Food Poisoning Home Remedies
As anyone who’s had a bad case of food poisoning can testify, it is an experience so thoroughly awful that you wouldn’t wish it upon your worst enemy. Not only does everything you’ve eaten for the last 24 hours seem to want to escape out of both ends of your body simultaneously, but the cramps and pain you experience can make you want to crawl into a hole and die.
The good news is that food poisoning is rarely life-threatening. In most cases, it will pass within 24 hours, leaving you as good as new. The bad news is that once it’s started, there’s no real way to put the brakes on it until it has run its course.
The following tips, however, may help minimize your discomfort and shorten the duration of your symptoms.
Replace your body’s fluids. If your stomach will tolerate it, be sure to keep taking liquids, especially if you have diarrhea, says Zachary T. Bloom- garden, M.D., an internist and assistant clinical professor of medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. “Sometimes people feel that if they drink more, they’ll throw up more or have more diarrhea,” he says. “However, these illnesses require acute hydration. Even if you do have a little more diarrhea, you’ll still be ahead of the game if you’ve been drinking more. Also, you feel worse if you are dehydrated.” He recommends gelatin, decaffeinated soda, decaffeinated tea with sugar, or water.
Avoid rich or spicy foods. When your stomach is feeling irritated, eating fatty or highly seasoned foods may send you right back to the toilet bowl, says John C. Johnson, M.D., past president of the American College of Emergency Physicians and director of the Emergency Department of Porter Memorial Hospital in Valparaiso, Indiana. If you feel hungry, it’s probably best to stick with clear liquids, plain toast, mashed potatoes, bananas, or other bland foods.
Go with the flow?literally. If you’ve been poisoned by contaminated food and your stomach is reacting by having diarrhea or vomiting, you can trust your body’s impulses, according to Johnson. “Don’t run out and buy antidiarrheal medications,” he says. “If there’s something in your system, you may feel better sooner if you let it out. The same goes for vomiting wait a while before?you take anything orally. Your stomach doesn’t want anything more down there. If you give it a chance to rest, it will usually take care of itself.”
Be careful with pain medications. Some people make the mistake of taking prescription or over- the-counter pain medications to reduce the discomfort of intestinal cramps, says Johnson. “The side effect of many of these drugs is to irritate the stomach or gastrointestinal tract,” he?says. The one exception is acetaminophen, says David Posner, M.D., a gastroenterologist and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. Drugs containing aspirin or ibuprofen are definitely out when your stomach is irritated.
Try a hot-water bottle. One thing that may help cramps is a hot-water bottle placed on the stomach, according to Posner. “Make sure it’s not too hot to the touch,” he cautions.
Treat it like the stomach flu. Just like with the stomach flu, there’s really not a whole lot you can do, except to be good to yourself and wait it out, says Bloomgarden. Cancel your appointments, rest, take it easy, and take solace in the fact that it’s guaranteed to pass, most likely within 24 hours.
Replace your potassium. Vomiting and diarrhea may lead to a depletion in your body’s supply?of potassium, which may leave you feeling?even worse, according to Johnson. Twenty-four hours after your symptoms started (and hopefully when you’re feeling a bit better), a sports drink or a banana “may perk you up,” he says.
Report it to the health department. If you were the only person affected by food that may have been contaminated, reporting your condition may not be necessary, according to Posner. However, if you were one of a group of people who ate at a restaurant or other food establishment and more than one of you became ill, tell the restaurant, your physician, or your local health department, he says. “If it turns out to be an infection, such as dysentery, the health department may want to track it down,” he adds.