Carson Meyer had been feeling perpetually tired for almost a year.
The 20-year-old, who had recently been drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team, had been experiencing relentless lethargy along with pale skin and a loss of appetite.
Doctors, psychiatrists and trainers thought the Powell, Ohio, native might have depression, mononucleosis, and even cancer.
It wasn’t until a trip to the bathroom that Meyer figured out why he was sick – a 25-inch tapeworm had been living in his small intestine.
Hockey player Carson Meyer, 20 (left and right, with his mother), from Powell, Ohio, had been experiencing relentless lethargy along with pale skin and a loss of appetite for almost a year. What he believed was a serious disease was actually a tapeworm living in his small intestine
The college sophomore, recently drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets (pictured), was thought to be suffering from depression, mononucleosis and even cancer
Meyer told The Athletic he had been feeling sluggish throughout the summer after completing his freshman year at the University of Miami in Oxford, Ohio.
He had just been selected in the sixth round of the 2017 NHL Draft for the Blue Jackets and he hoped that getting back into the swing of classes would help with his lethargy.
But it didn’t and, as winter rolled around, Meyer suffered from a loss of appetite, he dropped weight and he would fall asleep during drills.
His performance began to suffer as well. Meyer went from scoring 26 points in 32 games over the 2016-17 season to just 10 points in 36 games.
He also had a -22 rating as a sophomore. A ‘minus’ is given to a player if they are on the ice for an even-strength or shorthanded goal scored by the opposing team.
‘Not only did I feel slow and way more tired than everybody else but I just had this mental fog,’ Meyer told The Athletic.
‘I couldn’t even think straight. I’d be on the bench zoned out, and I had to snap myself out of it. One [opposing] coach asked some of my teammates if I had cancer.’
In December, Meyer asked to see a psychiatrist for what he believed was depression, which was not diagnosed.
He underwent a series of tests, including for mononucleosis, which rendered no results.
Finally, in February, Meyer figured out what was wrong when he went to use the bathroom.
‘I was going to the bathroom, just like normal, and it came out,’ Meyer said.
Sitting in the toilet bowl was an orange, 25-inch tapeworm – head, neck and segments – which almost caused the hockey player to faint.
‘I Face-Timed my mom and was like: “What the hell is this thing?”‘ Meyer continued. ‘I was freaking out. Absolutely freaking out.’
His mother, Holly Meyer, said she was frightened by the sight of the tapeworm but relieved that there was an answer to the mystery of why her son was so sick.
‘I was trying to be calm,’ she told The Athletic.
‘He showed me everything and I remember saying: “You have to get that to the trainer and figure out what it is so they can get you fixed”.’
‘And I did say at that moment: “This is why everything has been the way it’s been, Carson. This was it.” It was scary, but it was a relief.’
Finally, in February, Meyer (pictured, with his parents) went to use the bathroom and found a 25-inch tapeworm to be the cause of his illness. Meyer said he will soon be seeing a doctor to make sure there is no larvae or eggs left in his intestine
Medical experts identified the tapeworm as diphyllobothrium latum, which comes from eating raw or undercooked fish.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this is the largest tapeworm that can infect people, and can grow up to 30 feet long.
Meyer said he is feeling much better following one month of treatment and he will soon be seeing a doctor to make sure there is no larvae or eggs left in his intestine.
He is reportedly transferring to Ohio State for reasons including that some at Miami did not take his illness seriously and just believed that he was in a ‘slump’.
But his teammates have made light of the situation, allegedly naming the destructive tapeworm ‘Teddy’.