Diseases Digest: How to handle food poisoning

Drinking rehydration, eating easily digestible food, monitoring fever... are simple home remedies for food poisoning.

If you throw up the poisoned food yourself, you will feel better. Photo: Freepik

Ingesting food or drink contaminated with bacteria, poison, rancidity, metamorphosis... causing food poisoning with symptoms of fever, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps... According to the doctor, Dr. Vu Truong Khanh, Head of Gastroenterology - Hepatobiliary - Pancreatic Department, Tam Anh General Hospital, Hanoi, in case of severe poisoning, patients can have bloody diarrhea, dehydration, cardiovascular collapse, septic shock, even even death if not treated promptly.

Signs of food poisoning usually occur minutes, hours, or one to two days after eating contaminated food. In mild cases, patients can recover on their own within 48 hours. However, in severe cases, patients need to be given first aid properly to prevent dangerous complications that may occur.

Here are some suggestions of Dr. Khanh to treat at home when food poisoning.

Drink rehydration

Excessive vomiting and diarrhea can cause dehydration. Patients should drink filtered water, salted lemon, fresh coconut, roasted rice water or oresol solution mixed according to the instructions for use to improve. Do not drink drinks with a lot of sugar because it can make diarrhea worse. Do not use the reconstituted oresol solution after 24 hours.

When severely dehydrated, patients often have dry, cold lips and skin; thirsty; sunken eyes; little or dark yellow urine; lethargy, skin pinching disappears slowly... At this time, the patient needs emergency fluids.

Eat foods that are easy to digest

With food poisoning , the sick person should temporarily not eat for a few hours. After the symptoms of vomiting are over, you can eat snacks and eat small meals to help your body recover quickly. You should choose easy-to-digest foods such as porridge, oatmeal, soft fruits... to reduce the burden on the intestines. Using more yogurt helps to rebalance the intestinal microflora. You should avoid eating spicy, fried, high-fat foods.

Do not arbitrarily take anti-diarrheal drugs

Taking anti-diarrheal drugs in the first place can slow the elimination of toxins from the digestive tract . Patients should only take medicine when diarrhea is not localized, lasting after a doctor's prescription.

Monitor fever and take it to a medical facility

In case of severe poisoning, the patient may experience cardiac arrhythmia, drop in blood pressure, difficulty breathing. Therefore, when patients have symptoms of severe abdominal pain, vomiting a lot, loose stools and fever, they need to go to a medical facility. Based on the results of the clinical examination, the doctor may appoint more blood tests, stool cultures... to look for pathogenic microorganisms and determine the cause of poisoning, from there, to develop a treatment plan for edema. fit.

You should keep samples of suspected food poisoning, including labeling information; patient's vomiting or diarrhea specimen and show it to the physician to determine the cause. In case of collective poisoning, it is necessary to report to preventive health agencies or local authorities for appropriate handling.

Dr. Khanh said that food poisoning can affect everyone, especially children under 5 years old and people over 65 years old. To prevent disease, people should eat cooked food, drink boiled water, and keep clean; Wash hands before eating, after using the toilet and after preparing food with soap. If your hands are injured, you should wear gloves to handle raw food. Everyone should use clean, fresh food with clear origin and quality control. With canned and frozen products, you should pay attention to the expiration date and storage method for each type.