Treatment of giardiasis in adults

Giardiasis is a common disease that occurs due to exposure to lamblia (protozoan parasites). For the first time, these microorganisms were discovered in 1859 by the scientist D. Lamblem, later named after his last name. Giardia is a very tenacious parasite that can be in the atmosphere for a long time. When infected, the localization of pathology is observed in the upper intestine. For infection, it is enough for 10 cysts to enter the body. Soon they will multiply and will regularly leave the body along with the feces.

Infection process

It all starts with the infected. After swallowing, the protective membrane of the cyst dissolves, and the parasite becomes a full-fledged lamblia. When the number of parasites reaches the possible limit, they move to the middle, and then to the distal parts of the intestine. In the large intestine, they meet with unfavorable conditions for existence. This leads to the fact that lamblia turn into cysts (oval cells with a membrane) and are expelled during the bowel movement.

Outside the body, cysts are able to survive for three months. It turns out they can be anywhere! Further infection is carried out in several ways:

1. Contact and household. Parasites enter the body when the rules of hygiene are violated, through toys, towels, dishes, etc.
2. Through the water. Untreated water is another source of contamination. Open bodies of water and tap water are equally dangerous. Without thermal, chemical and mechanical treatment of water, you risk quickly becoming infected with lamblia.
3. Through food. Poorly washed berries, fruits and any other products consumed without preliminary heat treatment.

Pets, rodents, flies, etc. act as carriers of the disease. Giardia can be easily infected and may not always be your fault.

How does lamblia affect the body?

These microorganisms are unable to feed on unprocessed food. They need amino acids, vitamins, lipids and other beneficial trace elements - everything that the body must assimilate. Thus, much of what you eat will be destroyed by the lamblia.

Further, the walls of the small intestine under the influence of lamblia are gradually destroyed, which causes inflammation and atrophy. The functioning of organs is impaired due to the secretion of lamblia. They do their best to create the most favorable habitat for themselves, and this is not a symbiosis. The body is seriously damaged.

Symptoms

Most often, the disease reveals itself only after diagnosis. The patient is often unaware of the illness for years. But in the most advanced cases, some of the following symptoms may occur:

• bloating;
• frothy stools, recurrent diarrhea;
• painful sensations in the navel;
• weight loss;
• destabilization of appetite;
• pancreatitis;
• sleep disorders;
• symptoms of gastritis and peptic ulcer;
• pain in the right side;
• autonomic dysfunction;
• jaundiced skin tone;
• seizures in the corners of the mouth;
• deterioration in performance;
• asthenia;
• hives;
• dermatitis;
• eczema;
• allergic reaction in various manifestations;
• deterioration of the immune system;
• headache;
• disruption of the biliary tract.

Important! Not all of these symptoms will necessarily manifest themselves. Only a part can appear. Often, doctors insist on a feces analysis, you should not refuse. It is possible that right now you are infected with lamblia, and this disease must be treated, although it may seem to you that it is completely harmless. Why feed uninvited guests?

Fortunately, with modern methods, the patient can be cured at all stages of this disease. You will be surprised when all symptoms disappear. As a rule, patients understand how great the damage from small parasites was, only after all symptoms have been removed.

Subtleties of diagnosis

Doctors use one or more diagnostic methods to identify giardiasis:

1. Stool analysis. A common method for detecting cysts. Analyzes need to be carried out weekly for 2 months in order to track the dynamics of the development of the disease.
2. Sounding. The study of the upper intestine is carried out with the sampling of material for further analysis.
3. Enterotest. A modern method involving swallowing a nylon thread. The capsule shell dissolves in the stomach, and the parasites attach to the thread and pass out in the feces. Subsequently, this thread is sent for analysis.

Also in modern medicine, a blood test is used to detect antibodies to lamblia.

Standard treatment regimen

Fighting these parasites is a responsible process that needs to be taken seriously. Otherwise, you will have to start all over again. The doctors created a three-step treatment regimen. Regardless of the degree of neglect of the disease, the effectiveness of therapy is close to 100%. The course of drug treatment varies within 5-7 days.

First step

At this stage, treatment takes about 3 weeks. The most important thing is to follow your diet. Proper nutrition will help you cope with the disease as quickly as possible. It is strictly forbidden to use:

• milk;
• sweets, cookies, cakes;
• flour.

