Check for trypanosoma on the slightest excuse
I've just added this to a pinned post called First Principles.
Check for trypanosoma on the slightest excuse. It's significantly under diagnosed. Fingernail issues? Check for trypanosoma. Depression? Check for trypanosoma. Persistent anemia? Check for trypanosoma.
So this is intended to expand a little on those points.
Fingernails
If your fingernails get screwed up after you start a round of antibiotics -- especially Zithromax or Levaquin -- then get tested for trypanosoma.
If your fingernails get screwed up after you go on a bender or otherwise drink or drug more than usual, check for trypanosoma.
If you start hormones or steroids for ANY reason and your fingernails suddenly look weird, check for trypanosoma.
Depression and Anemia
I'm not really prone to depression. My mom called me Shirley Temple in part because I'm frequently an annoyingly bubbly personality.
But trypanosoma die off causes a chemical-based depression where you feel everything is POINTLESS and HOPELESS.
It can mimic feeling suicidal but it's not exactly the same thing. It can get interpreted that way, but it's more specifically like "What is the POINT??!!! It's all POINTLESS!!!! And purposeless!!! And HOPELESS!!! We're all dust in the wind ANYWAY!!!"
If you feel like that AND you break a fingernail, definitely CHECK for trypanosoma. You probably have it.
I also get depressed if I'm severely anemic and trypanosoma is an iron-loving bug that scavenges iron from red blood cells and can make you anemic.
I had restless leg syndrome for years and read that it can be caused by either lack of B vitamins or lack of iron. BOTH of those are required to make red blood cells.
So I spent some years taking B vitamins to calm my restless leg syndrome so I could sleep and if that didn't work, taking iron. And then one day after years of never getting enough iron, I had symptoms of iron poisoning and I was like "WHAT the HELL, man???"
I have a genetic disorder, so my first thought was "Where was the iron HIDING all these years in my wonky body?" And I ultimately concluded most likely this suggested trypanosoma die off and my body was recovering the iron they had been stealing for years.
Because white blood cells basically EAT invaders. So your body reprocesses those lost nutrients, especially for something persistent like iron, which is a metal.
So if you take iron constantly and just can never get enough iron and remain anemic, check for trypanosoma. You may be feeding the infection and making it worse.
There's a lot of information about trypanosoma on my older health site:
But I don't think it really covers reasons to check for it.
Additionally, mystery heart ailments at a young age are a good reason to check for trypanosoma, especially if you have ever lived in poverty housing or ever had sex with anyone on planet Earth.
I believe my husband got trypanosoma in Saudi Arabia and transmitted it to me sexually.
I have read it can be hard to test for. If you are male and having trouble getting the information you need, ask them to test your sperm. It probably spreads that way.
No, I never got tested. I was deathly ill and doctors were treating me like a loon, so I was looking up my symptoms online and it was the only infection I found that matched my symptoms, which included:
1. Sleeping excessively without feeling rested.
This is the class of bug that causes African Sleeping Sickness where you sleep more and more and one day you don't wake up. I had dreamless periods of sleep because it gets into the brain and destroys cognitive function.
2. Joint issues.
It favors cartilage, possibly because that puts it largely out of reach of your active immune system like white blood cells that hunt down invaders. Cartilage has no blood supply, so it's a place a number of infections settle long term after the acute stage has passed.
Scarlet fever -- AKA very bad strep throat -- also harms the heart and joints and stays permanently in the joints.
But if you have ever had strep, you should know what that feels like. It causes a unique sense of weakness upon standing up and trypanosoma doesn't do that.
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