Gurm Update, November (*WARNING* DEPRESSING)

[Gurm]

Yikes!

I don't think there's any danger of that. I didn't make any stops - it went straight to the lab.

The woman was VERY thankful to me for labeling them myself, it meant she could just stick a sticker to the outside and not have to "handle" them too much.

-----

So today I go to the gastroenterologist. We wanted the appointment to be next week so that if the stool samples come back positive, I could just cancel. However, this was the only availability until... the middle of December. Yikes!

Oh well. He'll probably tell me to give ANOTHER stool sample... fun fun.

Anyway, the GOOD news is that this cycle of the illness has been MUCH shorter/milder than the last one. We can, I suppose, be thankful for small miracles. If it IS a parasite, then of course it WILL go in cycles... but apparently the Flagyl partly did its job last time and knocked the little bastards down a few pegs. As opposed to two weeks of utter misery, this time it was only about a week of unpleasantness. If they still haven't figured out what it is, then the next cycle (which ought to occur right around CHRISTMAS... go figure) ought to be 4 days of mild indisposition. *shrug*

Anyway, keep wishing me well.

I'm almost hoping that the parasite screen comes back positive. You know - I'm torn. One half of me of course doesn't WANT to be sick, especially with such a terrible little disease... but the other half of me says "well, if it comes back positive, they can TREAT you fairly rapidly, and then you'll be better!", and that half seems to be winning. *shrug*

- Gurm

[DentyCracker]

The usual dose of metronidazole is a 7 day course of 500mg three times a day, or 800 mg stat and then 400 mg three times a day. Quite unlikely that salmonellosis would last that long. It is usually a self limiting illness. The whole episode does seem rather drawn out though. Seems to me that you should have been referred in to hospital quite some time ago, if only for investigation and observation. I think most GPs here would have been only too happy to. But then they have mostly free care here.

[ZokesPro]

I know exactly what you mean. You'd rather find out that you are infected with something that way they can pump you full of anti-biotics and finally cure whatever is ruining your health!

In a way I hope they find a parasite too! I just hope they don't find something they cannot cure. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for you, if it means anything to you.

[Gurm]

Denty,

Yeah, I know. But then again "most" cases of Giardiasis (the disease Giardia causes) last a couple days at most - not the 4 months it took to find mine.

- Gurm

[Gurm]

Well, back from the Gastroenterologist.

He's running a few VERY specific tests on me tomorrow.

Additionally it's possible that the food poisoning I got at the end of August just set off a cascade of problems. If the small intestine lining got messed up, it would keep me from getting nutrients, which would lead to ... essentially malnutrition, which could cause any number of bad things to happen. Bleh.

- Gurm

[ZokesPro]

You can get better from this right?

[Paddy]

Watch the high doses of Vit.C. There are several scares about at the moment suggesting that it can be carcinogenic...