Mount Everest, Nepal: Guide to surviving a UTI while on Trek

One of the worst things that I personally think can happen to anyone is getting a UTI. If you're in the city, it's no big deal but try being somewhere remote. Well, try being at Everest Base camp. 

I developed the worst UTI on the last day of my base camp trek, and of course, I was wholly unprepared. Thank goodness I was traveling with an Australian doctor who was prone to UTIs and had packed extra antibiotics. 

Now you might be thinking, ew gross, was she not showering or something. I was. I showered in the freezing cold water at the end of our hike each day. So I was clean if you are thinking I wasn't. I wore cotton underpants. Didn't do anything salacious. I did everything right, or so I thought. 

Another individual in our group also got a UTI. We were chatting about it, trying to figure out how, and came to the conclusion that they were due to sitting down. Well, specifically sitting down on the "western toilets". These toilets along the trek route hardly ever get clean, so they may have triggered our UTIs. Splashback (I know, gross, but it happens even if you don't want it to) probably occurred with this dirt toilet water, and it led to us getting sick. So moral of the story... squat and don't sit. 

I contracted this UTI while at basecamp, a two-day down trek to the nearest pharmacy in Namche. The extra antibiotics this doctor had literally saved me. I was in so much pain before taking them. I was cramping and crying. Everything hurt and burned, but I was not about to take a helicopter down.

Namche Bazar has a little pharmacy in the center of town, and the woman behind the desk was instantly helpful and gave me 3 options for antibiotics. I had my Australian doctor hero help me choose the best one, and we ended up going with ciprofloxacin. 

I was impressed with the pharmacy owner's medication knowledge. I am curious to know if she was a trained pharmacist or not. Ultimately it doesn't matter since she knew her medication and was able to help me out. In total, for the antibiotics and DFO gel (a topical anti-inflammatory diclofenac methyl salicylate menthol and linseed oil gel... I recommend if you have sore joints, this was literally a lifesaver), I paid 1000NPR or a little under $10 at the time. 

What I learned from this trip is to be like the Australian doctor and come prepared. From here on out, when I plan to travel abroad, I will talk to my Travel Clinic Nurse and get prescribed a round of antibiotics before I depart. That way, I will not have to worry about being somewhere remote and contracting another UTI.