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Poll: Based on your own past experience with giardia, do you see a link between the existen

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  1. #41
    Registered User swjohnsey's Avatar
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    Most folk who think they have giardia don't

  2. #42

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    Quote Originally Posted by orangebug View Post
    . I'd also love to hear how anyone got a kindergarten kid to sip an extract of garlic from either a spoon or a smelly capsule. It is hard enough to get one to chew on a Flintstone's vitamin.
    You must have kids!

  3. #43
    Registered User makemerry's Avatar
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    "You didn't have giardia. You ate something or perhaps had dirty hands when you ate something that gave you a really bad upset stomach. Giardia involves not only a severe upset stomach, but throwing up and the meanest case of the poo's that you have ever witnessed. Oh and making it go away in 12 hours isn't possible."

    "I totally agree .When you get your first [and hopefully last ] case of giardiasis there will absolutley no doubt what-so -ever about what just hit you . I mean both ends of your body just explode and you can't stop it .You grab a pillow and move into your your bathroom for a while "

    Wow! What an interesting discussion ... and still continuing 5 years later.
    Initially, I was convinced by those people who maintained (very categorically, see above posts) that they were sure I didn't have giardia. They based this judgement on their own memorable experiences with how terrible giardia CAN BE. But now I'm thinking it's possible that the severity of their giardia may have corresponded with the condition of their digestive tracts and may not be a good indicator of how everyone else would experience giardia.
    It is well established that some people who don't treat their water on AT or in foreign countries nevertheless do not get sick. Clearly these people are ingesting the same giardia bacteria that everyone else who gets sick does ... so these people who don't treat their water do have giardia, but the symptoms are either mild or completely un-noticeable. So, I'm not sure that the fact that I didn't have as severe symptoms as some people have had means I didn't have giardia. Maybe it just means that I had a healthier gut in some way (un-impacted by habitual sugar use, stronger immune system, etc.) ... just a thought.
    Thanks everyone for sharing your experience and ideas here. It appears, from reading these posts, that at least one or two people who had the same experience I did (intensifying of symptoms after eating sugar) tried garlic as a result of reading this discussion and had symptoms disappear.

  4. #44
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    Default Eat dirt

    Has anyone tried Diatomaceous Earth? It cleans the parsites out of your system and adds needed silica for your joints.

    http://naturalsolutionsradio.com/blo...dioxide-silica

    I had cronic stomach problems untill my doctor told me to take this. You can get it at health food stores or at feed stores, just make sure it's food grade.

    http://www.healthy-health.com/site/844294/page/3266670
    "Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground."

  5. #45
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    I had the dirty G eight days from finishing the AT in '07. Bunked up in Rangeley for 5 days with Bob O'brien, not a bad place to be stuck, just wish I wasn't poopin my pants every 15 mins. The medical clinic there initially prescribed the wrong dosage of prescription. After my second trip to the pharmacist (not the DR.) he informed me that I was taking about 10% of the dosage I needed to be. Thanks Medical Clinic. As far as the eating is concerned, I ate healthy the first couple of days, then when no changed happened, I just started grubbing on whatever I felt like cause it was all coming back out anyway.

    I released the Final Demon at the Northern Outdoor resort right after crossing the Kennebec River with the help of a giant quesadilla. Great food there, now I'm hungry!

  6. #46
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    I found this forum in my search for a cure for giardia. It is the most practical I've seen thus far! Far removed from Appalachia, one year ago I was hiking West Clear Creek Canyon in Arizona when I drank from what appeared to be an under ground spring coming out of the canyon wall. About seven days from that date began this journey. Waking up at 3 a.m. every morning to get rid of gas and small amounts of stool..... continuing throughout the day with much of the same. It gets old.

    First I talked to a gastro m.d. As I had done a colonoscopy 6 mos. prior. He recommended I do three stool tests, which I did. They came back negative. Then he wanted to do a new colonoscopy.(which is never without risk) I went to my D.O. for another opinion. He said that stool samples that aren't watery NEVER show positive for giardia. He gave me the 10 days of anti biotics as a test to see if I had the bug. After the 10 days, I allowed a week to recover and the same symptoms returned. He put me on a 10 day regiment of Beano and Probiotics with meals. That did absolutely nothing. I tested negative for Ciliac Disease. Then he put me on a seven day course of Pancreatic enzymes at $200. Three days of that I felt very uncomfortable so I quit.

    Somehow I feel convinced I still had Giardia. I went to a herbaloligist here in town. She explained she had a customer that went through 6 treatments of antibiotics and still didn't kick it but has ulcers on her intestines as a result. She explained to me that I need to stop eating meat as I did not have canines and was not meant to do so. I replied to that that my eyes are not on the sides of my head so therefore I am not a herbivore. That aside...I do agree my intestines are in need of dire help! I have agreed to cut out temporarily all meat and dairy products as well as insoluable fibers as that, she explained, is what the little boogers feed on. I'm also taking a slippery elm and marshmallow root concoction with every meal as well as Pro biotics at night on an empty stomach. Yesterday, in addition to all this, I took 2 cloves of garlic on an empty stomach 2 hours before 2 meals. I will continue for three more days. I do think things are looking up! I'll let you know. It's been a rough 10 months.

