My (ongoing) journey with ciguatera.

I am sharing my story in hopes of connecting with others to learn from each other. Surely each case is unique but there may be patterns we can detect to aid our recoveries.

I spent 6 weeks in southeast Asia last winter (mainly Thailand, also Singapore and Cambodia). I felt ill there much of the time with what may have been typical heat exhaustion/ travelers' stomach type maladies. Upon returning home, I felt quite sick, as if something very poison was attacking all of my systems. I had major gastrointestinal discomfort and pain (and still do) ranging from constipation to diarrhea, plus pains from the top of my chest to the bottom of my torso. I had cardio symptoms including rapid heart beat. I felt panicked frequently and still feel quite scared about my health. I began to have neurological pain- tingling in my limbs especially hands, then developing into sharp parasthesia pains, which can feel like you are being bitten by bugs, poked with needles or knives, or just itchy. I still have this daily and it is everywhere.

Strange symptoms include wrinkled fingertips (raisin-looking) any time I'm near cold air or apply any pressure to them. For months I had a feeling of pressure in my head, constantly popping ears, and swollen veins on my forehead. Now I have intense fatigue at times. My eyesight gets screwy during flareups- a bit blurry with floaters, once I even saw flashes. It's been hard to keep weight on and I am prone to dehydration- I do not react well at altitude as it triggers tachycardia (it never did before). I get mild headaches quite often, and have had odd moods- which of course could be related to dealing with having a neurotoxin.

Medically, the doctors first thought I was fine and just anxious. Initial tests all came back normal except for low potassium which was easily corrected. After I was still feeling badly and had many tests to rule out other causes, my general practitioner and neurologist made a probable diagnosis of ciguatera. I had too many tests to list, but they include imaging of brain, chest, and abdomen; tons of blood, urine and stool analysis; cardio workup; and EMG/nerve conduction. At one point I had high protein in the blood but that corrected. I have also showed trace blood and bacteria in the urine, cause unknown.

Once I got the diagnosis in April, I began research and an action plan. I found everything I could about ciguatera and emailed world experts- one of whom sent me the most up to date info available. I followed the recommended diet of no alcohol, caffeine, nuts and seeds- though seeds and some nut oils are too difficult to avoid altogether. My neurological symptoms did decrease on the diet, though gastro problems have been worse off and on. Oh, how I miss coffee and chocolate, wine and peanut butter!

In August, I decided to try phasing back in the foods one at a time, keeping my diet otherwise controlled. The results were not good; I experienced bad flareups with cashews, wine, beer, and even a tiny piece of chocolate. The flareups seem to last a few days. So I'm back to the restrictive diet.

Overall I am doing my best to keep a hopeful outlook but this is pretty frustrating- the not knowing if and when it may get better. What has it been like for others? How long til you felt better?