[pct-l] Dealing with Giardia on Trail

[Matthew Edwards]

I treated my water using an aqua mira pro in line filter. After a month it plugged up and I switched to my backup method: Clorox Bleach Drops. Then I just got lazy. Right about the time I reached Mc Ivers spring I stopped treating all together. 
Since I had never had a waterbourne illness of any kind in my entire life and rarely ever get sick I figured I would be immune.
A lot of my fellow hikers drank their water untreated and did not get sick. So I simply stopped treating.
While I have a suspicion as to where I drank the tainted water, and I even posted it to the list previously, I no longer feel it is right to point fingers without proof. 
What would I do differently? Nothing.
After I got the antibiotic in Tahoe I began to treat all my water with an MSR pro pump filter.. for a while.
By the time I reached Oregon I only treated surface water, all the spring water I drank untreated.
I will carry my filter on the CDT through NM but I have no doubt, at some point, I will drink water untreated again.
Of course this time I am carrying the antibiotic Flagyl and won't hesitate to use it either if I get sick again. The main reason my case of Giardiasis was so acute was that I refused to do anything about it. I figured it would just go away on it's own. Maybe it would have but 20 days was enough for me. I am stubborn, and maybe a little stupid. Actually I was really stupid not to seek treatment in Reds Meadow, or Bridgeport, or from Carson Pass. If I had know the antibiotic was availiable in any pet store.. Oops I mean by perscription from the doctor I might have gone sooner.
I had an irrational fear of going to the doctor because I thought it might mean the end of my hike.. Well, it almost ended my hike!
Like I said.. I ain't too bright sometimes!
-Iceaxe 

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