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| Background I moved to the Big Island of Hawaii in July, 2004, to join and build a raw vegan community, something I had contemplated for >30 years. I had corresponded with the community's "founder" by e-mail for 6 months, fixed his web site, sent him $300 worth of heirloom seeds: tomato, cucumber, and melons, this in anticipation that there would be some food crops when I arrived. As soon as I met "Trees " and "Z" (Z, the female) said she wasn't told I was coming until she drove to the Hilo airport to pick me up. That was the beginning of my suspicions regarding their sincerity, and eventually, their sanity. Briefly, they were phonies and there was no community at all, just them and another very nice couple, and now, me. Ric, Emily and I decided that they were totally insincere and just ripping off the endless parade of individuals who came, saw, and split. We three left after I had been there only 3 weeks, hopefully to escape to another planned raw vegan community about half a mile away. This is Cinderland, and here are some pictures. At Cinderland, I lived in an off-the-grid, solar-powered, satellite-Internet-connected tent on the most active volcano in the world.
For the first year and a half I was very active: walking 2-4 hours a night along rough lava roads, I loved hiking around on the rough lava fields for hours, I modified a mountain bike to be able to be ridden over the lava, I paddled my kayak in Hilo bay and its local streams, and in local tide pools, I explored lava tubes for miles underground, I cut trees and maintained an experimental garden. I did wash my utensils in the tank water, and used it for showers, so I assume a small drop containing Rat-Lung Fever nematodes was somehow ingested. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] [A woman living in Cinderland got giardia from merely brushing her teeth with the tank water.] Cinderland was infested with both shelled snails about 3 inches long and "semi-snails", a small 1 inch long slug with a small vestigial shell on its back, under the slime coating. These would crawl over our tents and tarps at night. leaving a long shiny slime trail. Commercial snail bait wiped both species out. A local alternative newspaper presented a major article exposing that this "semi-snail" was a new invasive species in the Puna area of the Big Island of Hawaii, and that the local health officials were not doing any meaningful research into this new threat. I heard of one local neighbor about a half mile away who had Rat-Lung Fever three separate times. I am curious as to how the nematodes, bring protein-based animals, successfully avoided being digested, and thus killed, in the stomach, as one would assume should occur; perhaps some sort of protective coating? These critters then migrate through the body to localize in the spinal column and brain cavity to do their mischief. How they "know" how to find these locations and move in is a mystery to me. The effect of Rat-Lung Fever is very unpleasant, the nematodes produce a repetitive cycle of muscle cramps and intense pains throughout the body. In me, painful cramps occurred in the abdominals connecting to the floating ribs, then in the muscles between the shoulder blades, then pain on the surface of the right shin bone, then a cramp in the ball of the left foot. Then, after a rest of some 5-10 minutes, the cycle would repeat -- 24 hours a day, week after week. In addition to these pain and cramp cycles, I had absolutely no energy, so stayed flat on my back for 6 weeks. I detest pharmaceuticals and never "need" or take them, but I took the maximum dosage of Tylenol (6 grams/day) for weeks, and then changed to Ibuprofen because the body burden was much less. In addition, I smoked industrial quantities of local cannabis, all this in a useless attempt to "do something" to lessen the pain. So I was stoned AND in pain, certainly not much of a benefit. None of this affected the cramps or reduced the pain one bit. I assume that the physical effects were generated by neurotoxins being excreted as metabolic wastes by the nematodes, so normal analgesics, which might "work" due to blocking pain nerve signals from the periphery of the body, did not work in this case because the pain was being generated by poisoning of the brain or spinal cord directly. There is no diagnostic technique other than taking a spinal tap and examining the fluid microscopically for the nematodes, themselves. Worse, there is no 'treatment' other than taking repetitive spinal taps to relieve the internal pressure. I did not have this done. Travis and Amber brought me the newspaper article which revealed that the only thing to do was tough it out until the nematodes mysteriously and simultaneously died after being in the human body for 6 weeks -- ouch! After that tine, I recovered fully in a mere three days! I was 100% me again! I could barely move, and had no desire to do so. I naively assumed that this was a relapse of the Rat-Lung Fever because I had worked too hard physically, too soon, but there were no cramps nor pain, just total fatigue and no desire to move. I assumed that because waiting it out had worked before it would work again, but it did not. My physical and mental condition deteriorated markedly over the next several weeks, I got so weak that I could barely walk. I eventually had to walk in 8 inch steps with the aid of a stick. It was move the stick forward about 8 inches and lean on it, move one leg forward and then the other, move the stick again and lean, and so on. I went to the local chiropractor, who produced no results, and then another to try different approaches. This did not help. Someone came through
the camp who had told me that he had known two locals who had gotten "Lepto";
one went to the clinic and 'got something' and he recovered slowly; the
other did not, and he died. One symptom was an inability to walk,
and I was just about there; also I had fallen down a few times.
