Montezuma's Revenge- How is it prevented??

[Bubba's Other Mistress]

Hi everyone.

We obviously want to avoid getting sick, so I am wondering what all of you have done for preventative measures? We have been to other parts of Mexico twice, and always took a pill for prevention. While we never felt quite 100%, it certainly helped us from getting really ill.

Even though we will apply common sense to what and where we eat/drink, I have read several ideas on this.

What can you all share?

I want to avoid anitbiotics in every way possible...but will use a last resort.
Looking for other suggestions.
Thanks!
:chuck:

[MartinnVegas]

Use Montezuma's magic potion. Drink tequila b4, during and after every meal. Bring some to the beach to keep hydrated. Tequila evaporates quite fast so you need to keep on drinking it. Don't have sex and you'll be ok.

[Naoautorizada]

Originally Posted by MartinnVegas

Use Montezuma's magic potion. Drink tequila b4, during and after every meal. Bring some to the beach to keep hydrated. Tequila evaporates quite fast so you need to keep on drinking it.

Similarly - Rule 1 and it's corallary (Rule 1 1/2): If it ain't bottled, and if you didn't open the bottle it was in, don't drink it.

Rule 2: Good germs - if given half a chance - displace bad germs. Once or two chewable acidopholous after every meal (is actually good for you anyway).

Originally Posted by MartinnVegas

Don't have sex and you'll be ok.

MartinV - that was just cruel. You should be ashamed.

[lambert13]

Quite a few cases of the Montezumas Revenge are not from tainted food or water. Overindulgence in the liquors, too much sun exposure and dehydration from both of those can be real hard on your body. You cant expect your body to adapt to a huge change like that very quickly.

The water at the resorts is purified, so there is not much to worry about on that end. Make sure the food you are eating from buffets is served at the appropriate temperature. Keep hydrated.

Using myself as an example...... when in Cancun I eat everything I want to including food from roadside chicken stands. I drink plenty of water both bottled and from the tap. And I always make it through just fine. The difference is that I don't really drink. I may have a beer with dinner occasionally, but thats about it. And I dont sit out in the sun all day. I like the shade much more.

Just try to keep hydrated and give your body at least a little recovery time every day and you will probably be much better off.

[Paul79UF]

I'm half hispanic and that seems to keep Montezuma pleased enough to never let me get sick in central or south america.

but I'd recommend bringing a nice selection of meds such as pepto bismol and immodium ad.

[ELLABEAR424]

I have only gotten sick one time and I know where and why.
My mom and I were heading down there and some guy from her work told her that she should go to the place that has the tigers and animals in the resturant. Well, we decided to go in to this place and get one drink and take a picture so she could show her co-worker.
Well, the place was just gross. It stunk like a zoo and my mom could not even finish her daquari. So I sucked mine down and the rest of hers and we left!!!!!!
We went back to the hotel and went to the room. Well, my mom was up all night yacking her guts up and I was right there with her.
She was fine by morning and I was out for the count. I could not move. I was dying!!!!!! My mom got the doctor and I got the $85.00 shot and I was able to move a little bit by evening. I had to get on the plane the next morning and would not have been able to make it without that shot.
Anyways, I know that it was the ice in the daquari.

So my rule is, if you do not see anyone else in the place and it smells like a funky zoo.
Don't go there!!!!!!!

[Zibbyzap]

Originally Posted by ELLABEAR424

So my rule is, if you do not see anyone else in the place and it smells like a funky zoo.
Don't go there!!!!!!!

:lol: :lol: :lol: That is classic!

[Bubba's Other Mistress]

Thanks everyone! Great input, all of which I will heed. Except for the "no sex" thing! That is crazy talk! :lol:
LOL LOL

12 days to go! Woo hoo!

[212eric]

The digestive system is the first thing to become a challenge when traveling. Eating yogurt is a good suggestion because it helps the body digest properly. What it does is adds to your body's good bacteria, very important for digesting food. A natural remedy that I enjoy using is Acidophilus. It acts the same as yogurt but it is much more portable and effective.

212eric

[Klaw]

Originally Posted by 212eric

A natural remedy that I enjoy using is Acidophilus. It acts the same as yogurt but it is much more portable and effective.

