Diarrhea, vomiting, food poisoning Phuket

[themerg]

If you are in Thailand, diarrhea and food poisoning are inevitable.

 I had diarrhea one time only, I went to BKK Hospital Chiang Mai Emergency Room at 5:45 AM on a Friday. I had a full IV bag of Vitamin B complex for 1 hour. I was told to go the pharmacy. I got 5 medications and emergency room services for 3,360 Thai Baht or about $102.00 US Dollars. This would have cost me $600.00 and up in the USA.

I asked the doctor what caused the diarrhea. He said, anything in Thailand.

A precaution, being a farang and heavier, ask for 10 days of medications. I got sick again when the 5 days of meds ran out.

That same day, I was traveling by car to Mon Jam for the weekend.

I now keep a kit of all diarrhea medicines at home and I bring it when I travel.

Problem solved.

[Bob12345]

And last night it was my turn. Out of nothing (after eating 2 buns from BreadTalk) i feel like puking and shitting which lasted from around 5pm till 11pm when i fell asleep.

 

The morning after (now) it is basically all gone except for 1 extremely smelly round on the toilet.

 

I've had food poisoning before but that was many times worse and lasted much longer. Same with my wife's illness 2 days ago: it comes super quick out of nothing and after 10 hours its all gone.

[Scott]

Troll post reported and removed.  

[ThaiWai]

17 hours ago, impulse said:

 

The restaurants I worry about are the ones (prevalent in China and areas serving the Chinese) where the menu has more pages than the number of diners for the evening.   A little math says that some of those menu items may not turn over in a week.

 

 

Agreed for same reasons. I went to a new Indian restaurant last week with a simple but full menu. The owner told me she had plans for a massive menu. I told her that's when I would stop coming. 

[elgenon]

21 hours ago, impulse said:

 

I'm always amazed that most e-coli outbreaks in the USA are due to things like spinach, lettuce and packaged salad mixes.  I figure it would be meat, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

 

There are periodically huge recalls of meat. Mostly from contamination. The lobbyist-led US government lets the industry police itself.

[Goldieinkathu]

11 hours ago, Bob12345 said:

And last night it was my turn. Out of nothing (after eating 2 buns from BreadTalk) i feel like puking and shitting which lasted from around 5pm till 11pm when i fell asleep.

 

The morning after (now) it is basically all gone except for 1 extremely smelly round on the toilet.

 

I've had food poisoning before but that was many times worse and lasted much longer. Same with my wife's illness 2 days ago: it comes super quick out of nothing and after 10 hours its all gone.

TMI ?

Hope you're fully recovered.

[xtrnuno41]

23 hours ago, sandrabbit said:

I think it's reverse osmosis now, maybe some finish with uv.

yha you can filter with RO, but then afterwards handle with UV for the bacteries to kill.

Bacteria can pass the filter,so thats why you handle with UV

[thaigirlwatcher]

Does the Thai Public Health department and/or major hospitals have a staff epidemiologist? That's the way to use science and statistics to deal with these outbreaks rather than rumors. 

[thaigirlwatcher]

9 hours ago, elgenon said:

There are periodically huge recalls of meat. Mostly from contamination. The lobbyist-led US government lets the industry police itself.

Remember that even if meat is contaminated with pathogens those microbes are easily destroyed with proper cooking whereas fruit and veggies are eaten raw with perhaps a quick slash of water on the food before eating which isn't nearly as effective as cooking. 

[thaigirlwatcher]

On 7/5/2018 at 4:39 AM, xtrnuno41 said:

Water is what you have every day, as for shower or drinking. You drink the bottled water, so process error with drinkwater supplier? Ofcourse there are many of them, but maybe one is the wrong one.

But if you take a shower, wash, brush your teeth you take the city water and will get water in. No matter what.

Dont know what system is making the water, but you can kill all with an UV -lamp installation. In former days they used chlorine, but changed it to UV handling. Seems to work here.

Chlorine is still used in all municipal water systems in America. Cheap and a century of experience.  In most cases the brief exposure of water to UV light does little to kill pathogens and it's effectiveness must be monitored in real time. I also learned in lab school that some pathogens are killed by UV light but others are unaffected. If chlorine is not available in domestic water then another, but far more expensive, option is reverse osmosis but remember that both of these systems require full time management of the technology by well trained operators keeping honest documentation. 

