Like Velocity said, honey - best in its rawest form - will kill bacteria not just in the stomach, like modern drugs do, but all the way through the intestinal tract. Honey has been known as a natural bacteria killer/antiseptic from ancient Egypt to the present.
Good, sensible advice. Thanks.
On the fluids thing - I’ve always found that, if I have a condition that means I am guaranteed to be throwing up (e.g. norovirus), it helps to drink water when I can - not because it prevents the vomiting, but because it seems to make it a less strenuous and damaging event when it does happen.
Is there any sense to that? I can see that there could be a counterargument that dry retching is safer for the airway.
As long as the substance has been [del]brought up[/del] mentioned, how do you activate charcoal? I presumre it doesn’t have a switch…
Honey kills germs only when it’s undiluted. The way it kills germs is simply by being such a strong solution (of sugar, of course*) that most microorganisms’ cell membranes can’t keep them from being dried out, like a slug that’s sprinkled with salt. Mix it with anything else, though, like the rest of the contents of your stomach, and it not only ceases to be antibacterial, but it actually becomes a very good breeding ground for nearly everything (again, because of the sugar).
Meanwhile, even if it did kill germs, that wouldn’t necessarily help with food poisoning. Many types of food poisoning, including the worst ones, aren’t caused by bacteria themselves, but by the toxins the bacteria produce. Even if you kill off the bacteria, the toxins remain, and can still make you sick or kill you.
*Specifically, the sugars in honey are mostly glucose and fructose. Even more specifically, they’re glucose and fructose in the same proportions as are found in high-fructose corn syrup. That’s right, honey, which is touted as being such a wonderful miracle food, is almost identical to the evil HFCS.
Already mentioned, it’s homeopatic and supposed to work against vomiting and the description is hilarious.
Yeah, enjoy this useless sugar pill every day!
I take Immodium and Pepto** to combat the symptoms;** at the first tinge of discomfort – when you see the handwriting on the wall – dose up.
Qadgop, under what circumstances would throwing up the suspicious food item make things worse? Whatever pathogen it has, less of it is better, right? As long as you don’t inhale the vomit or something. I suppose that’s why it’s no longer the recommended treatment - because of the risk of aspirating vomit exceeds the risk of dying from whatever the bad food contains?
Vomiting is not a benign process. There are significant risks, which go up exponentially as the severity of the vomiting increases. Chief among them are Mallory Weiss tears, rips in the esophagus from the force of hurling. These can hemorrhage catastrophically.
Severe vomiting also increases intracranial pressure, and can precipitate strokes. It elevates blood pressure which can precipitate those same strokes plus heart attacks and arrhythmias.
Chronic vomiting dissolves teeth, disturbs the blood electrolytes, and causes esophageal erosions and inflammation.
To make yourself vomit when there’s no demand from the body to do so, nor a clear, obvious need (need such as the acute ingestion of a known poison) generally is more likely to damage one’s health than to save it.
And vomiting some things like caustic agents (acids, alkalis) often causes more damage on the way back up. These substances should be diluted with the right medications/substances, and this is better done in an emergency room setting.
And one cannot possibly safely ingest enough honey to kill bacteria in the gut. Besides, most causes of food poisonings are the toxins, not the bacteria which occasionally produce the toxins. DO NOT INGEST HONEY to try to conteract poisoning. You’ll only run the risk of hyperglycemia and hyperosmolar state.
Basically, activated charcoal (activated carbon) is a highly porous material. The microscopic pores provide a huge amount of surface area where toxins and contaminants can stick to. If I understand correctly, it is made by burning off everything but carbon (which leaves behind the pores) then oxidizing the carbon.
It’s easier to vomit up a neutral substance like water than it is to dry heave. And it’s MUCH more pleasant to bring up a little bile in a lot of water than it is to bring up nothing but bile.
If you’re gonna puke, go ahead and drink water. Unless you have significant airway problems to start with. Then proceed with caution.
And vomiting is an even worse idea for us emetophobics out there… I haven’t thrown up in over fifteen years, because every time I get nauseous, I have a panic reaction and just sort of focus all my will on not throwing up.
That’s what I thought/hoped - thanks for the info.
Even my whatever?
If the public health authorities are tainting your food, I would not contact them. I would go up a level in the chain of command.
