Freaking out about having lake water pushed up my nose

[Anonymous]

OP, I have an unreasonable fear about this too so I can imagine how anxious you must feel. The good news is that it is extremely rare (only 3-4 cases per year in the US).

To the PP who said they don’t necessarily kill you, they are almost always fatal.

[Anonymous]

As long as it’s not Lake Anna, particularly the private side, you are fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good news, your nose is self-cleaning. So are your ears. You're fine.

Actually, N. Fowleri binds to self-cleaning mechanism (mucus) to help it get a better foothold.

[Anonymous]

OP, a healthy dose of fatalism may help you at this point. If you have N. fowleri, there's nothing you can do about it. If you don't, then you're fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have an unreasonable fear about this too so I can imagine how anxious you must feel. The good news is that it is extremely rare (only 3-4 cases per year in the US).

To the PP who said they don’t necessarily kill you, they are almost always fatal.

This one spooks me too op, but really, the odds are you will be just fine.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't worry too much, it's very rare. Also, symptoms show up fairly quickly. If you don't have any symptoms in two weeks, you're almost certainly fine.

https://www.webmd.com/brain/brain-eating-amoeba

How Long Until Symptoms of a Brain-Eating Amoeba Appear?

It takes two to 15 days for symptoms to appear after N. fowleri amoebas enter the nose. Death usually occurs three to seven days after symptoms appear. The average time to death is 5.3 days from symptom onset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't worry too much, it's very rare. Also, symptoms show up fairly quickly. If you don't have any symptoms in two weeks, you're almost certainly fine.

https://www.webmd.com/brain/brain-eating-amoeba

How Long Until Symptoms of a Brain-Eating Amoeba Appear?

It takes two to 15 days for symptoms to appear after N. fowleri amoebas enter the nose. Death usually occurs three to seven days after symptoms appear. The average time to death is 5.3 days from symptom onset.

OP again. I didn't sleep at all last night...15 days is an eternity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't worry too much, it's very rare. Also, symptoms show up fairly quickly. If you don't have any symptoms in two weeks, you're almost certainly fine.

https://www.webmd.com/brain/brain-eating-amoeba

How Long Until Symptoms of a Brain-Eating Amoeba Appear?

It takes two to 15 days for symptoms to appear after N. fowleri amoebas enter the nose. Death usually occurs three to seven days after symptoms appear. The average time to death is 5.3 days from symptom onset.

OP again. I didn't sleep at all last night...15 days is an eternity.

Please see a therapist. As someone who used to have awful anxiety, I finally got help and can't believe the happy life I have now. My only regret is waiting so long to get therapy. There is a life possible without being hindered by anxiety

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have terrible anxiety and against my better judgement, jumped feet first into a hot lake today and I could feel a ton of water go way up my nose. I’m freaking out that the brain eating amoebas that kill everyone whose brains they enter got in. I know it’s incredibly rare but I also feel like getting a lot of lake water pushed way up your nose is fairly uncommon. Help.

What lake was it?

A random lake in the Caribbean (not a typo, a lake on an island. I am positive it was freshwater).

Which island? I wasn’t aware the Caribbean had lakes. Why wouldn’t you just swim in the Caribbean waters themselves?

I’m in Puerto Rico. The resort we are staying at is on the beach but also has a lake.

Ask the hotel if they treat the lake and/or test for parasites.

[Anonymous]

OP the lake is part of a resort, if people had been dropping dead from naegleria they would have closed it. And it would be international news if a bunch of people at a puerto rican resort were kicking the bucket from it.

And as others have said, if you have it you're dead anyway, might as well live like you are dying for the rest of your vacation. Shots and skydiving!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't worry too much, it's very rare. Also, symptoms show up fairly quickly. If you don't have any symptoms in two weeks, you're almost certainly fine.

https://www.webmd.com/brain/brain-eating-amoeba

How Long Until Symptoms of a Brain-Eating Amoeba Appear?

It takes two to 15 days for symptoms to appear after N. fowleri amoebas enter the nose. Death usually occurs three to seven days after symptoms appear. The average time to death is 5.3 days from symptom onset.

OP again. I didn't sleep at all last night...15 days is an eternity.

15 days is the max. I can't recall what the average or medium time is but I think it's within the first week. You really shouldn't worry about this. Here's what the CDC says. Medium is 5 days. One of the first symptoms is loss of smell. If you haven't lost smell yet, you're probably fine. Smell is lost because it destroys the neurons on the way up to the brain. Of course, if you did lose smell, it could also be COVID.

https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/illness.html
Symptoms start 1-9 days (median 5 days) after swimming or other nasal exposure to Naegleria-containing water. People die 1-18 days (median 5 days) after symptoms begin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP the lake is part of a resort, if people had been dropping dead from naegleria they would have closed it. And it would be international news if a bunch of people at a puerto rican resort were kicking the bucket from it.

And as others have said, if you have it you're dead anyway, might as well live like you are dying for the rest of your vacation. Shots and skydiving!

+1

Pina coladas all day at the pool!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP the lake is part of a resort, if people had been dropping dead from naegleria they would have closed it. And it would be international news if a bunch of people at a puerto rican resort were kicking the bucket from it.

And as others have said, if you have it you're dead anyway, might as well live like you are dying for the rest of your vacation. Shots and skydiving!

This. I also doubting there was no salt in this water if you are this close to ocean. I worry myself about lakes but maybe say to yourself if you have symptoms you immediately go to hospital and talk about lake and I think there are some treatments if found early.

[Anonymous]

OP, the risk is microscopically low.

"There have been 34 reported infections in the U.S. in the 10 years from 2010 to 2019, despite millions of recreational water exposures each year. By comparison, in the ten years from 2001 to 2010, there were more than 34,000 drowning deaths in the U.S."

[Anonymous]

These cases are rare enough that they make national news. And anecdotally, I’ve never read of acase that was two weeks after exposure - it was always pretty quick.

If there were a danger I’d bacteria in the lake, there would be signs posted - especially at a resort! We are in Oregon and saw signs posted by a pond just yesterday. This resort doesn’t want people falling ill, and I imagine they test the water.