Infrastructure is a low priority in Thailand and other developing countries. Look at the flooding in the same places for decades. They are also dealing with water and sanitary sewage systems that are old and both under designed and under maintained. 

After 2 trips to Gastroenterologists on earlier trips to Thailand I've learned a few lessons. I only become relaxed about food and water when I make it back to America to be honest. 

[xtrnuno41]

40 minutes ago, thaigirlwatcher said:

Chlorine is still used in all municipal water systems in America. Cheap and a century of experience.  In most cases the brief exposure of water to UV light does little to kill pathogens and it's effectiveness must be monitored in real time. I also learned in lab school that some pathogens are killed by UV light but others are unaffected. If chlorine is not available in domestic water then another, but far more expensive, option is reverse osmosis but remember that both of these systems require full time management of the technology by well trained operators keeping honest documentation. 

Infrastructure is a low priority in Thailand and other developing countries. Look at the flooding in the same places for decades. They are also dealing with water and sanitary sewage systems that are old and both under designed and under maintained. 

After 2 trips to Gastroenterologists on earlier trips to Thailand I've learned a few lessons. I only become relaxed about food and water when I make it back to America to be honest. 

Ofcourse chlorine is still used and has been used for decades and though also can have health issues. Thats  why they, in Holland, switched to UV. Also in the USA they use UV and i remember a case of teenager died of brain eating amoeba from a wild water park. They also used UV. That is why I wrote a mail to the water company here and asked about it. SO got a mail back from a process engineer, telling me the problems with chlorine and why it would be better to use UV. Never the less  they will check again and again in lab. Though it is just a moment in time.

Ofcourse UV amps have a life time, so you have to replace them before they malfunction and as Thailand is absolutely not good in maintenance, it can quickly fail and you have problems. They will lightly think, oh ok we can use it longer.

You should not think the UV installation is a small one, all depends on quantity to handle and the lights are high in UV radiation. RO is for filtering but not to filter out bacteria. It can catch molecules of carbon compounds and many more, but bacteria are smaller. SO like pics below they are up to 120T/h.

 

 

Edited July 6, 2018 by xtrnuno41
pic went wrong

[Valentine]

My daughter had food poisoning last week most likely from eating at one of the Franchises in Central.

[Patong2]

After many trips to Phuket, and now staying here, there have been several instances of problems, sometimes just diarhea, sometimes vomiting & diarhea for both of us.

 

Simplest remedy,  just go straight to your nearest pharmacy here and tell the symptoms, and they will give you anti biotics and other pills to sort you out in a matter of hours, usually for under 300 baht

 

Has worked everytime and there is nothing worse than having an upcoming flight and this going on. Don't waste a day of holiday hoping it will go away.

 

Strangely, anti biotics and anti diarhea from our own country and the US do not work as effectively. You need the local stuff.

 

Edited July 7, 2018 by Patong2

[thaigirlwatcher]

 Your last statement about local vs US medications is nonsensical. Go to Bangkok Phuket hospital and demand to see a Gastroenterologist. It's worth the money. Nothing worse than being sick on the LOOOOOONG flight back to the US. 

[thaigirlwatcher]

14 hours ago, Valentine said:

My daughter had food poisoning last week most likely from eating at one of the Franchises in Central.

Eating anywhere in Thailand is always a gamble. Fish farming in filthy water. Overuse of pesticides and herbicides is rampant. How long was your food sitting in a hot truck or on a loading dock?

Did the food handlers use sanitary methods in the kitchen? Too many sources of error. Got food poisoning once in Phuket then sick from dodgy liquor in Pattaya. And don't forget contaminated ice in drinks. I could never relax in Thailand. No plans to return after >10 visits over the years. 

Bon appetite. 

 

[Valentine]

9 hours ago, thaigirlwatcher said:

Eating anywhere in Thailand is always a gamble. Fish farming in filthy water. Overuse of pesticides and herbicides is rampant. How long was your food sitting in a hot truck or on a loading dock?

Did the food handlers use sanitary methods in the kitchen? Too many sources of error. Got food poisoning once in Phuket then sick from dodgy liquor in Pattaya. And don't forget contaminated ice in drinks. I could never relax in Thailand. No plans to return after >10 visits over the years. 

Bon appetite. 

 

I go to the same eatery about once every 2 weeks & in all the years I have been going there never had a problem. Last time there I ordered something which I really used to enjoy but not tried for quite a while. It was sub standard so may not be going back for that reason, not fear of food poisoning.

