Malaria

So you'll never believe it--I have malaria! Just my luck--no one from the Harvard team has gotten it in three years of working here, I get it in three weeks! Before you start worrying, I should tell you I'm fine now. I started taking Coartem only a few hours after the symptoms started, and if you take it early enough it goes away quickly. It all started Saturday--I was at the grocery store and started feeling faint and really hot, like it was 105 degrees in there. I thoguht I was dehydrated, so I went home to rest. In a few hours, I was feeling worse--sick to my stomach and lightheaded. I started throwing up, and assumed I had food poisoning. But it was way worse than any stomach bug I'd ever experienced. My housemate, Phyllis, got worried and said we should go to the clinic, but I told her I thought we should wait it out. After a while, when it was getting worse not better, she put her foot down and we went to the clinic. The doctor there gave me an injection to stop the vomiting, which didn't work, and said we had to go somewhere else to get a malaria test. I thought this was unecessary, as I didn't have a fever. Maybe I should just get tested Monday at work? He said no, we should go now. Each time we had to get in the taxi to go somewhere was pure torture--I felt so sick the whole time. I got tested at the other clinic, but they wouldn't tell us the results there--we had to go back to the other doctor to read the results. He confirmed--I had malaria. He gave me Coartem (the most effective drug to treat malaria, a combo of artemether and lumefantrine from Novartis), and ORS to rehydrate me (yuck!!!). I told him there was no way I could keep the drug down right then, but he told me to try--even if I got a little in my system I would feel better. I took it, and of course threw it up a little later. But he was right--after that I started feeling better and was able to rest. I took the next dose in the morning, and by then I didn't feel sick to my stomack anymore, just weak, tired, and sore all over. Now I'm back at work, and have a great story to tell! It will take me a few days to be totally back to normal, but I have to say--Coartem really does work!

All in all, I think it's a good thing, now I can relate to the work I'm doing all the better. Malaria sucks, let's wipe it out! Getting prompt and correct treatment is key, if it's treated properly and quickly, malaria doesn't have to be deadly--lucky for me.