Posted: Oct 30, 07 12:36pm
Just thought I'd chime in with a suggestion, esp since there is going to be so much luke warm turkey, turkey dressing, potato salad & eggnog going through our systems in the next couple of months.
There are 2 common types of food poisoning ... the symptoms typically appear either 1 hour after you eat ... or 4 hours after you eat. Some folks may take longer.
Symptoms start with belly ache & cramping (increased intestinal peristalsis), then nausea, diarrhea and finally headache.
The EARLIER you treat it, the better. If you wait til you don't know which end to put over the toilet, it'll take longer to fix AND could put you into the hospital.
But if you THINK you are starting to have the symptoms of food poisoning, pour yourself a 12 oz glass of apple cider (brown) vinegar. Yum! Ok, I admit it doesn't sound too tasty ... but you can live through drinking 5 cents worth of vinegar if you know the alternative is a $2000.00 Emergency Department + Doctors + pharmacy bill.
Whatever you do ... do NOT take antiacids, PeptoBismol or anything to reduce the acidity in your gut. That only makes the food poisoning bugs happy.
IF you already have nausea, then you'll need to take tiny sips of the vinegar. But after 1/4 cup or so, you'll find the nausea is gone, or markedly reduced. At that point, you can hold your nose & chug the rest of the vinegar, or continue sipping til it's gone.
It won't completely stop the diarrhea until the vinegar has percolated down your gut. But it'll reduce your symptoms quickly and prevent a trip to the ER.
In my experience, when you really have food poisoning, the vinegar tastes sour (duh!) when you start sipping it ... but by the time you've had enough to fix you, suddenly it tastes 3 times more sour. I've taken it both in 1 big chug of 12 ounces ... and shot by shot. Both work. And when I chugged 12 oz at one time, I didn't 'give it back' ... but I also didn't wait til I had a raging nausea.
I have NOT tried this on kids, but I see no contraindications IF the kid is old enough to drink it on his/her own. (I can't imagine how much coaxing you'll have to do ... except by serving as an example!)
This is NOT a treatment for nausea, vomiting or diarrhea from other causes! (Although if I thought I had VRE or C.Diff, I'd personally consider chugging some vinegar & probiotics!)
I've never seen a need to use more than a single 8-12 oz glass of vinegar, but I wouldn't be shy about repeating it if symptoms didn't completely go away. I also now chase it with a probiotic (live-culture kefir, joghurt, etc) to put in some competing bacteria to fight any remaining nasty bugs.
The only contraindications I can think of might be a metabolic acidosis or bleeding ulcers. But even then, the effects of a full-blown food poisoning would usually be worse. If in doubt, or if under treatment for any special conditions, or of taking regularly scheduled medications, consult with your physician or pharmacist before taking vinegar.
FWIW: I make sure that I take a quart bottle of apple cider vinegar to any picnics or anyplace I'd expect to get amateur-catered food -- esp to those summer picnics!
