rm | my intestines

I talked to Megan's mom who is an NP. She strongly suspects I have dysentery. I'm now trying, with limited success to find a clinic that will take me tomorrow. The Internet is full of home remedy stuff, but I'm at a "fuck that give me Western medicine" stage with the whole fucking affair. I spoke to Kali about it too, and between those two conversations I'm not longer worried it's anything more serious than this, which is a relief. But I still want to cry. it's embarassing and frustrating, and I still don't know where or when I'll be able to see (or afford) a doctor tomorrow. Fucking hell. At least I know why I feel like crap.

There's Dr. Dave on the LES who is apparently cool with the uninsured. An LJ'er pointed me there, and we've been emailing. Although his email address is DrDave666 and that's just ridiculous!

The Callen-Lorde Center, which might not give me a price break because of my income, and also doesn't open until nearly 2. But it's nice, and well-known and for gay folk.

A dr. in Brooklyn that was recommended by a friend and seems to be highly affordable.

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oh honey. that blows goats.

doesn't SAG offer health insurance at reasonable rates? i thought that was part of the whole union/guild thing.

If I make 13K or more a year as an actor, which I haven't done yet.

I don't know how much you're making with writing, but check out the freelancers union to see if you qualify. That's how I have my health insurance. And good luck. Intenstines are a seriously poor systemic design. I did something to mine last year that had me flat on my back for a week needing to drop out of a show. You have my sympathy :)

How do you get dysentry?

Ahhh saw this here.

WEll, it could be. THe most important thing between now and then is to hydrate, hydrate. Keep us posted.

I'm sorry you've been going through this. I hope you feel better soon.

Depending whether you have amoebic or bacterial dysentery, I might at least be able to help with the diet. The dysentery that I had in Sri Lanka was bacterial, and while I could only be treated by an Ayurvedic doctor (and he gave me great handfuls of pills that had to be taken at certain times, the only one of which I recall was Voltaren, to stop the vomiting) he recommended a very basic diet comprising only boiled vegetables, plain dry toast (I was allowed a small scraping of jam), and black tea with lemon in it. There was strictly no dairy, no meat, no fats of any kind. One of the best things he told me to have (and which I still use when I get a bad stomach) was a glass of soda water (soda as in the mixer, not as in what I think people in the US call things like Coke etc) with a spoonful of sugar and the juice of half a lime. It really does work to settle the stomach.

When I got home I was drained and ill for weeks, because bacterial dysentery ruptures the lining of the intestine (basically, your stools look like tar, because of all the blood in them), and my herbalist recommended psyllium husks taken in a glass of fruit squash or diluted fruit juice, once a day, plus acidophilus supplements (not just yoghurt) to bring my gut's natural flora back up to the levels it should have.

Wow, whatever I have, as bad as it is, isn't as bad as all that (thank god!). I suppose finding treatment will stop it from getting that bad. Lord knows this is making me crazy.

I really do sympathise :o\ As restrictive as that diet looks, though, it's probably the best one to follow in order to keep your energy levels up enough to get through daily life. I can't recall whether rice was also allowed, so I didn't list that. It probably was, as I know the recommended diet for severe upset stomach here in the UK is summarised as BRAT: bananas, rice, apples, toast.

that's what Megan's mom said to me.

It's a good diet, but I'm not sure about the sugar levels. I was allowed very small amounts of sugar (in the lime juice thing, and also one cube of sugar in the tea) but I don't know whether the fructose in the fruit would have a different effect.

Mind you, catching that was the best weight loss guarantee that I ever found. I lost something like 20lbs in two weeks :o\

Which is something I can't afford to do.

Exactly, whereas I could - heh! My clothes were hanging off me by the time I came home; a bit of an awkward situation in a place where I simply couldn't buy anything new if I'd wanted to, unless I fancied coming home in a sari ;O)

OMG!!!!!!!

I was sick in Miami and a bartender made me that same drink! It was awful, but it totally worked!

It does rather draw your arse up to your elbows, yeah, but it works *grin*

There's something awfully Oregon Trail about this whole thing...

my intestines

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black humor