Lots and lots of test results

I just got back from the doctor and I'm happy about the results, though it might seem like a mixed bag. If you've seen Futurama, then you've heard the professor proclaim "Good news everyone", right before he tells them he's sending them on a crazy or impossible mission. Well, now it's my turn: Good news everyone! I have parasites.
I'm actually relieved with the test results. I'd gotten a positive result one test, which was potentially an indicator for cancer, and had to do a follow up test. So I wasn't really sure what the doctor was going to cover in todays appointment. The good news is that, the follow up test did not indicate cancer. So even though the tests do show I have 4 types of bad bacteria overgrowth in my gut, a parasite, inflammation, low pancreatic enzymes, gluten intolerance, and low gut antibodies, I'd rather have these results than any others. Some reasons to be about this is because all of this is reversible (except the gluten intolerance, which I already knew about), treatable, and eventually I'll feel much better when my bowel populations return to normal. So, YAY!!!!
Now, some details on the results (it's pretty cool that I've already been reading so much about this lately)Remember when I mentioned in an earlier blog about the brain in the gut? There are these sensors the gut whose job it is to detect how much of each type of bacteria and yeast are around. Their job is to make sure the bacteria and yeast stay put (mostly in the lower colon). Then the gut brain decides if any of the organisms are getting a little to prolific, and sends out antibodies to reduce the numbers. Antibiotics cause proliferation of yeast, and screw this up. Also, part of the job of pancreas enzymes is to kill extra bacteria, and when your blood sugars get out of whack (as mine were, from the adrenal insufficiency), then the pancreas gets overused and can't keep up it's end of the job. (I've oversimplified horribly, but if you get curious, there is tons of reading on the web. Just look up the GI defense system, or GI Associated Lymph tissue, etc etc. For cool photos of bacteria in humans see http://textbookofbacteriology.net/normalflora.html) In any case, it was no surprise at all to me that I had bacteria all out of whack, but the parasite was a bit of a surprise. I'll chalk that up to Turkey or Thailand. Another good piece of news: there test didn't find a yeast overgrowth, which isn't conclusive (the test can have a false negative on this 10% of the time), but I'll take that as a good sign, since I've been working on managing candida through diet already anyway, and am not having a lot of yeast symptoms like last year.
So, the doctor prescribed a medicine to get rid of the parasite. Of course, like everything else (the detoxification process, the candida die-off, etc) lately, he said it would first make me sick before I felt better. I just laughed and said I didn't expect anything else! In addition, the doctor prescribed a few things to support healthy gut terrain (more acidophilous, colostrum to build immunity, pancreatic enzymes to take with my meals).