Delusional parasitosis is a form of psychosis characterized by the false belief that one is infested with some sort of parasite. It can be triggered by a variety of brain diseases, including parasites themselves.
Not So Delusional Parasitosis
Doctor's Note
Avoiding meat and other animal products can certainly reduce our risk of becoming infested with parasites, but may place us at risk for vitamin B12 deficiency (see Vegan Epidemic), which can have its own dire cognitive consequences (see Inverted Rabbit Sign). See Safest Source of B12 for the best way to get this critical vitamin. For more on pork tapeworm brain invasion, check out Pork Tapeworms on the Brain, and Avoiding Epilepsy Through Diet. Be sure to check out my other videos on brain health, including Reversing Cognitive Decline; Improving Mood Through Diet; and Constructing a Cognitive Portfolio.
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Avoiding meat and other animal products can certainly reduce one’s risk of becoming infested with parasites, but may place one at risk for vitamin B12 deficiency, which can have it’s own dire cognitive consequences. See Safest Source of B12 for the best way to get this critical vitamin. For more on pork tapeworm brain invasion, check out Pork Tapeworms on the Brain and Avoiding Epilepsy Through Diet. A sampling of 50+ videos on brain health include Reversing Cognitive Decline, Improving Mood Through Diet, and Constructing a Cognitive Portfolio. That’s just one of more than a thousand topics I cover!
I really appreciate that you list these links here for more reading on similar subjects you’ve covered. Thanks
What can you say about a case like the one cited above? She was right. How many others who believe they have a parasite are right? If having a parasite can trigger the belief that one has a parasite, then maybe it’s not a disease. Psychological theory can turn any behavior, or even belief, into neurosis or psychosis simply by giving it a name–witness “orthorexia nervosa.” Believing one has a parasite may just be an error–not a psychosis.
We have a saying: Being paranoid is not the same as nobody is pursuing you…..
Stop following me already! ;-}
Here`s Johnny !
I guess I will start to consider Pork worm as a cause for Morgellons Disease.
‘Crazy’ stuff ;-}
Speaking of brain diseases, I want everyone to read a fantastic blog from Dr. Greger regarding the recent discovery of Mad Cow (Prion) Disease from milk in California.
It’s important to keep this information in the forefront of our minds and keep the diseases out.
http://nutritionfacts.org/blog/2012/04/25/mad-cow-california-is-the-milk-supply-safe/
Milk–It does not do a brain good!
I think it was Dr Michael Klaper who said: You need cow`s milk as much as you need giraffe or rat milk. Milk is disgusting. Period!
Would this same risk exist in Kefir?
I’d be interested in you guys doing a rebuttal on this: http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/no-bologna-facts/
I have seen that link before and some of the statements are clearly false and even ubsurd. You can go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ and type in Saturated Fat and Heart Disease or any other of the statements from FatHead and read the many articles that debunk the stated claims.
I think we still have one doctor in Denmark who claims that smoking is not unhealthy. You can say anything and back it up with junk-science or single cases. Many people want to hear that meat, fat, eggs, dairy and oils are good for you, so they “believe” in these fad diets. So keep up your good job and educate your patients Dr Dynamic! And you are right: Real science speaks loud and clear – if you want to live a long, vibrant and healthy life: Go vegan !
The problem is that a person who argues based on ignorance is invincible
I think “invincible” is giving them far too much credit, more like hopeless.
I spent over two hours watching this movie. Theme: eat bad (including McDonald’s), it’s actually good for you. I do the opposite of what this movie promotes, and my blood work is great. But hey, tell people what they want to hear and they don’t bother double-checking the sources, in which happen to come from the same circle of mostly non-MDs and non-scientists.
Please. This makes no sense. If someone’s belief that they have parasites is caused by having parasites in their brain, then the belief that they have parasites is neither a delusion, nor a symptom of a psychosis. What IS a delusion, is the belief that such a person has a delusion. And the act of ascribing psychoses to them is stigmatization, not diagnosis.
Ascribing psychosis to them is also projecting your own psychosis, onto someone else.
Very true! You can’t be delusional about having parasites if you actually have parasites…that part really makes no sense.
The delusional part if the belief is that there are parasites crawling on her skin.
Here’s a question I haven’t yet seen answered on this site (forgive me if I’ve overlooked it).
This video raises an interesting paradox. On the one hand, nobody wants to be the unfortunate person who delusionally worries that they might have parasites when in fact they don’t. But on the other, no one also wants to be that other unfortunate person who has parasites, but doesn’t find out until they’re rooting around in the brain.
It sounds like parasites can be at the root of several symptoms that could also (alternatively) have non-parasitic causes (headache, fatigue, bloating, etc.). Furthermore, it sounds like parasites can reside in many parts of the body other than the digestive tract (and might not be detectable by a simple fecal test). So, suppose a person is new to veganism, and therefore has no idea if they have ever eaten parasites or not. How can they find out? Is there a pan-parasite test that people can take? Or, alternatively, is there a safe broad-spectrum treatment (or an anti-parasite ingredient people can eat) that can kill or clear out any parasites that might be present in their system? (The proponents of food-grade diatomaceous earth would say that it’s as simple as eating some of that every day, but I’m not sure what the science has to say about how reliable their claims are.)
And if neither of those is possible –if there’s no pan-parasite test, and no anti-parasite ingredient or treatment safe for general use, then: how common are parasitic infections? Is this something that most people need to be thinking about, or is this such an extraordinarily rare thing that only the delusional need wonder about it?
Laura,
There can be parasites on your foods and indeed it’s rare, especially if you wash/peel your veggies/fruits. For a good description of the various parasites found along with treatments see the : Parasites-Organism-Chart.
You will find the USDA info a bit lacking however, worth a quick overview. I too was curious on the prevalence and after looking about for US info found it sparse. The clinical focus is on non-domestic contamination, especially from third world countries.
With that said you might consider the use of the a salt water wash method that is validated as helpful.
When it comes to evaluation of the typical parasites that one would encounter in the US, I would recommend using the EIA/DNA evaluation approach vs solely the microscopic testing and with an increased scope panel, not the typical O/P testing that is conventionally ordered. Consider the work at Genova Labs or Doctors Data’s Comprehensive-parasitology-x3/ as two examples of more complete assays.
The good news is that with proper washing, peeling and preparation of most vegan fare there is little contamination present. As an FYI, even the incidence of trichinosis is very low….. so go easy on the worry and use common methods to keep your food parasite free.
Dr. Alan Kadish moderator for Dr. Greger http://www.Centerofhealth.com
Around 30% of people have parasites and alot of vegans get digestive issues including myself. There are lots of traditional treatments, that are almost as effective nor more than medicines and much healthier. Can there please be more videos around this topic?
Hi Rick,
I have passed this suggestion on to Dr. Greger for consideration. Thank you.