# Food Poisoning



## Murrel-Maher (Oct 10, 2008)

What medicines treat food poisoning?


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## NappyRootz (Oct 13, 2008)

I'm not sure that any meds work for food poisoning. I've never had it but I've always heard that you just have to wait it out.


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## Therese (Oct 21, 2008)

Most cases of food poisoning can be prevented by throughly cooking foods and not contaminating cooked with foods with raw stuff (like placing cooked chicken back onto the plate where you marinated the raw version). Salmonella caused food poisoning is generally not treated unless you are sick enough to land in the hospital. 

If you are talking about botulism from home canned goods gone bad, you generally need to cook the canned goods for ten minutes after opening anyway. There is an antitoxin for botulism, which one does not have at home. 

The most important thing to treat with mild cases of food poisoning (like you're sick after eating out) is the risk of dehydration. About 3 years ago I picked up the rotavirus at work. To say I was so sick I asked the doctor for a gun to shoot myself is an understatement. I was given promethazine (Phenergan) to stop the vomiting and Lomotil for the diarrhea. Well they both knock you out, but it gives you a chance to replenish your fluids. i also went home and iv'd myself and hung a bag to help the process along while I slept.

Warm liquids, like chamomile tea, not hot and not cold, are good to get fluids in you. Slippery elm tea is also well tolerated. Stay away from fatty broths. They start the "dumping syndrome". Clear liquids include apple juice and jello. Don't drink OJ as it's too acidic and stay away from dairy products. 

The best prevention for food poisoning is "when in doubt, throw it out". I have seen interns and residents at the hospital take out a carton of leftovers that I know has been the refrigerator for two weeks, smell it and if it smells okay, they will eat it. Leftovers should not be eaten after three days. It is not okay to just scrape off the moldy part and eat the rest.


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## gds (Oct 10, 2008)

"It is not okay to just scrape off the moldy part and eat the rest."
You just took away my favorite cheese. Swiss cheese right under the mold, now that is a taste bud tantilizing treat.

The only way I know to treat food poisioning, ( not hospitalized in a coma kind) is flush your system with lots of fluids.


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## JOECOOL (Oct 23, 2008)

In an emergancy survival situation: Ground up some charcoal, add water, mix it, and drink it. If it does't work right away, depending on the severity it will help long enough for you to get medical aid.


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## benJAMMIN (Oct 23, 2008)

What does charcoal do?


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## lisat (Oct 22, 2008)

*remedies for food poisoning/stomach ailments*

Go directly to a BRAT diet when symptoms slow down. Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast, and plenty of fluids with electrolytes. 
If you have diarrhea with food poisoning you don't want to stop it as that is how the toxins are removed from your body. Charcoal tablets need to be in our emergency kit as well. It has the ability to soak up and attract the toxins in our body thus aleviating the severity of the illness.

A fluid to replace water and electrolytes can be made at home. It is made by adding one teaspoon of salt and four teaspoons of sugar to one quart of water. I wouldn't use Gatorade it has too much sugar, if you are going to buy it get Pedialyte or something similar.

Two herbs that are recommended for treating forms of food poisoning other than botulism are Arsenicum album and Nux vomica. I have had great success with both of these but they don't seem to work everytime. Not sure if it is the type of illness or the timing of taking it. I had a stomach virus and used Nux vomica and it cleared it up quickly.


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## miawallace (Oct 24, 2008)

What is wrong with gatorade? I thought it's supposed to have alot of electrolytes in it?


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## lisat (Oct 22, 2008)

Gatorade has lots of sugar and calories. My pediatrician always told us not to use Gatorade if there was another option.

I just found this article on fumbled.org
Gatorade Bad For You?

The University of Iowa researchers covered extracted teeth with nail polish. They left bare two patches on each tooth, one on the enamel and one on the root. Then they dunked the teeth in test tubes filled with regular Coke, Diet Coke, Gatorade, Red Bull, or 100% apple juice.

Every five hours, the researchers refreshed the beverages. After 25 hours, they examined the teeth with a microscope. All of the beverages eroded the bare spots on the teeth. But different beverages had significantly different effects.

On the enamel, Gatorade was significantly more corrosive than Red Bull and Coke. Red Bull and Coke, in turn, were significantly more corrosive than Diet Coke and apple juice.

Research Courtesy of Web MD-

On the roots of the teeth, Gatorade was more corrosive than Red Bull. Coke, apple juice, and Diet Coke followed in that order.

The difference in the effect isn’t simply due to their sugar content. Gatorade is 6% carbohydrates, mostly sugars. Coke is about 10% sugar. Both are acidic beverages.


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