Water Bug
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While backpacking in Bishop, CA I was drinking lake and creek water that was clean, flowing and appeared to be good. My primary treatment method was a UV steripen and a bandana to filter floaties, but I didn't know that treated water should be stored in the shade and that sun can reverse its affects. In about a week I got explosive diarrhea and major abdominal cramps. No one else I shared the water with got sick. I am hesitant to go get a stool sample. Any suggestions? |
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Are you seriously asking for home remedies for giardia? Go to the doc. It's a pretty simple and effective protocol. |
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Keithb00ne wrote:treated water should be stored in the shade and that sun can reverse its affects.source? |
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If anything you should keep it in the sun... |
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I'm wrong on this one. I did more research and the reference I was using does not appear to have any scientific backing. Here is a quote I found that gives a better explination: |
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nicelegs wrote: Maybe the bandanna, maybe you went swimming, maybe you went ass to mouthNicelegs, you definitely need to post up more often in the injuries forum. They could certainly use some of your creativity in possible diagnoses. I always thought that ass to mouth was the whole reason the steripen was created in the first place. |
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I just broke my leg today. The bone is protruding through the skin and there is a lot of blood. I can't really see what is going on through all the clotting and I feel really light headed. |
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I have no idea what happens if giardiasis is left untreated (and folk remedies qualify as "left untreated"). |
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I got giardia in college and it sucked, explosive diarrhea almost hourly day and night. I toughed it out for 6 weeks cause I was broke, it was a stupid choice. Go to the Doc, they may run stool tests to check, or they might just treat you with antibiotics to cover the most likely suspects. Talk to the doc, you can probably convince them to just treat you instead of running the tests if you want, because the tests are expensive, but the drugs are relatively cheap. |
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Ray Lovestead wrote:I just broke my leg today. The bone is protruding through the skin and there is a lot of blood. I can't really see what is going on through all the clotting and I feel really light headed. I don't want to go to the doctor. Can anyone on here give me some advice on what to do??No one can help you for falling off a 5.easy. Learn to crank harder. |
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Keithb00ne wrote: No one can help you for falling off a 5.easy. Learn to crank harder.If you leave explosive diarrhea in the mountains, Ray will take it. Finders keepers. |
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I'll be the guy who won't go to the hospital with his leg in half. While vomiting and shitting his guts out. |
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I've had giardiasis twice. Since the "treatment" is somewhat carcinogenic, I went untreated and let the disease run its course (months of discomfort). |
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I've definitely drunk a fair amount of water from the stream up at the Buttermilks unfiltered... |
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Pretty sure I got explosive diarrhea from an exploding belay one time |
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If I remember correctly, giardia encycsts in the liver. Not a good thing to leave untreated. |
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caribouman1052 wrote:If I remember correctly, giardia encycsts in the liver. Not a good thing to leave untreated.That isn't the normal course, but rather an infrequent complication. Thanks for pointing it out, because it is a good thing to be aware of, when you and your health care provider are discussing the options for treatment. The liver inflammation can be found by checking the liver enzyme levels. There are a bunch of other things to consider as well. For instance, an immunocompromised person should probably get treatment right away, because they have a much higher chance of complications from the parasite. Watch out when canyoneering! Swimming, while pushing a pack in front of you makes it easy to gulp some water. Also, your pots, water bottles, and utensils sometimes get submerged. The other way that I got it was not getting the water hot enough when making hot chocolate. Winter camping, at 12,600 ft, inside a steamy tent, at night, made it impossible to even tell if the water was boiling. We had chopped through the ice to get to lake water instead of melting snow. That same area is full of sheep in the summer, and the cysts survive a looong time in cold water. |
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Ok, it's good to know encysting in the liver is not normal - I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop for years now. |
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Flowing water keeps all the bad things stirred up. Never mind that myth that stream water purifies itself every so many yards, that's a complete crock. Lake water might be a better bet, but I wouldn't chance it. Spring water? Maybe. |
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Update..... Self treatment knocked it out in a couple weeks. I didn't take antibiotics so I don't know 100% if I had gardia or not. I have read horror stories about gardia lasting for months and it seems unusual mine disappeared so quickly. |
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I had Giardia- Keithb00ne, if you get a recurrence go see the doctor man. if not, then good on you for self treatment, not saying that's impossible,but for most of us it's not worth the time and effort for unproven results when the doc can give you a couple of knockout pills and you are done with it. But I do remember this coming and going a few times before I realized that I must have a parasite. |