Do’s and don’ts when food poisoning hits you while traveling the world

Food poisoning is not fun…

I got food poisoning twice this year: once in March in Peru when eating chicken and once in July in Cambodia when eating a chocolate brownie.

Both those times I was traveling with my boyfriend and he got sick too. Luckily we don’t get sick at the same time. Since his metabolism is slower than mine, it’s like his brain detects that there’s something wrong only after +24h. So, we can take care of each other 🙂

In Peru this is what we did and what you definitely shouldn’t do like EVER!

Don’t

• Take pills for diarrhea and nausea: you will have poo poo liquid and eventually vomit and that’s okay! Let your body get rid of what’s toxic for you. However if you keep poo poo liquid after 3 days you should definitely go see a doctor;
• Drink coffee and eat solid food: not good for your body;
• Travel: the best way to NOT recover is to keep sticking to your travel planning. Your body needs rest.

And in Cambodia this is what we did and what you should do 🙂

Do

• Rest: Don’t feel bad because you’re losing a couple of days of travel. Your body will thank you for allowing yourself to have a rest;
• Have a shower regularly: to cool your body down especially if you have fever;
• Stay close to a bathroom: yeah you got the picture, right? ^^
• Drink a lot of water and tea: since you poo poo liquid, your body gets dehydrated. So whenever you can, drink water and tea as much as you can. To avoid nausea, don’t force yourself. Just when you feel like it’s ok, have a sip then drink more if you can. However, if you cannot drink water, go see a doctor! It can be serious;
• Eat bread, rice, banana: Eat as much as you can to get your stomach used to food again. And once you feel better, you can slowly introduce more solid food.

While I’m writing this article, I’m on my 3rd day after my food poisoning trauma and I’m getting better and better 🙂

Our symptoms

The night from Sunday to Monday, I had stomach cramps, I vomited and I had poo poo liquid (I know, not sexy). And then the next day, I had a little fever and still poo poo liquid. Now it’s just poo poo ^^ Hopefully, everything will get back to normal tomorrow. I took no medication.

My boyfriend got the first symptoms only yesterday. He got high fever (he was delusional for hours!), muscle pain, he was cold although his body was super hot and of course he had (and still have) poo poo liquid. He had some stomach cramp last night but now he’s getting better. I gave him paracetamol for his fever.

Final words

I’m NOT a doctor.

So, if you think it’s serious, don’t wait to see a doctor.

Each individual is unique. You may not react like me or like my boyfriend. And as you can see, we didn’t even have the same symptoms and we didn’t get sick at the same time.

Take care of yourself <3