According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately one in six Americans will get food poisoning at some point this year. Based on these numbers, it’s no surprise that any remedy to cure food poisoning fast is consistently in demand.
If you’re looking for a quick and effective way to get rid of your food poisoning symptoms, you’ve come to the right place. Keep reading to discover how to recognize the signs of food poisoning and how to recover from the sickness as quickly and comfortably as possible.
What Is Food Poisoning?
Food poisoning, also known as foodborne illness, is a result of eating contaminated food. The most common food contaminants are infectious organisms, such as bacteria, parasites, viruses and their toxins. These infectious organisms and their toxins can taint food at any point during its processing or production, as well as whenever you incorrectly handle or cook food in your own kitchen.
Most often, undercooked meat and improperly handled produce are to blame for cases of food poisoning. Fortunately, most food poisoning cases only last for a couple of days and don’t require serious medical attention.
Signs and Symptoms of Food Poisoning
Food poisoning symptoms come on quickly — typically within hours of eating a contaminated piece of food. Although the exact effects of food poisoning may vary depending on the source of contamination, most types of food poisoning share similar symptoms.
Pay attention to these signs of food poisoning:
- Vomiting
- Watery or bloody diarrhea
- Nausea
- Fever
- Abdominal cramps and pains
If you experience any of the symptoms listed above, think back over what you ate most recently. Consider whether you consumed any meat, dairy, eggs, fruits, vegetables or any other food product that may not have been cooked, cleaned or handled properly. If your food history and symptoms match up, you most likely have a case of food poisoning.
How to Recover From Food Poisoning
Once you’ve determined you have food poisoning, you can start figuring out how to treat the illness. In most cases of food poisoning, you won’t be able to do much about the sickness and you’ll naturally start feeling better within a matter of days. During this time, you should do your best to rest, relax and drink plenty of fluids to help your body recover.
As long as your food poisoning side effects are not severe, you should be able to simply monitor your symptoms and allow nature to run its course. In fact, you’ll want to avoid taking any over-the-counter medications for diarrhea because the diarrhea is helping to clear your system of whatever is making you sick. If your food poisoning is from a virus, taking medication won’t help you either.
However, more serious cases of food poisoning may require professional medical attention and specific prescriptions or antibiotics to prevent any further complications. Contact your doctor if your vomiting or diarrhea persists for more than three days, you have an exceptionally high fever or you experience any weakness or tingling in your arms.
Home Remedies From Food Poisoning
As you’re waiting for your food poisoning to subside, you can take particular measures to mitigate your pain and symptoms. Doing whatever you can to keep your food poisoning symptoms in check will also boost your immune system and promote recovery.
Most importantly, your main job will be drinking plenty of fluids. Taking in fluids throughout the day will help prevent dehydration, which can be a side effect of prolonged diarrhea or vomiting. Staying hydrated is key to overcoming food poisoning because your body needs enough fluids to function properly and heal itself.
Along with drinking fluids, follow these at-home tips to help your body fight off food poisoning:
- Allow your stomach to calm down: After experiencing the first effects of food poisoning, stop eating for a few hours to let your stomach settle down.
- Diversify your fluids: Drink plenty of water, broth, and electrolytes to prevent dehydration. Electrolytes are minerals like potassium and sodium that help regulate how much water is in your body and replace the minerals you lose from diarrhea and vomiting.
- Drink ginger tea: Drinking ginger tea can help relieve some food poisoning symptoms due to its soothing properties.
- Get plenty of rest: Make sure you give your body the rest it needs to recover.
- Ease back into eating: Once you feel up to it, start snacking on small amounts of bland, nonfatty foods like crackers, toast, cereal, oatmeal, and rice.
- Avoid potentially irritating foods: Stay away from dairy, fatty, and spicy foods because they can aggravate and worsen certain food poisoning symptoms. In addition, avoid caffeine, alcohol, and fizzy and bubbly drinks, which will also make your symptoms worse.
