What’s the best way to treat travelers diarrhea?

[99call]

2 hours ago, Brandon said:

 

Once you break the seal, you can never get the valve to fully close again... until the tank is fully drained

 

The post apocalyptic scene was made all the more harrowing and disturbing,  as I had inadvertently created what looked like a psychotherapists brown ink drawing in my boxers.   I can confirm, that witnessing it didn't awaken any buried emotional thoughts         I'm glad that day is never to be repeated. 

[bpm32]

5 hours ago, Fuzz said:

My grandmother gave me those when I was a kid! Haven't seen them in decades, but I think I still have a few vials somewhere.

I don't remember ever seeing these on my visits to the medicine man with my grandmother. What do these taste like?

We used to get Chinese birthday cakes that tasted like Chinese medicine. Once in a while my brain will fire weird and I'll catch the flavor in a cigar. 

[Fuzz]

4 hours ago, bpm32 said:

I don't remember ever seeing these on my visits to the medicine man with my grandmother. What do these taste like?

We used to get Chinese birthday cakes that tasted like Chinese medicine. Once in a while my brain will fire weird and I'll catch the flavor in a cigar. 

I don't recall them having a taste. My grandmother would just give it to my brother and I whenever we had a stomach ache. She told us to pour half the pills in your mouth at a time and swallow with some water.

[mt1]

On 1/12/2019 at 11:36 AM, Fuzz said:

I don't recall them having a taste. My grandmother would just give it to my brother and I whenever we had a stomach ache. She told us to pour half the pills in your mouth at a time and swallow with some water.

They have a pretty pungent herbal/medicinal smell that isn't the best, but I find it easily bearable since you swallow them with water.

[nKostyan]

Why are Russians always drunk when they traveling? Because they sincerely believe that a large amount of strong alcohol saves from infection and diarrhea during travel

[WABOOM]

...I knew it was serious when a banana went through so fast it exited before I finished eating it. And it was just as yellow...

Now this is starting to get good.

[cigcars]

On 1/11/2019 at 1:43 PM, 99call said:

My most embarrassing story about loose bowels. Was walking back from an unreassuringly rural curry house in the uk.   I only got down two short country lanes before i had to stand buttocks clenched and grabbing a holly hedge so tightly, I could almost feel my palms filling with blood.   My hotel was in sight, at the top of the hill, but so liquid was my lunch, that the slightest movement could unleash a torrent of pure evil.        I minced up the driveway to the hotel at a couple of steps a minute.................thank god! I'm through the door!, just need to conquer the stairs. 

 As approach the stairs, I hear,,  "Hello!!  What are you doing?".    hot bubbles of brown lava rifled up through my body, like the sound of one of those gurggling office water dispensers    "Oh God!?" I think, as I slowly turn to the direction of the voice, the voice continues from behind a closed door  "Hello!! What are you doing??".    As I scurry through my mind to work out how on earth I'm going to hold a conversation with the owner of the Hotel, and explain my current state,   I remember they have a parrot..........little bugger.        I would like to say I made it up those 10 stairs with my dignity in tact. but that would be a lie.     I'm convinced to this day, if it hadn't of been for that parrot, I'd of made it. 

 

[mt1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Po_Chai_Pills

This stuff works.

[Cigar Surgeon]

On 1/9/2019 at 5:08 PM, LLC said:

Before my trip in November I also a did a vaccine called Dukoral that is supposed to help prevent it from happening. It is two doses you drink and lasts two years and the next time you only need one dose.

Yup. Dukoral has made my already iron stomach pretty bullet proof. Imodium as a backup just in case or if someone else on the trip needs it.

When in doubt chase all meals with rum and or whisky. Repeat as needed.

[westg]

On 1/12/2019 at 11:36 AM, Fuzz said:

I don't recall them having a taste. My grandmother would just give it to my brother and I whenever we had a stomach ache. She told us to pour half the pills in your mouth at a time and swallow with some water.

I was sure that you had to be an only child ??

[Ken Gargett]

On 1/10/2019 at 10:32 AM, cfc1016 said:

Dude... realistically, what is the likelihood that he will contract any of those conditions, as opposed to simply diarrhea? That comment seems a bit fear-mongering. @Nekhyludov 's comment illustrates the feasibility issues with this argument. Immodium to help him finish his trip without running out of clean clothes to fly home in... Doctor when he gets home - if adverse symptoms persist - to check for other causes. Sound like a fair compromise?

