Don't Drink The Water - A Word..Or Two On Traveler's Diarrhea

***This is a TMI (Too Much Information) post. You've been warned.

My fifth day in Bangladesh I got traveler's diarrhea. This occurs after ingesting fecally contaminated water or food. 25%-50% of traveler's get it. I knew of the risk of traveler's diarrhea before going to Bangladesh so I took the necessary precautions. I followed the cardinal rule of travel, I did NOT drink the water. I even brought water bottles with me from Saudi Arabia to Bangladesh. I was really picky about what I ate too. I avoided water based foods like daal (lentil soup), dairy, sweets, and food from street vendors. Despite my preparedness, I got it anyway. Why do travelers get it and not locals? Immunity. It can take weeks to years to develop the immunity locals have to the water and food.

In the morning, I had bloating, cramps, and loose stools and at night I started vomiting… a lot. My whole body became weak and the hot weather added to my malaise. I became worried about my condition; the biggest problem with diarrhea is the loss of electrolytes and dehydration and I was refusing to drink the saline water. It smelled and tasted like YMCA pool water like chlorine. Then I tried to take tasty saline, which was worst then the regular saline. It tasted like Tang powder mixed with pool water. Bleck. I was worried that I would have to go to the hospital to get saline intravenously. But then I had rice saline, which I could take.

Luckily in Bangladesh, it's easy to get your hands on prescription meds and the doctors make house calls. With the meds and rice saline I got better in about two days. I still had loose stools and cramping, but at least the vomiting stopped, I could EAT, stand, and take a bath on my own. I won't say that traveler's diarrhea doesn't suck. It does. BIG TIME. But, I thought of my bout with traveler's diarrhea as a rite of passage, a test of my traveler's will.