TRAVEL NIGHTMARE: I Contracted a PARASITE
Contracting a parasite while in another country is probably one of every traveler's worst nightmares. Getting unexpectedly sick, not knowing why, debating if it’ll go away on its own, or if you should go see a doctor, and then days later coming to find out that you have a living thing inside of your intestines is a stressful, scary and disgusting situation! This is basically what I went through last week, and I’m making this video to share my full experience of what exactly happened and what I learned from all of it, so hopefully if something like this happens to you (which I hope it doesn’t) but if it does, you will experience minimal suffering and take action quicker than I did. OR maybe you’re watching this because you think you might have a parasite and are googling your symptoms and this post came up… if that’s the case then DEFINITELY keep reading or watching the video above. Just a quick reminder that none of this is medical advice; this is all based on my own personal experience.
WHAT HAPPENED
So it all started on a Thursday evening in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. My husband Nico and I went out for dinner and I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry, but thought I’ll go anyway, because, yeah, it's dinner! So we shared a massive fajita plate, I ate maybe half as much as I normally would, and then we headed back home. A couple of minutes into the walk I felt like something was not sitting right in my stomach, and basically told Nico, we need to pick up the pace a little here. Long story short it turned into a marathon sprint home for me, and that was when it all began. After using the facilities, I laid in bed and started feeling SUPER tired.
Then about 15 minutes later this wave of nausea hit me and I ran to the bathroom thinking I was gonna throw up, BUT, nothing came out. Sorry if this is too much detail, but I just want to tell you the full story so you know the truth about what it's really like having a parasite. Basically this continued the rest of the night and I woke up the next day feeling EXHAUSTED. I couldn’t get out of bed, I had ZERO appetite and didn't eat anything the whole day, yet my stomach was still super bloated. I had a super bad headache and stomachache and my whole body just felt super toxic. I didn't actually leave the room until sunset, when Nico convinced me that a little walk down to the beach would be good to get the blood circulating, which did make me feel a little better, BUT I went straight back to bed after and slept through until the next morning.
This was day three, and finally the stomach and headache had subsided and I had a bit more energy. We decided to take a walk along the beach and then finally around late afternoon, I started to feel like food sounded okay again. So I went out and ate the first meal in almost 48 hours which was hummus and falafel, basically a bean loaded meal which in hindsight was a BAD idea, more on that later. Unfortunately, after eating I felt completely exhausted and the nausea came back, so I just went back to bed after that.
The next morning, day 4, I thought my energy was back so we went on another long walk, exploring a new beach. I felt fine up until the afternoon when I lost ALL my energy at once. Ok at this point I had eaten one small meal in 72 hours, so that probably had something to do with it. Still I had no appetite, but FORCED myself to eat a little something that evening. Okay, so day 5 was kind of the turning point for me. We went out in the morning to a cafe to get some good reliable internet so I could catch up on some work. After eating a small lunch I felt completely drained and so again we started walking back home so I could take a little siesta, and then I finally came to my senses.
THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
I realized that- SOMETHING is NOT right AND it's time that I take ACTION! I had been in this mindset that it was just a bacteria that I had picked up and my body needed to flush it out. BUT something I also forgot to mention is that I had not been able to go to the bathroom (like literally nothing) since Thursday night and it was now Monday afternoon. Normally if it were a bacteria your body would be trying to get it out ASAP, but clearly mine wasn’t. SO what did I do next? I realized that there was a medical testing lab literally NEXT TO the place we were staying so I went in, and asked if they could do a parasite test, and to my luck they said yes. ALL I had to do was JUST give a stool sample, and long story short I managed.
THE TEST RESULTS
A few hours later I had the results… After translating the results from the test into english I realized that they found… are you ready for it?
Trophozoites which is the activated, growing or vegetative stage in the life cycle of the specific parasite. In this stage they are usually growing and absorbing nutrients from their hosts.
Cysts which indicates the hard shells that protect the parasites when they reach a certain stage of their lifecycle.
Occult Blood meaning intestinal bleeding (also common with parasites)
I guess I need to see a doctor.
Alright, this is the part where I got lucky, I guess. So that night we happened to have plans to go out to dinner with some friends we had recently met who were staying at the same place as us. Of course when we saw them, we told them about the GREAT news. And it just so happened that one of the guys we were with was like “oh yeah, I just got over having a parasite last week.” And the other guy was like “yeah my wife had one a few weeks ago.” At this moment I realized OKAY, parasites are not THAT uncommon (or at least in this part of Mexico) and after talking for a while about it, I realized our experiences were super similar and we had almost the EXACT SAME symptoms, and it to be honest it made me feel MUCH less alone in all of this. I was so lucky to have him pass along the doctor's information, and was able to schedule an appointment for the next morning to go see the doctor.
