Many people have experienced diarrhea.

So when Nick Palmiter found out in early July, he didn’t think much of it.

“I’ll be fine,” he told himself.

But the symptoms persisted. And as the days turned into weeks, the stomach cramps were unbearable.

“It hurt like hell,” Palmiter said. “And it got to the point where I was probably using the bathroom at least 15 or 20 times a day.”

The 29-year-old described the sensation as constant pressure and bubbling, “almost like you have a balloon in your stomach.”

At the urging of a co-worker, he eventually visited an urgent care center and upon arrival was told he needed to go to an emergency room immediately.

It was at the hospital that Palmiter learned he had cyclosporiasis, the intestinal disease that continues to spread across the United States, infecting thousands of people in 41 states, the largest outbreak in recorded U.S. history.

Michigan has seen the most cases in the entire country (more than 7,000). And in Monroe County, a rural area on the eastern edge of the state, where Palmiter lives, documented cases are among the highest.

“It makes you feel absolutely sick,” Palmiter said of his experience. “As if you had nothing else to give.”

The county has a population of approximately 154,000. According to state figures, externalSo far, 286 people have been infected with cyclosporiasis, which is caused by ingestion of the cyclospora parasite and presents symptoms such as “explosive diarrhea.”

The enormous impact on this small community has caused a significant ripple effect.

“Anxiety” and “fear” were the words Palmiter used to describe the local mood.

His mother, Michelle Palmiter, said the same thing.

“I see a lot of people who are freaking out about this,” he said.

That includes her niece, who cleaned out the entire refrigerator of any produce and threw everything in the trash, including what Michelle saw as a perfectly good watermelon.

“Instead of giving it a good scrub and then cutting it, you just throw it away,” Michelle said.

Social media chat boards for Monroe County residents show others are going to similar extremes, reflected in comments like the one left by a mother who said she has “a little boy who lives on chicken nuggets and goldfish.” [crackers] since this started.”

Michelle still eats fruits and vegetables, but only the ones she cooks. “I definitely don’t go out to eat at all,” he said.

Part of what is causing “people’s panic,” he says, is the government’s bungling in its response to the outbreak.

“We don’t trust anything they say about it.”