Cures For An Upset Stomach

There are many reasons to a diarrhea or an upset stomach but many of us has always mistaken that all stomach upset is due to food poisoning. The common symptoms are usually colic, wind, vomit and non-stop purging. Sometimes you may develop a fever and this sort of stomach pain is usually caused by a bacterial infection.

Gastroenteritis is the medical term for stomach upset. This is the medical jargon I learned from my GP's medical chit. This is better known as gastronomical/stomach stomach infection by the lay person. Your mother could have told you that your stomach upset could be due to that assam laksa, nasi lemak or fierce curry you ate in the morning. This is not always true unless the food was not prepared in a hygienic manner. The food contaminated with germs(pathogen) is always the cause food poisoning. The reason that our all-time-favorites nasi lemak may result in an upset stomach is because of its main ingredient-chilly, which by nature is an effective bowel stimulant. Some people will experience loose stool if they have an oversensitive stomach. Sometimes a stomach upset may be due to an inflamed gut or gall bladder. To tell whether it is due to purely food poisoning or otherwise, the stool usually will reveal the truth.

When the stool is loose, watery and yellowish in colour, this may be a symptom of food poisoning. As the saying goes-let nature takes its course. In fact this is how our body react to evade a more serios infection. Usually our system is able to take care of mild bacteria infection by purging out all the unwanted substances. Most of the times your GP will prescribe antibiotics to treat stomach infection. Somehow, the purging is not something that an antibiotics can stop immediately. I always feel that it is rather better for nature to take its course, as most of the times, antibiotics actually do more harms than good. Being an "anti-antibiotic" myself, I always prefer to resort to natural therapy such as the Traditional Chinese Medicine or Aryuverdic/Herbal Treatment for all types of infection. This also applies to the treatment of a diarrhea.

I have this wonderful family tip that my dad has passed it on to us. With my "accumulated years of experience", it has proven to be a very effective remedy to cure diarrhea. This concoction taste so nice that I swear you will surely have no problem in pestering your 3-year old to consume it. It is also very cheap and is easily available anywhere, anytime of the day (in 7eleven also got). The name for this magical concoction is "Coke"!! Don't drop your jaw, "Coke it is"!

When you encounter the first sign of diarrhea, i.e. non-stop purging, you will just need to drink this concoction by mixing a small pinch of salt in it (try to avoid drinking with ice please). The reason for the salt to be added is to put back some of the ions & trace minerals you lose during purging/vomiting as these are essential in bringing your body fluid back to the original balance. To prevent a dehydration, so to speak.

When pouring the soft drink from the can, it is advisable to tilt the can/bottle a bit to get rid of the gas(bubbles). In fact the salt will also help to get rid of the bubbles so that the gas it contains will not bloat our stomach causing "windy" after drinking it.

Always remember to sip the drink slowly. Believe you or not, the purging will stop after 1-2 hours and the stomach upset will be miraculously cured.

Another type of stomach upset which i have experienced before is a "gall bladder inflammation". I supposed it was due to over-indulgence in oily food. My GP again put in the same terminology "Gastroentrisis" in the medical chit. But I believe this is a more acute condition as I was down for a week.

This sort of infection is a more severe one and can be differentiated easily from the ordinary stomach upset. The stool initially is yellowing in colour and it gradually turns to whitish and sud-like subsequently. Usually the sign will start with an indigestion. If it is not settled down at this stage, all the symptoms such as fever, vomit and purging will start to manisfest within 1 to 2 days' time and it will last as long as no treatment is given. The feverish condition indicated a bacteria infection. To cure this type of purging, you can still drink some coke. However, accute gastroenteritis is not as simple as a can of coke can cure. Normally there will be pain near the upper stomach area. At times you can't tell where the pain is coming from as the whole stomach seems to be bloated and with burning sensation. Application of some medicated oil will mitigate the pain slightly.

One important point to note for this type of stomach upset is that you must stop completely any intake of food. Just drink fresh apple juice diluted with warm water. You can also conveniently substitute fresh apple juice with 100% pure apple juice from any organic stall. This is similar to a "juice fast".

Bear in mind that any food intake will usually be causing the purging again. So it is better to fast for 1-2 , but continue to drink the apple juice. Dont' worry, usually you will not have any appetite during this period as this is the natural way your body tend to react by making you lose the interest to makan to prevent further interruption to the healing process.

On the third day of the juice fast, if you regain your appetite, you may start with semi-solid food such as plain porridge. You may still purge a little bit until your system is completely healed, than the purging will stop. Don't be surprise when you notice that your stool turn to green colour(you are not an alien, alien got green blood and green stool also ka?). This is pretty normal as it is caused by the excretion of high concentration of bile juice (not apple juice). It becomes concentrated due to bile juice was not put in use for last 2 days (non-excreted during due to non-consumption of any oily food). This green stool thing will start when you start with food that contain some oil. But it will get back to normal after a day. If the stool colour is black, then it is advisable you get yourself admitted to do a endoscopy or stomach scan to rule out any unknown internal bleeding.

The apple juice fast method is also used by some people to get rid of gall stone. They will break the juice fast by consuming the extra virgin olive oil on the 3rd day morning (this method will be shared in a separate post).

The juice fast method is merely a suggestion for a mild gall bladder problem. If you experience an acute pain from the back, wait no more, as you may be suffering from a more sophisticated gall bladder or stomach (e.g. gall stone or appendicitis). You should quickly consult a specialist or get yourself admitted to avoid any further complication or the consequence is unwarranted!

Caution: Banaena is not a sinseh(practitioner of Chinese Medicine) nor ayuverdic practitioner. The above is merely a sharing by Banaena based on her personal experience. Please do not hold her liable for any side effect should you decide to experiment the methods of the natural treatment discussed above.