Bright sun and hot weather create favorable conditions not only for recreation but also for the development of intestinal infections. We’ll show you what to do if you became the victim of food poisoning.
Water
Drink again and again – that’s the main thing that your dehydrated body needs. Fluid washes away the remains of junk food from the body. The minimum dose is a glass of water every hour in small sips, not in one gulp. Otherwise, the inflamed stomach can return everything back. It is better to drink boiled water or warm sweet tea, which will make up the reserves of glucose, lost due to dehydration.
When you have food poisoning, sodium and chlorine are washed away with fluid. To restore fluid and electrolyte balance in the body, make the following brine: dissolve 1 tsp. salt in a glass of boiling water.
Lemon and mint
Peppermint tea can help with severe nausea. It’s easy to prepare: pour a glass of boiling water over 2 tsp. dry grass, let it brew in a thermos for 5 minutes and filter it. Drink a glass every hour; it will help ease the suffering. If mint is not at hand, then you can suck a segment of lemon.
Do not self induce vomiting. The physician may prescribe lavage, if the diagnosis is “food poisoning”. But nausea is not only a symptom of poisoning. It may show the exacerbation of chronic pancreatitis, cholecystitis, gastritis, as well as the central nervous system disorders.
Healing potassium water
In intestinal disorders, body loses potassium. It can be restored with the help of the potato or carrot broth. Grate 2-3 medium sized vegetables, then pour in two cups of cold water, boil for about twenty minutes; strain and cool the broth, before drinking add a little salt.
Natural Assistant – activated carbon
One of the most “popular” sorbents is charcoal (activated) carbon. You should take 1 tablet per 10 kg. It is better to crush pills and wash them down with water. Carbon is most efficient in the first 12 hours of poisoning. The sorbent is not meant for long treatment, as it binds not only toxic, but also useful substances in the gastrointestinal tract (enzymes, vitamins, amino acids, etc.). In addition, recent studies have shown that long-term use of activated carbon can cause nausea, vomiting and other unpleasant complications.
Only 1 g of activated charcoal can bind 800 mg of morphine, 700 mg of barbital, 300-350 mg of other barbiturates and alcohol.
Limotherapy
Once you get better, try to stop eating at least for one day to give the stomach a rest and return to its previous state. Boiled rice without salt or any seasoning and bread (ideally crunches) – that is all you can count on.
Do not store food in the refrigerator when going on a vacation. European scientists, checking modern no-frost refrigerators, calculated that fruit and vegetable drawers alone contain the amount of harmful bacteria, including E. coli, which is 750 times higher than normal.
Stomach help – probiotics
In most cases, doctors recommend probiotics – drugs with live bacteria. And for digestion normalization you may need enzymes. They are taken in a 2-4-week course. It is undesirable to take them longer to prevent addiction.
For probiotics to be most effective, they should be obtained from human rather than animal strains, safe and resistant to antibiotics, and having the necessary microbiological activity (at least 108 cfu – colony-forming units).
Diet after poisoning
You should start eating a little every 3-4 hours. On the first day, you’d better eat yogurt with dried bread, liquid rice porridge or oatmeal on the water. The next day, you may eat milk porridge, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, gradually integrating boiled meat with mashed potatoes into the diet. Be careful with raw vegetables, fruits, juices (especially orange, grapefruit, tomato). Consuming them safely is possible after a complete recovery.
The taste in the mouth can help diagnose the disease. Bitterness may appear in case of gallbladder and liver problems. Sweet taste is a precursor to diabetes. Sourness may be a signal of gastritis, gastric or duodenal ulcer. The taste of hydrogen sulfide, as well as a metal taste, may be indicative of gastritis with low acidity. A metallic taste may also occur in case of liver and gallbladder problems, as well as anemia and hypovitaminosis.
