A Lesson in Giardia (aka Beaver Fever)

The mere mention of the word “Giardia” can send a shiver down any hikers spine. We’ve always been diligent about treating water while out in the woods (ok, MOST of the time!!) and after experiencing Giardia first hand we will take this lil parasite more seriously. We’ve learnt a lot about this illness and its effects while in Ko Samui (aka Ko Sam pooie)- this may not be a pleasant update (I can assure you we are fine) but it is what we have been dealing with on this part of our Journey.

Ok, we left Railay and came to the Island of Ko Samui which is on the other side of Thailand. The day of travel was long as we made our way via long boat, bus, ferry, and then pick-up truck taxi. We found a room (well, the room found us) and conked out. We are on the busiest beach on the Island- Chaweng. There are many people and shops and restaurants and the beach itself has nice white sand and blue water.

We woke up and Steve was not feeling well and he began having the extremely watery stools that we both experienced in Bangkok. Oh man, that again? So, feeling fine, I set out on a mission to get Steve some goodies and was even planning to sign up for a tour of the island while Steve rested. I discussed the matter with a pharmacist and she insisted he needs electrolytes and good bacteria in his belly. I agreed however I was initially after some antibiotics. She thought that would be worse for him, so I agreed we’d try this other regime. All we could do was wait and see what would happen, but all morning he was going, and by the afternoon I too was experiencing our Bangkok bowel problem. So, we knew it wasn’t just travelers diarrhea and considering the places we’ve recently been we looked into giardia which we’d joked about it in Bangkok.

With any infection, signs and symptoms vary from person to person and each of us were exhibiting most of them. We both suffered from the loose stools, severe stomach cramping, gas, bloating and a lack of appetite. We became extremely fatigued. Steve developed a rash that looked something like acne all over his back, and I had the addition of yucky nausea. There are smells in the hospital that make me gag, but I have never gagged at my own smell- until now. The smell is unbelievably horrendous which sent up another red flag.

I read about the drugs for treating giardia and headed to three different pharmacies in search of the most effective one. Not available. But I found a pharmacist who knew what giardia was and seemed really knowledgeable on the subject and treatment. She gave me what we know as Flagyl (the antibiotic) at home which is effective in 85-90% of cases. She suggested no milk, fruit juice, or alcohol. We spent most of the next 3 days in bed/bathroom. It was awful- our bodies were aching from being so immobile. We were getting cabin fever and on one day Steve was bugging me so badly I told him to write a journal. Not one for typing, he made a few video journal entries where he accidently referred to his giardia as “gonnorhea”- it was pretty funny. I don’t know if it was the infection or the high flagyl dosing which made my stomach cramps even worse. I also had the lovely side effect of a metallic taste in my mouth, like chewing on tin foil. So, forcing oneself to eat while nauseated to lessen the cramping turns out to be quite the task! Mind over matter...

We started going less to the bathroom which gave us courage to venture out of the room for more than a few minutes. Steve decided to order a milkshake, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. But it caused him to spend the rest of the day curled up in a ball due to indigestion and stomach cramping. We didn’t realize that the pharmacists “no milk” warning wasn’t to do with an adverse reaction to the antibiotic (we actually give it with milk in the hospital to ease stomach pain), but because in many people the damage caused by giardia in the small intestine can lead to lactose intolerance for up to a month following infection.

Some of you have commented on Steve’s apparent weight loss in recent photos, good observation, due to Giardia he has lost 20lbs! I am down 15lbs, but it hasn’t been rapid like Steve’s weight loss, so hopefully its not giardia related and I can keep er off! lol.

Giardia can be contracted from water (where it can live actively for 3 months!), food, and even surfaces! It takes only 10 spores to lead to infection. Steve believes we picked up the parasite in India- his opinion is biased though because he hated it there- but it is a strong possibility. More animal poops can get into water and onto surfaces during monsoon, and the sanitation in India was poor. The incubation period can be up to a month, so I wonder if we got it in Nepal...we treated our water on the trek, but who knows how long water was boiled for for our daily hot lemons! Maybe from brushing our teeth with tap water...We will never know where we got it and I guess it really doesn’t matter anyway.

Its been a week now since all this started. Sadly, we saw very little of this island but on the bright side the weather hasn’t really been that great. We did have a nice walk on the beach together on one afternoon and Steve’s rash is getting better... We are feeling a little more energetic and have been eating one meal at lunch (usually a sandwhich) and then having a snack for dinner. We leave tomorrow for Bangkok. I’ve been praying every night for this to clear up so we can enjoy this part of the world a little more. But we are very thankful it hit us here and not in a place where our time was limited or we were out trekking! We should know in a couple weeks if the drugs worked...cross your fingers for us!
And remember to treat your water!!