Hypochondria

I am not a hypochondriac by any stretch of the imagination, but if I were to become one, this would be the place. A trip such as this begins at least a month beforehand, as you go to the travel clinic for the first round of shots. You are given a packet that lists all the potential side effects, especially for live vaccines such as the Yellow Fever vaccine which apparently has killed more travelers than the disease itself in the last couple decades. So the couple weeks following the vaccines are spent wondering if the mild fever or upset stomach is the first sign of a serious side effect. At the travel clinic, you are also given a prescription for an apparently ineffective anti-malarial drug, which is accompanied by the warning 'don't get bit.'

So now you're in the foreign country! Start out your stay with a weakened immune system from 36 hrs of sleepless travel with a poor diet. Also, the new malaria drug causes nausea, so you don't know if your nausea is an actual sickness or a real disease. Realize you don't know how to use your mosquito net properly, and wake up with five new bite marks on your first morning.

About a week in, read the label on your anti-malarial which reads "Take on an empty stomach with plenty of water." Fine, you've been doing that. "Don't lie down for 10 minutes after taking." Shoot, you've been taking it before bed to avoid the nausea. Then see the sticker that says:
"CAUTION: TAKE THIS MEDICATION AT LEAST 2 HOURS BEFORE OR 2 HOURS AFTER MAGNESIUM OR ALUMINUM CONTAINING ANTACIDS, OR OTHER PRODUCTS CONTAINING CALCIUM, IRON, OR ZINC."

And realize that every. single. bottle. of water in Rwanda is top-quality mineral water, which has been helpfully fortified with calcium, iron, zinc, and magnesium. You decide to read all your labels a little more closely, where you are instructed to call the doctor if you have mucus or blood in your stool. This is one of the less-serious side effects; call your doctor immediately if you have more urine than usual.

So you open the travel packet again, which has several pages to warn you of the dangers of eating or drinking anything in a foreign country. You are permitted only to eat lumps of charcoal, provided you boil them for at least ten minutes. If you dare to eat unpeeled fruit or shower in the tap water, you're asking for trouble.

All this to say that I was forced to make the decision to not care if I get sick. The alternative is much more stressful- and I think most parts of America have more mosquitoes than we do here in Rwanda.