THE DOCTOR
OKAY, when I got to the doctor he looked at the results and super casually was like “yep you’ve got a parasite, here’s what you gotta do”. It felt like this was the daily routine for him, just dealing with people and their parasites like no big deal. So he gave me an antibiotic that I need to take 3 x per day for 10 days and it has a super terrible metallic taste. He also gave me a probiotic, to help restore the healthy gut bacteria, and I’m taking this once a day for 10 days. You just drop it in water and drink it- it's pretty flavorless. And then he also gave me two optional meds, one for bloating and another for nausea, and it turned out I only took them a couple times in the beginning when I felt nauseous or bloated. Diet-wise he told me to stay away from inflammatory foods or foods that are harder to process such as: BEANS, dairy, fatty or fried foods, spicy foods, red meats, sparkling water, and alcohol, ALL of which are especially difficult to avoid in MEXICO.
THE COSTS
Now in case you’re wondering about the cost of everything… It obviously depends on where in the world you are but in my case I paid $12.27 for the stool sample, $41.82 for the doctor's visit and $52.61 for all the medications. Bringing the grand total to $106.70. Fun fact: If you save all these receipts from your medical expenses you MAY be able to claim this back with your travel or health insurance company, depending on who you use and your circumstances. I ALWAYS travel with SOME kind of medical insurance that covers me abroad in case of accidents or serious medical emergencies. Honestly, I’m not that concerned with a bill of $106.70 BUT if something more serious were to happen where I needed to be hospitalized or airlifted for example, it could lead to tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt and I just DON’T want to go there.
In case YOU don’t currently have travel insurance I always recommend SafetyWing Nomad insurance because of its affordability and they actually cover A LOT beyond just medical emergencies. I’ve used them several times in the past and LOVE that it’s so easy to take a policy out for the exact amount of days you need it. I’ll leave a link in the description below where you can sign up for a policy starting at just $45 per month. Full transparency: this post is NOT sponsored by SafetyWing, but if you sign up with my link I will make a small commission, which helps to fund this channel. I also made a FULL video guide breaking down exactly what travel insurance is to help you determine if you EVEN need it. SO make sure you watch that or READ it here.
THE AFTERMATH
Alright so let's talk about what happened once I started taking all these medications… Did I feel any better? The short answer is yes and no. It took a few days for my stomach to “normalize” and the anti-nausea and anti-bloat meds did seem to help with that. However, my level of energy and appetite is still not back to normal. I’m currently on the last day of my medications and while I am feeling much better than I did a week ago, I'm still not QUITE yet at 100%. I suspect that it could be due to how strong the antibiotic is. When I read about the side-effects both loss of appetite and fatigue WERE on the list. Also, I’m still not eating a normal diet because I don’t have much of an appetite, so I suspect that isn't helping with my energy levels either. On top of that- when you have a parasite you are literally sharing all of your food and nutrients with it, so it makes sense that you won’t be running at your normal energy levels.
PARASITE PREVENTION
That was my parasite journey, but now you might be wondering how YOU can PREVENT getting a parasite in the first place. So most parasites are transmitted through contaminated food, water, or human to human contact. This basically means you could get a parasite anywhere anytime and have no idea where it came from. But in theory, the best way to minimize your risk of contracting one is by being careful with the water you drink, where you eat and washing your hands often. In practice, when eating out in other countries where food handling standards may not be as high, you can minimize your risks by avoiding raw foods and sticking with thoroughly cooked dishes. Also avoiding food that has been sitting out for long periods of time- this is more common with street food, especially if they aren’t cooking it right in front of you. The safest foods are basically those that are fresh and cooked thoroughly.
BUT, this is easier said than done when traveling. If you’re like me, one of my favorite things about traveling is trying the local cuisine and street food, AND I don’t want to give that up. The good news is that there are a few herbs and supplements out there with anti-parasite properties to help with prevention that I AM going to start implementing into my future travels, especially when going to countries where there is a higher risk of contracting a parasite. Things like papaya seeds, diatomaceous earth, black walnut, wormwood, clove, and even probiotics, are some of the more common anti-parasite supplements. I’ll leave a link down below so you can check them out for yourself before your next trip.
WHAT I LEARNED
Alright so now having gone through this whole experience of having a parasite, this is what I WILL do differently in the future. For starters, as I just mentioned, I will be actively taking anti-parasite supplements especially when I travel to higher risk countries. Secondly, if I get a bad feeling about a restaurant or food situation, I'm just going to avoid it all together. For example, there was a day when I ordered some food at a local market and they served it cold, and it just looked a bit sketchy but I ate it anyway. Yeah next time I won't do that, it's just not worth it. And lastly, if I do get sick while traveling again and get the gut feeling, literally, that I should get help, I won’t wait around for 5 days hoping it goes away on its own. For the misery and stress it causes, I'd rather just go see a doctor or get a medical test right away and get to the bottom of it.
So the moral of this video is that you should absolutely NOT let getting a parasite stop you from traveling. They are fairly common, are treatable, and you can even lower your risks of getting one by taking the precautions I mentioned before. I HOPE you learned a little something and please don't hesitate to leave a comment if you have ANY questions. Also make sure you watch my video about travel insurance to figure out if you EVEN need it for your next trip or not. Thanks so much for reading and I’ll see ya in the next one!
Disclosure: some of the above are affiliate links, which means without additional cost to you, I might receive a small commission on a purchase if you buy something through my links.