March 3, 2016March 3, 2016 By AFlynn
[I felt it was appropriate to bring back this gem off the heels of my last documented bout with Bali Belly. Hope you enjoy!]
Everybody, I ask that you please join me in celebrating the administering of my final doses of medication. Yayyyyyy! “Medication? But, Austin, that sounds serious. Why are/were you taking medication?” Well, overly concerned internet stranger, I was taking medicine to treat the more-than-mild case of traveler’s diarrhea(traveler’s sickness as I politely explained to some) I came down with while in Kuala Lumpur. It’s also known by some as “Montezuma’s revenge,” mummy’s tummy,” “Delhi belly” or “burrito bowels,” but I’ll just call it “the asshole” to explain my feeling towards it and what it affects the most. So, instead of just upsetting YOUR stomach with the gross details, I’m going to take the time to turn this into an insightful travel tip. Well, hopefully.
Travel Tip #4: You’re going to be intrigued on your journey to try mysterious, new food you’ve never seen, smelled or tasted before. By all means, I implore you to taste away. Just be sure to
1. MONITOR WHERE YOU’RE EATING
2. ASK HOW THE FOOD IS PREPARED
3. MAKE SURE YOU’RE EATING COOKED FOOD
4. EAT NEW DISHES IN MODERATION/GIVE YOUR BODY SOME FAMILIAR FOOD IN BETWEEN BIG DISHES
5. BOIL TAP WATER OR BUY BOTTLED WATER BEFORE DRINKING
I understand that rules one and two might be hard to adhere to as communicating with the chef who speaks a language you don’t can be impossible and sometimes raw is the only way a certain type of dish is prepared, but just try your best. As long as you’re remaining vigilant on how the food makes you feel, that’s the most important part.
Suspect #1: Was it you, self-cooked squid legs in Malacca? I thought something smelled fishy…
It’s also very possible that no matter how strictly you monitor what you eat you’ll end up sick regardless. After all, you have to eat to live and while traveling we’d like to eat the local cuisine. Who leaves America to order pizza in Asia.*cough* Me *cough*When we order all of this foreign food, our body might not be used to the ingredients it’s made from or even the bacteria native to this area. Hopefully there won’t be bacteria but nothing’s perfect. So, if you’ve monitored your food, drank only boiled or bottled water and still you’ve got a case of this nastily inconvenient sickness, what can you do?
Unlike me, you want to immediately notice the early symptoms(achy muscles, feeling unnaturally warm, loss of energy) and stay indoors. Preferably you’ll want to stay somewhere near a toilet. My traveler’s diarrhea lasted about four days with some symptoms persisting well into almost a week. Speaking of symptoms, they include running a fever, bloating, achy muscles, intermittent stomach cramps, constipation, and, as the name implies, diarrhea. “How can one have diarrhea AND be constipated, you ask? It happens when the individual is defecating. It will feel as if they still need to evacuate, but they will be unable only to be met by more stomach cramps. It’s a perfect (shit) storm of not nice feelings.
Suspect #2: Chopped chicken and rice balls in Malacca. Did you get me sick? You don’t have the balls to admit it because you’re too chicken!
The symptoms listed above are common with the stomach and intestinal infection, but in some severe cases people can exhibit vomiting and bloody stools. I should have played the lottery when I came down with this because although I never threw up, I was one of the lucky few to experience the ladder issue. Blood is quite a freaky thing to see staring back at you in the toilet as I’m sure some of you readers will know.
Despite all of that sounding unpleasant, which make no mistake it most certainly is, it’s not a task to treat. The best medicine for this turns out to be good old bed rest and lots of water. Just keep in mind that you’ll be losing lots of water at times, so you’ll need to have plenty of CLEAN water on reserve. Do those two simple things over the course of three to four trying days and you’ll start to feel better.
Unfortunately for me, I only had about two days until our flight to Indonesia and I had to get that out of my system. I was lucky enough to get sick at Darren’s house. I can’t imagine fast walking to an outhouse with a squat toilet every hour. Two days before our departure I went to a clinic with the help of Darren’s mother(Auntie, you are a saint!) and was prescribed four different kinds of pills, each to cure their own symptom. Three days later and I was feeling great. Five days later and I’m finishing the last batch of pills.
This entry was posted in Vagrant Tales