One thing about travel that is NOT awesome is getting sick. It's
never a good time to be sick when you're away from "home." For me, "home" means
close to mama or other loved ones (or suckers) who can help take care
of me. Even less fun is contracting some of the fun illnesses from
other parts of the world. I currently have Giardia and it's not fun.
To be fair, I'm pretty sure I've had it (and/or several other parasites)
for about 8 years now-- ever since Paraguay. During my 3 years there, I
drank the tap water (never boiled) and didn't disinfect fruits or
vegetables. I figured there was no way I was going to keep up with
boiling water for 3 years so I might as well get used to whatever
parasites were to come my way and deal with them. Sometimes that worked
well. Sometimes I was ill, very, very ill. Like the time I contracted
Dengue (albeit not from ingesting dirty water, rather a pesky mosquito who probably ingested dirty water).
Anyway,
if you don't know already, parasites can live in you for a good long
while. They have periods of flare-ups and periods of dormancy. I've
never really done anything about them, figuring I'd just tough out the hard times and forget about them during the down times. This time
around, I'm changing my frame of mind. The thought of these things
inside me, ruining my internal organs, sucking the life from me
(literally-- no wonder pregnant women complain about being tired. It's
exhausting having something sucking up your nutrients inside of you).
On a plus side, at least it explains why I've been craving so many sweets and felt so groggy and down
lately. Makes me feel better that I'm not just lazy/apathetic. On a
scary side, I hate to think what they've been doing in there all these
years. On an even scarier note, I wonder how this will affect my size
since they've probably been a natural metabolizer all these years,
sucking up all my nutrients and making me thin. :)
I won't gross you out with the details of what happens when you have it. Suffice it to say, it's no walk in the park. If you'd like to know more about it, feel free to read this. Just how did I contract it you ask? Before you get all judgy-judgy and ask, "don't you wash your hands?" read this. According to my friend here, locals refer to May here as "Mal de Mayo" month because everyone seems to get ill about now. It's the start of the rainy season which means raw sewage is washed out and wet everywhere, sending the poop (and it's diseases) into veggies, fruits, and the air. It's usually the local kids and foreigners who get sick since we don't have a defense built up. Needless to say, I think I will be eating a lot of rice, rice, and more rice this month. A lovely salad is not sounding so lovely about this time.
Here's a quote from the CDC website about "Mal de Mayo" from Dr. Foster's trip to Central America:
Now, in the essence of full disclosure, I have not technically been to a Dr. to confirm diagnosis. In order to do so, I'd have to give a poop sample. You read that right, a poop sample. And said Drs. are all in other towns. Somehow, when I am so sick and dehydrated that I could barely make it from my bed to the bathroom without getting dizzy and grabbing the wall for support, the thought of traveling to give someone my poop just didn't seem appealing. I trust webmd, my past experiences, the random pharmacy boy who sold me what "the dr. always gives for parasites," and the collective wisdom of my fellow ex-pats and local friends who have all experienced it/are experiencing it right along with me now. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to take said medicine from pharmacy boy because I've been so sick, nothing was staying in my system. I also avoided the local herbs kindly picked from my local vegetable guy. While well-meaning, these herbs intended to kill intestinal parasites (and I believe do, if clean) they were not exactly sanitary. As I watched him pick them, surrounded by trash, dog poop, and a swarm of flying insects, I could just envision the diseases on those little leaves. I graciously accepted them and them promptly threw them out. Maybe in another month or so.
In the past 3 days, I've had exactly 2 cups of coconut water, 1 cup of tea, 2 7ups (I NEVER drink soda) and 1.5 potatoes. That's it. And, each one of these came out as quickly as they went in so I'm not sure they really even count. The first half of a potato took me about half a day to eat. I'd take a bite, get sick, rest, repeat process an hour later. Good times. Actually, maybe even worse than the stomach issues was the splitting joint pain from the fever. Very uncomfortable. I'm happy to say that I feel like I'm on the upswing of things, at least as far as nausea and things coming out of me. Not looking forward to what comes next. It will be equally as uncomfortable. Again, I'll spare you the details, but feel free to read about it. Might make you feel better about not living in some exotic place. :)
I plan to start eating today, and thus taking my meds. I also plan on not eating too many vegetables or fruits this month (welcome a whole another set of stomach issues) but will disinfect the few I do eat for sure (I haven't really done that so far). I'm lucky to have wonderful friends and neighbors here who brought me teas, pills, coconuts, and food since I was in absolutely no shape to walk to the store or cook anything. Equally as helpful was the love and support from friends and family from afar. It was still felt from across the miles and greatly appreciated. THANKS to you all! You brought a little bit of "home" to this sickly girl and took some of the "mal" out of mayo.