Confession time ( @99call will appreciate the odd, here) : part of me wishes I would get C. difficile just so I can say that I got sick and had to get a transpoosion.

as someone who has "enjoyed" a whopping dose of amoebic dysentery (or was it bacillic dysentery - i can never remember but i suspect it is like not being able to remember whether someone cut off your right leg or your left leg), don't be too quick to dismiss. my 'solution' was to beg/plead/try and bribe anyone passing to kill me immediately. one of the less amusing moments of my life. 

[Ken Gargett]

i missed this thread when it was first in full swing (sometimes, i guess you get lucky). 

for what it is worth, and i am no doctor, i spent a year travelling regions where it was a daily issue. the first part was with some people who basically travelled these places for a living, often carting twenty or more utter rookies, so they had a fair idea. this was a while ago so it is as best as i recall. we did have a couple of doctors on the trip for most of the time so that helped. 

quite a few of us (fortunately not me) got giardia which seems to be basically diarrhoea on steroids. most took flagyl. which fixed them fairly quickly however the problem is that flagyl simply kils all bacteria, good and bad. your gut, as i understand it, has to start again. if the bad crap gets back in first then you have to start again. we had quite a few get malaria (again, thankfully, not me) but this is a bit different. 

dysentery i can speak to. i remember lying on a sand dune in the sahara begging for death. the only thing left to throw up was green bile. (hey, i didn't start this thread). knocked me around wickedly. as i mentioned, the only sure is praying for death. at least that is how it seemed. 

my understanding of immodium is that it is good in the short term (and i have certainly used it on occasion) but that it does little to fix the underlying issues long term. i might be wrong. 

on that trip, they tried to keep us off any drugs as much as possible - side effects and many of them not addressing the long term issue. the 'cure' was to, if at all possible, go on a complete fast (if not possible, the smallest quantity of blandest food) and water. as much water as you can. flush yourself out. i see fuzz and fat pete have said similar but they mention apple juice and coconut water etc. our docs insisted no, just water. give the bugs absolutely nothing on which they can feed. starve them and drive them out. 

worth noting that your system will become accustomed. i can tell you that after a few months, we got stuck northern sudan next to the nile. we had no drinking water left, no way of boiling the water, no water purification tablets. nothing. we were there for a week before the ferry arrived (we missed it by 30 minutes when we arrived and hence, a week to wait). it was well over 100F every day. and humid. so we drank water from the nile. scooped out in buckets. in a glass, the water was so brown, you could not see through it. none of us had a problem. we'd spent 3-4 months eating/drinking (certainly trying to be careful) but you pick up bugs and get sick. by then, i don't think much was going to affect us. 

 

[Fuzz]

4 hours ago, westg said:

I was sure that you had to be an only child ??

No, but my mother swore off having another child after me.

 

41 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

my 'solution' was to beg/plead/try and bribe anyone passing to kill me immediately. one of the less amusing moments of my life. 

And yet nobody took you up on your offer?!

[Derboesekoenig]

27 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

i missed this thread when it was first in full swing (sometimes, i guess you get lucky). 

for what it is worth, and i am no doctor, i spent a year travelling regions where it was a daily issue. the first part was with some people who basically travelled these places for a living, often carting twenty or more utter rookies, so they had a fair idea. this was a while ago so it is as best as i recall. we did have a couple of doctors on the trip for most of the time so that helped. 

quite a few of us (fortunately not me) got giardia which seems to be basically diarrhoea on steroids. most took flagyl. which fixed them fairly quickly however the problem is that flagyl simply kils all bacteria, good and bad. your gut, as i understand it, has to start again. if the bad crap gets back in first then you have to start again. we had quite a few get malaria (again, thankfully, not me) but this is a bit different. 

dysentery i can speak to. i remember lying on a sand dune in the sahara begging for death. the only thing left to throw up was green bile. (hey, i didn't start this thread). knocked me around wickedly. as i mentioned, the only sure is praying for death. at least that is how it seemed. 

my understanding of immodium is that it is good in the short term (and i have certainly used it on occasion) but that it does little to fix the underlying issues long term. i might be wrong. 

