Travelers Diarrhea Ruined Your Vacation?
Do You Treat It Or Do You Wait?

Travelers diarrhea.

Are you worried about travelers diarrhea?

Tips On How To Avoid And/Or Manage The Symptoms Of Watery Diarrhea.

Nasty surprise on your trip??? Symptom of watery diarrhea... What to do?

Get your great tips for traveling without the headache.

You are on the vacation of your dreams and you really need to go…Serious cramps, chills, nausea, vomiting and other gastro-intestinal symptoms...

Traveler's diarrhea symptoms usually occur in the first week of travel but in some cases they take longer.

If you are a Crohn's patient or a patient with any type of gastrointestinal disorder the symptoms of Traveler's diarrhea may feel more intense.

Travelers diarrhea (TD) arrives by a surprise...an unpleasant one.

The symptoms usually occur abruptly. In some cases they resolve on their own without any medications.

There is a higher risk to develop TD when traveling to the under developed parts of Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Travelers diarrhea is not potentially life-threatening. It will not become a chronic condition.

Travelers diarrhea doesn't just hit you in the summer. It can happen anytime.

Some patients are at higher risk of developing Travelers diarrhea.

Those include immunosuppressed patients. Also that includes patients taking antacids and H-2 blockers like Zantac, Pepcid, and others, young adults, diabetes patients and patients with inflammatory bowel disease like Crohns disease and Ulcerative colitis.

The cause for this illness is a bacterial infection. Most of the time Travelers diarrhea is caused by bacteria called E.coli ( Escherichia coli). Sometimes viral or parasitic agents may be the cause for TD as well. The most common source of infection is fecally contaminated food or water.

Diarrhea Medicine:

Diarrhea medications used for Travelers diarrhea are Pepto-Bismol, Imodium, Kaopectate and other over-the-counter drugs.

Xifaxan is a prescription diarrhea medicine for Traveler's diarrhea that acts as a local antibiotic and eradicates E-coli.

Pepto-bismol was used for years for upset stomach and diarrhea. It’s main(active) ingredient is bismuth subsalicylate and it acts as a local anti-microbial.

After taking Pepto-bismol you can expect to have black, tarry stools and dark tongue and sometimes ringing in the ears. It’s moderately effective for Travelers diarrhea and often soothing to the intestinal mucosa. But, most likely you would need to take multiple doses for it to work.

Take it exactly as directed by the manufacturer.

Don’t overdose and don’t give it to children of 12 years or younger because of the risk of developing Reye’s syndrome. Use with caution in teenagers for the same reason. Don’t take it if you are allergic to aspirin or pregnant.

Kaopectate used to have an ingredient that acted as a “plug” to stop diarrhea. But now its active ingredient is exactly the same as Pepto-Bismol.

Lots of over-the-counter medications change their ingredients all the time. Always read the labels! Because when something worked for you for many years and all of a sudden stopped working, usually means that the company may have changed the active ingredient.

Another good and more natural product that works for Traveler's diarrhea and acute abdominal pain due to gas pain is not very advertised. To learn more about it, click on Activated Charcoal.

Remember, taking Imodium may work faster than other medications, but it may slow down the process of recovery. To learn more about it, click on Imodium.

Acute abdominal pain is very common in Traveler's diarrhea. Sometimes your doctor can prescribe Bentyl for it. The generic name for Bentyl is dicyclomine and it can work well here. The common side effects may be drowsinees and dry mouth.

Remedies For Diarrhea - Things To Stop Or Prevent Traveler's Diarrhea:

Things To Do To Manage The Symptoms Of Watery Diarrhea:

• Avoid eating raw foods, fruits, vegetables at your travel destination.


• Avoid drinking tap water or drink with ice made from tap water.


• Pack lots of antibacterial hand sanitizers with you to prevent bacterial contamination. Make sure that the active ingredient of the gel is ethyl alcohol and not others. Other ingredients may not be as effective nor as safe. Try getting more natural brands of these gels like Burt’s Bees.


• Pack a few packages of antibacterial wipes with you. Also, look for ethyl alcohol as the main ingredient. Ethyl alcohol needs to be at least 60% to be effective in this case.


• Pack your choice of antidiarrheal medication like Pepto-bismol, Kaopectate, or prescription Xifaxan with you.


• Pack a tube of Vaseline or organic moisturizing cream to apply to rectal area if it gets sore (after going to the bathroom many times).


• You can pack a product that works as an adsorbent aid for intestinal detoxification called Bentonite Magma.


• Ask for peppermint or cammomile tea and saltine crackers at your hotel. They are soothing for for acute abdominal pain.


• DRINK plenty of fluids (like spring water or filtered water from bottles) to replenish your electrolytes.


• Contact a doctor because you may need a prescription if Travelers diarrhea doesn’t resolve within 24-48 hours and/or you have a fever.


• Don’t take medications to prevent TD because it may cause bacterial or fungal overgrowth unless recommended by your doctor.

-You can Google "Traveler's Health and CDC" for more information. It will give you updated information on places and vaccinations.

I hope you have a pleasant vacation without unpleasant surprises!

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