The wonderful world of Giardia...

I've had it, and it's no fun. Here in Colorado, the doc's watch for it and treat it right away. Flagyl does the trick pretty good. Think of bad stomach flu, then multiply by 10.

You can also get it from the ice cubes in a soft drink. Ask me how I know... ;)
 
I think I had a mild case about two years ago during a motorcycle camping trip in Virginia. About two weeks after the trip I had bad abdominal cramps (the kind that make you break out in a cold sweat) along with some . . . urgent, potty-related distress. Then it subsided without further problems.

What I suspect is that, although I boiled water very thoroughly in camp, I think I must have accidentally splashed a little untreated water on a spoon or something that went in my mouth.
 
I'll never really know how I got it. That CDC site linked on the first page of this thread is the first thing I read when the doc's RN told me what it was. I'd heard of it, but never in a million years thought I had it.

It's definitely a feces-in-moisture-related thing, and I've heard you can get it from unwashed vegetables, etc., but the most common way is via drinking water. More than likely I got it in the backwoods while cleaning a dish or fork, etc. in a stream and not allowing ample drying time. Who knows? I just know I'll avoid that mistake again!

As far as the quality of my doc, no I'm not particularly impressed. I'm in the medical industry, and it's ridiculous to me that it took one week (7 days) post-labs to make the correct diagnosis and two weeks (a full 14 days) post-labs to identify the Vitamin D and potential anemia/iron deficiency. I go back to see him on 5/15, and I plan on giving him a fair amount of guff over it.

That's the miracle of managed health care I suppose!

Anyhow, thanks again, and if nothing else, if you do get Giardia, you all being outdoorsy types like myself, let it be one of the first things that crosses your mind. My eradicating it the first time around via antibiotics woulda saved me a lot of heartache (and blood for that matter).

Professor.
 
Professor said:
I love this forum, though I lurk and learn more than anything. Thought I'd share my current experience with Giardia with you all.

Great weight-loss tool if anyone's interested. Just do like I did, accidentally ingest some streamwater and boom... You're on your way from being 175lbs to 145lbs inside 7 weeks! Actually, I don't endorse Giardia as a weight loss method. It sucks.

Turns out, I got Giardia last June (2008) and it went undiagnosed; prolly got it drinking some funky unsuccessfully-filtered water while camping/hiking. I had symptoms (which were diagnosed as spastic colon last year) that lasted about 6 weeks and subsided last year.

Fast-forward to mid-March 2009. I started having symptoms way more severe, and went to a GI specialist who, based on the symptomology, made an initial assessment of ulcerative colitis pending labs. Apparently in reality, the Giardia underwent a sort of incubation period during the symptoms' submission, and it came back triply worse and with a vengence. It was officially diagnosed as Giardia two weeks ago today (on a Tuesday) after the labs came back and the GI's RN reviewed them.

I've since been on a ten-day course of Flagyl, a pretty tough antibiotic, and found out last week that my blood labs indicated significant iron and Vitamin D deficiency secondary to the diagnosis. I don't doubt the iron deficiency, as I've lost a significant amount of blood via diarrhea during March 2009's bout with the bug. So now I'm on Vitamin D supplements FOREVER (starting with 50k iu's for a month via prescription, decreasing to OTC 2k iu's every month thereafter for the rest of my life), and have to go back for repeat labs this week to determine if I need another round of antibiotics and iron supplements. I'm 36 years old, in great physical shape, and it stinks that I'll have to carry around a pillbox with me! :)

Giardia, according to my layman's research, is a (typically-not always) waterborne parasite that if untreated will go dormant, which it did for me, and come back in the form of cysts along the walls of your lower intestines. They, I'm assuming in the process of getting what nourishment they need to survive, interrupt your body's absorption of fat. So again, weight loss is the dark and unwanted lining to the already dark cloud, not to mention the extreme abdominal cramping and urgent, urgent, I mean urgent needs to use a restroom. I've had to tell people in public restrooms that, sorry, I need to go worse than you. Talk about embarrasing.

Anyhow, my point I suppose is say to you, my outdoor peers, avoid Giardia if you can! If you start having diarrhea and abdominal cramping post an outdoor excursion, consider Giardia a suspect.

Hopefully I'll kick this and be done in another month or so, because man alive it sucks.

Thanks for hearing my sad story! Best to all.

Professor.
Click to expand...


Sorry to hear you took the route I did - been there done that and don't want to go back

Drink good water - lots
 
Foilist said:
Less contamination of back country water sources.
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I don't see how that could be, animals spread it as well. There were probably just as many, if not more animals in the past crapping in the water.

I suspect it was probably more common back then, but people tended to be more stoic. I have heard that you can overcome it with time, although after having it, I sure wouldn't want to try.

Don't forget what the average life expectancy was back in those days either.

As for the one pill that cures it, I'd like to know what that was. My wife is a pharmacist, and flagyl is pretty much the standard cure according to her. And by the way, don't drink any alcohol while taking the flagyl! Very nasty side effects.
 
