What About Food Poisoning After SHTF?

Am I the only one who feels like a post disaster/SHTF situation may result in more cases of food poisoning? Unless you are running on solar energy or have some sort of generator set up, refrigeration probably isn't going to be something that you have access too. While there are make-shift fridges like the clay pot ones mentioned in a past post, they still won't work as well as the ones we have today. With foods being a precious necessity, I can only think that some people will have a hard time throwing things out if they think it's just starting to go bad, so maybe the foods that are a bit iffy will still be consumed with fingers crossed that no one gets sick. But what if you do? Food poisoning is nothing to play around with. I've asked a little over a handful of people what their take on this was, and even though I consider everyone that I asked to be better seasoned preppers than myself, they all said they hadn't even thought about it. I know that abdominal cramps, diarrhea, dizziness, headache, nausea, and vomiting aren't something we like to sit around and think about, but since those are the symptoms of food poisoning I think they're pretty important to at least bring to your attention once. So let me tell you my take on it, and then let me share some natural remedies that could just help you get through it, especially during a time when hospitals aren't accessible.

I've had food poisoning twice. I went to the hospital the first time, I thought I had caught some disease and was a goner. The hospital ran a small series of tests, then gave me an IV to make sure I didn't get anymore dehydrated than I already was when I arrived, kept me over night, and I was given antibiotics.  The second time I got food poisoning, some 4 years later, I didn't go anywhere. It hit me so fast and so hard that I couldn't drive myself to the hospital, my mind and vision both seemed too blurry to function enough to even remember where my cell phone was at, my body hurt so bad that it felt like it was shutting down, and every movement resulted in vomiting or 'other' toilet uses. I had somehow managed to pull a pillow and blanket onto the bathroom floor, and couldn't do anything but wait for the person I was living with to get off work... it seemed like he'd never make it home. I thought for sure I was living the last hours of my life right there on that bathroom floor, just inches from the toilet.

When he did make it home and found me in the bathroom, I remember mumbling to him that I knew I had food poisoning, but couldn't get up to even go to the car. After who knows how long, he returned and told me he called him Mom (in Mexico), and she told him what to give me. Without asking anything, I assumed she had told him of some magic cure and I gathered enough strength to sit up. I drank the first cup he handed me, which instantly resulted in the worst and longest session of vomiting that I went through since I had gotten sick that day. The vomiting eventually turned to a few dry heaves, then it stopped. My headache and dizziness seemed to immediately ease up and I was able to sit up against the bathtub. I still felt horrible though. He handed me a raw clove of garlic, told me to chew it just enough to make it small enough to swallow, and then swallow it with the liquid in the second cup. The thought alone made me think I would get sick, but I did as he said. I waited a second thinking for sure I'd throw up again, but I didn't. After a couple minutes I felt remarkably better and was able to stand up, wash my hands and face, I drank a bottle of water and was able to keep it down, and I went to bed where I slept solid the rest of the night.

When I woke up the next morning I felt perfectly fine, aside from barely noticeable sore stomach muscles. He had already left for work by the time I woke up, so I decided to call his Mom and ask what all he had given me. Since her seemingly magical remedies helped me almost instantly, I thought it was well worth taking note of incase they were ever needed in the future. The first cup was nothing more than some sort of homemade Alka-Seltzer which contained the following ingredients:

1 cup of carbonated water

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 fresh lime squeezed into the cup

 



I'm not sure what it was in this Alka-Seltzer type concoction that made me throw up the way it did, but I'm guessing it worked because it got out whatever bit of spoiled food that was left in my stomach at the time I drank it. The thing he gave me after that was the garlic clove and the second cup. I asked her the story behind the garlic and she told me that it's used in some of the poor areas of Mexico as a natural antibiotic, and it helps strengthen the immune system. She said the second cup that he gave me to drink with the garlic was a tea that contained the following:

5 fresh basil leaves

tablespoon dried chamomile

2 cups of water

 

The tea was made by bringing the basil and chamomile to a boil in the water, letting it boil down to about half its original volume, straining the basil and chamomile out of the water, and drinking it without any sugar, honey, or other sweetener. The basil worked as a natural pain reliever, and the chamomile helped with digestion and cramps.

 

She said she had heard of these remedies used by numerous people in the past, was given them herself when she got food poisoning once, and that she had even used them on her children a couple times. She swore by these little concoctions and said she never had, and never would, turn to the hospitals or doctors for food poisoning when it can be so cheaply, simply, and quickly dealt with right at home.

 

Here's my comparison on it from my own experiences. When I went to the hospital with my first case of food poisoning, I remember feeling like it was a long process. I was sick for a few days, getting a bit better as each day passed. Even though I was fine after it all, going through the testing, the prick of the IV when my whole body already hurt, having to stay overnight in the hospital, and having to take antibiotics until they were gone wasn't pleasing. It only seemed to make me more uncomfortable. If I were to ever get food poisoning again, which I pray I don't since it's so horrible, I will definitely just go with the natural remedies that I was given on my second spell of it. The recovery time seemed almost immediate after I had taken the little remedies that were given to me, and I didn't feel any of the leftover type of weakness the next day like I did from the hospital's 'cure.' I can't tell you not to go to the hospital if you have, or think you have, food poisoning, I just want to acknowledge you of these natural remedies. If S really does HTF in the future like so many of us are preparing for, this is just another remedy to add to your list of things in the event that you can't get to a hospital.