212eric

Here's more on that subject courtesy of Rondo:

Authored by Rhondo
Subject: Kyo-Dophilus
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've mentioned using this supplement previously for combating pathogenic bacteria(tourista/montezuma's revenge/Hershey squirts ect.).
Keep in mind not all of the acidophilus supplements are created equal,Kyo-Dophilus contains three "active bacteria" lactobacilus,bifidum,longum,known as the friendly trio.They are lyophilized(freezedried) so they can travel without refrigeration,most supplements will start to decompose when they are removed from the frig. I've had many questions regarding this,here's also a short article regarding probiotic bacteria. Acidophilus is a natural antibiotic, produces B vitamins, improves digestion, and reduces risk of colon cancer. Antibiotic therapy will destroy it. That's why you need a probiotic supplement. Billions of bacteria live in your intestines. Some of them build your health while others tear it down. One of the most important bacteria in the beneficial category is Lactobacillus acidophilus.

Why Acidophilus Is Essential to Your Health
Lactobacillus acidophilus is a vital key to your good health for several reasons: Acts like a natural antibiotic to inhibit the reproduction of pathogenic "bad" bacteria in your GI tract that contribute to bowel, vaginal, respiratory, and urinary tract infections. It also inhibits parasitic infections. Produces a broad spectrum of B vitamins (folic acid, B5, niacin, biotin, B12 and B6). Aids in cholesterol normalization. Improves food digestion and absorption. Dairy products are better tolerated by those who have lactose intolerance, because acidophilus helps to break down lactose (milk sugar).. Reduces risk of colon cancer.
Antibiotics and Acidophilus. Nearly all of us have taken antibiotics at one time or another. But we almost never think about what those antibiotics do to our intestines. If you have an ear infection (for example), your MD might prescribe an antibiotic. Before the antibiotic gets to the infected ear, it is swallowed and has to pass through the GI tract before absorption into the bloodstream. In a healthy GI tract, there is a dynamic balance between all of the resident organisms, which include bacteria and yeasts. Many of these organisms cling to the walls of your gut, where they compete for "real estate". As the antibiotic passes through, it kills all bacteria, both the bad and the good. However, antibiotics do not kill yeasts, including the Candida yeast. A lot of gut wall "real estate" is freed up, because all of the bacteria are dead and gone. All that remains are the yeasts, which then wildly proliferate to occupy the free space. This is why so many people get yeast infections when they take antibiotics. Therefore, it is imperative that you take extra acidophilus while on antibiotic therapy, and for two weeks afterwards. When you take acidophilus during antibiotic therapy, take it as far away from the antibiotic as possible.

Vaginal Yeast Infection. Acidophilus is antagonistic to Candida and other yeasts. Acidophilus is also toxic to Gardenerella, a common cause of vaginal bacterial infection. A vaginal douche twice a day with a solution containing acidophilus is indicated if you have any kind of vaginal infection, especially a yeast infection. Even if you do not douche, just consuming acidophilus will help to some extent. Your physician will provide you with the specific protocol you need for a vaginal infection.

Urinary Tract Infections. A problem with antibiotic therapy for urinary tract infections is that protective bacteria are destroyed, leading to recurrent infections. Vaginal suppositories of acidophilus help to prevent recurring urinary tract infections.

Diarrhea. Acidophilus is important for preventing or treating antibiotic-induced diarrhea. Acidophilus also helps to prevent diarrhea resulting from radiation therapy to the GI tract. Travel to foreign countries is often accompanied by diarrhea when you're exposed to different foods or an environment that contains pathogenic organisms. Acidophilus has been shown to reduce traveler's diarrhea.

Cancer. Acidophilus inhibits bacterial enzymes associated with the formation of cancer-causing compounds in the GI tract, thus reducing the risk of colon cancer. It also appears to reduce the recurrence of bladder cancer.

Infant Thrush. Thrush is a yeast infection in the mouth. It can be effectively treated with acidophilus. If your baby is infected and you are breast feeding, you can "paint" your nipples with a acidophilus. If your baby is feeding from a bottle or eating food, consult with your physician for instructions.

Any Intestinal Disorder. Acidophilus is helpful for virtually any intestinal problem, including microbial overgrowth, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, Crohn's disease, or diarrhea.

