The Wormies

A Song for Children
The Worms Crawl In,
The Worms Crawl Out,
Into your stomach,
And out your mouth.
They eat your intestines,
They scramble your heart.
Now you feel like
You're all apart.
Source: http://www.bussongs.com

Tuesday morning of this past week found me waking with abdominal pain, bloating, and a couple of other rather unpleasant issues that I'll be kind enough not to mention. I didn't know what was wrong and since I'm generally very healthy, figured I'd be just fine. I made it through the day, but the problems began to intensify as Tuesday turned into Wednesday. And it was at about that point that the suggestion came that I might have parasites.

WHAT?? You've got to be kidding me! No, not kidding. And then more and more of the same suggestion came to me from other missionaries. I was desperately hoping that it was just some stomach bug(hmm, perhaps I shouldn't use that word so lightly. I don't want bugs in me, either!), but all the signs pointed to an infestation, or rather, a colonization. Doesn't that sound disgusting and yet, kind of cool, all at the same time? Since it takes up to two weeks for symptoms to emerge, I've been a walking sanctuary for an entire colony of microscopic flagellated protozoan parasites. Wow, that sounds like I should be in National Geographic.
Headline News: Flagellated Protozoan Parasite colony has been found reproducing in small intestines of woman in Ukraine!!

I usually scoff at people who self-diagnose, but after doing a lot of research on Giardia Intestinalis, http://diseases.emedtv.com/diseases/giardia-in-humans.html, I finally took my brother's advice and bought the parasite medication on Friday. By Saturday my stomach was no longer cramping and the majority of the other symptoms have lessened considerably as of today. The medication is readily available here over the counter, under the name of Wormex or Wormil; no prescription necessary. There's something to be said for a lack of FDA! And to top it all off- it cost less than three dollars to deworm me!!