How to treat traveler's diarrhea

The most common causes of traveler's diarrhea are: other food, poor water and hygiene, stress on the body when the environment changes, and of course hostile bacteria, viruses and parasites. – ** Food **: The most common cause of traveler's diarrhea is a significant change in diet, which the body must first get used to. Food in exotic countries contains different spices and ingredients than those you normally use at home. It is often extremely hot. In addition, this diet, which is „unknown“ to the body, can cause an allergic reaction associated with diarrhea. It is often associated with seafood, milk or lightly roasted meat. At the same time, you come into contact with other strains of bacteria living in the intestines (they contain mainly dairy products). Ice cream on the street is also a very risky food – ** Water **: You can buy bottled water, but the locals certainly do not boil it. Vegetables and fruits are often washed in water that does not meet the hygiene standard. The body can also be driven by quality water, but significantly and otherwise mineralized than we are used to with us. Frequent drinking of strongly chilled drinks in the heat also has an adverse effect. A well-known problem is ice in drinks from bad water – ** Hygiene **: Another cause can be generally poorer hygiene both on the road and at the place. – ** Change of environment **: Someone is also affected by fatigue associated with a time shift, stress from their own path or great heat and humidity. Diarrhea can also occur if you are treating another disease with antibiotics. There are simply so many possibilities that it is no wonder that diarrhea affects virtually everyone else on the road.

For us, the closest, often visited country, where there is a high risk of traveler's di­arrhea, is North Africa – Egypt, Tunis and Morocco. Other typical areas are India, Southeast Asia or poor countries in South America such as Peru or Bolivia. In general, this applies to almost every country in the tropics.

• ** Probiotics before the trip **: As a prevention, many travelers use probiotics before the trip and during the trip, which strengthen the intestinal microflora. It is useful to have them with you in the travel first aid kit even in case you use antibiotics on the way – ** People's Council **: to have something „sharp“ with you – plum brandy, fernet, etc. for the annual burning of the worm. Experts tend to refute this advice, but someone will not allow it. Some people prefer coca cola, dark chocolate or garlic – ** Buy only sparkling bottled water on the road **: it's hard to fake at home. There are really countless cases of sales of „bottled“ still water, when there was tap water in the bottle. – ** Try to follow hygienic habits **: We addressed this in a separate article „HERE“: https: //www.gigapla­ces.com/magazin-hygiena-na-cestach/

Typical traveler's diarrhea usually begins after the third day of travel and fortunately disappears relatively quickly (usually within a few days) with appropriate treatment. So you don't have to panic right away that you are seriously ill when traveler's diarrhea affects you. It usually starts up quickly, out of nowhere you go „big“ more than 3 times a day and you suffer from abdominal pain, often associated with weakness and nausea.

When traveler's diarrhea affects you, choose the right treatment strategy. This is often a problem for the doctor, but from the beginning it is ideal to apply the treatment according to the „strength“ of the symptoms. If they are not extreme, first embark on a path of self-medication, which in most cases will take. – ** Adjusters **: Preparations based on the active substance Loperamide (Imodium), for example, reduce the mobility of the intestines and thus slow down the passage through the digestive tract. This is advantageous in non-infectious diarrhea, for example before a long bus trip, etc. Needless to say, this does not essentially cure the essence of the problem – ** Intestinal adsorbents **: are substances that bind large amounts of pollutants (microorganisms) in the digestive tract , toxins, allergens) and thus help their rapid elimination from the body. The classic preparations in this group are charcoal or Smecta. A very interesting and effective product is Polisorb, which we will talk about more. When using a product from this group, always observe a time interval, approx. 2 hours, from the use of other drugs, so that they are not excluded. The disadvantage of most of these products is their strongly unattractive taste. Polisorb has a great advantage in this, which is tasteless and can be mixed into drinks without any problems. – ** Preparations for infectious diarrhea **: Endiaron or Ercefuryl are popularly used for infectious diarrhea of bacterial origin, but these preparations may not always work abroad. You can buy topical preparations on this basis without any problems at a pharmacy in that country.

Polisorb is a product from the category of intestinal adsorbents based on silica without side effects. It does not enter the bloodstream, it does not pass through the kidneys or liver. It is also suitable for diabetics, gluten-free or children from one year of age. It was originally developed for soldiers to prevent diarrhea – It is one of the few products that can successfully overcome diarrhea of rotavirus origin (one of the most severe diarrhea, ending tragically) – Compared to other sorbents, it has the largest adsorption capacity of up to 10 billion microorganisms per gram of product . Another great advantage, especially for diarrhea, is its rapid onset. – Another advantage of Polisorb is that it is suitable not only for traveler's diarrhea and intestinal infections, but you can also use it for various poisonings and food allergies. It simply removes everything hostile from your digestive system – It also works as a preventive detoxification peel of the body, so if you want to get in shape or strengthen immunity, it is an ideal supportive product. – It can also be used for wound healing, which the traveler, especially in the wilderness, will also appreciate. If you have a wound that tends to fester, just make Polisorb a thicker gel (use less water than with the usual dosage) and apply the wound. Polisorb binds toxins from the wound and dries it perfectly. – A secret tip is its effect against alcohol hangover. Before the alcoholic party, take two teaspoons, two more in the morning after waking up and you will be much better. We recommend trying it :-) Polisorb is available in all pharmacies (if they do not have it, they will be happy to order it for you) or you can order it „here“: https: //eshop.biomedix-collagen.com/bi­omedix-polisorb-1– 1

Although traveler's diarrhea is usually only unpleasant than a serious illness, beware of confusion with diarrhea caused by aggressive bacteria, viruses, parasites or amoebae, because in this worse variant, it can end up tragically if left untreated. Therefore, if your condition does not improve after 2–3 days of self-treatment or your symptoms indicate something „bigger“ (high fever, vomiting, severe cramps, blood in the stool or strong exhaustion after a few hours of diarrhea), go to the local pharmacies where you can get a combination of topical effective medicines including antibiotics. If your condition is really serious, you should go straight to the doctor. For example, Cholera, Typhus, Salmonella or Úplavice may also affect you

It is clear to almost everyone that the body affected by diarrhea, or fortunately after diarrhea, we must save and drink a lot at the same time – ** Drinking regime **: pure water, herbal teas or black tea, mineral water. In case of major dehydration problems, use special rehydration products. – ** Eating regime **: Probably no one is surprised that fried, greasy, fatty and spicy foods are completely unsuitable. Dairy products and alcohol are also not suitable. Suitable are, for example, mashed potatoes or rice, boiled carrots, bananas, apples, dry bread, biscuits. Return to a normal diet only slowly to be sure.