viruses. So I think of that as more symptomatic approach. It is not really getting to the underlying cause of the stress, pulling the stress off the immune system. It is not getting to the underlying cause of nutrition, malabsorption and toxicity. So, there can be room for that I think but at the same time I think if you have an infection you are probably better off getting rid of it and getting the nutrition and the digestion back on track because we know these infections cause malabsorption, too. So that is not good for your immune system either. So, it is like, which one is it? There is a study out there looking at H. pylori infections and Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune thyroid conditions. And they find that after age 2 or 3 these infections are going to be negative. Meaning when we get rid of the infection we actually see a reduction in thyroid antibodies which is quite interesting. Again, off the bat, getting your kid exposed to dirt in the beginning can be really helpful for colonizing flora and getting your memory B cells out and getting your immune system robust. But then after age 3 or 4, then it is like, well, maybe getting exposed to all these crap is not as good for the immune system. So it is like there are some good stuff out there, some bad stuff out there. And again, it is hard to make head and tails of it but that kind of gives you a good general idea of some of the pros of what these infections could be good and my kind of side of why I think they are not the best.
Baris Harvey: Yes. Definitely.
Justin Marchegiani: Now, I think if anyone is on the fence and they think they have a health issue and they have a lot of things already. I think the next stone to overturn has to be the infection. So feel free to take action. Again these infections do not go away unless you do something. You can reach out to my site and I kind of already talked about how to get the lab work. And again anything you want to add, Baris?
Baris Harvey: Yes. They are just not going to walk out of your body. You are feeding them. You are giving them free food and they want to stay there and can continue on. So make sure that you invest in yourself and find a way to figure out what is going on in your body and do these tests if you have the ability to.
Justin Marchegiani: Exactly. And do not expect your classically trained medical doctor to be aware of these things. Again the dogma is it is typically third world stuff and I have already kind of explained the background of that in the beginning. So just understand that to begin with. So you are not going there and try to get some real info. But again, Louise Gittleman’s book, “Guess what came to dinner?”, Paul Chek has done a program in parasite infections. Again if you study the work of Dr. Dan Kalish and Dr. William Timmins, it has got some great work on parasite infections. And studying from various doctors, I have been able to get my knowledge dialed in regarding how to get rid of these infections. So, I hope that gives everyone some good information off the bat.
Baris Harvey: Yes. Definitely. Thank you guys for listening again and remember to go to beyondwellnessradio.com and hop on the newsletter. You will be the first to access all these podcasts before anybody else does. So thank you guys again.
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