My body has impeccable timing. \u00a0I was diagnosed with Dehli Belly this morning.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Delhi_Belly<\/p>\n
The name does not do it justice in reference to the pain and frequent 10 minute trips to the bathroom last night. \u00a0But the Bollywood movie surely captures the horridness of this disease (although the movie does not center itself around it.)<\/p>\n
So today I was supposed to give to presentations on the clarinet to two different schools. \u00a0I was excited about it. \u00a0At 4:00 am (IST), I woke up to wretched stomach pain. \u00a0I thought a couple of trips to the bathroom would clear it. \u00a0I was so wrong. \u00a0Every 5 – 10 minutes and I will not go into detail. \u00a0Read the Wikipedia link above. \u00a0It is pretty accurate.<\/p>\n
The interesting thing was that I was in loads of pain and mad that I had to cancel my presentations at the same time. \u00a0The madness took my mind off of the pain.<\/p>\n
Finally, at 6:00 am (IST), I woke my husband. \u00a0We talked about it for a half hour and then he went down to the front desk (no way I would make it) and had the hotel doctor summoned to my room.<\/p>\n
It was not until 8:00 am (IST) that she arrived. \u00a0At this point, even seeing food made me want to get rid of anything I had left in my system which was not much (by the way, I am not pregnant if that is what you were wondering.)<\/p>\n
She inspected me and gave me a prescription. \u00a0It was a good thing that I brought Zantac with me and used it because that is what she would have tried first. \u00a0I took it at 4 am (IST). \u00a0Total cost: $60 USD for an in-house visit. \u00a0She was professional and knowledgable too and her English was impeccable. \u00a0She gave me a list of what I could not eat and told me to sleep all day. \u00a0She knew it was Dehli Belly and not something worse because I had no fever or any other symptom. \u00a0She pushed down on my belly with her stethoscope and though it as tender, I did not feel pain.<\/p>\n
I had to wait until 11 am (IST) to get my meds delivered to the hotel. \u00a0They are approved in the US but boy do they work. \u00a0When the hotel worker told me that I had to eat first in order to take the meds, I looked at him like he was crazy. \u00a0Eat? \u00a0I do not want to see food again for the rest of my life. \u00a0Please feed me through an IV.<\/p>\n
I had a quarter of a small bowl of Rice Krispies and a liter and a half of water. \u00a0The pills were huge and I had to cut them in half for a total of four. \u00a0The nastiest things in the world and I threw one up.<\/p>\n
The side effects are interesting. \u00a0My mind was clear (I wish that was blurred too to take my mind off the pain) but it blurred my vision making me extremely tired. \u00a0I only really woke up now at 3:28 pm (IST). \u00a0I am thinking I can go to Goa but do not want to push it.<\/p>\n
So what does Dehli Belly really feel like? \u00a0Dung in all senses of the word. \u00a0I had a kidney stone once and it was on the same level as this. \u00a0I felt like someone was taking a razor and chipping off bits of my GI track and stomach little by little. \u00a0The pain would go in waves and I would have a fever due to my heart racing from the pain only but from nothing else. \u00a0I got loads of exercise to my frequent trips to the bathroom and walking around in circles (which helped.)<\/p>\n
So how can I help you with your next visit to a developing country?<\/p>\n
1. \u00a0Use the water pen that I bought from the US to zap impurities in the water, even if it is bottled and from a US 5 star hotel.<\/p>\n
2. \u00a0Do not eat salad (just don’t), ice (don’t trust anyone), raw veggies and fruits, basically the healthy stuff. \u00a0It must all be cooked to a point it is unrecognizable. \u00a0My body was craving this too. \u00a0I wonder if I can survive on a diet of Rice Krispies and water next week. \u00a0However, if you need to lose a few pounds for some event, go against my advice. \u00a0It is painful but I dropped 10 pounds in one go. \u00a0NO I DID NOT PURPOSELY DO THIS TO LOSE WEIGHT!<\/p>\n
3. \u00a0Do bring vitamins with you. \u00a0I have been taking chewy pre-natal pills for a while and after a couple of hours of taking the meds, I felt much better. \u00a0Men: you will not get pregnant from these and they taste good.<\/p>\n
4. \u00a0Bring foods from the US that you are accustomed to that do not tear apart your stomach. \u00a0I want my Saltines now!<\/p>\n
5. \u00a0Do not assume your hotel has anything that can help you. \u00a0There is no little pharmacy store here and it is in the middle of nowhere! \u00a0GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! \u00a0(That goes for plug conversions too. \u00a0That was a total nightmare! \u00a0Another story for another time.)<\/p>\n
6. \u00a0India is a hot country (as in temperature). \u00a0If you mis-trust how something was stored, do not eat it.<\/p>\n
7. \u00a0Also, do not feel pressured to eat what the locals eat. \u00a0You have a US stomach. \u00a0Even when the Indians go on tour in the US and come back after a few months, they do not each much of their own food either and follow the guidelines, especially the street food (stay away.)<\/p>\n
8. \u00a0Stay away from the sugar cane water. \u00a0Even the locals, unless they have iron for stomachs, do not drink it. \u00a0If you want it that bad, ask a 5 star hotel to make it for you and even then, second guess that decision.<\/p>\n
I am not being a snot about 5 star hotels are the best but they do follow US standards and guidelines (lawsuit central.) \u00a0Even the best of them can make you sick. \u00a0I stopped eating a lot three days before I got the Dehli Belly. \u00a0I am a light weight though but I can’t believe i lasted this long. \u00a0I would have been dog sick in NYC way before this.<\/p>\n
Oh, and I got this wonderful bacteria on a day where it was over cast and cooler where I would be fully dressed performing in non-airconditioned places. \u00a0Not fair!<\/p>\n
There are probably other bits of advice but I will leave you with this for now, shower, and pack for Goa.<\/p>\n
I hope my presentations can be rescheduled next week. \u00a0I HATE FOOD RIGHT NOW!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My body has impeccable timing. \u00a0I was diagnosed with Dehli Belly this morning. http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Delhi_Belly The name does not do it justice in reference to the pain and frequent 10 minute trips to the bathroom last night. \u00a0But the Bollywood movie surely captures the horridness of this disease (although the movie does not center itself around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.melissachalmer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.melissachalmer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.melissachalmer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.melissachalmer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.melissachalmer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.melissachalmer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66,"href":"http:\/\/blog.melissachalmer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions\/66"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.melissachalmer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.melissachalmer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.melissachalmer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}