Dosage
The dosage of an acidophilus supplement is based on the number of live organisms. Consumption of one to ten billion organisms is thought to be an effective daily dosage. Acidophilus is quite safe to take in larger doses, although some may experience mild GI disturbances. A lower dose may not be enough to colonize the GI tract. Acidophilus is safe to take at any dose. Consult with your physician for the appropriate dosage for your specific condition.

What's the Difference Between an Acidophilus Supplement and Yogurt?
There may be some acidophilus in fermented milk products such as yogurt and kefir. However, most commercial yogurts are made with Lactobacillus bulgaricus or Streptococcus thermophilus. Although these two organisms possess some health benefits, they will not colonize in your intestines. On the other hand, the highest quality supplements are made with "super strains" of Lactobacillus acidophilus. These strains are designed for maximum clinical effectiveness. They also do not die as easily and are more likely to survive the digestive process in your stomach. So if you are looking for positive results, an acidophilus supplement is a better choice than yogurt. Yogurt is still mildly beneficial, but make sure that it is unsweetened, because sweetening agents may destroy beneficial bacteria.

Acidophilus Product Quality:
Product quality is a crucial consideration when choosing an acidophilus
What strain of Lactobacillus acidophilus is in the product?
What other organisms are present?
What is the number of organisms in the product?
Are the organisms still alive? (If the organisms are dead, the product is worthless).
Are there any contaminants in the product?
Product labeling can be misleading, and you have no direct way of knowing whether the product will be effective. Therefore, please follow the product recommendations given to you by your physician.

After purchasing your acidophilus product, it's prudent to keep it in your refrigerator in order to ensure the organisms stay alive as long as possible.

Other Beneficial Organisms
There are other beneficial bacteria that are sold as dietary supplements. These "good" bacteria are called probiotics. The most important probiotic in this group is Bifidobacterium bifidum. Bifidus colonizes in a baby's intestines as a result of breastfeeding. It should be present in any healthy intestine. However, antibiotic therapy kills bifidus. Bifidus has health-giving properties that are very similar to acidophilus. It has a pronounced inhibitory effect on pathogenic bacteria and yeasts. Therefore, your physician may recommend that you take both acidophilus and bifidus.

[Naoautorizada]

Originally Posted by Naoautorizada

Good germs - if given half a chance - displace bad germs. Once or two chewable acidopholous after every meal (is actually good for you anyway).

[Rondo]

Since I wrote this article a few years ago the FDA has approved a new antibiotic specifically for travelers diarrea it's called Rifaxamin, it's approved for this use because it's not a systemic drug it only effects the intestines.This could be handy in a bad overgrowth situation,but as always it's a last resort and still has drawbacks as all antibiotics,it's sold in Mexico as Rifaximina. This original post dealing with prevention is still the best bet.



I like to travel,and have found myself in some not so nice places.

Cancun in general is very hygenic, the water in the hotel zone is fine, I drink it a lot, but it starts to taste tannic after awhile, kind of like old watered down tea, bottled water just tastes a lot better. I always drink bottled water downtown. The ice everywhere is fine.

Apart from the water, food is obviously our next biggest exposure to foreign bacteria. Eating only cooked food is maybe a good idea, but not practical, what about those salsas, salads, and fresh fruit ,and juices everywhere?

Another less thought about exposure is your hands. They grab the bus rails, brush the sand off your feet, and touch lots of public stuff, including the chips entering your mouth.

The next item completely out of our contol is the hygene of the establishment, have the eating utensils and dishes been washed in steaming water? Or by hand in a cold sink. What about the grill surface, how's their refrigeration ect.

The bottom line is you will get lots of exposure, and probably some ingestion of a foreign bacteria, It's a foreign country. All of the above applies to flying on planes, eating out at your local Dennys, or in your own home. It's a fact of nature, don't blame Mexico.

There are hundreds of different bacteria you can ingest in Mexico or at home, some benificial, some a pain in the butt , others downright nasty. All we can do is be prepared and proactive.

Have you ever returned from two weeks in Mexico without problems, just to feel lousy for weeks when you get back? Did you ever stop and think that maybe your intestines had adjusted to the mexican bugs, and now your hometown bacteria are the foreign invaders? Something to ponder.

