Don't brush your teeth with tap water in Mexico

The aftermath of me going to Cabo San Lucas is that I have been saddled with Reiter's Syndrome for the past three months. Another name for Reiter's Syndrome is Reactive Arthritis.

We had a large group of people that went to Cabo and we stayed in a very nice all inclusive resort called the Riu Palace (http://www.riu.com/palacecabosanlucas/). Evidently, the water in the very nice guestroom sinks is not potable, which they declined to tell us when we checked in. As a result, although we never drank the water, we did use it to brush our teeth. Out of our group of 18 people, everyone who did the same ended up with Montezuma's Revenge and the 3 people who brushed with bottled water did not get sick.

A few days after returning home, the symptoms of Montezuma's hit, and both my wife and I were prescribed antibiotics. A week and half later, we were in Las Vegas to see an Aerosmith/Motley Crue concert, and my wife and her friend got to meet Vince Neil of Motley Crue at the opening of his new tattoo parlor. The next morning after the concert, I woke up with low back pain and pinkeye in both eyes and some urinary tract pain. I had fun at the concert, had a few beers, but what the hell was up this? I limped around Vegas that day and did a bit of gambling (check out Slots of Fun), but generally felt horrible. By the end of the night, my wife and our friends wanted to stay out, but I was in so much agony I called it a night.

The next day the pain was slightly better but the other symptoms the same. We got home that night and I went to urgent care. They gave me drops for the pinkeye and a pill for the urinary thing, but said the back pain was unrelated. Throughout the next few days the back pain got worse and started to radiate down my right leg. I went to my doctor - and was referred to either a chiropractor or physical therapy. I think chiropractic is mostly a sham, but the doctor assured my that this one was not. So I went to the chiropractor and did a bunch of "treatments". At this point I could barely walk and had taken to using a cane. The chiropractor did nothing to help me. I got a couple back x-rays and an MRI (a nightmare). My left ankle swelled up like a balloon, I went to a podiatrist and they thought I had gout. My left leg swelled up once the ankle swelling went down and they thought I had a blood clot so I ended up in the E/R. I had a Baker's Cyst behind my left knee that was causing the swelling. I was put on a drug called Indocin (anti-inflammatory), which seemed to help a bit.

After a couple weeks I went back to my doctor again, and reiterated how this all started. Blood work and urine tests ensued. After a few appointments, my doctor said there is something called Reiter's Syndrome that has all of the seemingly unrelated symptoms I started out with (arthritic things like pain, gout-like symptoms, baker's cyst and pinkeye, urinary tract pain). I was referred to a rheumotologist. This was in late November. I could not get in with the rheumotologist until after Christmas, so I stuggled through the first weeks in December. I tried physical therapy which did not help.

When I finally got in, the rheumotologist assured me that I was young and the steroid prednisone would be a "miracle" for me and I would feel a lot better. I started on the prednisone and after four days of increasing agony gave up on it and returned to the Indocin. The rheumotologist was no help, just telling me to increase the prednisone dosage (which didn't help) and was generally dismissive.

Reiter's Syndrome has no cure, it is very rare (1 in 1000 people get it), and was a result of me getting a dysentary-like infection from the non-potable tap water in Mexico. You have to be of northern European descent to have the gene that would make you susceptible to Reiter's. No one else that I went on the trip with has had any lasting effects but me. My immune system freaked out and now I have arthritis like an 80 year old man would have in my ankles, knees, hips, and shoulders. I wobble around. The most demoralizing thing is that I will feel a little bit better for a couple days and then I am in agony again. Before all this happened I was running several miles a week, in the best shape of my life. I haven't been able to run in over three months. Supposedly the symptoms go away anywhere from 2-6 months from the time of infection. All I can do is keep trying medications to control the inflammation and pain until it goes away. I got a second referral to a new rheumotologist and saw him yesterday. He gave me prescriptions for an antibiotic and a new drug called Sulfasalazine, which I will start taking today. This condition has affected my quality of life and my relationship with my wife and kids. I am constantly pissed off because I am in pain. My job has suffered as well. Hopefully Sulfasalazine will work...

Don't brush your teeth with tap water in Mexico.