Food poisoning - what to do at home?

Every person at least once in his life faced with food poisoning. Doctors distinguish between two types of poisoning. The first type is the use of poisonous mushrooms, plants, berries, which are not suitable for oral administration. The second group is the ingestion of spoiled, contaminated or dirty foods that lead to intoxication of the body. It is with such poisoning that we come across most often. Food poisoning often lurks us if we have lunch in questionable catering establishments. Poisoning often occurs when hygiene is not followed - unwashed fruits and vegetables can be dangerous. The risk of developing food poisoning also depends on the condition of the digestive tract. If the intestine is weak, it reacts to the slightest changes in the diet.In addition, they distinguish the type of infection - poisoning with simple bacteria takes a few days, and, for example, salmonellosis is much more difficult to treat. In this article we will try to understand food poisoning - we will consider its symptoms, learn how to act in case of poisoning and how to be treated at home.

Symptoms of food poisoning

Not always the symptoms of food intoxication can be characteristic, sometimes the absence of vomiting and diarrhea leads the person to other diagnoses, the patient can associate weakness and poor health with colds and other pathologies. As the poisoning can be shown, we will try to understand.

Most often, poisoning is accompanied by pain in the digestive tract of different localization - in the stomach or intestines, it can even stab your side.

There is a feeling of nausea, in some cases, vomiting occurs.

In most cases, a person develops diarrhea, but it does not always happen. By the way, the absence of vomiting and diarrhea is much more dangerous, because toxins do not leave the body, their concentration is increasing.

Often, the patient has an abdominal swelling, develops a strong gas, flatulence.

Intoxication makes itself felt - there is weakness, feeling unwell, dizziness. In children, this is manifested especially brightly - the baby is constantly lying, even if by nature he is very active and mobile.

With severe poisoning, the temperature may rise, fever, chills, aching joints may appear, fog may appear before your eyes.

With a clear dehydration, when a person suffers from diarrhea and vomiting, the smell of acetone appears from the mouth. In such a situation, an urgent need to consult a doctor.

Poisoning can occur within an hour after consuming the spoiled product. The maximum time after which signs of food poisoning appear is a day.

First aid for food poisoning

If you are poisoned by poor-quality, dirty or spoiled products, it is very important to act competently in the first hours. As soon as you suspect you have been poisoned, analyze what you have been eating lately. If you are not sure of the freshness or sterility of cooked dishes, it is better to do a gastric lavage yourself. This will help cleanse the body of the remnants of spoiled food that has not yet been absorbed into the walls.Remember, the less toxins in the body - the faster you will recover. Remove the remains of these toxins by using a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Make a pale pink water, drink at least two glasses of the solution, after which the body itself will experience the urge to vomit. As soon as you have emptied your stomach, you need to drink and vomit again. This should be done until food leaves the stomach and the water remains clean. If there is no urge to vomit, drink more water and press the root of the tongue with your fingers - the stomach contents will come out very quickly.

In complex cases in the hospital, not only the stomach is washed, but also the intestines. To do this, do a cleansing enema to rid the intestinal walls of toxins that have penetrated beyond the stomach. After washing the gastrointestinal tract is necessary to take the sorbents. The simplest option is activated charcoal, which should be taken at a dosage of one tablet per 10 kg of weight. That is, if your weight is 60 kg, you need to drink at least 6 tablets of coal at a time. Instead of this sorbent, you can drink what you have on hand - Filtrum, Polysorb, Enterosgel, Smekta, etc.If after taking the sorbent vomiting occurs, repeat the procedure after half an hour, do not be afraid of overdose. Try to contain a little vomiting, after a few minutes the sorbent will begin to act and nausea will pass.

The best medicine for food poisoning is fasting. In no case can not eat in the first hours after intoxication, even if you want. Doctors say that fasting is much more useful than even dieting, although not everyone can stand it. If during the day nothing is eaten, the body will be able to cope with the poisoning faster, there will be no trace of the disease. But the meal - an additional burden. This should be known to compassionate mothers who are trying to feed their crumbs in the period of poisoning, with the words "He will not have the strength to fight the disease."

You can not eat, but you can and even need to drink. Excessive vomiting and diarrhea lead to dehydration, it is very dangerous, especially for young children. The fact is that a baby may have physiological stool in the amount of 10-12 times a day, this is normal. In this situation, the mother does not immediately notice that the baby has diarrhea.Mucus or blood in the stool, an unusual color of emptying should alert the mother. Dehydration is a very dangerous condition, in a child it can occur in an unrealistically short time. Therefore, you need to unsolder the baby. In order not to induce vomiting, it is necessary to give the baby water a teaspoonful every 5 minutes, from large portions of liquid in a baby there will be a desire to vomit. Breastfeeding helps a lot during the poisoning period - it is a natural defense against dehydration. However, do not allow prolonged application - a large portion of milk can lead to the fact that the baby will throw up again. It is better to put the baby to the chest more often, but not for long.