    As for your poll.....I agree that too much sugar as well as mucous causing foods create a healthy environment for giardia. This experience however will never make a vegan out of me. The majority of the meat I eat is elk with absolutely no fats or anti biotics. I observe a rule.... if it's meat is red and it runs fast, it's safe to eat. I am, however, altering my diet until I am well.

  7. #47
    Registered User swjohnsey's Avatar
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    Never trust a doctor, go to a witch doctor instead. Wait! D.O. are witch doctors.

  8. #48
    Registered User Hot Flash's Avatar
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    Know what they call alternative "medicine" that actually works?

    MEDICINE.
    Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime; give a man religion and he will die praying for a fish.

  9. #49
    Registered User swjohnsey's Avatar
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    Or placeboes since they work 30% of the time.

  10. #50
    Registered User Capt Nat's Avatar
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    I've had giardia 3 times though I only went to the Doctor who tested the first 2 times. He put me on flagyl both times. The third time I got flagyl from a vet and self cured. My experience was unrelenting cramps, the kind that double you over. This goes on night and day nonstop. The liquid stool has a smell that is hard to describe but it comes straight from the rotten part of hell. I couldn't even keep water on my stomach. I'm sure my death would come from dehydration. Maybe other folks have different symptoms. I will sure try garlic if it ever happens again, but a doctor for flagyl will be my immediate next choice...

  11. #51

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    I'm quite happy to have come across this thread, and joined the forum just to post in it to share my own experience.

    I've been travelling in Guatemala for about two months and now, at the very tail end of my trip, have contracted giardia. No, I haven't had a medical test done (so many people jumping on that fact elsewhere in this thread) but it's pretty obvious to me based on my symptoms: initially an intense night of vomiting whatever I ingested, even water, plus some diarrhea though that was limited; lots of sulfurous burps and farts; abdominal cramps that weren't painful but were very uncomfortable and really different from anything I'd experienced before; greyish, floating stools and/or greyish diarrhea with a particular and very foul smell.

    Though the first three symptoms abated fairly quickly, it was the persistence of the last one, plus a feeling of getting generally weaker as days passed rather than stronger, that made me investigate the possibility of a parasite. Lo and behold, my symptoms lined up. It's especially the really bad smell of my stools that convinced me - mine not quite as nasty as what Capt Nat describes, but truly unlike anything I've ever smelled before, and the same day after day regardless of what I ate.

    Now, as to the sugar connection, I think it's a possibility, and here's why: I was being a bit irresponsible the first six weeks I was in Gua., brushing my teeth at the tap rather than with purified water, plus I was also showering with lake water and doing dishes in lake water and thereby risking contact. But I was also keeping a very low-sugar diet, eschewing even a lot of fruit, and any flour-based things in favour of the local fresh tortillas, and I never got sick. At the start of week six, I changed living conditions and all of a sudden someone was cooking for me, plus my discipline on sugar slipped. So I consumed way more chocolate, cakes, fruit, etc. and none of my previous diet (beans, onions, garlic, spices, avocado, tortillas, tomatoes, raw/fermented dairy). It was after exactly one week of this that I got sick.

    What's interesting for me is that during this week I was suddenly, for a change, brushing my teeth with purified water, so my main risk factor for contact was gone. Plus, since I took it for food poisoning at first I tried to be gentle on my stomach and nice to myself, and ate some comfort foods like pancakes. That's probabaly why I was feeling so much weaker day by day. I didn't start to feel stronger until I switched to yogurt and granola - then just plain yogurt alone for two meals.

    I've also gone out and switched back to my earlier diet, with tortillas (negritos made with black corn, try these if you ever get the chance) and avocado for lunch, plus a coffee without sugar. Now I'm applying the garlic theory with a raw clove, chewed as well as I could and washed down with water. Not only do I feel stronger than ever, but I just had a poop and the nasty smell was less pronounced, which gives me hope.

    And I respect the views of those who stand by pills. A course of 10 metronidazol 500mg (flagyl's chemical name) is only Q26 or about four bucks here, without a prescription, so I've got that on the side if I feel the need because the opportunity cost is so low.

    Does this prove the sugar connection in terms of giving the critters stuff to feed on? No, of course not, since having much sugar in the diet bashes the immune system down in a hurry anyway, and that could be the issue. If just having sugar in the gut at some point was enough for the parasite to feed on and gain a foothold, then logically one single brownie or sweet meal could be enough. In my case I'm certain it was the whole week of it that made me susceptible.

    I hope that's contributory, I'll write back in a bit to update on the progress of the garlic treatment. Again thanks for this thread it has saved me a trip into the sketchy Guatemalan medical system!

  12. #52
    Registered User makemerry's Avatar
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    Interesting info, Rellio1. Thanks for posting.

  13. #53
    Registered User jurahd's Avatar
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    Default good natural giardia cure! giardia poll

    I got a really bad case of dysentery in India some years ago which persisted until doing the garlic clove thing. I'm on the trail now trying to get ahead of the bubble (shelters and cheap lodgings full!), its amazing to see all the m&m laced gorp hikers subsist on. Sugar is big.

