The Unknown Culprit
Well, it’s been over six weeks since I’ve been in Kathmandu, and I got a little stomach trouble this week. That’s not too bad considering my history in Kathmandu. I manage to get really ill, always intestinal within my first two weeks.
Since arriving, I have allergies in the morning and now I finally got intestinal bug. I have been able to prevent and deal with minor stomach problems since I’ve been in Kathmandu. I received a nice going away present from a fellow colleague, Dana. She gave me a bottle of Fiberzon from the Amazon Herb Company. I have used their products in the past and a good colon cleansing is what you need, or what I need when in Nepal.
I don’t know if it was the dirty papaya that was made into a drink at the juice stand down the street. I wasn’t feeling good that day, and it felt like I was getting the flu (a nasty bug is travelling around KTM, Rob had it a couple of weeks back) so I went to the juice stand to get a fresh papaya drink.
Now the deal is that they prep the fruit, so that it’s sitting under a net that has holes that do not keep dust and dirt out. Kathmandu is a very polluted city and my street is an exception, it’s EXTREMELY dirty, the roads in my hood are dirt, and it does get quite congested in this narrow alley.
Bowls of beautiful red ruby pomegranite seeds sit in a large bowl, and other chopped up fruit, like papaya, mango, oranges, sit under this “protective” netting. I’ll have to get a picture of it.
If you go to a juice stand in Kathmandu, which I recommend, because it’s so good, you have to make the juice dude cut fruit fresh. DO NOT let his use the one’s already cut and sitting there, unless you arrive as the shop is opening. And even if it’s washed, they just sprinkle water(be careful, it’s probably the tap water) on top of it. I thought since it was Saturday, which is a the only day off in the workweek, it might be okay since it’s less congested in the city. So, I ordered fresh papaya juice/pulp. I don’t know if it was my mind or not, but it tasted a little dusty, papaya pulp with some Kathmandu masala. There was a mystery thickness and taste. A little while after I drank it, I was coughing, as if I were clearing some film from my throat. It felt a dirty chimney.
I thought well, what’s a little dust? Then the next day, I had dinner at my friends very hygenic restaurant. I don’ t know if it was the hot lemon tea (maybe they used tap water), or maybe my stomach didn’t agree with the oily pasta with rosemary chicken, or the oil on the bruschetti (what, in Nepal? Yup at the Italian restaurant), but the next morning, my stomach was not happy.
I had my usual homemade yogurt with meuslix, and a little after that, my stomach cramped and I ran to the bathroom. And I kept running to the bathroom periodically throughout the day. I then decided that I would at least try to flush whatever was in my stomach out, by using the Fiberzon. It prevented my “packages” from being watery. But I still had cramping, and a litlte nausea.
It’s now Thursday, and I feel a lot better than I did yesterday. It’s Dashain, so yesterday, my orthodox family had our traditional lunch of beaten rice (chura), curried grilled buff (cheula), eggs, cauliflower tarkari, black eye peas, saag, and some other stuff. Since I only eat chicken and fish, I opted out on both of those, since the night before, I had chicken, which I shouldn’t have had. About an hour after lunch, my stomach did not agree and it was time for the exit. The rest of the day, I really felt nauseous all day.
I was a couch potato lop a shit all day, and when Rob came over, I asked to give me Reiki. I even drank a little coke, which didn’t make me feel good either. My stomach cramped in protest. The only thing that didn’t bother me, were the oversized chocolate crossaints from the Hotel Mandap Bakery he brought over as Dashain upahaar (gifts). We split a croissant, which wasn’t that good. It was like a long roll, with chocolate frosting on top, and some sprinkled cocoa in between. Brezel’s Baker has yummie croissant, more flakey and goey chuck of chocolate in the middle as well as frosted chocolate on top.
Why I waited till the end of the day to get a Reiki treatment from him I don’t know. But after he finished a 30 minute treatment I felt much better. I even had energy to go out, buy some plain crackers and get bottled coke. I wanted to go to Swambounath yesterday morning, but my stomach said no.
Today I feel a little better though I feel like I might have missed an opportunity for another exit this morning. My stomached squeezed and squeezed but I was too lazy to get out of bed again to go to the bathroom. I waited until it subsided so that I could walk, but nothing happened when I finally made it to the bathroom.
Last night I didn’t take my Fiberzon, because it felt like I should take a break. But today I’ll start the regimen again.
Now that I have just recounted my experience this past week, I think that maybe it was the yogurt that might have did it, since I reacted after I ate it, or maybe I ate something for lunch and I had the cramps. Now I don’t remember.
And maybe I should’ve eaten plain food, I tried to minimize it but it’s difficult to get plain food in my house. I remember for dinner Monday night, or was it Tuesday, I made pasta primavera. That didn’t give me any problems.
We’ll see how today goes.
Tags: cramps, Kathmandu
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Commenting usually isnt my thing, but ive spent an hour on the site, so thanks for the info
It seems like something is missing, no?
I wanted to comment and thank the author, good stuff