Warning Signs Of Giardiasis

Giardiasis, also known as Giardia infection or beaver fever, is a condition caused by a microscopic parasite called Giardia lamblia, also known as Giardia intestinalis. While giardiasis can occur anywhere in the world, including the United States, it is most common in places where individuals don’t have access to clean drinking water. Even so, G. lamblia is the most common intestinal parasite in the United States.

G. lamblia lives in its host’s small intestine and is eventually excreted out along with the feces. The parasite can grow a cyst or hard shell to protect it. The cyst can survive for months outside the body. Dogs, cats, beavers, and humans can all be hosts to G. lamblia. Humans contract the parasite by swallowing contaminated water, and they can also get it by eating contaminated food that hasn’t been thoroughly cooked.

While some individuals show no symptoms, others display symptoms, which include the following:

Loss Of Appetite

Most patients start to develop symptoms within one to three weeks of contracting the parasites, and untreated giardiasis generally runs its course within six weeks. Loss of appetite is an incredibly common symptom of giardiasis. The patient may also suddenly be unable to tolerate milk and dairy products. While this lactose intolerance is temporary in many patients, it can become permanent. While undergoing treatment for giardiasis, patients should, therefore, avoid dairy products for several weeks.

While doctors often treat giardiasis with a variety of antibiotics, they can also use herbal remedies as treatments. The various herbs work by stimulating the immune system and different enzymes to either kill the parasite or prevent it from reproducing. Garlic, for example, affects the parasite’s ability to adhere to the intestines. It may also stimulate an enzyme that can kill the parasite.

Excessive Gas

Patients with giardiasis develop excessive gas in their intestines and will have many bouts of flatulence. Their belches will also taste sulfuric.

A patient should call their doctor if their symptoms last for over a week. They should also call the doctor if they start developing signs of dehydration like extreme thirst, dizziness, lack of saliva, or confusion. Patients should call their doctor if they are over fifty and have diarrhea accompanied by severe abdominal pain, or if they are over seventy and have loose stools. The patient should tell the doctor about any recent travels to foreign countries or interactions with small children, who are often carriers, as well as if they swam or drank from a lake or other body of water. The doctor will then take stool samples and check them for signs of parasites.

Cramps And Bloating

The gas caused by the Giardia parasite makes the stomach bloated. The patient may also experience cramps, nausea, and vomiting, and, occasionally, develop a minor fever. Eating can make the cramps and bloating more severe, and some patients even have trouble keeping fluids down. In this case, the patient should suck on ice chips to prevent dehydration.

If the patient can keep liquids down, they should drink them slowly throughout the day. They should avoid milk and anything containing caffeine, but they can have flat sodas, diluted fruit juices, sports drinks, broths, and soup. After twelve hours, the patient may add bland food like boiled vegetables, rice, toast, or noodles to their diet. They may resume eating their usual diet after their stools start looking normal.

Diarrhea

Diarrhea is the most common and best-known symptom, and it can last for months. The resulting stools are greasy and malodorous, and they often float. The stools’ greasiness is due to the parasites’ damaging the intestines so they cannot properly absorb nutrients, and the stools thus contain abnormal amounts of fat. The malabsorption also affects a patient’s ability to absorb vitamin A, vitamin B9 (folate or folic acid), vitamin B12, and lactose. Severely loose stools can also cause the patient to become dehydrated, for they lose too much fluid in their watery stools.

Giardiasis can be acute or chronic. The acute form of the disease runs its course within a few weeks, but the chronic form lasts longer. In addition to the symptoms already mentioned, a patient with chronic giardiasis will develop pain around their navel, and they will suffer weight loss.

Fatigue

A patient with giardiasis will also have little energy. In fact, the online science journal BMC Gastroenterology published a study conducted by Norwegian scientists that found a link between giardiasis and chronic fatigue syndrome. The scientists had noted an increase in individuals being diagnosed with chronic fatigue in Bergen, Norway, after a large outbreak of giardiasis in 2004. The researchers found many of the patients with chronically reduced energy had been diagnosed with giardiasis some time earlier. They also found chronic exhaustion could persist for as long as five years after the initial infection. Researchers have also found individuals who contract giardiasis have an increased risk of developing irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, depression, and sleep apnea.