Home Remedy for Worms

Roundworms, tapeworms and hookworms can be purged safely using home remedies. Signs of worm infestations vary from seeing actual worm parts in you stool or around the anus, exhaustion, distended stomach, increased hunger while losing weight, apathy, anemia and constipation or diarrhea. There are many home remedies you can use, but the safest and most effective are epazote, bitter melon and garlic.

Epazote

• Epazote has been a home worm treatment in Mexico and other South American countries for many years. The dried leaves have a slightly lemony flavor to some, but others have described the flavor as resembling old gym socks. A tiny pinch of the dried leaves mixed into a quart of spaghetti sauce or a pot of beans will relieve gas and arthritis pain as well as preventing worm infestation. Do not use more than a pinch because epazote in high doses is toxic. Do not use epazote if you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant because it can cause miscarriages, even in small doses.

Walk Them Out

• The ancient Greeks and Romans used garlic to rid themselves of worms. Eat garlic cloves whole or take it in pill form. You can also apply it to the soles of your feet if you do not like the taste of garlic, where the essential oils will be absorbed into the skin.

Change Your Body Chemistry

• Many homeopaths believe that diet alone can prevent worm infestation. The folks at Best Home Remedies recommend a high fiber diet, drinking filtered water, eating figs three times a day and eating bitter melon. Bitter melon is an ingredient in a Cantonese dish named Canh Kho Qua. Canh Kho Qua has been touted for centuries by Chinese mothers.

Have a Chew

• Many herbalists recommend chewing fresh, unprocessed leaf tobacco and swallowing the juice. It's effective, but not very safe because of its extreme purgative effects. The result is severe nausea and vomiting, which will often purge the worms, but at a rather high cost to the body and your well-being. Commercial chewing tobacco is mixed with far too many chemicals to be a viable option.

Risks

• Epazote's essential oil in high doses can be harmful or fatal. Epazote can cause miscarriages in pregnant women. In "Chenopodium Ambrosioides: An Ethnopharmacological Review," S. E. Potawale and fellow authors state: "Intake of 10 mg of the oil has been known to cause cardiac disturbances, convulsions, respiratory disturbances, sleepiness, vomiting and weakness and even death." In order to get 10 mg of essential oil from epazote, however, you would have to eat several pounds of the dried leaves at once.

See a Doctor

• Because some home cures can cause as much damage as the worms themselves, a trip to the doctor might be necessary. It is especially important to see a doctor if you have already used any of these methods and still feel bloated, listless, have a distended stomach, see signs of worm parts in your stool or around your anus, or are experiencing weight loss while being unusually hungry. If you are vomiting more than twice a day, have diarrhea for more than three days, or experience constipation lasting more than three days, make an appointment or visit a primary care clinic near you.