Korean Job Discussion Forums

[caniff]

Diarrhea. It it a huge affliction throughout much of the developing world. It affects millions (and I'm not joking. Viral diseases do in fact kill many people in this way). But what I think this site needs is more personal accounts of what it means to you.

Please, share your personal battles on the toilet. The world needs to wake up to the reality of your pain.

P.S. Please overlook the other current threads on diarrhea.

[mole]

I just noticed others beat me to the Irritable Bowel Syndrome idea.
Having been diagnosed for about a year with viral gastroenteritis, one doctor finally said it's IBS.
It doesn't seem to follow any pattern based on diet. Pepto Bismol is soothing,
but by the time you need it and take it, the "episode" has usually past.

I found a public sit-down toilet a block away from my hagwon, and got it fairly well timed.
I'd run down there on my lunch break.

[Sincinnatislink]

I was in Peru for 5 weeks in high school.

Among other morbidities ("It's malaria day!"), we, at age seventeen, would regularly argue/compare who had the most satisfying/solid bowel movements.
We had such severe problems that we had to retreat to a different town with better medical care for a week while most of our party shat it off.

[RACETRAITOR]

One thing that's interesting, several bowel diseases such as Crohn's or colitis are common in our countries, but unheard of in the developing world. The best theory is that we live in such good hygiene, we don't build up an important immunity to bacterial infection.

[thebum]

[kigolo1881]

I've visited Vietnam last summer for 5 weeks.
Had "the runs" for the first 3 weeks and lost about 15lbs throughout my stay there. It was painful at first but i got used to it.
I was still able to eat almost 5 meals a day and was never in better shape. I've always been somewhat overweight and welcomed the loss in weight.

[Grimalkin]

[rockstarsmooth]

oh my gawd, i have irritable bowel syndrome so i can share endless stories of awful bowel-inflicted hell, but one incident really stands out for me.
in 2000 my coworkers and i went for an autumn road trip for the weekend to sorak-san, gangnung, the whole east coast sunrise and fall colours gig. of course we had sashimi, how could we not? then coming back on sunday during the mad rush into seoul we were stuck in traffic. it took us hours upon endless hours to get back, i think we spent about 6 hours in the van, crawling along, sometimes, but mostly just standing still in the parking lot that the highway had become. about 30 minutes into the trip back, my gut started to rumble a bit. i managed to ignore it for a while, but it got increasingly worse; the pain would come in waves, absolutely excruciating. i asked the driver if we could pull over, i would have been happy to go on the side of the road, just to get it out! but no. pulling over would mean losing our spot in the line. even when we got near a rest stop he wouldn't go in, no way could we lose any valuable time! finally, finally! we got back into seoul, and the second the van stopped, i jumped out and raced for the nearest toilet. i found a church, ran in, and took over the bathroom for a good half hour. the relief...sweet blessed relief. i felt sorry for whoever had to go in there next, because, damn, it was noxious.
managed to make it home, where i didn't leave the toilet for another good hour or so. i didn't know a body could hold so much...matter.
i still love sashimi, but i always make sure i either linger in the restaurant for about half an hour after i eat, or race home immediately after i finish. i also know the location of every public toilet in my neighbourhood.
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right now i'm listening to: matt and kim - someday

[SuperFly]

I just ran out of Immodium AD and am breaking open a new bottle of Pepto Bismol.

God help me!

[Chillin' Villain]

Y'know what's even worse than the ol' Havanna Omellette, IMO?

Trying to squeeze a turd the size and shape of a friggin' football out yer balloon knot. OUCH!

[Novernae]

I spent a semester in Cuba, and all of my classmates were on constant treks to the bathrooms. They all shared AV (anal vomit) stories whenever we were together. I couldn't bear the jealousy. For some reason whatever was making them go was clogging me up (I went for over a week once and there were several days when I just couldn't sit down). Yay IBS!
My husband's got chronic diarrhea so were hoping things will even out in our kids.

[eamo]

Two threads on diarrhea, eh? That's nice.