I moved to Cameroon, Africa in August of 2013. In January 2014, I had a bout of diarrhea (not unusual) but along with the diarrhea came really bad pains in my upper abdomen which was unusual. The pain was localized in the same spot and came in waves. Within 24 hours I was back to normal. Then on Feb 8 I had the diarrhea pains again along with a mild fever. Again it went away within 24 hours. The next week, Feb 15, it happened again. And then again on March 1. Now the last one, March 1, was different than the other times. This time the pains continued long after the diarrhea stopped, I had pain for an additional two days with the last day being a more constant pain felt worse when standing/walking around.

That's when I knew it was time to go to the doctor. I went to a French clinic and she was pretty sure I had some kind of parasite or issue with my liver. I went to get blood work done and to have a stool culture and check for parasites. There was no parasite (checked on two separate days) and the only things the tests showed were: A small amount of yeast in the stool and a C-reactive protein amount of 24.98 mg. The doctor didn't feel that either of those was the cause of my diarrhea and pain issues. Now yesterday I woke up with a rash on my neck. It's just a small section of itchy, raised bumps. Today I noticed it has spread onto the bottom of my face. I have no benedryl to take otherwise I would have taken it to see if it would help.

I have no clue if all of this is related or completely separate issues. My concern is with the elevated C-reactive protein. In the last two weeks I have changed my diet to include more vegetables in the hopes that a diet change would prevent the diarrhea. Nothing else has changed, no change in soap, no new foods I've never had before, etc.

About me. I'm a 40 year old woman in pretty good health. I rarely ever got sick back in the states. The last time I went to see the doctor was a couple of years ago when I had pneumonia. I drink wine 3-4 times a week and smoke about 4-5 cigarettes per day. I weigh about 200 pounds (was 260 pounds 7 years ago, lost weight and got down to 156. Within the last year I went up again). I've been working out 2-3 times per week and am struggling to lose pounds. I drink anywhere from 2-3 liters of water per day, more on days I workout. I am a teacher in Yaounde the capital city and live in an apartment provided by the school. I cook some of my meals and my other meals are prepared for my by a local lady and the cook at the school. I do not eat food prepared on the streets and only eat out at places that have been recommended by other teachers. My cook knows how to prepare food properly as she has worked for Americans for many years.

I plan on going back to the French doctor this week but would like to be able to suggest some possible tests they could run to see what this is I'm dealing with. Please let me know if there are additional things I can tell you to help you figure out what this might be. I have the test results from the work I've had done but it's all in French.