Have you ever had one of those
weeks that left you wondering what the heck hit you? Well I know what hit here.
Some nasty horrible tummy bug, usually called the flu. It started on Monday
night with little Mr. Man, my grandson, who is a year and a half old. Then my
husband with the cast iron immune system was down. Then Mr. Mans' mommy and
daddy both had it at once. All this time I was feeling pretty good and
fortunate to have escaped. You See, I usually get sick before everyone else.
Nope not this time, this time I got it after everyone else and twice as bad.
There is just something about the flu that makes you wish you were dead. Keep
in mind none of us have had the 'flu' in about 5 years. Vomiting, chills,
diarrhea, severe stomach ache, aching body, followed with headaches and
dehydration, it wasn't pretty and it smelled pretty bad too. It was an ugly
scene. Some Pepto could have made it a lot better.
Having given the last dose of
Pepto to Mr. Man’s daddy around Thanksgiving we found ourselves all out. Funny
or not so funny thing is we were out, our adult kids were all out, and to make
things worse our little town store was sold completely out too. I'm guessing we
weren't the only ones with the flu in these here parts. So I said no problem we
have Pepto chewable tablets in our preps right? Yes, err, umm, actually no,
could not find them. Now, that's a major problem. In the back up first aid kit
then.... uh maybe? Worth a shot. Yes! Triumph Imodium AD... wrong... EXPIRED
about 8 months ago.
My poor Mister was holding up
pretty well given his immense lack of sleep but I could have cried from
frustration at this point. I had given up on taking the natural route and was
looking for the Pepto after about 9 hours of almost non-stop diarrhea that had
been preceded by vomiting. I had a very bad stomach ache and I really needed a
chance to sleep and rehydrate a bit. We are a family that experiences tummy
issues of one sort or another semi-regularly. We manage as much of it as we can
with probiotics and other natural solutions but we always have Zantac and Pepto
in the house too. Although Zantac is the more regularly used product Pepto is
our secondary standby. We are rarely if ever out of Pepto because it's not the
first choice, no one likes it much really. Yet, Zantac doesn't do much for
diarrhea. What was I gonna do?
I did what I usually do when I'm
sick. I went back to bed. Yes, I still felt horrible. I still had an upset
tummy and all, but I am one of those people who generally believe your body
knows what it is doing. Keep it hydrated, soothe it with some mint and
chamomile tea in small amounts, eat small amounts of easily digested starchy
foods, and sleep it off. In this case I fell on my old sick time aids of bouillon
cubes, herbal teas, and jello mixed as a warm drink served with saltines and
noodles. I slept off and on for two and a half days or so.
Now I feel better and realize
here we were supposedly prepared and there was not a single anti diarrhea
medicine to be found for at least 20 miles. It is sadly laughable but it
certainly is a wakeup call. A call to check and recheck supplies more
carefully, more thoroughly, and definitely more frequently. Check amounts,
types and expiration dates on medications, insect repellents, sunscreens, etc.
It serves also as a reminder to check for things we don't always think of. For
instance even though there wasn't any Pepto it would have been helpful to find
some Gatorade powder to help replenish what my body was losing.
Emergency preps aside, it would
have been good to know what other things in my cupboards would have helped my
tummy. Where is the wisdom of my grandmothers when I need it? Oh yeah that's
where I learned my body knows what to do when its sick, just keep it hydrated
and sleep. It all depends on the cause. Thanks.
I looked some stuff up on the
Internet and, while I haven't found any one way of dealing with a severely
upset stomach from viral or bacterial causes that I can recommend, I do tend to
agree with most of this article located at http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/home-remedies/10-home-remedies-for-diarrhea10.htm
Based on the next two links
perhaps I shall just skip any further Pepto Bismol treatments altogether.
If you really want to scare
yourself look at the history of Pepto Bismol and do a quick search of the
original ingredients. Yikes!
So what do you think, in an
emergency situation is it better to have some Pepto Bismol in the bug out bag?
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