I had a backpacking buddy who came down with the "G" a couple years ago. Like you he was mis-diagnosed at first and it took a while for them to figure out what he had and provide the correct treatment.

That points out a really good thing to remember for those of us who wander the woods. If you are feeling sick enough to go to the doctor, be sure to tell them you are an outdoors person and may potentially have been exposed to giardia. Its not the first thing they think of with most patients, as there are evidently other illnesses with similar symptoms more common to most urban dwellers.
 
I can truly say I feel your pain. Got it in the Philippines in the early 80s. I lost approx 20 pounds until diagnosed. Hated those Flagyl horse pills (hope they are smaller now), but worth it [here it comes: Ta Da] in the END {note: weeks of diarrhea makes for a VERY SORE BUTT! :(}. I had to drink about a gallon of Gatorade a day once diagnosed due loss of potassium, which caused major muscle cramping, to avoid an IV and a hospital bed. To this day I cannot drink it due to 'OD'ing on Gatorade for weeks
 
They always stressed the importance of letting the iodine sit for twenty minutes before drinking on Outward Bound... now I know why.

On my first doctor's visit back from the trip, I mentioned giardia. Never hurts to ask.
 
I had a teacher in high school that got giardia and although diagnosed right away, was allergic to the flagyl and was out for the rest of the year because it caused her entire body to swell. I kid you not this woman was maybe 120 and easily went to 150 inside 2 weeks. To this day she has trouble walking and though she was once an avid runner will never run again. After all of this I found out that the odds that you are allergic to flagyl are something like 1,000,000 to 1. Good luck getting better Prof.
 
I've had it twice and now carry a full prescription of flagyl on backpacking trips. Also got the doc to prescribe meds for cryptosporidium (sp?).

The first time I had it, it felt like someone walked up to me and stuck a red hot saber through my guts. VERY painful cramps.

DancesWithKnives
 
Get well soon.

I've used my MSR filter in some pretty sketchy sketchy waters, so I'm confident that it is doing a good job. However, even bathing in lakes is risky. I was sidelined for two weeks last year with a massive infection – thanks to a sloppy beaver using the same water.
 
Thanks for sharing Prof. I'd heard of the G, I knew it was bad but I'd never heard a first person account before. I will be sure to be extra careful from now on. Good luck to you and I hope you get well soon.
 
Thanks for your story Doc. Good advice from you.

One of my adopted cats had it, and he was a stray that they found in Harlem NYC, so that bug does get around. The vet had to send it to an outside lab to specifically search for giardia because tests for the other known parasites came back negative. She suspected giardia not because he was drinking puddle water in the city, but because he also had fleas, so I guess fleas can get them and transmit them through a bite...or I may have heard her wrong because that doesn't really make sense. I should have asked her but I wasn't interested in the details back then. Apparently they're fairly hard to detect too. And if they're in their cyst stage or whatever you call it they're practically impossible to kill, as well as being undetectable in their dormant stage since you're not pooping them out.

I've read that most wild animals have them, and have pretty much evolved resistance to having any ill effects other than the parasite taking its share of nutrients from the gut. I've also read that most outdoor pets are likely to have them too, and some will show symptoms and others won't. I read a Vet's forum where they were discussing whether or not pets that have them but don't show symptoms should be treated, since the treatment can make the animal feel sick and is not always successful.
 
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man that is brutal - good reminder to alway be super careful with the water purification

my brother got it when we were camping in the rockies - projectile emissions coming out of both ends simultaneously - not fun :barf:

get better and thanks for posting - it's easy to forget sometimes the costs of not taking every precaution and a stark real world reminder is always good :thumbup:
 
Professor I can feel for you, having ENDURED multiple courses of medications and protocols for contracting Lyme Disease. I thought something was wrong last April, yet my 'doctor' did not think anything was wrong with me at that time. Then in August I was so sick the doctor finally got her act together and 'diagnosed' me with Lyme Disease. Abliet, it was so many months down the road after being infected it's pretty much crippled me on my worst days. On my best days I do get around, but nothing like the past 35 years. Also, I found out I am allergic to penicillin the hard way. Now I avoid all cheeses like Brie because of this.

You DO NOT WANT TO CONTRACT LYME DISEASE! I went from a rugged 145lbs to slovenly 205lbs because of the SEVERE joint pain, which I'm still experiencing. Not to mention all the other niceities that come with LD. Read up at www.ilads.org, especially Dr Burrascano's papers, he's the go to guy on this!

This was'nt meant to jack your thread, just another head's up about another dreadful 'outdoor disease'.
 
And I wish you a speedy recovery too.

It's crazy how things so little in nature can be so dangerous to us. Definitely cause for caution while in the backcountry.

Thanks again to everyone.

Professor.
 
Thanks for that recount. I'm glad you got to the bottom of it and are getting better. I've had a couple of experiences when I've been dehydrated and very desperate for h20 after a big climb; I reach a nice little stream, fumble through my pack for a 'tablet' and there aren't any left ... but I've never sipped the water - just in case. I had no idea that giardia was so tenacious and vicious - wow. I will continue to be very careful - thank you.
 
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