An update on J's hookworms!

This weekend someone posted a comment on one of my old hookworm posts, requesting another update. My hookworm posts have been pretty popular, and it's been a little while, so here is the latest!

J is doing very well with his hookworms.

Every night J needs about one hour less sleep than he used to. This is big indicator for us of how he is doing; back before hookworms, when J was extremely allergic to our house, he needed a ton of sleep. Then, when I replaced our floor (and he was not allergic to our house anymore), he needed about the same amount of sleep as I do. Now he needs about an hour less sleep than I do, and he feels great.

J has a complete remission of his joint pain. I don't think he even ever thinks about it anymore.

As far as allergies go, J can tolerate a mild exposure with no allergic response whatsoever! This is exciting, and makes life nicer. The last time we visited my sister Jessica (who has two inside cats), J had no allergic response as a result of our visit; not even a delayed or mild response. That was nice. Also, sometimes when we are outside sitting in the yard, or laying out in the sun, my cat Paley will come and climb up onto J. She'll rub against him, and lay down and get comfortable with him. Last weekend she climbed all over J and sat with him for about a half hour, purring and purring (of course), and J had no allergic response to that either.

After a full cat exposure (really rubbing against her, snuggling his face into her fur, etc), J does have a mild allergic response. Nothing like the pre-hookworm days, though. J's eyes get a little itchy, I think.

J has no negative side-effects from the hookworms at all anymore. He hasn't had any negative side-effects for several months now. So, overall it's been a complete success.

The big news is, we're going back for more worms! This weekend we're planning to drive down to CA to visit my family, play at the beach, and meet up with Garin (from Worm Therapy) and Dr. Llamas!

J is planning to get 15 more, I think. We suspect that more worms will enhance his improvements that he's had so far. We're interested to see whether J can get to a point where he could mow our lawn or clean the barn (those tasks usually get him sick for a few days).

AND, it looks like I will probably be getting worms this trip! I don't have severe allergies at all. I do get a stuffy nose when we sleep with our door closed (which I suspect is from who-knows-what in our air ducts), and my nose gets stuffy when I do the things that would make J really sick, like cleaning the barn, etc. J and I think that hookworms kind of belong in a symbiotic relationship with people, and we think hookworms may be advantageous to me as a preventative treatment.

It's been pretty exciting to see J's very obvious improvement. Several of our family members are considering treatment, and a couple have already even contacted Garin about it. Neat.

If you haven't read my previous posts about hookworms, there have been four:

12/20/10 post part I about J getting worms
12/20/10 post part II about J getting worms
2/12/11 post Hookworm Update!
3/2/11 post mentioning J's hookworms after surgery.