- Take a shower: Showering can help cleanse your body of unhealthy bacteria due to food poisoning.
Treat Food Poisoning Fast With IV Therapy
The fastest way to replace lost fluids and remedy dehydration due to food poisoning is intravenous (IV) therapy. IV therapy delivers fluids directly to the bloodstream so your body can absorb them more quickly. In some cases, you may experience the positive effects of IV therapy almost immediately.
Specifically, an IV package designed for food poisoning will contain certain vitamins, minerals and nutrients to alleviate food poisoning symptoms. The key ingredients of a food poisoning IV package include:
- IV fluid: IV fluid helps rehydrate the body as quickly as possible so the immune system can perform at its best. Receiving fluids via IV therapy is a great option for a food poisoning patient because drinking something is usually not appealing to anyone with nausea.
- Vitamin B complex: B vitamins are crucial for proper immune system function and energy levels. Specifically, vitamin B6 helps your immune cells fend off infection.
- Vitamin B12: Another potent B vitamin, called vitamin B12, helps increase the number of immune system cells within the body, which aids in raising your innate and adaptive immunity.
- Vitamin C: Vitamin C also supports the functions of both innate and adaptive immunity. Upping your vitamin C intake will decrease your risk of developing an infection by bolstering your immune system.
- Glutathione: This powerhouse of a molecule is a strong anti-inflammatory agent that helps treat aches and pains while preventing future sicknesses.
- Zinc: This important mineral helps your immune cells function at their best so you can recover more quickly and experience less severe symptoms.
- Anti-nausea and vomiting medicine: If your food poisoning is causing queasiness and vomiting, this medicine will help relieve these symptoms by blocking the transmission of the signals in the nervous system that lead to an upset stomach.
- Anti-heartburn and reflux medicine: If excessive vomiting from food poisoning has made your esophagus burn, this medicine can provide relief by temporarily decreasing the amount of acid secreted in your stomach.
- Anti-inflammatory, headache, pain, and fever medicine: Whether you’re experiencing a headache, fever or general aches and pains, this medicine will have you feeling better quickly by reducing the amount of inflammation in your body.
By combining all of these effective ingredients, a food poisoning IV package can help you feel more like yourself in no time. Depending on your needs and symptoms, you can also customize your IV therapy package to include other nutrients or medications you might benefit from.
Recover From Food Poisoning Faster With IV Therapy From Mobile IV Medics
If you’ve got a bad case of food poisoning, you can relieve your symptoms fast with IV therapy from Mobile IV Medics in California, Florida, Texas, Nevada and Georgia. We understand that the last thing you want to do is drag yourself to a doctor’s appointment when you have food poisoning, which is why our registered nurses come directly to your home to administer your IV.
Book an appointment with us at Mobile IV Medics now to receive fast and effective IV therapy for food poisoning within the hour.
Additional Resources & Related Articles:
- Fast Stomach Flu Treatment
- How to Properly Rehydrate After Diarrhea or Vomiting
- What Is IV Therapy?
- Food Poisoning IV Drip Treatment
Resources:
- https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/cdc-and-food-safety.html
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/food-poisoning/symptoms-causes/syc-20356230
- https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/what-to-eat-after-food-poisoning
- https://www.oftlaw.com/blog/can-i-take-over-the-counter-medications-for-food-poisoning
- https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/remedies-for-food-poisoning
About the author
Brad Wenderoth, Pharm.D.
Brad Wenderoth, Pharm.D. is a licensed pharmacist and co-owner of Mobile IV Medics. With over 16 years of healthcare experience, Brad is bringing his expertise and passion for patient care to the Mobile IV Medics patient population. Prior to Mobile IV Medics, Brad worked in varying areas including both direct patient care and hospital leadership at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, nationwide health system pharmacy consulting for Comprehensive Pharmacy Services (CPS), and professor of pharmacy at the USC School of Pharmacy. He holds a doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Arizona, a pharmacy practice residency from USC, and a lean six sigma green belt from Johns Hopkins.
