Bummer. Could be waterborne, but
did you eat at a fast food place or other restaurant on your outing? Since you don’t have much exposure to germs (due to working at home and not having kids)you’re more suseptable to nasties.
Hope you’re better soon.
think we are about to see what drinking
untreated water can do. With what is rapidly becoming the worst natural disaster in recorded history in Asia, death toll is approaching 600,000 and expected to possibly double only because of the contaminated water supply. Typhoid, Malaria, Colera, Dysentery, Encephalitis, Hepatitis, and many more water born deseases are expected to take there toll.
I think it’s a good idea to research where you paddle and the amount of pollution you are likely to encounter. Even in the remote wilderness area’s of the North you will encouncter mercury in the water from mining runoff. I live in Ohio and unfortunately some rivers even today are little more than open sewers.
a little bit of knowledge can hurt
– Last Updated: Dec-29-04 8:28 AM EST –
I am finding out myself that a little bit of knowledge CAN be a bad thing.
Errors I made this year
Thought you couldn't get strep from river. Wrong, and the ugly reason is coliform bacteria, yeah the nasty stuff in feces. Echhh.
Though using silicone swimmer ear plugs were a good idea. Got some stuck in my ear. Pain, blockage, bacteria. Found out do not stick q-tips in ears, do not remove ear wax, you need it! Do not use undiluted stuff in ears like vinegar,hydrogen peroxide, etc. In fact most GP docs don't know how to undo an ear blockage, only ear nose and throat people. You can puncture your ear drum and have chronic infections. Mine was so bad was seriously dizzy for awhile.
All this casused me to think why do I disdain traditional medical knowledge and often prefer hearing from others who experience these problems, even when I have shared and listened to advice that was also not helpful and even dangerous. I think the reason is a real disconnect in traditional medicine between treating acute problems and learning how to prevent problems by active living and taking care of problems.
thanks
Thanks for the replies. Sounds like the consensus is that the river water definitely could have been the culprit. On the other hand, I also stopped at hwy rest areas there and back to use the bathroom, and I did even eat at a fast food restaurant on the way home (kinda rare for me). The river in question is the Mulberry in western Arkansas - it’s in the country, not an urban river at all, but I don’t know how bad runoff is there from area farms.
I’m feeling much better now, but still not 100% better. I have New Year paddling plans that are starting to look sketchy because I don’t want to get out there if my body is still in the middle of fighting this thing off.
This thing has just completely kicked my butt! I’ll get a cold maybe once a year, but this has just been ferocious. I was wearing nose clips when I flipped, but not ear plugs. I hate to wear still more things on the water, but the thought of going through this again definitely means I’ll be trying some of the tips you all offered here to help prevent a reoccurance.
I hope everyone paddles infection-free in the New Year!
Well, I disagree in part.
“Thought you couldn’t get strep from river. Wrong, and the ugly reason is coliform bacteria, yeah the nasty stuff in feces. Echhh.”
Fecal coliform and fecal strep are not the same thing. You can’t get strep from coliform bacteria but both are typically present in polluted water.
“Though using silicone swimmer ear plugs were a good idea. Got some stuck in my ear. Pain, blockage, bacteria.”
Wrong kind of plugs. Use Doc’s Pro Plugs.
“do not remove ear wax, you need it!”
Excess ear wax should be removed. Any ENT will tell you that. But you are right, a q-tip is not the way to do it.
paddle_lupe
good to hear you’re feeling better.
Dr. Disco, are you a health care professional, as in a medical doctor? I ask this respectfully because I would like some guidelines for ear drops, from you or anyone with such advanced training.
I do remember that it was common practice at a girlscout summer camp, on a pristine, class A, adirondack pond, for all swimmers to receive a couple drops of isopropyl alcohol after swimming. I’m unaware if it was diluted or mixed with other things. As it was a practice extending over the eight years that I attended as a camper and beyond another eight to when I went back as a counselor I am unaware of any harmful affects this may have had. Of the hundreds that received the drops, if there were problems relating to the drops it seems they should have surfaced during that time. However, that is not to say that medical practices should not be put in question, given to review and possibly discontinued. To the best of my knowledge it was used to help dry the ear canal and kill germs.
Questions; Should isopropyl alcohol be diluted? How much? If not diluted is it harmful? Is chorinated water an acceptable dilutent? Is hydrogen peroxide, acceptable or not? What is the purpose of glycerine you suggest? To clarify, you suggest white vinegar, please clarify amounts.
Perhaps you could break this down into ratios. Maybe start with a half or quarter cup of alcohol and use a measuring cup or spoons for other ingredients.
I’m asking this on behalf of those who may not have access to affordable health care at this moment but would appreciate a professional’s opinion. As always, one should use reasoned judgement when gleaning information from the internet. A happy and healthy New Year to all.
Heidi
Paddling the Fifebrook or Quabog New Years Day
I am not a physician
I have simply sought advice from physicians about ear problems. The following web site should be helpful:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000979.htm
I will look up the formula for ear drops and post it later.
Ear Drops Recipe
The simplest recipe is 50% alcohol, 50% white vinegar. Some people I know dilute the vinegar 50/50. The vinegar is important because infection can result from changes from acidic to basic in the ear canal. Divers (I am a scuba diver as well as a paddler) often put this mixture in their ears before they dive as well as after. I was told that it had to remain in the ear canal for 5 minutes or it wouldn’t be as effective. The original recipe I was given by a biologist friend included a very small amount of glycerine. I don’t know what that is supposed to do and I usually don’t put it in.
Squares with advice I have heard.
