Welcome to home cooking Guide
America Home Cooking Healthy Recipe Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Food poisoning treatment & How to treat food poisoning at home
from: NishiWhat should I do if I have food poisoning?
Generally, symptoms resolve by themselves without any specific treatment, except in severe cases. Keep yourself hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids. Watch out for warning signs.
What are some warning signs? When should I call the doctor?
Food poisoning often needs no hospitalisation. But do seek medical attention if you have one or more of the following:
- High fever
- Blood in the stools
- Prolonged vomitting (which can eventually cause dehydration)
- Signs of dehydration, including a decrease in urination, a dry mouth and throat, and dizziness
- Diarrhoea that lasts more than three days
- Your doctor will narrow down the diagnosis by asking you what you ate. And if others who ate the same food suffered from the same symptoms.
- Sometimes, food allergies and infections can mimic the symptoms of food poisoning. In some cases, stool samples might be taken to detect the organism that caused the disease.
- Once the diagnosis is confirmed, mild illnesses can be treated by increasing fluid intake, either orally or intravenously.
- Bismuth subsalicylate preparations can decrease the severity of the diarrhoea.
- However, avoid taking anti-diarrhoeal medications if there is high fever or blood is present in the stools because they can worsen the illness.
- Do not be surprised if you are not prescribed antibiotics. Most cases are caused by viruses and will improve in two or three days.
- Antibiotics do not work on viruses anyway. Mild bacterial infections too do not merit antibiotic therapy.
- Complications include kidney damage due to dehydration. This is extremely rare in cases that are picked up early.
- If this occurs, dialysis might be needed until the kidneys can function normally again.
America Home Cooking Healthy Recipe News