26 replies to this topic

[rxpharm]

Having read a few recent trip reports of people falling ill during their trips, I would like to post a few tips on how to avoid falling ill. It would be great if others posted their tips as well.

1) avoid the temptation to binge drink while in LOS. This tends to weaken your immune system, plus affects your judgment so you may end up doing risky things that will get you sick directly.

2) if you like to eat from the sidewalk carts - observe their sanitary procedures - do they wash their hands, wear gloves, use clean water to wash their plates, utensils. Do they store their goods properly, on ice, covered to reduce exposure to flies, etc.

3) this may sound silly, but it can be beneficial. Eat yogurt that has a high amount of probiotic bacteria in it. If you can keep the count of "friendly" bacteria high in your GI tract, it will be more difficult for the infectious bacteria to affect you and cause "Bangkok belly". 2 or 3 cups of this daily should help. At 14 Baht each from 7/11 an inexpensive way to keep healthy.

4) if you do fall prey to "Bangkok belly" you can go to any Thai pharmacy and pick up antibiotics. A good combination would be ciprofloxacin 500 mg tablets twice daily and metronidazole 500mg tablets three times daily for 7-10 days. Don't drink alcohol while taking metronidazole as it will make you quite ill due to an interaction. Azithromycin is also a good choice instead of ciprofloxacin, but use it in combination with metronidazole as it will cover a broader range of infectious bacteria.

5) A link to my earlier post: Clean AC filters & reduce snifles, coughs & colds

[Rossco]

As usual very sensible advice.

I was quite ill last year and thought it food poisoning. It was Gardia lambria a water born parasite. It could have been from a chipped glass, unclean vegetables or crackery/cutlery.

It is an unpleasant parasite that makes you quite ill.

I have a question. Friends come here to visit and are paranoid about even using tap water to brush their teeth. I would not drink the tap water but was told a small amount (maybe ingested when brushing teeth) may build up a resistance to local bugs. Any truth in that?

[Hoot]

It was Gardia lambria a water born parasite

It could have been from a chipped glass, unclean vegetables or crackery/cutlery.

Is crackery the art of having your tongue up a Ladyboy's bum...

Not that any us would do something like that

I joke...but it is another method of transmission as well that LB enthusiasts should be aware of.

[aussieguy]

Hi Rossco...I sent you a PM...did you recieve it ?

[xyzzy]

3) this may sound silly, but it can be beneficial. Eat yogurt that has a high amount of probiotic bacteria in it. If you can keep the count of "friendly" bacteria high in your GI tract, it will be more difficult for the infectious bacteria to affect you and cause "Bangkok belly". 2 or 3 cups of this daily should help. At 14 Baht each from 7/11 an inexpensive way to keep healthy.

I take probiotic tablets or capsules with me to SE Asia. Acidophilus or some combination of probiotics. Available in the US most everywhere you can buy vitamins and supplements. However I don't really know how the bacteria count in the tablets compares to yogurt?? If I am coming off a stomach/GI illness I try and skip dairy products as they are hard to digest. Not sure if that might be an overreaction?? But since I have the tablets I just use them.

[aussieguy]

rhpharm....very informative post...just regarding the yoghurt you but at 7/11...any idea of the brand name ?...thnx...and ye, did I get a bad case of bkk belly last time I was there....

[rxpharm]

xyzzy - yes, if you're lactose intolerant, using the probiotic supplements is a good idea. If you do find using Activa yogurt causes bloating, gas, etc. you may be lactose intolerant. There are approximately 1 billion probiotic bacteria per serving of Activa (cup). A popular probiotic supplement called Swiss Lactobacillus Acidophilus contains about 2 billion bacteria per capsule, so approximately equal to 2 cups of Activa yogurt.

This is what it looks like in Thailand:

Rossco as for using tapwater to brush your teeth - in Bangkok, I do use the tapwater to brush my teeth, but will do a final rinse with bottle water. In Pattaya, I use bottled water to brush my teeth. I do notice my girlfriend uses tapwater wherever we visit in Thailand. As for the tapwater - presumably it has been treated and most harmful bacteria removed - however what happens between the water treatment plan and the final tap is open to question. The thought that a bit of tapwater will build immunity is likely not true.

Hoot's comment is spot on - rimming isn't exactly the safest thing to do unless you're absolutely sure of your and your partner's cleanliness.

PT, thanks for the vote of confidence - that medication is usually prescribed by dermatologists if the standard treatments don't work.

[deep118]

Eating Vitamin C should help for the immune system as I was told. Currently I am taking Redoxon. My children gotten the flu 3 weeks ago and I didn't get from them.. i think it works.

[redstone]

In Thailand do they sell Zithromax or other drugs that treat Chlamydia. Living in China they do not have Zithromax or things that treat Chlamydia. Almost every thing else they have and you can justbuy. Chlamydia is so easy to get and a pain to get rid of unless you take the right pills. thanks

[rxpharm]

redstone, the alternative antibiotic I mentioned in my first post azithromycin as an alternative is the generic name for Zithromax - so yes, it is available.

You should confirm you actually have a chlamdyia infection before using it though. Excessive use of antibiotics can lead to resistant bacterial infections.