The protocol in your group chat is not a stool test

Intestinal parasites happen — after travel, after certain water exposures, in households with young children, and in specific clinical situations. They are diagnosed with a stool sample or blood tests, and treated with a specific medicine against a specific organism, for a specific length of time.

That process is short, cheap by medical standards and available. It is the opposite of guessing.

The protocols circulating in group chats treat 'parasites' as a catch-all explanation for fatigue, bloating, brain fog, skin problems and bad sleep. Those symptoms are common and have many causes, most of which a stool test would rule in or out in a week.

The stacks also change every few months, which is a fair sign nobody is measuring anything. There is no test in the protocol, no endpoint, and no way to tell whether it worked.

Ivermectin is a registered medicine with genuine, narrow uses against certain parasitic infections, prescribed at a defined dose for a defined indication. That is the legitimate version and it goes through a doctor and a pharmacy.

Off-label stacking — high doses, long courses, combinations pulled off the internet — is a different activity with a different risk profile, including interactions with medicines you already take. We will not supply or design one.

Fenbendazole is a dewormer registered for animals. It is not a registered human medicine in South Africa, human safety and dosing data are not established, and the tablets and pastes are formulated for a dog or a horse.

If you are taking it because of something you read, please come and talk to us. No judgement — we would just rather know what is on board when something goes wrong.

We will help you get to the right test, we will check your current medicines for interactions, we will explain what a prescribed treatment involves, and we will happily tell you that fatigue plus bloating is far more often sleep, alcohol, iron, thyroid, stress or diet than it is a worm.

Blood in stool, unexplained weight loss, persistent diarrhoea, fever, or symptoms after travel to a high-risk area — see a doctor and ask for the appropriate tests. Book a pharmacist consult or WhatsApp us if you want help working out where to start.