DS free of OCD for 12 months

[Marjie3]

I just wanted to post an update if my 19 year old son who has been free of the very debilitating illness of OCD for 12 months now.
After getting a comprehensive stool test done it showed he had an abundance of a single parasite. After a 3 week cleanse he had no symptoms. I repeated the cleanse 6 months later as recommended I case any parasites had been missed. He has never been so happy and tells me he is so grateful every day not to be suffering anymore . If this post helps just 1 person it will be worth it as I know how hideous it is to sit and watch someone you love so much suffer and not to be able to do anything.

Really?? What parasite is that??

What parasite and what cleanse?

Literally never heard of this and very involved professionally and personally in ocd world. Please do expand on this op.

What you plugging OP?

I don't know but ops posting history is quite focussed on diet.

Oh I'm in a bunch of crunchy parenting groups and they're always on about "parasite cleanses". Especially the Americans. You can post anything from "My 3yo keeps biting the other kids at nursery" to "My teenager keeps leaving his wet towel on the bed" and 400 people will reply "Hm, sounds like he has a parasite - ask your naturopath about a parasite cleanse".
There's no evidence for any of it.

I've seen this post before...

Wow, I wish such a thing was actually backed up by comprehensive research. How did you cleanse your 25 year old? Who diagnosed?

I Decided to go to a nutritionist through desperation to see if they could help. And although I have always had an interest in alternative health, I didn’t think it would be the answer but as I said I was absolutely desperate. Having watched him reach rock bottom - running up and down the stairs for 2 hours in the middle of the night for example otherwise we would all die, I decided to try it. She recommended this comprehensive stool test which I had to think long and hard about as it cost £375. The results showed 5 different aspects of what was happening in his gut and like I said the only problem was an abundance of a single parasite. I followed their recommendation of taking a supplement called s. boulardii and doing a parasite cleanse. I couldn’t afford another appointment with the nutritionist so I googled ‘parasite cleanse’ on Amazon and a pack of 3 supplements popped up; cloves, black walnut and wormwood. I followed their recommendation of instructions which took 3 weeks. I did my own research about how the die off effects can make the person feel even worse during the final phase of the cleanse so I was able to reassure him that this was a good sign. The whole time I was still very skeptical but it worked.
The reason you may have seen this post before is that I wanted to give an update as previously some people have responded very negatively and told me ‘ how dare I say my son is cured as OCD is not curable.
This treatment will never be offered by a GP and I’m just grateful that I tried it even though it was out of desperation. I’m not saying this will work for everyone with OCD but if it may just help 1 person. And if that’s the case it will be worth my post.

gamerchick- I’m not plugging anything - just trying to help someone who is suffering like my DS did. It’s a shame you think my post is not authentic

You're telling people to give their kid some random cocktail you got off the internet OP. Especially something like wormwood and black walnut that can come with their own issues. You don't recommend something that hasn't got the backing that it's safe and effective. Which this has not.

Sorry but please could you explain how can your gut cause and cure OCD when it is a mental illness.

I Decided to go to a nutritionist through desperation to see if they could help

What made you think a nutritionist could help a serious mental health disorder?

I’m stunned at how aggressive people are being. I honestly wish I hadn’t bothered taking the time to share this on mumset.

I wasn't aggressive, just asked what made you think to seek a nutritionist, can you not answer?

None of the ocd centres of excellence I'm aware of, or charities, support any kind of stool testing. Pan/pandas was tested for but even that was with a kind of scepticism.

I was not being aggressive. My Mum has had OCD for years. Just wanted to know how your gut can cause a debilitating mental illness.

I'm not for one minute supporting the parasite link. However, there is growing evidence of a link between gut health and OCD. I was listening to a discussion on the radio about it the other day

I'm not the slightest bit woo, but there is some evidence behind the idea of a brain-gut connection. I think gut health can be implicated in many mental health conditions. But most of the evidence I've read on the topic is around probiotics and feeding a healthy microbiome/ encouraging friendly bacteria. As far as I can tell, there's no evidence to support a connection between a parasite infection (or healing therefrom) and mental health.

Well we now know that PANDAS which includes all symptoms of OCD is treatable so I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand.

Medics are not good at training the human body holistically.

Had to look Pandas up as never heard of it. So if a child presented with all the symptoms do Drs test for it now. If so the op wouldn't of had to go private.

Nope not in my experience. Took being sectioned for them to do it as routine. It's a throat swab.

Your gut and brain are very closely linked so it's not completely out of the ordinary that good gut health can have bearing on someone's mental health.

I'm not sure, about what the op is saying, but there are clear links between the stomach and the brain. Probiotic/ probiotic research is very interesting.