 |
| I first googled "Giardia" and searched images but the results were too disturbing to share. I then googled "sick girl" and some of those (sexually-overtoned) results were also disturbing (what is wrong with people?!) In the end I decided on this photo. It also displays how much I missed my mama while sick, and while away from her on Mother's Day. I also have my Maci in this photo, for those of you familiar with my Maci and his healing powers. |
I won't gross you out with the details of what happens when you have it. Suffice it to say, it's no walk in the park. If you'd like to know more about it, feel free to read this. Just how did I contract it you ask? Before you get all judgy-judgy and ask, "don't you wash your hands?" read this. According to my friend here, locals refer to May here as "Mal de Mayo" month because everyone seems to get ill about now. It's the start of the rainy season which means raw sewage is washed out and wet everywhere, sending the poop (and it's diseases) into veggies, fruits, and the air. It's usually the local kids and foreigners who get sick since we don't have a defense built up. Needless to say, I think I will be eating a lot of rice, rice, and more rice this month. A lovely salad is not sounding so lovely about this time.
Here's a quote from the CDC website about "Mal de Mayo" from Dr. Foster's trip to Central America:
Most unexpectedly, Mr. Barreda reappeared. We had a brief
conversation, and he handed me some handwritten notes, which introduced
me to the phrase “mal de Mayo” (strictly translated “bad of May” and
more commonly used to mean “illness of May”). Mal de Mayo was an annual
event that included symptoms consistent with those of our soldiers. Mal
de Mayo was associated with the rainy season, which brought countless
varieties of flying insects that were presumed vectors for this poorly
characterized disease. The local population was not overly concerned
beyond seeking parenteral rehydration for the very young, very old, and
the most severely affected. Mr. Barreda also handed me a ragged piece of
paper with a short list of local remedies (in Spanish) for mal de Mayo:
“cloranfenicol, yodoclorina, alka AD, intestonomicina, oreganito.
Now, in the essence of full disclosure, I have not technically been to a Dr. to confirm diagnosis. In order to do so, I'd have to give a poop sample. You read that right, a poop sample. And said Drs. are all in other towns. Somehow, when I am so sick and dehydrated that I could barely make it from my bed to the bathroom without getting dizzy and grabbing the wall for support, the thought of traveling to give someone my poop just didn't seem appealing. I trust webmd, my past experiences, the random pharmacy boy who sold me what "the dr. always gives for parasites," and the collective wisdom of my fellow ex-pats and local friends who have all experienced it/are experiencing it right along with me now. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to take said medicine from pharmacy boy because I've been so sick, nothing was staying in my system. I also avoided the local herbs kindly picked from my local vegetable guy. While well-meaning, these herbs intended to kill intestinal parasites (and I believe do, if clean) they were not exactly sanitary. As I watched him pick them, surrounded by trash, dog poop, and a swarm of flying insects, I could just envision the diseases on those little leaves. I graciously accepted them and them promptly threw them out. Maybe in another month or so.
In the past 3 days, I've had exactly 2 cups of coconut water, 1 cup of tea, 2 7ups (I NEVER drink soda) and 1.5 potatoes. That's it. And, each one of these came out as quickly as they went in so I'm not sure they really even count. The first half of a potato took me about half a day to eat. I'd take a bite, get sick, rest, repeat process an hour later. Good times. Actually, maybe even worse than the stomach issues was the splitting joint pain from the fever. Very uncomfortable. I'm happy to say that I feel like I'm on the upswing of things, at least as far as nausea and things coming out of me. Not looking forward to what comes next. It will be equally as uncomfortable. Again, I'll spare you the details, but feel free to read about it. Might make you feel better about not living in some exotic place. :)
I plan to start eating today, and thus taking my meds. I also plan on not eating too many vegetables or fruits this month (welcome a whole another set of stomach issues) but will disinfect the few I do eat for sure (I haven't really done that so far). I'm lucky to have wonderful friends and neighbors here who brought me teas, pills, coconuts, and food since I was in absolutely no shape to walk to the store or cook anything. Equally as helpful was the love and support from friends and family from afar. It was still felt from across the miles and greatly appreciated. THANKS to you all! You brought a little bit of "home" to this sickly girl and took some of the "mal" out of mayo.
