Travel Talk

Amoebic Dysentery in Africa

Greetings ladies and gentlemen,

The malaria treatment ended and my malaise accelerated, only reasonable thing to do is return to a Doctor. Went to another clinic, this one more thorough, indeed. Tests came in and tested positive for amoebic dysentery(don’t judge), relapsing fever and some other random run of the mill intestine parasite.

Ouch.

Good news is malaria is gone. The combo I have and did have while I had malaria is truly uncomfortable. My stomach is in knots, 24/7. One cannot go more than 30 minutes even at night without trip to gents room, every 10 minutes is most of the time. Very sore muscles and fatigued.

To make matters worse, as a complication of infection, mouth is full of ulcers making eating unbearable. One must eat or will surely vomit the antibiotic as it’s hard on stomach. It’s incredibly undistinguished but have been reduced to soggy bread as anything else is painful, eat some chicken and steak but with mouth open chewing once or twice, not fun.

Biggest issue now is dehydration, hard to stay hydrated when water goes through you. Have hydration salts but the taste like a sordid sewer soup made by a Scotsman with syphilis. Feeling better as on day one of new meds, last night was worst of all.

Why the photo above? My goal of this trip was to travel the world and document the daily goings as 99% of travel literature is top 10 lists, places to visit, things to do and other things of that vanilla nature. They also paint an unrealistic picture of paradise. How many north Americans have gone to Mexico, Panama or Costa Rica and spent half their one week all inclusive with stomach issues!? Bali belly comes to mind.

This blog is real and authentic if nothing else, hopefully at times remotely entertaining. Back to the photo, always traveled in the spirit of an adventurer aka a gentleman of the past with no guide books and most certainly never researching a country before arriving, simply showing up and seeing what transpires, so to speak.

I cannot imagine the pain they suffered when contracting these illnesses with no clinics or cures. A moment of silence for the true adventurers, most of whom died from one of the illnesses I now posses. Imagine sweating in a mud hut with dysentery, malaria, relapsing fever and other parasites?

Come to think of it, fortunate I returned to Arusha when I did or o would be in one of those huts. Truly went off the grid here but no regrets, thoroughly enjoyed my time in the bush, immensely actually. Come to think of it first thong Doc asked me was “have you been in the bush?!”

Recovering but uncomfortable.

A tip of the hat to you, dignified readers.

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