Effective treatment of food poisoning at home. How to Treat Food Poisoning: First Aid

2024 Author: Curtis Blomfield | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-09 08:18

A huge number of people face poisoning every day and, unfortunately, nothing can be done about such horrific statistics. This kind of problem is understandable, because the modern world is full of a variety of products that contain dyes, chemicals, preservatives, and sometimes poisons. Poisoning is especially relevant in the summer, when the air temperature is quite high. Treatment in this case does not require delay, 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, one should understand the cases in which it occurs. Food poisoning occurs when the poison enters the body with poisoned, stale or low-quality food. Also, as usual in our modern world, manyunscrupulous manufacturers add prohibited substances to their products and do not indicate them on the packaging in the “product composition” column. Therefore, below we will take a closer look at what food poisoning is (symptoms and treatment, types, classification), and also figure out in which cases urgent medical care is required?

Symptoms of food poisoning

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

The most common causes of this disease

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

These are the most common causes of food poisoning.

What to do, symptoms and home treatment?

First symptoms occur within 48 hours of eating the poisoned foods.

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

First aid

1. Clean the stomach. The first thing to do is induce vomiting. To do this, press on the root of the tongue. It's better to do it with your fingerhands, but with a clean teaspoon. If the natural urge is not enough, drink a liter of water at room temperature to wash the stomach. You can also prepare a soda solution or a manganese solution. 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 if the manganese crystals are not sufficiently dissolved, 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 it is necessary to induce vomiting until the masses become transparent. If it is not possible to prepare solutions, for example, due to poor he alth, you can drink ordinary water at room temperature without gas. It will not only cleanse the stomach, but also replace the lost fluid.



2. Replenishment of lost fluid. After the stomach is cleansed, you should provide the body with plenty of fluids. Without this, the treatment of poisoning at home will be ineffective. You should drink often, but in small portions, so as not to provoke distension of the stomach. Milk or juices should not be consumed in this case, as they can accelerate the development of bacteria. As a drink, weak tea is the best option. It should be remembered that sugar should not be added to the consumed liquid. Also, to replenish water losses through drinking, oralrehydration. These are medicines that contain potassium, sodium, chlorine and other equally useful substances that are selected in the right concentrations and proportions. Pharmacy names of drugs - "Regidron", "Maratonik", "Orasan", "Reosolan", "Gastrolit", "Citraglucosolan". These products are usually in powder form and diluted in water.
3. Some self-treat food poisoning at home using cleansing enemas. Opinions differ about this, because their use or the use of drugs that have a fixing effect can further aggravate the situation. Therefore, such methods of treatment should be agreed with the doctor.
4. If after the above actions there is an improvement, you can take activated charcoal, "Smecta", "Atoxil", "Enterosgel". These drugs adsorb all poisons, toxins and quickly remove them from the body.
5. Rest. Give your body a rest on the first day of food poisoning. Limit your diet, or rather starve, and stick to a strict diet for 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 look at what is food poisoning in children, home treatment, emergency care.

Children

If you are interested in the question of how to cure food poisoning at home,children, then you need to be extremely careful. It should be remembered that any manifestations of poisoning in children should be a reason to see a doctor.

Before the doctor comes, help the baby.

Ambulance

1. If half an hour after eating food, the first symptoms of poisoning appear, but there is no vomiting, call her. To do this:

   - Let your baby drink 1-2 glasses of water. After that, hold it firmly with one hand, and with the other - insert two fingers, as deep as possible into the mouth and press on the root of the tongue. If you don't vomit after this, wiggle your fingers.

   - Instead of fingers, you can use a spoon.

   - Despite the baby's resistance, attempts to induce vomiting must be made without fail.

2. Don't feed the baby. Treatment of poisoning at home will be effective if the body at this time has a rest from food. Never force your baby to eat.

3. 

   Actively water your 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 distension of the stomach, it is more expedient in this case to drink a few sips to the child 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 sugary drinks;

   - bygive the baby an oral rehydration solution;

   - optimal drinks can be tea, mineral water without gas, compotes;

   - if the child refuses to drink what you give him, then let him drink what what he wants (juices and sweet drinks dilute as much as possible with water).

4. Give the baby activated charcoal or "Smecta". About 1 g of coal should fall on 1 kg of a child's weight. That is, for 15 kg you should give 15 g of the drug. This is 30 tablets. Of course, this may not be possible due to such a large number. Therefore, give as much as the child can eat. And remember, activated charcoal is almost impossible to overdose.
5. If you are concerned 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. Child is under 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 more family members.

When is it necessary to call an ambulance immediately?

1. Child cannot drink water due to profuse and persistent 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. Baby has difficulty swallowing.
6. Baby is slurring.
7. Skin and mucous membranesturned yellow.
8. Blood in vomit and feces.
9. No urination for more than 6 hours.
10. There was weakness in the muscles.

Diet after poisoning

Treating food poisoning at home should be accompanied by diet. You can not eat fatty and spicy foods. You should limit the consumption of dairy products. Alcohol and smoking should also be avoided for a long time. Meat, vegetables and fish should be steamed. Eat small meals every 2-3 hours. The diet should include cereals boiled in water, especially those that contain a large amount of fiber in their composition. Drink strong black tea, decoction of chamomile, wild rose.

Prevention of food poisoning

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

1. Wash your hands before preparing food, during and after eating.
2. Use disposable kitchen towels sold in rolls.
3. Store food in designated containers and learn to label them.



4. Don't freeze fish or meat multiple times.
5. Keep trash where children can't reach it.
6. Keep track of product expiration dates.
7. Before purchasing canned food, pay attention to the tightness of their packaging.
8. Do not buy products that cause you doubts, for example, an incomprehensible or unusual smell of meat, fish, eggs.
9. Fry and boil meat, fish, eggs thoroughly.
10. If there are wounds, abrasions, scratches on the hands, use gloves or stick them with adhesive tape when cooking.
11. Regularly change dishwashing sponges, because they are the strongest accumulators of bacteria.
12. Teach yourself and your child to wash their hands regularly before eating, after walking, after going to the toilet.
13. Wash dishes with soapy water and do not use store-bought detergents.
14. Keep your kitchen utensils clean.

What not to do with food poisoning?

1. Put a heating pad on the abdomen.
2. Drink fixatives for diarrhea.
3. Give an enema to pregnant women, children, the elderly with diarrhea.
4. Drink milk or sparkling water.
5. Never induce vomiting if:

• unconscious person;
• there is confidence that the person was poisoned by 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 assess the severity of poisoning, because timely medical assistance will help to avoid serious problems withhe alth. It should be remembered that at the first symptomatic manifestations of poisoning in children and the elderly, you should consult a doctor.