Posts by Jacob Davis89

Casey Palmer5 said:While I was taking malaria prophylaxis, even having just two beers made me sick. Those pills were awful. Anything greasy I ate just made everything worse.

I've been out here for two years, and honestly, if I were still taking those pills, I probably would've died by now from the hallucinations, nausea, and insomnia. Once you actually catch malaria, they give you Arinate and some other stuff to manage it at first. We don't really have doctors out here; we just have basic first aid and a plane to fly you back to 746 miles the city if things get bad. The last time I was hit hard, they flew me into town for exams. The doctor there told me malaria starts in the liver. I'm no expert, but if he says it wreaks havoc on the liver, I'm worried about what happens when I catch it with this current level of sickness.

I suppose that’s how you say it—two beers a day. I don't drink every single day, really. Honestly, I'm more worried about alcohol consumption right now; based on my recent lab results, I've stopped drinking entirely. I actually had malaria twice before, and the last bout was maybe less than a month before my checkup.
And regarding chemicals, since you brought them up... this is a gold mine. There's a lot of cyanide involved here.

I’m facing a bit of a dilemma. I’m working out in rural Africa, far from any major cities, and I won't be able to get back home to the States until December.
During my last checkup, the doctor mentioned some issues regarding my liver function.
He actually called me an alcoholic—if having two beers a day counts as that, then I suppose he's right.
The trouble is, I haven't been back to the US long enough to follow up on these results, and there isn't a doctor for miles out here.
I'm wondering if these numbers look dangerous, or if I can safely hold out until December.

result normal
AST 31 38
ALT 113 48
GGT 91 55
Cholesterol 5.9 5.0
Triglycerides 2.01 1.70
HDL-chol 1.4 1
LDL-chol 4.3 3.0

Thank you.