Traveler Diarrhea WARNING

Here is a link to the UK National Health Service information pages on Diarrhea: click here

You can navigate through sections such as 'causes', 'symptoms' and 'treatment'. This is designed for idiots living in the UK, not for travelers.

I was always brought up with the advise you and your friend say here: let the crap get out of you. The same is true of vomitting, sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes. Your body is repelling the bad stuff... let it do it's job!

When in Goa I got 'acute' diarrhea. after 4 days, I was quite dehydrated, and started taking rehydration salts. Also, living in a hut where the toilet is a long way away, I chose to take anti-diarrheal tablets for the night time, but to let nature take her course in the day time.

Eventually I took a course of antibiotics (after 6 days of symptoms: I took Ciprofloxacin 500mg, as reccommended in A Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness and Travel Medicine by Eric A. Weiss, M.D.) and 2 days into the course i was fine.

The only time I think I took Imodium constantly through diarrhea was trekking in Nepal: the cause was altitude, not poisoning, so my body wasn't trying to get rid of any nasties. And... I was trekking...

Andy,

Good topic.

I carry an anti-diarrhea product but now you have me asking what for.

I browsed the imodium website and they have a page on Travelers diarrhea that indicates the most common cause is E. Coli (and its many variants) that can be either food or water born. In their how to prevent list there are more food line items than water related, so I think your are spot on with regard to causes. Things like altitude, stress, fatigue etc. appear to be minor causes.

My feeling now is that Ash and your pharmacology friend are onto something that I should pay attention to.

Since the cycle usually completes in a week tops, perhaps it's better to risk embarrassment than toxicity.

Amazing that I've not considered this more in the past. I'd sure like to hear from a few medical professionals on this subject here as well.

Eric

I told Astid a German girls I was with in Guatemala, you cannot eat 10 Mangos. I told Andrea of Argentina in Brazil, you cannot eat 10 mangos.

People over-eat one food, I like Coconut meat, it requires I utilze the toilet the next day.

Diarhea in my opinion is a very temporary state, caused from eating too much or one food, or drinking 15 beers in about 95-97 percent of the cases according to the country, I call this Type II diarhea.

Food poisoning made me feel like some put lead weight in my body. I did have diarhea in Niger. My brain became impossible to control. I had a low-level of this in Bamako, Mali. I had the same in Mexico many years ago, laid in bed for 7 days.

Not enough energy to move.

The idea of keeping this in my body longer is scary, diarhea is inconvenient. To me it just seems very risky to take anti-diarhea medicine when I travel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_rehydration_salt

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