I relented and was taken to the Hilo Hospital the next morning. On admission to the
hospital, I told everyone that I could that I had either Rat-Lung Fever
or Leptospirosis (also known as Swamp Fever, Rice-field Fever, Cane-cutter
Fever, or Mud Fever - risk factors), but no
one listened or responded to that fact. The doctor in the
Emergency Room said that they wanted to do "some tests" and
suggested that I be admitted for -my own convenience- to eliminate the
need for the logistic hassles of coming back and forth to the hospital
for several days. Although the hospital's handout on 'Patient Rights"
clearly stated that the patient had the right to discuss all proposed
procedures and FEES! No fees were mentioned
or discussed! Note the lofty Mission
Statement, but unfortunately as I was about to learn this is nothing
but a pack of lies! The real purpose of the hospital
admission was simply to collect hospitalization payments from Medicare,
as I had Part A (free hospitalization insurance; i. e. room and board),
but not Part B, medical insurance; i.e. "treatment" (which is
patient-paid, and I was forced to cancel that a few months earlier because
they had deducted it from my Social Security payment of less than $500
per month WITHOUT so informing me, and it was ~20% of my total income
at that time). At that time, my
normally slim body [110 lbs, 5'9"], with no palpable body fat, was
down to 97 lbs, as I first discovered on being weighed. I looked
like an Auschwitz victim. [Most people in Hawaii are
obese because
the state diet is centered on SPAM
[now 70 years
old and does not want to be associated with Internet
UCE's], "soft drinks", and junk-foods, and thus there are
no public scales. Publix, a supermarket chain in five southern US
states has 907 stores which are purveyors of junk foods and they have
an accurate scale in every store.] Since I had previously visited the hospital to meet the pharmacist to arrange for satellite Internet to be installed in my tent, I knew it was COLD there, so I came prepared dressed in T-shirt, long sleeve jersey AND a full sweat suit, with a second sweat suit and extra socks in reserve in my bag. And, I had my custom made, extra heavy, pull it down over my eyes, knit hat. I had put the sweat shirt on as soon as I got into the Emergency Room, as it was cold there. Of course, the first thing that was done to me was to remove all my warm, survival clothing and put me into one of those humiliating hospital "gowns". A nurse took a little history, showing no interest in my many claims to possibly have Rat-Lung or Lepto and my repeatedly stressing that this was important. Several blood samples were taken over the next 6 hours I wasted away in the ER or in a little closet they found for me. I told the nurses that I was cold and I was brought a thin, cotton "blanket", almost thin enough to read through, and then another and another, as I continued to complain about being cold. I was wheeled down to the X-Ray Room, itself much colder than the rest of the hospital, and the claim was that the X-Ray machines dod not like warm temperatures. Mercifully, the X-Ray rooms had heated "blankets", since apparently the situation was well known and a silly, ineffective fix had been initiated. Again, these "blankets" were thin cotton and neither held body heat, nor held noticeable external heat, per the plan. After interminable sets of X-Rays been taken I was wheeled in a hospital bed to the aforementioned little closet. It was barely big enough for the bed, a scale, and another medical machine. I was given a little meal, the first of the day. Then, a little girl who screamed constantly for several hours was brought into ER. I was sick enough that I did not need that! The screams were ignored by both the "mother", and all the staff, in true Hawaiian style. Hawaiians, although claiming to be possessed by the "Aloha Spirit" have no sensitivity to children's cries of pain. In Wal*Mart, for example, one hears children screaming throughout the store with NO intervention by the "parents". Then, I was scheduled for an "upper GI" set of X-Rays and had to drink a liter or two of "iodine solution" to provide X-Ray opacity. During my multiple-hour wait to be X-Rayed this time, I was wheeled in front of two open glass doors which had a large sign: "These doors to be closed at all times." It was January, the start of a week of rain, and the cold, damp wind blew in right on me, covered only by the hospital gown and a sheet; the fat Hawaiian guard staff was visibly enjoying the cold, damp air. After this set of X-Rays, more waiting in front of the open doors, and finally, after some 8 hours since my arrival, I was told my room was ready and I was wheeled into a semi-private room containing two beds, a waste basket, a couple of chairs, a TV, toilet/shower, and a phone (no cell phones allowed in the hospital). At long last, I could crawl into bed, ask for more blankets, and try to get warm. As the X-Rays had required an empty intestinal tract, I was not given any food all day, but finally got some cold salad and a little white rice as I explained that I was a vegan. The portions were incredibly small, especially since I had not eaten all day. My sleep was interrupted by what turned out to be the hospital routine of waking me up at 5 AM to take my vital signs and a blood sample. I had naively assumed that one should actually rest in a hospital to get well. It was cold in my room, the curtain was missing from the window so cold air ran down the glass and chilled the room. Even the overweight nurses wore sweaters. Some of them posited that the hospital was intentionally cold to suppress bacterial growth. As blood work had
indicated elevated PSA's
(prostate-specific antigen) I was fingered (DRE:
digital rectal exam; not related to digital computers) by the urologist
and told: "Mr. Forti, your PSA's are a little high, common for men
of your age (65 at the time), DON'T worry." I
had experienced some waking up at night to urinate in Miami (I was amused
and thought, "I have that old man's disease".) and more frequently
in Hawaii, and I assumed it was due to all the water I was eating in a
raw, mostly-fruit diet and increased, forced water-drinking to avoid dehydration.