  14. #54

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    makemerry - you're welcome! not bad for a thread that started years ago

    I had a garlic clove first thing in the morning today, now waiting a while before breakfast... I'll just say that if I ever need to wake up in a hurry it beats coffee.

  15. #55
    Registered User swjohnsey's Avatar
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    I ate a clove of garlic one night and woke up with a giant . . . well let's just say garlic cures erectile dysfunction.

  16. #56

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    Quote Originally Posted by swjohnsey View Post
    I ate a clove of garlic one night and woke up with a giant . . .Garlic knot well let's just say garlic cures erectile dysfunction.
    Garlic knots....my pizzeria makes the best! they'll cure all that ails ya.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Greentick18d View Post
    Last I looked the *theory* is that the GI tract is made inhospitable and so the parasite, of whichever type, just doesn't hang around. Adding some hot peppers to your diet (not hot sauce) *theoretically* will help with prevention. Plus they just plain taste good. In the name of rapport building in several 3rd world countries I have drank what I would consider bad water. Fortunately hot peppers and onions (raw) were being served so I chowed down and had on lli stceffe I mean no ill effects .... I would mark a "giardia window" on my calendar. I have had giardia in the past but treated it with flagyl (an antibiotic).
    folks should listen up as this is a well-qualified source. I always dehydrate and bring jalapenos to eat with everything hike. I rarely treat water. so far no giardia but I've been asked to leave the shelter a few times.

  18. #58

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    Take a clove of garlic, microwave for 30 sec.
    Pretty much has taste and texture similar to a brussel sprout.

  19. #59

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    Quote Originally Posted by swjohnsey View Post
    Or placeboes since they work 30% of the time.
    This is interesting in itself! A placebo, give in a double blind controlled study, which is given because it contains nothing inherently effective in itself, can, yet be effective 30 % of the time. That's not quackery. That's not alternative medicine mumbo jubo. That's mathematically statistically SIGNIFICANT! That's what I was taught in my university level mathematics classes. It tells me something is happening WESTERN MEDICINE HAS YET TO ACCOUNT FOR OR HAS A HARD(IMPOSSIBLE) TIME ACCEPTING. It tells me that M.D.s, especially those trained according to mainstream Western Medical Methodologies, may be missing something. PERHAPS, this placebo effect at this percentile occurs because the patient DOES BELIEVE THEY WERE ADMINISTERED SOMETHING THAT WILL POSITIVELY AFFECT THEIR CONDITION when in reality they were given a placebo which medically shouldn't have any effect at all. IN other words, MAYBE, there is a mind body connection involved in the healing or therapeutic process!!! PERHAPS, BELIEFS play a role in our health. PERHAPS, BELIEFS can be part of getting and staying well!!! PERHAPS, in ways MANY WESTERN TRAINED M.D.s have yet to realize or admit!

    Let's not forget! Medicine is a science. As such it is evolving just as other sciences, just as humans, just as each individual human does. What was medically advisable 200, 100, 20, even 10 yrs ago is, in some incidences, now considered unadvisable even scoffed upon. Even recent paradigms, concepts, lines of thought that once seemed irrefutable are now laughed at with the thought, "what were we thinking?" Do you think this is not happening this very day??? The reverse of this is true today too! What humanity, or in this case Western Medicine, currently scoffs upon may one day be mainstream generally accepted! We may not currently be seeing the whole picture with the contraction of Giardia! If we are willing to admit that, then PERHAPS there are influential factors and possible preventive and curative steps that can be taken that humanity does not currently understand either! This includes what the so called "professionals" understand.

    The opinions on Giardasis(Giardosis) in this forum, which is wrought with anecdotal information and probably incorrect self diagnosis, are certainly questionable BUT that should not mean these opinions and information, including possible alternative cures or preventative measures, are totally without merit.

    When we open our eyes wide enough and are willing to question things even deeply held cherished things like beliefs or what we scientifically believe to be true that's when we evolve to a greater understanding not by stubbornly holding onto a rather narrow limited view of what we've been taught as THE TRUTH.
    For example, there may very well be a preventive connection with Giardia when consuming garlic since garlic does have anti-bacterial anti fungal properties. Maybe there is some connection with the contraction of Giardiasis and high sugar consumption too. However, I STRONGLY doubt that any of the makers of FLAGYL(Metronidazole), like Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, will be funding any studies with the intention to prove the positive effectiveness of garlic in preventing Giardasis. And, we sometimes wonder why studies aren't conducted more on the effectivness of Alternative Medical treatments.

  20. #60
    Registered User Coosa's Avatar
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    NO, it's not sugar, its GERMS that cause Giardasis. Maybe those germs reside and grow in sugar, maybe not. But contaminated water and food are the culprit, not our diet.

    I got a prescript for Flagyl from my doctor.

    The connection I make is ... I'm using my MSR Water Filter and keeping my hands and utensils clean in order to avoid "beaver-fever" ... And NO ONE gets to put his/her and into my food bags or snack bags. No One.

    Coosa

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