Diarrhea—Loathsome symptom, loathsome topic, difficult to talk about and, having managed that much, even more difficult to find a willing listener. This I’ve noted: People who have never been sick have no idea what it’s like to be sick or crippled or chronically restricted in any way. They can’t know. I know this because I spent thirty years being one of those people who never even got the flu every year, when everyone else had—never had a cut get infected, no matter how I neglected one—never broke a bone or had an appendix out. I was, in short, perfect—and perfect is a very nice way to be.
So, diarrhea (there it is again—loathsome!) In spite of my perfection, I did have one or two incidents where I was sick and so had experiences of fever (which gave me nightmarish hallucinations—being so seldom sick, I must have panicked to have my body betray me in such strange ways). I also knew of vomiting, dizziness, muscle ache (which, for me at least, seemed very much like paralysis) and last but not least (you guessed it) diarrhea.
Diarrhea is something we all know something about—whether it was a flu or a germ or just plain food poisoning—but most see it as a rare unpleasantness. And I know very well that way is the best way of knowing it. It is a sign to us how difficult we find this subject when noting that, in health crises reports, fatal diarrhea is termed dysentery. I guess it makes sense—bad enough someone dies without you gotta link the manner of that person’s death with a word like diarrhea.
Scratch that last paragraph—upon re-reading it I found that I hadn’t looked up my terms. And lucky for me I thought of it. Check it out—diarrhea and dysentery are two different things:
"Diarrhea (from the Greek διάρροια meaning "flowing through"): the condition of having three or more loose or liquid bowel movements per day. It is a common cause of death in developing countries and the second most common cause of infant deaths worldwide. The loss of fluids through diarrhea can cause dehydration and electrolyte imbalances. In 2009 diarrhea was estimated to have caused 1.1 million deaths in people (aged 5 and over) and 1.5 million deaths in children (under the age of 5). Oral rehydration salts and zinc tablets are the treatment of choice and have been estimated to have saved 50 million children in the past 25 years." - Wikipedia
There is, of course, much more to the article, beginning with a long list of the different kinds (medical info). The article for Dysentery tells me that diarrhea is a symptom of dysentery, but dysentery goes much further than dehydration and loss of electrolytes—it connotes the passing of blood and mucus, too! So dysentery is diarrhea’s bigger, meaner brother, as it were. I didn’t read closely enough to tell you whether dysentery is always preceded by diarrhea, but I can say that both health problems have long lists of the many ways in which these diseases can be contracted. There’s bacterial, viral, infectious, necrotic—I don’t know—I’m no doctor. But one only needs newspaper headlines to see the overall effect these dangers have, particularly in refugee camps and other disaster-related huddlings of the masses.
And the sad truth is that this is a third-world disease—only the oppressed and impoverished are ever forced into conditions where water is scarce, hygiene is low, or non-existent, and people are expected to improvise when it comes to defecation, etc.
None (or very few) of those dead millions were living in developed communities with adequate water and modern plumbing. Even the slums of developed-world cities are healthier neighborhoods than the rural camps of displaced and helpless—though the inner-city dwellers may even those stats with violence, their very vitality is proof that they live in a country where the health of all inhabitants is held to some minimal standard—and where that standard can be, and is, paid for.
So, I’m not the only person in the world that is bothered by this problem. I doubt that’s any great comfort to the wretched refuse of the world, but it gives me another leg to stand on when defending my decision to write about diarrhea—and I never refuse a leg.
One thing seldom mentioned in any of this information is the debilitating effect on one suffering from diarrhea. I leave the bathroom as if I’d just finished an Olympic Trial event—all I can think of is getting to someplace where I can lie down. Most of you have only known diarrhea as one of many symptoms of a cold. It is in among fevers and muscle aches and clogged or swollen nasal passages and sore throats and coughs. But all by itself it is a surprisingly effective deterrent against feeling ones best. The dehydration requires constant drinking of water throughout the day. The muscle fatigue (And why watery stools should be more taxing than solid ones I’ll never understand.) is a bottleneck to any prolonged project or activity (which is just as well, since sudden exertions and loose stools are a bad match). And, just to drive me crazy, the lack of exercise (or even movement) makes digestion of any food more difficult. The human body is designed to use both gravity and the flexing of the body muscles to facilitate the processing of ingested food. Lying down and doing nothing all day is not on the program.
So, I now ask myself, just why am I writing about diarrhea, anyhow? I guess it has something to do with my disability status. The loss of some mental (and other central-nervous-system) abilities are other problems I have that make me a dangerous driver, an unreliable employee (in any job), and unable to do many pleasurable activities I once took for granted: reading, drawing, picking things up, putting things down. Now, I can do these things—it’s isn’t that I can’t literally do these things—it’s just that I can only read for fifteen minutes, I can only draw in a style that allows for iffy hand-eye control, I can only drive a car safely if I continually repeat the mantra ‘You’re at the wheel. You’re at the wheel.’ for the whole time I’m driving. My hands, particularly my left hand, endure tremors and cramps. It’s as if my insides had decided to play tricks on me from now on—I try to pick up a glass—I knock it over—I try to put down a glass—I bounce it on the table three or four times while I try to let go of it.
I forget who I am, what day it is, what I was in the middle of doing, what I was about to say (or write) and whether or not a lit cigarette is in my hand. I can often furrow my brow and call back the previous ten seconds, but it makes for slow and irksome progress as I get through each day. And there are times when I can’t remember, no matter what—that’s usually a sign to go watch more TV.
I used to never understand that saying about ‘the brain is a muscle’, but now I do. I feel the effort of paying attention, trying to do something tricky, following the story of a book or movie or TV show. The glaring and the strobing and the sudden volume changes on prime-time are very much more offensive to my senses these days—it’s a real strain on the sensor-suite. Often lately I find myself turning the TV off and resting my eyes—I end up listening to music on my stereo because watching TV is just too much work. And to think it used to relax me to sit back and watch some mindless drivel—now that I am mindless it’s just at the threshold of my mentation!
So, I’m just a collection of small, loathsome little drawbacks that, taken together, make me useless, just fucking useless. I shall have to focus on something much more upbeat for the rest of today. Bears, perhaps?
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