(I had intense cramps in the adductor
muscles (inner thighs) at night in the first few weeks after arriving
in HI, and eventually understood they were due to dehydration, although
my body did NOT crave enough water to prevent them. I had believed
that I should drink only when thirsty, a la Herbert
Shelton, so I concluded that something was apparently amiss with my
thirst mechanism.) Well, a week of being
frozen, sleep-deprived, starved, tested, and tortured at the hospital
concluded with the fact that all the tests had found NOthing, except a
little, dormant granuloma
in my upper right lung (I had grown up in a family of three adult smokers
and worked in the chemical industry for years). So, Dr. Hu (a young
Chinese woman with neither a sense of humor, nor knowledge of the British
comedy series: Dr. Who)
dropped in on day 6 and said: "Mr. Forti, you have a slight
case of Leptospirosis, we will prescribe you some antibiotics, and send
you home." "Slight?" I could
hardly walk, had no energy (I could not turn the pedals on the stationary
bicycle in the physical therapy lab fast enough to even turn on the computer
display), my muscles were tight throughout my body, and this severely
interfered with my peristalsis, thus I was severely constipated from both
lack of food and exercise. I was prescribed 100 mg of Doxycycline, twice a day, for 10 days, and it did absolutely NOTHING to relieve my continuing symptoms of extreme fatigue, severe muscle tightness throughout my body, drastically-reduced peristalsis, basic inability to move, stand up, or walk due to muscle tension, a strange combination of numbness and tingling all over my body, leg spasms, and pain in the leg muscles, feet, and hip joints -- all these symptoms remain to this day, although markedly diminished, almost two years later (Nov 2007). Recently, edema in the pubis, legs, and feet has manifest. Pre-Lepto, I walked about 5 miles almost every night on the rough lava roads, rode my bicycle that I had converted to ride on the rough lava roads and on pavement some 5-10 miles a couple of times a week, hiked cross-country on the lava, explored lava tubes for several miles underground, paddled my kayak for hours about once a week, swam in the "Warm Pond", etc. I had a very active life and then I laid on my back for a year and a half thanks to Lepto. I have a FM radio in my cell phone, so I invested abut 4 hours a day listening to National Public Radio familiarizing myself with the horrors taking place on this planet at this time, not exactly an activity conducive to healing, but the only mental input, with exception of Internet print-outs on the current political madness brought to me by another Cinderland resident. In that year and half, I heard Lepto mentioned in the context of a storm and flood in an Far Eastern country, where by some number of people died by drowning, and two died from Lepto. = = = = = = = = = = * Occupational exposure -- farmers, ranchers,
abattoir workers, trappers, veterinarians, loggers, sewer workers, rice
field workers, and military personnel. The incidence of leptospirosis is low in the continental U.S. Hawaii has the highest number of cases in the U.S. = = = = = = = = = = 1/23/2006
Leptospira, AB Positive for Leptoapira IgM antibodies Apparently, I am one on the estimated 10-40% of Lepto victims that have Persistent Human Leptospirosis (1, 2, 3), because today, almost two years after the original Lepto infection, I have the following continuing symptoms: 1> fatigue, lack of energy, lack of strength, and lack of endurance 2> continuing, constant tension throughout the entire musculature; this limits the range of motion, causes difficulty in walking, interferes with peristalsis, etc. 3> muscle spasms in the legs, mostly in the left; however, these have been diminishing markedly in the past several months, and are almost gone 4> constant simultaneous numbness and tingling throughout the body. This is as if some (electrical) "noise" is being generated in the nervous system, thus causing these sensations. Perhaps due to neurotoxins being generated by remaining Lepto bacteria, or perhaps permanent nerve damage? 5> fumbling and dropping of things; tactile feedback is interfered with by these spurious nerve signals, thus resulting in disruption of fine motor control 6> edema in the legs and feet; this has reduced markedly the past couple of months. 7> thermal hypersensitivity; I seem to be much more sensitive to small changes in temperature 8> I never had any of the common Lepto symptoms:
headache, diarrhea, vomiting, "flu-like" symptoms, ...
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