The day before yesterday was a crazy day! My mother called up early in the morning to find out if I could take my sister to a Doc. (My parents and sis live closeby, about 4 min away from my place.) Apparently, she had a terribly upset stomach and had been throwing up the whole night. I called the Doc and fixed an emergency appointment. He gave her medicine and kept her under observation for more than an hour as she kept vomitting endlessly before prescribing her IV fluids for 2 1/2 hours. It was terrible for me to watch my sister, younger to me by seven years, taller, stronger and usually healthier than me, trembling with weakness and throwing up every fifteen twenty minutes. Finally, the medicine and the IV fluids had effect and she slowly regained a bit of her energy back. She was then advised to take rest (not go to work) for atleast three days and to eat nothing but bland, crushed food and lots of fluids to allow her to heal.
The cause of all this distress? Food poisoning!
What is food poisoning? Food poisoning is the result of eating contaminated or toxic food.
What causes food poisoning? Bacteria like E.Coli, Listeria, and the biggest culprit, Salmonella, viruses like Norwalk, Sapovirus, Astrovirus and Rotavirus to name a few and occasionally parasites, which can live in the digestive tract undetected for years!
What are the symptoms of food poisoning? When the food reaches the stomach, it tries to eliminate the toxins in any and every way possible. Therefore the symptoms of nausea, vomitting and diarrhea. Sometimes, there are also abdominal cramps, weakness, headaches and mild fever.
What should you do if you suspect food poisoning? Contact your doctor immediately. You don't know how much of poisoning has occured and it is better to deal with it early. My sister stayed up the whole night hoping it would get better with time. But, it turned out to be a wrong call, because by morning her condition had worsened so much, she couldn't even hold plain water down, had become physically so weak and dehydrated, that I had to engage an autorickshaw to go to the Doctor's clinic which is about 100 metres away from her place!
I can't stress this enough, if you suspect food poisoning, please contact your doctor immediately. Sometimes, food poisoning can even become life threatening especially if there is severe dehydration and diarrhea for more than 3 days with a high fever. The patient can even suffer from difficulty in seeing and speaking!
How can you prevent food poisoning? Always wash your hands before cooking food or eating food. Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly before using them. Also ensure you cook food such as meat and eggs thoroughly.
Is there anything you can do in case of food poisoning? Yes, apart from going to the Doctor, take steps to stay hydrated. Get plenty of rest, and avoid caffeine, alcohol and other food/drinks that can irritate the digestive tract at all costs. Have bland food like rice, oatmeal, potatoes, bananas etc. And please avoid fried or spicy foods, dairy products and high sugar foods for a while. You can always go back to all that after your digestive tract has healed again.
I hope this post serves as a reminder to be especially careful about what we put inside our body. And as a quick reference on how to deal with food poisoning if it occurs.
Update on my sister: She'd been some prescribed some medicine, probiotics, electrolytes and plenty of rest for three days. She's still weak but is recovering.