El Andalous - Tut's Revenge

Fresh Meat at the Souq

I guess it’s quite an achievement that I’ve kept this blog for over 5 years and never written about an upset tummy – one thing that many associate with Egypt.

I like to think of myself as having a fairly robust stomach in general – I’m not so prone to getting stomach bugs. Maybe it’s because I eat chicken by the truckload and have become immune to any baddies that may lurk.

However, for some reason, I’ve had a run of bad luck since I’ve been back this time. I’ve had three bouts of stomach problems, but this last week was by far the worst. The other two were just minor 12-24 hour affairs and were forgotten as soon as they were done.

I originally thought my current bout was due to me using some out-of-date cream in my mildly creamy ginger and lemon vegetable dish that I did for myself on Monday evening, but it lasted so long, I’m now wondering whether it was an actual bug (virus) and nothing to do with food that I ate.

I guess you don’t really want to know the gory details, but it was unfortunate in that I woke up on Tuesday feeling lethargic and tired and not really in the mood to eat anything. In the afternoon, Horst and Hilde had invited me to go to the Souq with them and then onto a meal afterwards. I wasn’t really in the mood for it, but I’d already asked them to change the date for this once and it seemed impolite to ask them to change it again and I was really OK apart from feeling so weary.

Anyway, I went along (topic for another blog) and this may have been my downfall. We ended up at a restaurant and I still wasn’t remotely hungry. However, being British, I felt it would be impolite of me not to go along with it. I forced some pasta down me, but my stomach felt full and as if there was no room for the pasta to go. I left half of it and explained that I was full up, feeling a bit embarrassed that I probably seemed less than enthusiastic during the day and ungrateful during the meal when Horst and Hilde had made so much effort to treat me to a great day out.

I went to bed as soon as we got back (before 7pm) and by midnight I was awake and throwing up.

I must have slept at least 12 hours, sometimes more, each day for the next four days. I never actually wanted to get up and felt that I could just spend my life sleeping and never wake up.

I hate the BRAT (banana, rice, applesauce, toast) diet. I tried to eat, even though I wasn’t hungry, in order to regain some energy. One evening I had a plate of rice with some herbs, but it took me forever to eat. I like rice, but on its own, it’s just dull, even with herbs. It makes me realize why the Celebs complain on I’m A Celebrity… when they get relegated to just rice (and no herbs to help). I began to think I would never feel hungry again. There must be something more that you can eat when you have the runs, surely?

I took rehydration sachets in the hope they would get me up and running, but often they would just make me feel really sleepy afterwards and I’d end up crawling back into bed. I think they maybe made my system work a bit and this took the energy right back out of me.

At one point I had a slight craving for scrambled eggs; to my mind this didn’t seem like a good option (wouldn’t there be a risk of salmonella?), but when I looked it up it was one of the recommended foods when coming off the BRAT diet. I do wonder if I should have tried mixing in some whisked egg with my plate of rice as that may have been more palatable.

So, if you’ve got an upset tummy, I say follow what your stomach says. If you don’t feel like eating, don’t. If you can think of something that seems palatable to you, then it’s probably what your body needs. My body wasn’t saying yes to the thought of Maltesers (one of my favorite chocolates) and not even to the thought of chicken.

I read that boiled potato is also good on coming off the BRAT diet. I was feeling better on Saturday evening, albeit not massively hungry, which indicated to me that I still wasn’t 100%. However, on thinking about potatoes, I sensed that shepherd’s pie would go down well. It’s a bit like baby food, not that I can remember eating baby food, but it’s the soft texture of the mash (without too much butter or milk, of course, given my stomach) and the minced up beef softly mixing with it that was appealing. It felt like a soft toy for my stomach to embrace and care for.

It went down well and a few hours later I was even feeling hungry. That’s what I was waiting for as an indicator that I was indeed getting better! My stomach was saying it was back in business and open to offers.

On Sunday, I woke up and felt fine. My legs were no longer wobbly, my brain fog had cleared and I would even have tried going swimming had it not been so windy outside (I need a gentle first swim in case I’m not as strong as I think). I hope that’s it now for the next 5 years!