Food poisoning, also known as acute gastroenteritis, is an acute inflammation of the lining of the stomach and small bowel. It is caused in various ways, one of which is excessive indulgence in alcohol. Some people are allergic to certain items of food, which may act poison to them.
Food poisoning usually begins suddenly with a feeling of nausea and abdominal cramps, followed by vomiting, diarrhea, and weakness. Rectal burning may be intense, and the stools may contain blood and mucus. All of this loss of fluid from the bowel may result in severe dehydration and shock. There is pain in the abdomen, with some distension, especially in the lower area.
Germs cause the worst attacks of food poisoning. Foods used at picnics, in restaurants, and at home are easily contaminated by toxins or poisonous substances, produced by staphylococcus bacteria. Foods most commonly that cause food poisoning are various meats, fish, pastes, custards, cream filled pastry, milk, ad many different kinds of deserts.
The trouble seems to arise from skin infections on the hands of those who handle food. Within two or three hours after taking this type of contaminated food, the patient suffers from severe abdominal cramps, followed by nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, often resulting in severe prostration and shock. Most of these attacks only last a few hours and are followed by complete recovery. Severe poisoning may be caused by different types of fish.
- Keep the patient in bed and give nothing by mouth as long as the nausea and vomiting persist.
- As the vomiting subsides, give sips of some warm drink, such as tea, barley or rice water.
- Gentle heat may be applied to the stomach to relieve spasm or pain and also the tendency to vomit.
- Prepare a mixture by ading 1 Tbsp poppy seeds, 1 tsp edible gum, 1 tsp cardamom powder, 1/2 tsp nutmeg (jaiphal) powder, and2 tbs sugar, and grind to a powder. Take this powder every 2 hours. This is one of the best home remedies for food poisoning.
- Wash your hands before preparing food to avoid passing on bacteria such as staphylococcus (commonly found on the skin and in the throat) or shigella (passed from fecal matter). Wash again after handling raw meat and eggs.
- Don't eat raw protein food like fish, fowl, meat, milk, or eggs. Avoid sushi, oysters on the half shell, Caesar salad made with raw eggs, and unpasteurized eggnog. Don't use cracked eggs.
- Don't taste test the raw pork sausage stew, the fish chowder, or even the cookie batter before it's done.
- Don't let raw meat juice drip onto other food. It can taint otherwise harmless food.
- Don't leave food at room temperature for more than two hours, and avoid eating anything that you suspect may have been unrefrigerated for that long.
- Don't taste any food that doesn't smell or look right.
- For food poisoning treatment drink fluids as much you can to combat the loss of fluids.
- Scrub counters with warm, soapy water and bleach to combat countertop bacteria.
- Use a plastic cutting board instead of a wooden one. Be sure to thoroughly clean the cutting board after you've finished using it.
- Avoid foods that are fried, smoked or salty as well as raw vegetables, pastries, preserves, candies, alcohol and spices and condiments.
- Mix a tablespoon of lemon juice or cider vinegar in a cup of hot water before a meal to prevent acid indigestion.
- Add three drops of garlic oil to half a cup of Soya oil and rub onto the stomach after food.
- For food poisoning treatment drink a herbal tea of mint, raspberry, chamomile and blackberry.
- Drink one cup of ginger tea after meals to promote a good digestion and for heartburn, nausea, etc.
- Cooking utensils and plates, as well as sponges and dishcloths that were used in the food preparation process, should also be cleaned appropriately.
- Grind a lemon along with seeds and make a paste. Add some salt. Take 1 tsp of this paste 2-3 times.
- Drink 1/2 tsp of dry ginger (saunth powder in 1 cup buttermilk (chhachh) 3 - 4 times a day. This is one of the useful home remedies for food poisoning.
- Chew a few pieces of the inner lining of pomegranate with salt, and/or drink pomegranate juice.
- Prepare a mixture by adding 1/2 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp ginger juice, and 1/4 tsp pepper powder and drink it.
- Mix 5-6 chopped basil (tulsi) leaves, 1/4 tsp sea salt, and some black pepper in 3 Tbsp of curd, and eat it. Repeat this 4 times a day for one week. This is very useful home remedy for food pisoning treatment.
- Roast 1/2 tsp cumin (jeera) seeds and 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds (dana methi). Mix and powder it, add to 4 tsp of yogurt (curd). Take thrice a day. This is also very useful home remedy for food pisoning.
- Grate one raw papaya. Add 3 cups water, boil for 10 mins, strain and finish the water in one day.
Reference:
Selkurt, E.E. (editor), Physiology, 2nd edition, Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1966).
Chinese Medicinal Herbs, compiled by Li Shih-Chen, translated by F. Porter Smith, M.D., and G.A. Stuart, M.D., Georgetown Press, San Francisco (1973).
Chandan BK, Sharma AK, Anand KK. Boerhavia diffusa: a study of its hepatoprotective activity. J Ethnopharmacol 1991 Mar;31(3):299-307.
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