No Relief Yet

I stopped taking Iodoquinol over 3 days ago. The painful side effects and lack of improvement just became too much. I didn't know whether those symptoms came from dientamoeba fragilis or Iodoquinol. However after one 20 day cycle and another 15 days cycle of Iodoquinol, I expected to experience some improvement. Instead I felt worse each day. So I told my doc, who told me to take a break from Iodo treatment.

After I finished the first Iodo cycle, I felt better within 24 hours. However, after discontinuing that drug 5 days before the end of the 2nd cycle I did not experience any symptom relief. Today I could more easily tolerate the symptoms, but I may just have become accustomed to constant pain and bloating. Maybe the bloating and pain is a teensy bit less today. However, I still have sharp lower right quadrant pain or lower left quadrant pain plus some bloating. The pain seems to only occur on one side at a time, which is an improvement over what I experienced while taking Iodo.

So perhaps the symptoms will decrease slightly over the next week or so. My doc advised me to wait a week after stopping Iodo before taking blood tests. So I assume that drug takes a week to clear my system. Maybe that means I'll continue to experience side effects for 4-7 more days. Oh joy!! I'm so tired of cramping pain. I want to be well yesterday. I've had a few days of relief during the past 4 years, but I can count on one hand the days I've had painfree hours, but never whole days.

The good news is that I tried taking one HCl capsule with dinner tonight. I ate chicken with garlic sauce and green beans with olive oil. Hopefully that was enough protein/fats to need that one capsule. I sense slight burning. So perhaps my stomach has not healed enough from the Iodoquinol damage to try HCl yet. However, I'm tired of tasting last night's dinner the next morning. I'm tired of not digesting food well.

I'm also plagued by irregularity, despite consuming loads of fluids, fiber and magnesium. I usually experience that symptom when I have parasites, but I experience diarrhea with bacterial infections. So I wonder whether I still have the dientamoeba. At this point I don't know what to do beyond just try to get through one day at a time. 7 days post Iodo I'll do a 12 hour fast and take those blood tests. Then I'll abstain from probiotics and HCl for 3 days and do another stool test to determine if I still have Dientamoeba fragilis or maybe contracted another gut bug.

I really hope my current symptoms are caused by Iodoquinol and will disappear within a week or so. However, I've had that lower right quadrant pain for over 4 months now. At least I know that's not appendicitis, because I spoke to my HMO's consulting nurse about my symptoms. She reassured me that I didn't seem to have appendicitis. Nevertheless, I really don't know what's causing these current painful symptoms. I only have theories, based on speculation and experience.