During me early days in Phuket I used to get sick on a regular basis. A friend once said it was likely I kissed the wrong ice cube. I guess over time my body adapted as hardly ever suffer food poisoning nowadays.

[Mysterion]

An expat friend of mine and his young son also got vomiting and diarrhea two days ago.

[Valentine]

4 people I know arrived in Phuket just a few days ago. Yesterday 2 of them were suffering food poisoning. Been coming here for years.

[xtrnuno41]

On 7/7/2018 at 7:56 AM, Patong2 said:

After many trips to Phuket, and now staying here, there have been several instances of problems, sometimes just diarhea, sometimes vomiting & diarhea for both of us.

 

Simplest remedy,  just go straight to your nearest pharmacy here and tell the symptoms, and they will give you anti biotics and other pills to sort you out in a matter of hours, usually for under 300 baht

 

Has worked everytime and there is nothing worse than having an upcoming flight and this going on. Don't waste a day of holiday hoping it will go away.

 

Strangely, anti biotics and anti diarhea from our own country and the US do not work as effectively. You need the local stuff.

 

anti biotics? When i was young and went up country, my mom said dont drink water. Ofcourse we sometimes did and were sick fever with diarrhea. Then we had active coal (like Norrit) and or rice water. Ofcourse with clean boiled water.

As you have diarrhea, you have to drink more otherwise you get dehydrated and then you have another problem.

All though clean water, so if its not trusted , boil it !

Last night i heard about a guy promoting in title (university) as he found a way to filter out bacteries and virusses. Must be a very fine filter. But even then afterwards they use UV light again?! 

Anti biotics are for real infections and better take care not to use much. Your body gets weaker. Problem now even with anti biotics, you have anti biotics resistant bacteries, a big problem they are facing today. To find new anti biotics. Weird though you say there is a difference in anti biotics depending which country you are.

[Patong2]

2 hours ago, xtrnuno41 said:

 Weird though you say there is a difference in anti biotics depending which country you are.

We thought it strange too. Being cautious, we always carry some remedies, places like Indonesia, Vanuatu, Sri Lanka, India and Cambodia can be problematic if you need help. On a return from India (IIRC) and in Patong a few days, one of us got sick and dosed with what we brought from NZ.

Annoyingly, the symptoms hung on for another 3 or 4 days and we went to the local pharmacy, described the symptoms and 24 hours were pretty much good.

A couple of years later the same thing happened with drugs from the US.

 

I don't purport to have any medical knowledge whatsoever, I am merely relating what works for us and when you spend most of your time in Asia, 

it pays to have a plan to deal with stomach problems.

[farang95]

a muay thai fighter from my neighborhood got it too lol and many others in patong lol

[Psimbo]

I avoid Imodium, antibiotics etc. I stick with Disento, available at most pharmacies.

 

It's an anti-bacterial and kills what every is in your gut without blocking you up. All imodium does is keep the crap inside you (literally). It normally works within 24 hrs, worst case it took 36.

 

Disento, clean water and the occasional electrolyte is my system if I get bad guts and I swear by it (others may beg to differ).

[Valentine]

13 hours ago, Psimbo said:

I avoid Imodium, antibiotics etc. I stick with Disento, available at most pharmacies.

 

It's an anti-bacterial and kills what every is in your gut without blocking you up. All imodium does is keep the crap inside you (literally). It normally works within 24 hrs, worst case it took 36.

 

Disento, clean water and the occasional electrolyte is my system if I get bad guts and I swear by it (others may beg to differ).

Totally agree & cheap. I think Noxy may do the same.

[falang07]

On 9/3/2018 at 1:57 PM, Psimbo said:

I avoid Imodium, antibiotics etc. I stick with Disento, available at most pharmacies.

 

It's an anti-bacterial and kills what every is in your gut without blocking you up. All imodium does is keep the crap inside you (literally). It normally works within 24 hrs, worst case it took 36.

 

Disento, clean water and the occasional electrolyte is my system if I get bad guts and I swear by it (others may beg to differ).

except for the fact that Disento was an antibiotic 🙂 and got banned because of it, too

[grumpyoldman]

Having a big problem with Listeria here in the U.S. in processed meat products. Could be the same there.

[Captain Flack]

I have locked this topic, as these reported cases occurred over 6 years ago.