Gastro

[Mira O'Halloran]

So mum brought viral gastro home with her... Luckily (thanks to The Cherokee Herbal) it had a section on gastro. The one thing on the list that I hadn't tried (and knew was hard to find, and can be expensive) was Goldenseal.

So for 525mg of just Goldenseal it was $50 a bottle for about 30 or 60 pills. Or 500mg of Goldenseal with Cat's claw, olive leaf, thyme, and wild indigo (baptisia) for half the price.

Guess which one I went with?

So the dose was 3-4 a day, and I took 2 the day before I got sick, and then when I could keep them down, the 4 a day till I was better. It lessened the symptoms and helped to work the virus out of my system.

Hope this helps, and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

[Rook]

You've had this before, more than once, in the time I've known you. Is it just a natural prediliction to the affliction, or is there something in your diet or lifestyle that may make you more prone to getting Gastro? I know you've changed location, so perhaps that's not it.

Obviously you're getting good at treating it, but do you have any plans on how to prevent it?

[Mira O'Halloran]

Okay, let me break this down: there are two groups of of Gastro: the viral and the bacterial.

The difference? The viral type lasts between 36 and 96 hours, often 48 hours. It dies off.

The bacterial type lasts till treatment or host death.

As far as I know, there is no way to avoid the viral. However, as a bonus, you're immune to that strain from recovery onwards. (Matt's had viral Gastro about 10 times - says it's easy for him to catch, but this time, mum brought it home, I caught it, but Matt didn't - he is immune to the type I recently caught)

The bacterial type is the dangerous type. It's generally caused by improperly cooked food, or picking up the gastro bacteria directly from an infected person. Antibiotics or herbal antibiotics (such as raw unprocessed honey, goldenseal and garlic, etc)

Now to me. I didn't catch my first bout of gastro till I was nearly 20 - most people I know have caught it at least twice by the time they leave school. The first lot was viral gastro. It was over in 2 days. I could have picked it up from any one of the 2000 or so people I'd had contact with in the prior week.
The second lot was bacterial (february last year). I know where I caught it from too... we ran out of our usual free range eggs, so we popped over the road to the small store where they only had cage eggs. Out of all the eggs that were there, I had to get the 1 egg in 30,000 eggs (that statistic is for cage eggs, not free range) that would be contaminated with salmonella...
And the third lot was again, viral, and my mother brought it home with her from her church friends son.

In regards to preventing it:
Support a healthy immune system (through yoghurt, garlic, goldenseal), avoid factory farmed meats and by products or cook them thoroughly, keep good hygiene habits, and in the event of a person you live with developing gastro be a complete nazi with hygiene, and spray down all surfaces (such as toilet seats, flush buttons, taps and door handles and light switches) with something like tea tree/eucalyptus oil spray (99% oil, 1% propellant) or vodka or white rum with various oils (ginger, tea tree, cinnamon bark, cinnamon leaf, eucalyptus, lemon, orange, lime) in a spray bottle.

Any more questions?

[Rook]

How do you tell the difference between viral and bacterial, despite duration? Is there no way to know until you've had it for a week?

[Mira O'Halloran]

That's my understanding - The doctor that came to see me the first night of BG (about 12 hours after first symptoms) Told me that it's VG, and should all be over within three days. That same doctor saw me again on day 4, and told me that I'd need to get myself to a medical facility that can test for BG, because they'd need to find out which strain so they could treat it properly. It took me about three days to figure where to go from there (Garlic) and asked a friend to pick some up for me, she got it to me on day 8, I decided to nuke my system, and took about 20 1000mg capsules of garlic that evening, then 5 more on day 9, and it was all out of my system that night.
I suppose you could ask them to test it the day you come down with it, but if it's VG, then it's a waste of their time, and your time and money.

[Rook]

Wow, a cure for vampires and indigestion!

And lots of great info. I'm at a loss for anymore questions at the moment. I suppose that's a good thing, as you've likely covered most of it.

[Mira O'Halloran]

Thank you for that laugh, both Matt and I needed it.

If you think of anymore questions, you know where to find me!