Leisure Stomach Protection / Prevention For Travelling To India?

[Harkiran Kaur]

I leave next Friday to fly to India!!! Yay! I have been waiting for this for months!

Since this is likely a once in a lifetime trip for me, and required much saving of pennies... I would hate to spend part of it laid up in bed (or the loo) with a gastro bug!!! And I have heard that Indian bugs are particularly bad!!!

In preparation for the trip I took the Oral vaccine Dukoral which protest against Cholera, and the toxins produced by both Cholera and e.Coli. Since most travellers diarrhea incidence involve e.Coli I am hoping this will help! It protects me for 3 months now.

I also have been taking a pretty strong probiotic from GNC for the last 10 days and will continue to take it throughout the trip. I hope that if I stock up on the 'good bugs' then if I come into contact with 'bad bugs' maybe the good bugs will win out....

I packed pepto bismol chewables and a small package of loperamide (anti-diarrheal known as Immodium) just in case though but hope I won't have to use them.

Also going to avoid all tap water, skip salads and fresh fruits unless they have a peel I can remove (sorry diet), and stick with vegetarian cooked hot meals and bottled water, even for brushing teeth.

Question is, is it still inevitable that I will get sick at some point??? People tell me that I should just expect it anyway.

Are Indian tummy bugs really THAT bad???

Sorry to bring up the topic LOL.

 

[Luckysingh]

Yep, it can be pretty bad for us westerners.
I would recommend at least 3-4 days worth of immodium or lomotil to keep with you (about 24 caps) since any severe bout of diarrhea shouldn't be more than a few days or you would need to see a doctor.
A lot of e.coli cases are from foods compared to water so making sure it is well cooked and heated is a must.

I would also advise that you take some rehydration sachets like paedilyte, gastrolyte, electrolade....etc. as these contain salts and electrolytes that you will lose with gastro bugs. Use boiled and cooled water when reconstituting these.
Personally whenever I have been away and especially somewhere hot, I make a habit of consuming one of these electrolyte drinks a day even if I have no gastric trouble. I find it gives me that little bit of energy and replacement that you can just lose from simple heat loss or sweating as well.

Having some form of glucose in the form of Gatorade, powerade or lucozade (as it may be called there) is also advisable because fluid loss will give you drop in blood glucose and rapid loss in energy as well.

The probiotics may be a good protectant but remember that they can't help in curing or alleviating a gastro attack.

Good luck and it's best to be prepared.

 

[Harkiran Kaur]

Just to let everyone know so far so good... but then I am staying with a doctor and he gave me O2 ( combo antibiotic and anti parasitic) as prophylactic. Protection against bacteria ameoba and protozoa that cause diarrhea. Its prescription though so if anyone else wanrs it next time u r in india just get a doctor to prescribe. I have not even been very careful food wise. But water bottled only.

 

[Luckysingh]

That's good stuff the O2 !
The drug ofloxacin is quite expensive in the west and it's good that you can get it over there much cheaper.
Meds that are available over there and that come under the USP and BP standards are worth getting at their cheaper prices.
It's some of the back street, non-regulated, herbals and ayuverdic you have to be careful with in any eastern country.