Africa

**francoise** · 03-19-2004, 10:34 AM

hi everyone,

I've set a challenge to myself, I want to go to Ethiopia next may (provided the clinical trials for cystistat won't have started by then, I've enlisted for them). I'm a bit afraid of the food over there, I'll go to an Ethiopian restaurant around here first and see what happens ! The travel by plane should'nt be a problem, I've done that before. Finding toilets over there doesn't impress me either, Ethiopians need toilets too don't they ? What I'm most afraid of is vaccinations because it seems that there' s a lot to have (yellow fever, typhoid, and so on...), how do we with IC react to vaccinations ? Any tip is most welcome. If I ever make this trip I'll tell you how it was.

***SharonA*** · 03-19-2004, 10:55 AM

Hi Francoise...

I am going on a trip to Afghanistan the first 2 weeks in May and I have had to have some vaccinations. I had to have Tetanus, Hep A and B and a Polio buster. I have personally tolerated all of them very well without my IC acting up. Hope it goes as well for you. One thing I was told to do was drink a lot of water. Of couse, we ICers are told that a lot.

**jaime15** · 03-19-2004, 01:52 PM

One question you might want to consider is where you'll get the water that's best for you......

I hope you gals have a fascinating time when you go!!!!

You'll have to let us know all about it!

**francoise** · 03-20-2004, 12:32 AM

Thanks a lot Sharon, that's fine news, I was quite anxious about this issue. The last vaccinations I had are quite outdated, I had them in 2000 before going to Togo and Burkina Faso and that was before I got the CI.
I hope everything will be fine in Afghanistan. Right, don't forget to drink enough water especially if the weather is hot and you get dehydrated, I had some trouble in Libya where the weather is hot and dry, I had a small bottle with me everywhere I went and I had to drink a few drops at a time, but very regularly, else the pain in the bladder would come back very quickly. When I'm at home I pay attention to the kind of water I drink but when I'm abroad of course I can't do that, so I take with me some sodium bicarbonat in powder and I put it in the water.
What kind of water do you usually drink ?
I you ever need some tips about Afghanistan a friend of mine went there a few weeks ago but she stayed in Kabul. I'm not sure it's very easy to go in the country. Where do you intend to go ?
Hugs
Francoise

***SharonA*** · 03-20-2004, 09:10 AM

My husband and I will be going to Kabul, also. We are going with a team of people who have been invited there by the Afghani government to hold leadership training classes. We will be staying at a westernized guest house. No squatty pottys for this girl.

The water there is terrible. So bad that the Afghanis do not drink it unless they boil it for a long time. There are all kinds of canned sodas and bottled water. My husband tells me that he is going to take a water filter and some pills that you put in the water to pruify it, just in case.

The Exective Director of the organization we are involved with (Memphis-Afghan Friendship Summit) is an RN and her husband is a Gastroenterologist. They are both aware that I have IC and do not think the bottled water will cause me any problems. Evidentially, it is quite pure since other teams who have been over there have not had problems with it. One of the previous teams even included a man who had undergone a liver transplant sometime before he went. Cindy and her husband are on their way there now with the medical team from MAFS. They will not be going when we do. I wish they were. It would have been nice to have a western doctor with me.

How much sodium bicarbonat do you add to your water and what does it do to the water besides make if fizzy?

Memphis has very good tap water (very pure) so that is the kind of water I drink while at home. When I go out of town, I carry my own water or use bottled water...

**francoise** · 03-21-2004, 02:43 AM

Hi Sharon
I hope you'll have a great time over there. If you want to try bicarb powder you just have to add a pinch in your glass. It makes it alcalin. Usually I use Vichy Celestins bottled water, it's just like prelief but cheaper! Only it's not available everywhere and probably not in Afghanistan!
What kind of tablets do you intend to use to purify the water in case you can't get safe bottled water ? I'm not sure it's IC friendly, I believe chlore is not, as for sodium permanganate I don't know. I used quite a lot of those but that was before getting IC

Have a nice day

Francoise