May not be necessary unless you get one or more external ear infections, like I did in my youth.
I once had a chronic eyelid infection for many years, thought it was normal to have slightly crusty lids on awakening, but the Doc said no, it was probably resident staph or strep. Short course of antibiotic ointment knocked it out, and it did not return.
Thanks for your honesty
and for taking the effort to share the info Dr_Disco, much appreciated. That five minute window could be a challenge but worth it especially if due to wax build-up the water can’t escape.
When I’ve been to ENT specialists for ear problems it has always been recommended to soften wax build-up and gently irrigate the canal with warm water. They sell little ear kits for this and it was also recommended to preceed with a tub soak with the ears immersed; and never insert anything like a q-tip to clean, due to the risk of puncturing the drum or doing other permanent damage.
Isopropyl Alcohol in Ear
Although this has been done for ages, ad suggested for cleaning babies ears long ago, I am a little shy of putting it inside the ear. If you look on pubmed there is an old study that found that the commercial formulation of ipa/acetic acid/ glycerol (isopropanol/vinegar/ glycerine) causes mild damage to the inner ear. Did not see there is any study proving beneficial efffect proven for treating swimmers ear or preventing it. My concern is for subtle effects from repeated use (say if you are a surfer or kayaker and do this several times a week.) It’s possible to get drugs directly into the blood stream with good blood brain barrier penetration by administering them in the ear, especially if you have abnormalities in the ear drum like Pikabike mentioned. (Remember how Hamlet’s father was done in, sublte poisons adminstered in the ear canal.) If you do this repeatedly you will be eroding sensitive tissue in your inner ear. IPA itself is fairly toxic and IPA can transport chemicals etc accross the skin. I have a professional paranoia of chemicals getting into the blood stream and brain. Physicians use a mild peroxide solution to clean out ear wax, I would only do that sparingly too.
Hi Heather
Could have been the water, especially since the bacteria had been provided with an earfull of water, giving it a nice, warm, moist environment for it to grow in. Surprised that he didn’t do a strep screen as this is a simple, quick test to perform. And without the culture OR CBC (a type of blood count) how could he determine you had a bacterial infection of any kind? He couldn’t, therefore; shouldn’t have put you on antibiotics without KNOWING you had a Strep infection. That said, the white, “Cheesy” stuff is yeast. The antibiotics kill the normal “Flora” or bacteria that NORMALLY resides in your mouth. That gives the yeast a chance to propagate. That should correct a few days after finishing your antibiotics. You can also do things like eat yogurt with live cultures to help quell the yeast and/or get your physician to take a look and Rx some Nystatin to swish in your mouth. Hope that helps! WW
If you have any indication that eardrum
is perforated, then it’s off to the doctor. A little comparative gentle pressure testing by putting the thumb over the ear canal and pressing inward should show if one of the eardrums is perforated. Closing nostrils and pressurizing gently may also reveal whether the two ears feel different in a way which suggests a pressure leak on one side.
Water and Eye Infections
Years ago I used to train on the Red River in Winnipeg which at the time was quite polluted. When I was first learning to paddle K1, K2 and K4 I use to take frequent swims. I developed eye infections that a specialist was unable to treat and that took over two years to clear up. Given the original posters illness, I wonder if there are not a host of illnesses that we are unwittingly exposing ourselves to if we are unaware of the quality of the water that we are paddling in?
Unfortunately, water quality is devastating other species, and particularly, amphibians. And while it hasn’t yet gained a foothold in NA, the WHO recently reported that the primary carrier for the avian flu is believed to be the feces of migrating wild ducks.
Heather
E-mail not working, late for work, INS working on a new system. If it were me I’d go and stay someplace warm and dry, not paddle in rain, etc. But if I could go, I would. Take care, Terry
thanks Terry…
I wimped out and decided not to go, which I already regret because I really wanted to spend time with Jill and it was my Pnet 1 year anniversary paddle! But I feel the way you feel right BEFORE you get sick, and maybe that’s the same feeling you get right as you’re getting better, but I decided to not risk it. Remember how damp it is there anyway? And I would never want to get a motel room - I would want to camp, so all that together means I wimped out. So no New Year paddle for me this year. Bleh.
Let’s watch the weather and maybe my next paddle will be your next paddle too! I still want to host you on a visit to the Illinois - I have the raincheck!
Chicken!
You made the right decision, Heather. You gotta remember, I’ve had several episodes of paddling withdrawl this year and am IN ONE NOW! If it wern’t for Margaret, I’d be paddling NOW, AMA (against medical advice). Looks like you’re smarter than me. Hope you get to feeling better. Feb 10 is when I will be allowed to paddle “Legally.” Hopefully we’ll be in the midst of one of those Feb. thaws we sometimes get! WW
Paddling with drawl is southern pastime.
I Needed a Bit of Humour!
Thanks g2d! WW
saltwater here carries a lot of
nastsy stuff also. some of the fishermen and flats guides have been getting suposed “staph” infections here in the keys. they seem to be hard to rid by most accounts. The flats guides seem to be the most bewildering, since they rarely handle fish that much and don’t have the usual cuts and scrapes the rest of do. They also tend to fish farther away from land sources in areas one would consider “cleaner”. maybe it’s the constant poling of thier boats?, I’ve been lucky and haven’t contracted any funk especially being under water most of the time. as for the ears; luke warm water only, no alcohol or qtips ever, good advice from my hyperbaric Navy doc. at least it’s not that flesh-eating bacteria found in menhaden scools in Virginia and North Carolina.now thats scary stuff.