An effective treatment for food poisoning at home. How to treat food poisoning: first aid

A huge number of people face poisoning every day and, unfortunately, there is nothing to be done with such horrific statistics. This kind of problem is understandable, because the modern world is full of diverse products that contain dyes, chemicals, preservatives, and sometimes poisons. Particularly relevant are poisonings in the summer, when the air temperature is quite high. Treatment in this case does not require urgency, so we will devote our article to this problem, namely, what is the treatment of food poisoning at home?

In order to understand how this kind of disease is treated, you should understand in what cases it occurs. Food poisoning occurs when the poison enters the body with poisoned, stale or poor-quality food. Also, it is already established in our modern world, many unscrupulous manufacturers add prohibited substances to their products and do not indicate them on the packaging in the column “composition of products”. Therefore, below we will consider in detail what constitutes food poisoning (symptoms and treatment, types, classification), and also we will understand, in which cases urgent medical attention is required?

Symptoms of Food Poisoning

1. Nausea, vomiting.
2. Diarrhea.
3. Headache.
4. Elevated body temperature.
5. Abdominal pain.
6. Dehydration.
7. Low blood pressure.

The causes that most often provoke this disease

1. Toxins that are found in plants and animal meat, in particular mushrooms, as well as improperly prepared seafood - fish, shellfish.
2. Infections (bacteria, viruses).
3. Pesticides that are found in foods or poisons with which they are processed.

Most often, these causes cause food poisoning.

What to do, symptoms and treatment at home?

The first symptoms occur within 48 hours from the use of poisoned foods.

Urgent first aid is very important, because the sooner treatment begins, the faster the body will cope with intoxication.

First aid

1. Empty the stomach. The first thing to do is induce vomiting. To do this, press on the root of the tongue. It is more expedient to do this not with your finger, but with a clean teaspoon. If natural urge is not enough, drink a liter of water at room temperature to rinse your stomach. You can also prepare a soda solution or a solution of manganese. For the first, one teaspoon of soda per liter of water at room temperature is enough. If you want to prepare a solution of manganese, you should be extremely careful here, since with insufficient dissolution of manganese crystals, a burn of the gastric mucosa can occur. Therefore, before drinking, dilute the product in a small amount of water, and then add directly to the drinking water. It should be remembered that vomiting is necessary until the masses become transparent. If you can’t prepare solutions, for example, due to poor health, you can drink ordinary water at room temperature without gas. It will not only cleanse the stomach, but also reimburse the lost fluid.
2. Replenishment of lost fluid. After the stomach is empty, the body should be given plenty of water. Without this, treatment of poisoning at home would be ineffective. You should drink often, but in small portions, so as not to provoke a stomach sprain. In this case, you should not use milk or juices, as they can cause an acceleration of the development of bacteria. As a drink, the best option would be a weak tea. It should be remembered that sugar should not be added to the fluid used. Also, oral rehydration is well suited to make up for water losses through drinking. These are medicines that contain potassium, sodium, chlorine and other equally useful substances in their composition, which are selected in the right concentrations and proportions. The pharmacy names of the drugs are Regidron, Maratonik, Orasan, Reosolan, Gastrolit, and Citraglucosolan. These products are usually in powder form and diluted in water.
3. Some independently carry out the treatment of food poisoning at home, using cleansing enemas. Opinions differ on this point, because their use or the use of drugs that have a fixing effect can aggravate the situation even more. Therefore, such methods of treatment should be agreed with the doctor.
4. If, after the above actions, improvement has come, you can take activated carbon, Smecta, Atoxil, Enterosgel. These drugs adsorb all poisons, toxins and quickly remove them from the body.
5. Recreation. Give your body the first day of food poisoning. Limit yourself in your diet, and better starve, and follow a strict diet in the next few days.
6. For several weeks, you should take enzyme preparations (Mezim, Enzimtal, Festal) and probiotics (Bifiform, Hilak-Forte, Probifor) in accordance with the attached instructions.

Below we will understand what constitutes food poisoning in children, treatment at home, emergency care.

Children

If you are interested in the question of how to cure food poisoning at home in children, then you need to be extremely careful. It should be remembered that any manifestations of poisoning in children should serve as a reason for seeking medical attention.

In the meantime, the doctor did not come, help the baby.