on that trip, they tried to keep us off any drugs as much as possible - side effects and many of them not addressing the long term issue. the 'cure' was to, if at all possible, go on a complete fast (if not possible, the smallest quantity of blandest food) and water. as much water as you can. flush yourself out. i see fuzz and fat pete have said similar but they mention apple juice and coconut water etc. our docs insisted no, just water. give the bugs absolutely nothing on which they can feed. starve them and drive them out. 

worth noting that your system will become accustomed. i can tell you that after a few months, we got stuck northern sudan next to the nile. we had no drinking water left, no way of boiling the water, no water purification tablets. nothing. we were there for a week before the ferry arrived (we missed it by 30 minutes when we arrived and hence, a week to wait). it was well over 100F every day. and humid. so we drank water from the nile. scooped out in buckets. in a glass, the water was so brown, you could not see through it. none of us had a problem. we'd spent 3-4 months eating/drinking (certainly trying to be careful) but you pick up bugs and get sick. by then, i don't think much was going to affect us. 

 

Wow, that seems like quite the experience. The only competing experience I have to that is contracting norovirus in a small city in the mountainous, coffee-growing region of western Colombia. Staying in $12usd/night (not my choice) hotel. Thought I was going to die in that room, having never had norovirus before or even knowing what it was prior to that experience. 

No telling where the virus's source was, but I continue to eat street food

[Ken Gargett]

1 hour ago, Fuzz said:

And yet nobody took you up on your offer?!

thank you fuzz. perhaps they thought i might meet someone like you and the world would be better served having me around to annoy you. 

[cfc1016]

22 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

my 'solution' was to beg/plead/try and bribe anyone passing to kill me immediately

Shocked there were no takers. Where was Rob?!? I'm sure he'd've taken one for the team ?

[Ken Gargett]

12 minutes ago, cfc1016 said:

Shocked there were no takers. Where was Rob?!? I'm sure he'd've taken one for the team ?

half the truck was similarly afflicted. in no real condition to do anything.

did not even know rob existed back then. 

happy days all round...

[Webbo]

First business trip to Indonesia about 25 years ago and I ate some fish street satay thing that I should not have.... Forward to the presentation at the conference a little later where the stomach cramps were so bad I was sinking behind the podium like a childs inflatable dingy with the plug pulled out. I managed somehow to finish the speech and the moderator informed I would take questions form the audience. The audience looked on agog as I dropped the mike and made a run for the back doors of the auditorium. On reaching the "hole in the ground" toilet I quickly realized that I needed somewhere to put my my best suit trousers during the imminent storm. Smart as whip I took them off and placed them over my shoulder, just in time. Just in time for the contents of my trouser pockets (passport, money etc) to slip out and fall down my back and into the stinking hole where I promptly shat on them!!

Long story short I spent 2 days shivering in an horrendous beach bungalow delirious with fever, finally managed to get a flight to Singapore where I was rushed off to hospital and placed on drips etc. Every 4 or 5 years I get a slight recurrence of this ailment out of the blue to act as wonderful reminder of happier times gone by (not)

[Ken Gargett]

13 hours ago, Webbo said:

First business trip to Indonesia about 25 years ago and I ate some fish street satay thing that I should not have.... Forward to the presentation at the conference a little later where the stomach cramps were so bad I was sinking behind the podium like a childs inflatable dingy with the plug pulled out. I managed somehow to finish the speech and the moderator informed I would take questions form the audience. The audience looked on agog as I dropped the mike and made a run for the back doors of the auditorium. On reaching the "hole in the ground" toilet I quickly realized that I needed somewhere to put my my best suit trousers during the imminent storm. Smart as whip I took them off and placed them over my shoulder, just in time. Just in time for the contents of my trouser pockets (passport, money etc) to slip out and fall down my back and into the stinking hole where I promptly shat on them!!

Long story short I spent 2 days shivering in an horrendous beach bungalow delirious with fever, finally managed to get a flight to Singapore where I was rushed off to hospital and placed on drips etc. Every 4 or 5 years I get a slight recurrence of this ailment out of the blue to act as wonderful reminder of happier times gone by (not)

everyone needs an experience like that.

the old hole-in-the-ground toilets. i had forgotten them. that trip i took mentioned above, we had six or eight months of behind a tree or hole in the ground. i must confess that the first time i saw one of those holes, i was beyond horrified. no way on earth. but little choice. and there was simply nothing else until many months later. when i first came across our more traditional seating facilities, i was even more horrified. where was the hole in the ground? i was surprised to discover that i would much prefer the hole in the ground. a seated toilet seemed like the most unhygenic thing i'd ever heard of. 

