Posted on 01/07/2026 11:54:35 PM PST by nickcarraway
Intestinal parasites are my companion in Costa Rica. Every six months or so I make a trip to the pharmacy and ask for pastillas antiparasiticos. The most common over-the-counter pill is the anti-protozoal agent Nitazoxanide: two pills a day for three days to treat an array of intestinal parasites. The pills scour your digestive system, wiping out nematodes, cestodes, and helminths, as well as various protozoa with exotic names such as Cryptosporidium parvum, Giardia lamblia, and Entamoeba histolytica.
My body always lets me know when it is time for a treatment. The first sign is a growling stomach within a half hour of finishing a meal. Next comes fatigue, dull headaches, and irregular sleep patterns. My auto-diagnosis is made official the first time I sprint to the bathroom for a total diarrheic bowel evacuation soon after eating. Finally comes an errand to town to buy the magic pills that bring relief. Right now I am halfway through the dosage and my digestive system is settling back to normal.
Costa Rica Parasite Medication
Over thirty years ago, I had emergency surgery in the Pérez Zeledón hospital to remove an ulcerating parasite from my intestines. I had been sick off and on for the previous month, but it was not until the pain in my gut rendered me almost immobile that I went to the hospital. Had I waited another day I might have died. Within a few hours of admission, doctors sliced me open and extracted the offending two-inch by five-inch parasite.
The explanation was a complicated cycle that included rats, slugs, feces, flies, and bad luck. The flies deposited microscopic larvae on unrefrigerated and unwashed fruits or vegetables, which then passed into my digestive system when eaten. It lodged in my intestines, gradually growing until it had to be surgically removed. Since then, I have religiously washed fruits and vegetables before consuming them as part of an overall program of monitoring my gut health.
These maladies seem common only to people not originally from Costa Rica. My three adult kids, all born and raised here, have never had this issue. Nor has my Tica wife, nor any of her family, nor anyone else I know, save a few other gringos. For me it is like clockwork. Every half year, just when the thought of intestinal parasites has vanished from my mind, they return. And every half year, I return to the pharmacist and give thanks to science and medicine for providing the cure.
Twice a year parasite cleanse used to be common in the US.
AMEN TO THAT…😖🤮
Whatta first read of the day….
Eeew.
At the time it was a pretty scary movie along with a bunch of others that today seem pretty corny.
I didn’t need to read that first thing this morning. LOL
It’s funny—a leftist will read that story and praise the inexpensive medical care this guy probably got. I read it and think, “thank God we have clean water.”
No Ivermectin?
Ivermectin works for many other ailments besides parasites, from Covid to Cancer.
Getting my I from India for $ .30/12mg tablet. Menbendazole is $ .40/100mg tablet. Why is I and M so expensive in America? Because it works!!!!
Vincent Price was a beloved scary uncle who took the kids on a roller coaster ride of scary thrills and amusement and mysterious settings like castles, dungeons, and laboratories.
Reminds me of a couple episodes of “House”.
“No problems.”
So far ... LOL!
Intestinal worms are THE WORST, MY GOD!
After having them, I understand why dogs scrape their buttholes along the ground
Horrible, torturous, relentless, unceasing, most intense itching you’ve ever had in your life. Absolutely miserable.
If you live in Costa Rica, your carnivore diet better be cooked well done.
Hint - check the water he's using to wash them. Haven't folks learned yet to not trust the drinking water in third world areas, such as Jackson, MS.
There’s always the old folk remedy. My dad said he was given this as a youngster.
1tsp with sugar.
https://creekwoodnaturals.com/products/100-pure-gum-spirits-of-turpentine
IIRC, my grandparents used turpentine for a few medicinal issues.
Sounds like there is parasite racism, doesn’t it?
Re: Ivermectin
Ivermectin is used primarily for infestation with nematodes (like roundworms).
Nitazoxanide is a very effective broad-spectrum agent for protozoan parasites, which is what this author is talking about.
Maybe a designer tape worm could be picked up there—and would be better than Ozempic?
I like my meat well done everywhere, in Costa Rica or elsewhere, but that’s not the point.
The point is animal based food is much safer not only because it doesn’t have all the anti-nutrients and toxins of plants (not even mentionning carbs which wreck our metabolism) but because it has also much less nasty parasites, especially when your stomach is adapted to a carnivore diet.
Our stomach is among the most acid in the animal reign. It is designed for a carnivore diet or even a scavenger diet, not for a “balanced”, “diversified”, “low fat” or whatever the latest fad diet.
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