Delhi Belly, Monsoon Fever + Other Maladies

Getting sick, mildly or severely, is just one of the things you have to accept when traveling in the developing world. Not that you don't get sick at home, but it's only once in a great while that you get food poisoning and it's IMPOSSIBLE to get malaria. Usually, it's a small price to pay for the experience of modern day time travel. For those that don't understand what I mean by that - Being in the third world, especially in rural areas, you're often able to witness a way of life you may not realize still exists - People carrying goods on ox-drawn carts; Cooking over dung fires; Living under the same rood as their livestock; Bathing + washing clothes in rivers... But back to my point. Unfortunately for me, I have a delicate constitution and on this + past trips I've contracted numerous G.I. problems and as a result have lost alot of weight. Something of which I can't afford to do on an ongoing basis.

My last case, of what they call Delhi Belly here in India, persisted for over a week until I was so weakened + irritable that I finally broke down and got antibiotics (always a last resort because it also kills the GOOD bugs and temporarily weakens your immunity). Not a week later and now I've come down with what the Doctor presumes is Monsoon Fever, common here in Varanasi post-monsoon, but of which I can find nothing about. Symptoms last for three days and include SEVERE, incapacitating headache, high fever + body aches. Sounds like what I've got, but is it? Conducting my own search online, the symptoms all sound alarmingly similar to Typhoid, Dengue Fever and Japanese Encephalitis. Yikes! I'm lacking the abnormal rash + neck immobility, for now, so I rule these out. Then I read about Brucellosis, contracted from eating unpasturized milk + cheese products. For the past few days we've been taking cooking lessons from a guy that makes some of THE best fresh cheeses we've ever tasted, and we've been doing ALOT of tasting... In my weakened immune state, could this be it?! I'll give it the three days and if symptoms persist I'll get a blood test to find out.

Darin + I were talking about this, in one of my moments of clarity, and he reminded me that just because you're in the U.S. doesn't mean you shouldn't do your own research. His Mom was a Med Tech for 30ish years and was witness to numerous diagnosis' made by doctors that, with her specialized knowledge in reviewing test data, did not agree with. Not to say that the doctors didn't have many more years of school training, or even experience, but not all are created equal, and they CAN make mistakes, overlook things or err towards the more common of two possibilities. Another example is of some friends of ours that are very heads-up. They had a child - NOT their area of expertise. As their pediatrician began prescribing numerous standard inoculations they started to do their homework. What they found was disturbing - Several of these so-called preventatives were completely illogical... For things a child shouldn't even contract... from drug use or sex... like Hepatitis! What?! It's true. Further investigation unveiled that the DRUG COMPANIES were pushing this one. Must be a tidy sum for them with every newborn in the U.S. being required to get this!

Anyway, I said all this not to get your sympathy for me (after 3 days I AM about 80% back to normal), but just to caution you to be your own doctor. Look up the medicines you're prescribed before taking them. Sometimes there is more information about how they should be taken than you're given - Like being ineffective when taken with another or allergic reactions. I ALWAYS list my allergy to Tylenol/Paracetamol on the informational questionaires and you wouldn't BELIEVE the number of times doctor's give it to me anyway! So question, then question some more. Make those doctors WORK!