[SmokyFontaine]

"What's the best way to treat travelers diarrhea?"

-With the respect and fear that it deserves.

I was in China and dinner from the previous night was not sitting well the next morning. I powered down some rice porridge and popped a couple of Immodium. Get to our customer's office where I'm going to be hosting a presentation in about 3hrs and the rumbly in my tumbly is only getting worse. I do an exploratory trip into the bathroom to survey the situation. 4 stalls with holes in the ground, one proper toilet. Trash all over the floors, overflowing garbage in the garbage cans. So in other words a VERY NICE Chinese bathroom. 

I pop one more pill, but in protest, my body makes it clear it's go time. I walk briskly into the proper toilet stall, start to drop trow...absolutely no toilet paper. I walk out to the sink with the overflowing garbage. No paper towels. No paper products of any kind. I start looking at my socks in a way that would have made them run away if they had the ability. Thankfully one of the peers with the company saw my distress and offered me toilet tissue...which was a travel pack of Kleenex. I will sh** you not...well...correction, I will very much sh**.

I don't know if you've ever tried to clean up a liquid spill with Kleenex. The short of it is that it more or less disintegrates instantaneously. As a clean up device for...other liquids, it does no better. So after 3-4 trips with a travel pack of Kleenex and about 5 more Immodium pills, I finally stabilized in time for my presentation, but Lord have mercy - that was an all-timer for me. On subsequent trips I now pack wet wipes with me. Oh, and hand sanitizer. LOTS of hand sanitizer. Another fun trait of Chinese bathrooms - they have no soap. :O

[joey rockets]

I'm another who ended up with a nasty case of dysentry while visiting Mexico where you don't know how to use the toilet because you're vomiting as much as butt squirting.  Hotel staff sent a cab to the drug store for me and he returned with lomotil which was a miracle drug.  I didn't drink the water, only bottled beer, but got drunk enough to buy a steamed hot dog from a street vendor that wasn't steamed well?

[CampDelta369]

This is a hell of a thread that brings back memories. Especially hole in ground toilets. If there were 2 bricks embedded in the ground for alignment and added distance from ground zero, well that was the VIP hut. Lomotil and NPO for 24 hours.  Start up slow after that. Bottled beer for thirst. Distilled spirits. All food cooked to death. Steamed fish and vegetables. Fasting and good cigars works as well.

[Ken Gargett]

my fave hole in the ground toilet was actually an amazingly well built one in the middle of zaire. it was actually a wooden hole, quite secure. we were visiting the pygmies - interesting people but as far as i could work out, they do nothing but sit around all day smoking dope and begging visitors for beer. 

this toilet was obviously very deep. one of our number went in on evening one - we were there for about three days - and accidently dropped his very powerful torch with its new battery. it sat on top of the toilet's "contents" shining brightly, for the three days, about six foot below. until the torch 'landed', we had no idea that the "contents" was actually a billion maggots or something similar. it was a heaving, living mass. never seen anything like it.

that said, one of my fave african memories was from that toilet. i had to go very early one morning. as i emerged, i noticed movement in the trees and spent the next twenty minutes, quietly watching a group of colobus monkeys slowly moving through the treetops. magic stuff. sadly i did not have my camera - did not want it sitting a top the heaving mass for eternity. 

[Webbo]

7 hours ago, joey rockets said:

I'm another who ended up with a nasty case of dysentry while visiting Mexico where you don't know how to use the toilet because you're vomiting as much as butt squirting.  Hotel staff sent a cab to the drug store for me and he returned with lomotil which was a miracle drug.  I didn't drink the water, only bottled beer, but got drunk enough to buy a steamed hot dog from a street vendor that wasn't steamed well?

Tried the bottled beer only trick on an early visit to India with very disappointing results, stuck at it for almost a week until I found out the problem..... the regional beer I was drinking contained glycerine - to help the locals shit !!! I kid you not.