"Ambulance"

1. If half an hour after eating the first symptoms of poisoning appear, but there is no vomiting, call her. For this:
   
   - Give the baby drink 1-2 glasses of water. After that, hold it firmly with one hand, and with the other hand, insert two fingers, as deep as possible into the mouth and press on the root of the tongue. If vomiting does not occur after this, move your fingers.
   - Instead of fingers, you can use a spoon.
   - Despite the baby's resistance, attempts to induce vomiting should be carried out without fail.
   
   
2. Do not feed the baby. Treatment of poisoning at home will be effective if the body at this time rests from food. In no case do not force the baby to eat.
   
   
3. Actively drink the baby. For this, the treatment of food poisoning at home in children should be accompanied by the following actions:
   
   - do not give a lot of water, so as not to provoke a stomach sprain, it is more advisable in this case to drink the child several sips every few minutes;
   - the temperature of the water should correspond to the temperature of the child’s body, so the liquid will be absorbed into the blood faster;
   - Do not add sugar to the drink and do not give sweet drinks;
   - If possible, give the baby a solution for oral rehydration;
   - optimal drinks may be tea, mineral water without gas, fruit drinks;
   - if the child refuses to drink what you give him, then let him drink what he wants (juice and sweet drinks as much as possible dilute with water).
   
   
4. Give your baby activated charcoal or Smecta. For 1 kg of the child’s weight should be about 1 g of coal. That is, for 15 kg you should give 15 g of the drug. These are 30 tablets. Of course, this may not be possible due to such a quantity. Therefore, give as much as the child can eat. And remember, activated carbon is almost impossible to overdose.
5. If the question is about how to treat food poisoning, if the child has a fever, then the answer is obvious. With any, even a slight increase, the use of antipyretic drugs is required.

Cases requiring medical attention

1. The child is less than 3 years old.
2. Symptoms (vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain) persist for more than 2-3 days.
3. Increased body temperature.
4. Poisoning is present in several other family members.

When is an immediate ambulance called up?

1. The child cannot drink water due to copious and constant vomiting.
2. If you know that the baby was poisoned by mushrooms or seafood.
3. There was a rash on the skin.
4. Swelling appeared on the joints.
5. It’s hard for a child to swallow.
6. The kid is slurring.
7. The skin and mucous membranes are yellowed.
8. Blood in vomit and feces.
9. There is no urination for more than 6 hours.
10. Muscle weakness appeared.

Diet after poisoning

Treating food poisoning at home should be accompanied by a diet. Do not eat fatty and spicy foods. Limit the use of dairy products. Alcohol and smoking should also be ruled out for a long time. Meat, vegetables and fish should be steamed. Eat small meals every 2-3 hours. The diet should include cereals cooked on water, especially those that contain a large amount of fiber. Drink strong black tea, a decoction of chamomile, rose hips.

Food Poisoning Prevention

Earlier, we figured out how to treat food poisoning. Symptoms and first aid are also discussed in detail. Therefore, below we will introduce some useful rules that will help to avoid this unpleasant and fairly common problem.

1. Wash your hands before cooking, as well as during and after eating.
2. Use disposable kitchen towels sold in rolls.
3. Store food in containers specially designed for this purpose and learn to label them.
4. Do not freeze fish or meat several times.
5. Keep garbage where the child cannot get it.
6. Keep track of expiration dates of products.
7. Before you buy canned food, pay attention to the tightness of their packaging.
8. Do not buy products that make you doubt, for example, the incomprehensible or unusual smell of meat, fish, eggs.
9. Thoroughly fry and boil meat, fish, eggs.
10. If you have wounds, abrasions, scratches on your hands, then use gloves or seal them with adhesive plaster when cooking.
11. Change sponges for washing dishes regularly , because they are the strongest bacteria stores.
12. Teach yourself and your child to wash their hands regularly before eating, after a walk, after going to the toilet.
13. Wash dishes with soap and water and do not use store detergents.
14. Keep your kitchen utensils clean.

What should not be done with food poisoning?

1. Putting a heating pad on the abdomen.
2. Drink fixing drugs for diarrhea.
3. Put an enema on pregnant women, children, the elderly with diarrhea.
4. Drink milk or water with gas.
5. In no case do not induce vomiting if:

• unconscious person;
• there is confidence that a person was poisoned with alkali, kerosene, gasoline or acid.

If all of the above recommendations have been followed, then the likelihood that you will quickly cure food poisoning is quite high. Do not forget that only a doctor should evaluate the severity of poisoning, because timely medical assistance will help to avoid serious health problems. It should be remembered that at the first symptomatic manifestations of poisoning in children and the elderly, you should consult a doctor.