Question: I am a (generally) healthy 30 year old woman, who also happens to volunteer at the local animal shelter, working with dogs. over the past 4-5 months, I have been experiencing sporadic, VIOLENT bouts of vomiting or diarrhea, which comes and goes with no apparent trigger, but almost always occurred during the evening or middle of the night. for a while I joked that I must have a parasite, because I have lost nine pounds in the past 8 weeks, with no additional effort than usual. I went to the gastroenterologist and have an end/colonoscopy scheduled for 7/15. since my appointment, I discovered what appeared to be a worm in my stool. it was solid, about 1 inch long, pretty solid diameter (not stringy) opaque, off-white, and was definitely not foam or mucus. I have observed little balls of the same color in my stool all week, and this morning in the shower, after a long night of cramping and diarrhea, during my extra intense hygiene efforts around my rear, I discovered the attached objects. At first I wondered if they were dried soap, but I used clear cetaphil gel. I placed the balls on toilet tissue and the outside of them dried. Then I smashed them, and they exuded clear fluid. So, are the nightmares true, did I catch some sort of parasitic worm from the beloved pups?