Giardia Anyone? Warning-TMI

[For-The-Love-Of-Chickens]

My son (age 13) came home from a short camping/hiking/climbing trip of three days on Saturday. They were gone Thursday-Saturday. They took drinking water, but swam in a local creek/river?. He told me he swallowed some water while swimming. Not a lot, but a good mouthful.

Today he is VERY bloated and has started having very greasy, floating, foul smelling diarrhea. He says he doesn't feel too bad, just crampy and not hungry. I immediately thought giardia, but all the info I have found says that it is too soon for that.

Anyone had it before and how soon after exposure did it show up?

Edited to add:

I will definitely take him in to the doctor if he still has this going on in a couple of days. Not looking for medical advice, just curious.

 

[AngieChick]

Oh my, I have no experience with it. Poor baby, though! Not a fun souvenier from what sounds like a great camping trip.

 

[Oven Ready]

I've had it, twice. First time I didn't know what it was and lost 6 kilos, 10% of my weight in a week. Second time I knew what it was straight away and it wasn't such a trouble.

Black, foamy, stinky poop is a good indicator. Cramps, not hungry sound right too.

Check out Cryptosporidium as well - another fecal-oral monster.

Whatever you suspect, get him on buckets of fluids and electrolytes and a trip to the Doc.

eta : Sorry, missed the bit about how long it takes to present symptoms. I don't know because I don't know when I got infected. That's part of the problem with these little devils, you can get them from anywhere where someone has not been too clean in the butt dept.

 

[Chickenmaven]

He might have eaten like a teenaged boy.

Pringles, hamburgers, icecream & Doritos all make me sick like that. If he was my kiddo, I'd feed him Pepto Bismo, a couple cups of yogurt and some oatmeal...

 

[littlemissjellyfish]

We have had an outbreak of e-coli here in Maine. Many of the lakes have been closed. No swimming. The beaches are shut down. I guess the influx of tourists combined with hot weather and little rain has made it bloom. Could your son have e-coli? Just a thought....

Hope he feels better soon!