Amebas / Or Other Parasites: Help Appreciated

[khun_j]

hi,

i´m getting fast fed up with the "health" system here.

i had a looong case of really bad diarrhea (3 weeks) - went to samitivej srinakarin and was first treated for a food poisoning, got antibiotics and smecta, no help. nothing found in the specimen, which i brought with me ("too watery" (thanks a lot...it´s called diarrhea!)went back, sure, got the next medis for different parasites. they wanted to have one (!) specimen to see if they find anything, i insisted on three. got flagyl and zentel, each for 7 days.

the medication helped almost immediately, maybe it was 24 hours. great, i´m happy. went back to hear if they found anything - "no, there is nothing" (and they had only examined ONE of the three specimens, at least i only got one paper to see...) - "but the medication helped, right, madam? you come back when problem")

yes, it did help, i was happy. i stopped them on sunday, like planned (and yes, they did taste like s*it and made me feel like that as well). today - ta-daa: i wake up with the same %&/%/&%(&(&/(/&( diarrhea i had for three weeks...i´m SO sick of it!!!

i haven´t eaten anything else than last week, so it can´t be that...has anyone of you had this kind of problems and is a 7-day-cure really enough? if i have to go through this yuck medication again i´ll get a crisis...

and: if you can recommend a GOOD doctor who knows her/his stuff, thanks a lot. i´ve really had enough of these try-and-error-cartoons at samit-sri.

thanks!

[cathyy]

Have you taken anything to restore your natural bacteria that were likely killed of by the various antibiotics? Start eating yogurt and drinking those yogurt drinks. It can't hurt and may well help.

Also, can you be a bit more descriptive about the diarrhea? Is it yellowish, foamy and does it have an unbelievably bad smell? Or is it brownish, not foamy, and just the usual bad smell? Do you have gas a lot? Do you get cramps? How often do bouts of diarrhea occur? Can you "hold" it at all, or must you get to a bathroom very suddenly?

[khundon]

Try Lactil Forte tablets to put back good bacteria, worked for me after a serious bout of it and weeks on antibiotics.

[MrDream]

I had a pretty nasty case when I first moved over here. It lasted about 2 weeks. I didn't take any medication for it, just made sure I always had a bathroom readily available. I just stayed away from Thai food for the most part, and stuck to the fast food places, and 7-11 pre-packaged non-perishables.

Maybe not the best way to handle it, as I guess I should've seen a doctor after a week or so. Mine more then likely was brought on by a street vendor that probably had mixed the cooked food with the raw at some point. It takes most of our stomachs, a long time to adjust to the food here, if your eating nothing but Thai food all the time. You seen a doctor, which was the right thing to do and thats all that matters.

As far as the clinics go, try the Palam Song Hospital. Not sure if thats the right spelling, but thats where i take my stepson and my missus, since they are covered under the insurance here. If you were in Pattaya, I actually know a few more doctors and extremely cheap well run hospitals there. As far as BKK goes, thats where I generally go as well. The costs are so inexpensive for a doctors visit and tests, its less then most people spend on any given night out here.

[Waters99]

Have you made any progress?

I've had alternating bouts of diarrhea for a little over a month now - have cut out all possible suspects where food goes. Have tried one does of Tinidazole 2gm a week ago which seemed to help - but symptoms are back - headache, stomach ache, neck ache - lethargy - diarrhea every three days or so.

This time I'm really not up for 'try something' to see if it works - I want to know what the heck is going on first.

Considering the part of the world we're in you'd think there would be a specialist GI, or tropical disease clinic here somewhere - with antigen based tests for bacteria and parasites - instead of the usual and rarely effective 'microscope' search for giardia cysts - which are rarely found after just one test.

[Rimmer]

Many years ago when I owned a suit and tie I used to spend a lot of time in the Indian sub continent working. On one trip to Karachi I got incredibly sick with the symptoms you describe. The doctors in Singapore where I lived at the time could not identify the problem and this went on for months with different levels of seriousness.

Finally on a business trip to Bangkok I went into the small pharmacy in Pat Pong and described the symptoms to the young english speaking pharmasist who immediatly said giardia! Very popular in Pakistan says he handing me three tablets made by Roch, take one now, one in the morning and one tomorrow night. I did and it cleared it up straight away.

Often the guys on the front line of the medical profession know what drugs are good, what works and can identify problems that require many tests for a doctor to identify.

Not to say you have giardia but maybe it is worth checking out.