Jane Puckey
MPP, RN, RM
With over two decades of experience on the front lines of healthcare, Jane bridges the gap between traditional clinical practice and the frontier of evolutionary medicine. As a Registered Nurse, Midwife, and holder of a Master of Professional Practice, her career has been defined by a deep commitment to understanding human health.
Currently shaping the next generation of healthcare professionals in nursing education, Jane is also one of the world’s leading experts in Helminthic Therapy. Having found remission from a serious autoimmune condition herself, her work now focuses on the intentional reintroduction of symbiotic organisms to restore immune equilibrium – a mission born from the knowledge that this therapy can provide lasting relief for those battling autoimmune diseases and chronic allergies.
In her debut book, Hooked on Gut Health, she unites complex biological science with compelling personal accounts of remission. She argues that by restoring the gut biome to what it was prior to the ultra-sanitised modern lifestyle we can prevent and treat autoimmune and allergy disorders by stabilising the microbiome and the immune system.
When she isn’t teaching or advocating for biome restoration, Jane can be found in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, enjoying life by the coast with her husband.
What is a helminth?
That’s an interesting question because it is a little bit like asking what are bacteria? We now know that some bacteria keep us alive and form the super-important microbiome in our gut that does all sorts of amazing things for us. How quick we forget that only 20 odd years ago, we thought all bacteria were terrible and caused diseases like the gastric bug salmonella. Nowadays we deliberately take live bacteria in probiotic supplements. Helminths are a bit like the microbiome – we need helpful therapeutic helminths because they form an essential part of the human ‘superorganism’. At the same time we need to avoid nasty disease-causing ones.
Like the microbiome, humans have had a longstanding beneficial relationship with some varieties of helminths. Scientists have been studying them and have identified four species that are therapeutic. Some have been with us right throughout human evolution and we have come to depend on them to modulate the immune system and stabilise the microbiome. These worm-like organisms are slightly bigger than a bacteria, still microscopic when you take them – they grow to about a centimetre long and a hair’s width wide and can be thought of as a super powerful probiotic.
Why did you start giving yourself helminths?
I stumbled across a ‘Stuff’ article on a New Zealand woman, Lyn Jolley, who was in remission from Lupus from taking helminths. I was fascinated because I too have a serious autoimmune disease (scleroderma and myositis). Thankfully New Zealand is just a small town and I soon tracked her down and discovered a whole new world. Tens of thousands of people are successfully sending their autoimmune conditions and allergies into remission. The science is incredibly compelling and the personal stories of remission were profoundly touching. I stayed up late into the night reading everything I could about these amazing ‘old friends’. The close contact we always had with helminths prior to the 19th century meant that autoimmune disease and allergy were virtually unknown. Modern sanitation systems, although critical in eliminating infectious disease, have also eliminated our ‘old friends’ by breaking their natural life cycle Since then, the human superorganism has gradually destabilized and then toppled over. Especially when combined with other pressures to do with modern living, such as highly processed food and chronic psychological stress, many of us have strayed unwittingly into immune system disorders.
How did the helminths help with your symptoms? What improvements did you notice?
Within weeks I had more energy and some skin improvements. Incredibly I have never had a flare of disease since that first dose – although for some it can take longer. For eight years prior to this I was experiencing three monthly revolving flares of debilitating muscle weakness, at times I could hardly get up the stairs and I had to give up much-loved activities such as tennis. Steroids and other immunosuppressive medications helped keep me going, but there was a price to pay and they never cured me. I now have had years of improving health and I was able to very gradually wean off steroids and other meds. Incredibly in the last year I have taken up pickleball which is just a dream come true!
Why did you write Hooked on Gut Health?
More and more of my friends and family were finding remission with helminths from conditions such as eczema, asthma, chronic fatigue, sarcoidosis and even endometriosis. My refrain was ‘someone needs to write a book about this’ but no one did and the book still needed writing – we all need them and most people still haven’t heard of this therapy. By now I was working with people from all over the world and those who lived just down the road. So to answer the question – if not me, then who?
The book explains the science of gut health, how much research did you have to do for the book?
The science of helminths and how they interact with us is incredibly interesting. Researchers are now extracting pharmaceutical drugs from their secretions, they call it the ‘drugs from bugs’ business. However, they are somewhat overcomplicating things because the living organism can produce over 500 different molecules all working with the immune system and the microbiome in a dynamic way. Taking an isolated molecule will likely not work in the same way, will cost millions and be 20 years away which is not much use to people right now who need a solution. The research and writing of this book took three years of daily dedication and was the most challenging thing I have ever done. Luckily, I was in regular contact with one of the main helminth researchers, Dr William Parker. He is a USA-based scientist who supports biome restoration with the live organism and his help was invaluable in gaining a fundamental understanding of the therapy.
Hooked on Gut Health also shares personal accounts of peoples recovery and remission, which do you think is the most remarkable personal story?
For me one of the most successful things to treat is eczema and it also tends to be young children who suffer the most. A local Tauranga couple, Sarah and Simon Walker, shared their story of eczema which affected Sarah and their children. They gave me the before and after photos to publish in my book because they want everyone to know that nobody has to suffer like this. The relief and joy of seeing their children free of eczema was something special. Also, Lucy’s story of relief from unrelenting pain from ankylosing spondylitis (a type of arthritis) and Richard who, like me, recovered from scleroderma. It is hard to choose really because there are accounts from all over the world as well as the ones close to home. I was very affected by the accounts from desperate parents of children who were cured from PANDA (Paediatric Autoimmune Neurological Disorder), a terrible brain inflammation which causes things like tics and uncontrollable rage.
The thought of helminths has an ick factor, what do you hope people understand from reading the book?
I personally never experienced the ick, but I know some people who initially did have that sensation. For most Helminthic Therapy self-treaters the ick really only lasted a few moments. I think their curiosity got the better of them. Most people understand that we host a buzz of bacteria and other creatures so it isn’t that unusual once they get used to the idea, and you don’t even notice them, they settle in cosying up with the microbiome in the gut.