Around the beginning of August 2006 just after that very hot spell where the temperature was about 104 here in the eastern USA, I was eating some hamburger that probably was very rare.

I suddenly got this weird ‘tingling' sensation that went from left to right at the top of my stomach, right near my ribs. Uh-oh I thought. It was not a pain, but a bubbling sensation.

That night I had a mild feverish feeling and had nightmares. For the next three weeks I had the most foul ‘chemical' smelling softened stools that did not even smell like they came out of a human, stomach cramps in the mid to lower intestine and even a three day bout with throbbing sciatica which finally went away.

Once the ‘bug' traveled through to the lower stomach I thought it was gone but then it seemed to settle back in the upper stomach, causing much distress when I did not eat.

I experienced a serious gnawing sensation way up high, as if something was gripping my stomach where it attached to my esophagus, and even imagined that things were crawling up my throat! I had flatulence, and it felt like I had been kicked in the stomach to the point of passing out at times. I was coughing and could not catch my breath.

Sometimes eating would help and I would feel OK, until the next attack.

I was put on Flagyl which I took for 8 days.
On the third day of the Flagyl, the stranglehold on my alimentary canal was released and I don't have that anymore but it still feels like I have ‘something' in there.

Now that I am off the Flagyl I still have the dull headache, dark circles, exhaustion and ‘tingling' in the belly, which aches when I do not eat. My tongue seems a yellowish-green no matter how much I try to clean it.

About three hours after eating I get terrible stomach distress and weakeness and feel like I will faint. I am very tired and not ‘myself'.

WHAT DO I HAVE and why won't it go away?

A stool sample tested negative for eColi, Salmonella, Shigella, and bleeding but the Giardia test is not back yet after three weeks. Stools smell more normal but are still yellow. I have not eaten much protein.

What else could I have gotten?

In the ER they said all else was well, no organ failures, no appendix or heart troubles or anything. They gave me pepcid for the 'upset stomach' but I think that is just covering up symptoms of something else.

I have never had any type of stomach distress before and can eat anything anytime.

I was asked to 'relist' this question but don't know why. It has not been answered yet.

Basically do people with Giardia have to go through a period of adjustment to let the little hairs in their stomach grow back? Why else would I feel like I had an ulcer? I have to eat an enormous amount of food or be in pain.......

Edited by Customer (name blocked for privacy) on September 24 2006 at 2:26 PM

Optional Information:
Female , Age: 57

Already Tried:
Flagyl 8 days