Optimal nutrition should consist of rice, buckwheat in water, it is recommended to eat fresh fruits and vegetables. Cranberry juice, sauerkraut - products that can be attributed to the methods of traditional medicine. They allow you to effectively fight giardia. At the first stage, the following medicines are used:

1. Choleretic drugs are recommended Holagol plant-based (no more than 30 drops per day orally). They help speed up the process of relieving inflammation.
2. Antispasmodics, for example, No-Shpa (80 mg orally 2 times a day).
3. Cholekinetics. These are agents that accelerate the work of the gallbladder. Most often assigned Flamin (2 tablets 2 times a day half an hour before meals).
4. Enterosorbents, for example, Smecta (up to 12 g per day).
5. Also, the doctor may prescribe Mezim and other drugs after a detailed study of the coprogram.

We will present several drug regimens in the form of a table.

1 circuit

Medication	Image	Dosage	Medication delivery method
1 circuit
Cefotaxime		2 grams per day	Intramuscularly
Mezlocillin		6 to 15 grams per day	Intramuscularly
Metronidazole		1.5 grams every 8 hours	Orally
2 scheme
Doxycycline		The first dose is 200 mg per day, then from 100 to 200 mg 1-2 times a day	Intravenously
3 scheme
Cefazolin		2 grams every 12 hours	Intramuscularly
4 scheme
Ciprofloxacin		200-400 mg every 12 hours	Intravenously

Second phase

It is an addition to the first stage. In this case, all actions are aimed at destroying parasites. Its duration depends on the degree of damage to the upper intestine. In case of unsuccessful treatment, there will be a break of up to two weeks, after which the course of treatment will be repeated. The doctor prescribes the following drugs.

1. Fazizhin.2 grams once.
2. Metronidazole, 7.5 mg orally every 6 hours.
3. Albendazole, 200 mg orally every 12 hours.

Stage Three

After the complete or almost complete destruction of lamblia in the body, it is necessary to move on to strengthening the immune system. The body must receive reliable protection from parasites. It is recommended to take herbal preparations. The doctor will prescribe medications that can strengthen the immune system. Most likely, these will be the following:

1. Stembifid. Two tablets 3 times a day for a month.
2. Bion 3. One tablet a day with food for a month.
3. Various vitamin complexes: Complivit, Vitrum, Dynamisan and others. They practically have no contraindications, with the exception of allergies and hypervitaminosis, therefore they can be used without a doctor's prescription for one to two months.

It is not a fact that the therapy will be 100% effective. If, after a course of treatment, the disease was detected again, it makes sense to take a short break in taking medications and repeat the course. Often, treatment is unsuccessful due to the patient's negligent attitude to his health. Recall that giardiasis is not the worst disease, but it must be treated responsibly.

Features of the above drugs

The doctor always takes into account the individual characteristics of the patient's body before prescribing a particular treatment regimen. Fortunately, today there are enough medicines to choose the right treatment regimen, taking into account contraindications and side effects. To inform the doctor about the characteristics of your body to prescribe the optimal regimen treatment, you better think in advance about the relevance of the drugs that the doctor will prescribe with great probability.

Contraindications

We present an exhaustive list of contraindications for each drug.

1. Holagol. Hypersensitivity to the components of the drug, inflammation of the biliary tract, impaired renal function, pregnancy and lactation.
2. No-Shpa. Dysfunction of the liver and kidneys, heart failure, breastfeeding, pregnancy, galactose intolerance.
3. Flamin. Obstructive hepatitis, cholelithiasis.
4. Smecta. Hypersensitivity to components, intestinal obstruction.
5. Mezim. Pancreatitis in the acute phase, galactose intolerance.
6. Cefotaxime. Severe disorders of the excretory system, hypersensitivity to the components of the drug, allergies.
7. Mezlocillin. Hypersensitivity to penicillin, allergies.
8. Metronidazole. Lesions of the central nervous system, severe disorders of the liver and kidneys, blood diseases.
9. Cefazolin. Hypersensitivity to the main component.
10. Ciprofloxacin. Pregnancy, lactation period.
11. Fazizhin. Pregnancy in the first trimester, lactation, disturbances in the functioning of the central nervous system and hematopoietic system.
12. Albendazole. Pregnancy and the period of breastfeeding, old age, disorders of the digestive and cardiovascular systems, planning a pregnancy three months before conception, cirrhosis of the liver, stomach or duodenal ulcer, renal failure.
13. Stembifid. Individual intolerance to the components, pregnancy and lactation.
14. Bion 3. Individual intolerance.

