Ding Dong the Giardia is Dead!

Hopefully I´m not jinxing myself but the stool tests for both boys came back clean! Not so much as a colony of the little bastards!  WOO HOO.  Take that parasites.  Eat off my young and I will kill you dead! Bwahahaha

Drowning in stool

Warning, this is a Mommy post and not a pretty one.

I have been turned into a professional stool sample taker.  It´s all I do. When they see me walking up to the door of the lab we use, they start pulling out the cups.*

Moms are known for many things. Some Moms make cookies, some paint with their kids, many spend the day at the park. If my life continues like this, my kids will remember me for yelling 'No no, hold it a second longer! I need to get the cup!' 

We are on borderline ridiculous people!  There is nothing grosser than opening your fridge in the morning to grab the milk and getting an eyeful of the brown ugly.  Seriously, there is nothing kosher about poo. 

This is my last war on the giardia!  I´m done!

Should we get a clean sample, I´m no longer giving my children water, taking them to the beach, or feeding them fruits and veggies.  It´s Coke, processed foods, sitting on the couch, and nuggets all the way baby.  Wait a second, I think I just figured out why we don´t have this problem in the states...

* (Fyi: In Brazil you go to private labs to get your tests done. You can also pick up any sample cups you need from there.)

Just call me...

What is with me and medical professionals... well, medical professionals and their sidekicks (pharmacist).

I went to get some anti-pest medicine for myself. My little one is still battling the ever strong beast Giardia and I think, maybe, that could be my issue as well.

So I get the stuff* and the pharmacist tells me no alcohol. And then he accentuates the point by saying, not one drop.

Ok, fair enough.  I go home and find a moment for one of my secret hobby. I love to read the little papers in the medicine. I love to know how they work.

I read it and was satisfied with my new knowledge when I realized, it didn't mention alcohol. Hmmm, weird.  So that peaked a new curiosity. What would happen?  Would I faint? Would the medicine not work? Would my stomach blow up like coke and pop rocks? Come on, we all know those stories are true!

Got to love Americans. American sites said to limit alcohol because it could exacerbate the side effect of dizziness.  What? I almost gave up my nightly glass of wine for that?! 

So it got me thinking. Maybe he thought I was an alcoholic. You know, like most woman carrying an 18 month old are. 

Then I remembered the proctologist.

So my initial review thus far, from medical personnel and their sidekicks, is that I'm an anal sex loving alcoholic.  Hmmm, food for thought. Maybe I should start dressing better...


*albendazol: one 400mg tablet once a day for 5 days. Fyi: good to do once a year living in Brazil

Giardia - A little intestinal visitor

So my youngest had a little intestinal visitor.  We were doing a serious of random tests to confirm or, hopefully, dismiss certain allergies or problems.  That's when we found our little friend Giardia. 

Oh Giardia, how you hide. How you manage to not be found in random stool tests. Your spontaneous diarrhea is a thing of wonder. 

A gross post you say. Well, if you are going to live or visit Rio de Janeiro, get used to the idea of parasites. It's not something that is even hardly noticed. My 3 year old has been taking anti-parasite medication every 6 months since he was 2. They don't even bother to test after that age, it's so common. And, if you are from many 1st world countries, you don't know that the stool tests don't always find them.

Tricky little bastards.

I think the funniest part of the whole thing was the shock of a friend of mine's doctor girlfriend.  I had finally received the results of my youngster's more basic stool and blood tests. They were not on.  It was the first time I've ever experienced that. My oldest, myself, and my husband are like horses. We can take pretty much anything and still be some pretty fine steeds. 

She was kind enough to offer to look over the results. Keep in mind that in Brazil you go to private testing centers, receive the results, and then take them to your doctor.  Fun and scary at the same time. You get the results with listed norms and think, OMG I have no Eosinophilias!! I'm dying! What are Eosinophilias?

So she got down to the part about parasites. Colonies of Giardia. Lovely.  Her comment? In Scotland they'd treat the water if someone got it.  My husband and I had one hell of a good laugh at that. I don't think they treat the water as is down here!  Of course we drink from a filter. We make ice from a filter. We cook from a filter. I don't even boil tap water. You can. I know many who do but I can't handle it.  I always know when I've had boiled tap water. My tummy lets me know. 

So, how did he get it?  Well, you can get it many different ways but I'm pretty sure it was from drinking bath water. Any time I turned around he'd try to drink some.  From a cup, suck it out of the washcloth (which I brought because I've still yet to find them here), or from his hands.  The little typhoid Mary likes him some bath water. 

We have since taken care of the bath water issue. He lost interest. Not funny anymore, thank goodness.  But note to self, visitors, tourists, and residents alike, if you get the poos think parasite.  That's especially true if it lasts longer than 5 days. 

Disclaimer, Giardia isn't particularly easy or necessarily the most common beast to manage to attack the intestine.  They can be killed by stomach acid.  Our kicker, the little one takes Prilosec and has little to no stomach acid.  Oh those beasts found their perfect target. Too bad his Mommy is a bad ass and had them knocked off.