Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Down With the Sickness

For the past three days I have felt... yucky. Dizzy, tingling, nausea with a huge helping of tired all the time. Most of all my head just aches, a constant dull pulse. Not debilitating, but enough to be a steady reminder that something isn't right with me. I'm in denial that I'm sick or soon to be. It just can't happen.
Maybe it's a brain parasite. That's really not so far fetched.
When infected with the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, the host is likely to experience mild flu-like symptoms for the first few weeks of infection. One third of the worlds population is said to be carrying Toxoplasmosis and the infection is most prevalent in females ages 15 to 44. I fit in somewhere in the middle of that range.
It is speculated that Toxoplasmosis can affect ones behavior in some ways and may even be linked to schizophrenia. This could explain the wicked little voice in my head that provokes my irritability and violent thoughts.
Example: Waiting in line to use the digital photo developer. The woman in front of me deletes and redoes her order 3 times only to create her Christmas cards from a photo of a man in a "wife beater" holding a beer in one hand while possessively wrapping his free arm around this same woman's neck. The wicked voice incites an intense urge to grab a fist full of her pathetically limp hair and repeatedly bash her fucking face into the computer screen. The voice thankfully was suppressed by the distraction of texts from X.
How could I have possibly been infected with a parasite?
It's commonly transmitted through ingesting raw or under cooked pork, lamb, or venison. I did recently eat a pork chop, however it was far from under cooked.
We can rule out an infected organ transplant. Mine are all original, in the package, however poorly functioning as some may be.
It's not in my nature to eat or handle cat feces. Actually, I pawned off the cat box chore on the the other half several years ago under the guise of "What if I got pregnant and infected with toxoplasmosis?" It can have severe and even fatal effects on an unborn fetus.
There's a slight possibility that I drank contaminated water, but honestly that's doubtful as well.
As truly disappointing as this may be for me, I have to accept that I'm most likely just plain old fashion, sick. Where's the fun in that?

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