Video - Symptoms and treatment of giardiasis

Side effects

Among the side effects, the following are distinguished:

1. Holagol. Allergies, diarrhea and nausea are possible.
2. No-Shpa. Insomnia, dizziness, decreased blood pressure, nausea, difficulty in defecation, allergies.
3. Flamin. Increased blood pressure, allergies.
4. Smecta. Constipation.
5. Mezim. Discomfort, diarrhea, constipation.
6. Cefotaxime. Skin rash, fever, leukopenia, neutropenia.
7. Mezlocillin. Flatulence, vomiting, diarrhea, skin rash, fever, anemia, allergic shock, vasculitis, leukopenia, thrombophlebitis, renal dysfunction.
8. Metronidazole. Vomiting and nausea, skin rash, itching, leukopenia, burning sensation when urinating, sleep disturbances.
9. Doxycycline. Vomiting and nausea, weight loss, skin rash, discoloration of teeth, neutropenia, anemia, dysphagia, glossitis.
10. Cefazolin. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, urticaria, itching, candidiasis, impaired renal function, Quincke's edema, anaphylactic shock.
11. Ciprofloxacin. Nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, flatulence, icteric skin color, sleep disturbances, depression, migraine, fainting, tremor, anxiety, fatigue, asthenia, changes pain threshold, visual impairment, hearing impairment, tachycardia, decrease in blood pressure, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, hematuria, arthritis, myalgia, epidermal necrolysis, candidiasis, weakness.
12. Fazizhin. Decreased appetite, disturbances in the digestive system, increased fatigue, asthenia, irritability, poor coordination, a decrease in the number of leukocytes in the blood, allergies.
13. Ornidazole. Heartburn, nausea, drowsiness, skin rash, headaches, impaired consciousness, tremors, convulsions.
14. Albendazole. Sleep disturbances, headaches, dizziness, weakening of mental stability, pain in the epigastric region, constipation and diarrhea, vomiting, disruption of the excretory system, darkening of urine, convulsions, increased body temperature, yellowing of the skin and eyeballs, worsening vision.
15. Stembifid. Allergy.
16. Bion 3. There are no side effects.

Several alternative treatments

Treatment for giardiasis in adults may include other treatments. Medicines are not always applicable due to various reasons: the impossibility of acquiring in a particular locality, contraindications, etc. Several effective methods to deal with lamblia.

Folk remedies

The arsenal of traditional medicine is being questioned by modern European medicine. Yes, this is the experience of centuries, but among all the presented means for combating diseases, it is hardly worth using bloodletting or the use of arsenic, as our distant ancestors did. It is recommended to choose natural remedies that contain ingredients that can help fight giardia. At the same time, the components are available for everyone, they are sold in stores and grow in the beds. We have selected a list of such funds for you.

1. Garlic and horseradish tincture. Take fresh ingredients in equal proportions and grind. Enough 50 g of the mixture for 0.5 liters of 40% alcohol. Mix the ingredients in a clean container, cover with an airtight lid and set aside in a dark place for two weeks. Filter the finished tincture, use 5 ml twice a day 30 minutes before meals. It is acceptable to dilute with water if the taste is unpleasant for you. Be careful! You are dealing with alcohol, so pay attention to contraindications before using.
2. Pumpkin seed treatment. Pumpkin seeds are capable of destroying giardia. Moreover, they are sold in almost any supermarket. To cope with the disease, it is enough to eat a glass of peeled seeds and not drink water for three hours. It is better to do this in the morning on an empty stomach. Giardia will come out during a bowel movement. You can make this process easier by taking a laxative in the evening. Repeat the procedure for three days.
3. Rowan infusion. You need to purchase dried berries. Add a teaspoon of berries to a glass of boiling water. You can change the volume, but the proportions remain the same. In the future, consume 100 ml of infusion before meals three times a day for two weeks.

All these funds will become not only an addition to drug treatment, but also independently able to cope with the disease with the right approach. All of them are on a natural basis, and the only contraindication to their use is allergies (with the exception of tinctures).

Video - Treatment of giardiasis in adults with folk remedies

Prophylaxis

After a full recovery, you will feel much better. You definitely do not want to go back to the previous state. It is very easy to get infected again. How can I avoid this? Most importantly, follow the rules of personal hygiene:

• always wash your hands before eating;
• rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running water, a short heat treatment is recommended;
• do not drink water from open reservoirs and plumbing, be sure to boil; parasites cannot withstand high temperatures;
• do not swim in dirty and questionable bodies of water, especially with stagnant water;
• wash your hands thoroughly after communicating with pets, and also pay attention to the hygiene of your pets;
• when working on a personal plot, be sure to wear gloves;
• try to exclude the possibility of flies getting into the kitchen and food, as they carry giardia;
• if a family member has the disease, get preventive treatment together.

This is the only way to reduce the likelihood of infection, but not completely eliminate it. We recommend that you visit the hospital regularly to diagnose various diseases.

Information about the disease and methods of treatment is presented in as much detail as possible. But this should not be a guide to action for you. We recommend that you visit your doctor before taking any action. Symptoms of giardiasis may indicate another disease, and attempts to recover will not be successful.