To restore the water-salt balance in adults and children, you can use a special solution Regidron. If it is not at hand, you can prepare the composition yourself - add to a liter of water half a teaspoon of salt and the same amount of baking soda. Drink as often as possible - the fluid flushes out toxins from the body. After all these measures, you can go to rest, because the patient feels weakened.

Diet with food poisoning

As noted, the best diet is fasting.However, not many people can withstand the daily fasting, especially if the state of health has already returned to normal. But this does not mean that you need to again have questionable foods, fatty foods and stale fruits. In the first days after poisoning, only lean and light meals are allowed. These are chicken and rabbit meat, steamed, simple cereals, crackers, drying, bananas, baked apples, galetny cookies. Rice has a very good effect - it fixes well and relieves diarrhea. Oatmeal is recommended for pain in the stomach - it gently envelops its walls, relieves spasm, it is an easy food that does not bring discomfort. Very good to drink kissel, tea, herbal decoctions. Light vegetarian dishes are acceptable, without a lot of salt and spices. You should exclude from the diet baking, heavy meat, fatty, smoked, spicy and fried foods.

After the acute period of the disease has passed, some patients note that their stools have not yet recovered. This happens against the background of a disturbance of the intestinal microflora. To correct the situation, you should drink the course of probiotics - Linex, Hilak Forte, Acipol, etc.You can improve the condition of the intestine, if you drink dairy products with live bacteria.

Folk remedies in the fight against poisoning

There are many recommendations in the piggy bank of home medicine that will help to get rid of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Cinnamon. Cinnamon powder perfectly absorbs all unnecessary, it is an excellent natural sorbent. A teaspoon of spices should be poured boiling water, let it brew and cool, drink sips throughout the day.

1. Ginger. This is an excellent tool in the fight against nausea. Grate the root and add it with the brew to the kettle. But remember, nausea can only be suppressed if the stomach is completely clear.
2. Althaea. The root of this plant perfectly removes toxins and stops diarrhea. A tablespoon of chopped root should be poured with a glass of boiling water, let it stand and drink 50 ml three times a day.
3. Dill. From the seeds of dill need to prepare a decoction - this is an excellent tool in the fight against flatulence, bloating and increased gas formation.
4. Rosehip In the broth hips a lot of acids and vitamin C, which is so necessary for poisoning and dehydration.Drink the broth should be in small portions half an hour before meals.

Recipes for home treatment perfectly restore the body after poisoning, but you should not always rely only on yourself. In no case should some categories of patients stay at home if they are poisoned - just being in a hospital under the supervision of doctors. These patients include children up to three years old, pregnant women, the elderly. If the poisoning does not go away, and the symptoms only get worse, you should definitely consult a doctor at any age. Also, you should go for a consultation with a physician or infectious diseases specialist, if a high temperature is maintained during poisoning, if a rash appears on the skin, if there is blood in the stool, vomiting does not stop or the patient loses consciousness. If poisonous mushrooms or plants are ingested, an ambulance team should be called in immediately.

How to protect yourself from poisoning

We all know that we need to wash our hands after using the toilet and before any meal. But, unfortunately, this rule is not always fulfilled, especially if we are talking about children.Here are some more tips to help you protect yourself from poisoning.

It is necessary to eat only in the checked places. Doubtful catering points, where the seller takes the money with one hand, and the second holds a hamburger bun, can be dangerous.

Wash hands before and after cooking, especially if they kept raw meat or poultry.

Every 2-3 days do an audit in the refrigerator, do not let the products stale. Do not consume expired foods. If you notice that the shelf life of the product will end soon, cook something out of it for dinner. For example, sausage can be added to pizza, from sour kefir you can bake a cupcake, etc.

Do not leave food open on the table - cockroaches and flies can crawl on them, after which you eat contaminated food.

Keep a separate chopping board for raw meat, fish and poultry on the farm.

Fry meat, fish and eggs thoroughly.

After the opening of condensed milk or other canned food, it is necessary to shift the contents into glass or porcelain dishes, the food is oxidized in a metal container under the influence of air.

Do not leave cooked soups on the stove for the night, by all means clean up all the prepared food in the refrigerator. If you have not eaten the soup right away, but left it for tomorrow, try to warm it thoroughly when you re-eat, i.e. to boil.

And, of course, buy only fresh and high-quality products, use filtered or boiled water for drinking and cooking.

It can be said that food poisoning is a minor disorder that quickly passes; the body recovers in a few days. But sometimes something more serious can hide behind food poisoning, for example, salmonellosis or botulism. Therefore, if you cannot cope with the poisoning yourself, do not experiment, as soon as possible go to the hospital. After all, any disease is treated more successfully, if in time to ask for help!

Video: what to do with food poisoning in a child