I personally eat everywhere around Cancun,including taco stands, and places in Palapa park. I'm not concerned, food is the window to a culture and it's my vacation, and I also pack a good first aid kit just in case.(something more than a bottle of Herradura, some duct tape, and a cell phone set on 911 )

Here's my recommendations:
1) I now always take a friendly bacteria supplement everyday while traveling, there is no room for uninvited guests, if they crash the party which is inevitable,these bouncers will kick the #$%@ out of them. Robbing them of nutrients, crowding them, and not allowing them to grow or get a foothold to the point of producing toxins to my system. These ultimate armed guards also help transition back to my hometown biome. I take them for a week before, and a week after travel. Your local crunchy-granola food store will have a whole refrigerator section stocked with about forty different brands of these.The best I've found to date are called KYO-DOPHILLUS the friendly trio L.acidophillus (yogurt bacteria), B bifidium and B longum (they like to set up camp in the upper and lower parts of the intestine). Some people use these daily, and they are even great for infants.
This particular brand is one of the few that don't require refrigeration, they are perfect for travel. 90 capsules ~$10

2) I always carry some of those individually packaged wet wipes,and use them on my hands before dinning.

3)Pepto -bismol tablets are fine if I eat too much, as a preventative they can help, but at what cost? The constipation associated can cause more problems by stoppering up the system.

4) Immodium(2mg Loperamide), what I lovingly call Everlasting Gob Stoppers are effective if you've been purging for awhile and are in danger of dehydration. But if used too early on they will shut the back door on the bad guys only exit, giving them the perfect environment for growth and expansion. You can get really sick if you use this stuff unwisely. If you are purging a lot go to a local farmacia and get a couple of bottles of Mexican Pedialyte solution~$2.50 and drink them down to restore your salts, and ofcourse pound the bottled water.

5)Antibiotics:Those of you that use Cipro as a prophylactic are #1 killing off the good guys as well #2 contributing to worldwide health crisis. Cipro is our last defense against antibiotic-resistant bacteria (anthrax,ect). If we show them our weapons too often they'll figure them out too. Also it is highly likely when you stop using it you will get sick from all the new bugs trying to set up camp. I know antibiotics are OTC in Mexco including Cipro. please don't use any antibiotic unless you are really sick and if you're that sick you should spend the $25 and see a Mexican physician. He may have a rifle type antibiotic, rather than using the Cipro shotgun.

6) Eat Lots and have fun
The rarely discussed or mentioned "travelers constipation", is probably a much more common issue for travelers to Cancun. An incorrectly functioning waste disposal system can also cause bacterial/toxin backup "including bad ones". The clearing or flushing of the system is important to good traveling health.

When I'm in Cancun I eat lots of lobster, shrimp, tortillas, cheese, flan and assorted other intestinal blocking items. Rarely do I get many vegetables or fiber intake in my diet, it's just difficult. To add to the difficulty most people are walking around half dehydrated from mucho cervezas and margaritas, and very little water consumption.

1) Try to drink lots of water,I always consume massive amounts of juice at those great breakfast buffets. My favorite Cancun drink is fresh limonada.

2) Fresh green coconut water is a great, mild laxative if used in small amounts, I can usually find vendors at the mercados downtown. I aquired a taste for it in Asia and really like it.

3) I believe that what some people think is Montezumas revenge, is actually their system finally purging a few days into the trip. I also think that post trip blahs can be connected to constipation during the trip.

4) I always pack laxatives in my first aid kit.

I know, it's more than we needed to hear,but somebody needed to say it.

Travel safe and healthy.

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[Naoautorizada]

Originally Posted by Rondo

Antibiotics:Those of you that use Cipro as a prophylactic

With all due respect for a superbly presented regimen (and I mean that sincerely) as well as for sharing information about Rifaxamin (new to me!), I had no idea that Cipro would work as a prophylactic.

;-)

[Rondo]

I refered to this because I talked with a couple once in Cancun who were taking it everyday for fear of tourista,they had heard it from friends or the internet,and it is easily accessable in Mexico. It was totally ridiculous,yes it would work for killing off toxin producing bacteria,no bacteria on the planet would dare live in a system so toxic with antibiotics,but at what cost?

Inevitably you would have to go off it after10 days at the most,at this point as most people who have taken this know,all the bad bacteria,and good rush in for turf,thus the battle ensues.You will fell extremely sick,and often times people will loose hair,not to mention a host of other problems.

DON'T DO THIS!......... that's the point

[Naoautorizada]

Rondo, I was making a play on words in that - for the layman, the word prophylactic is the equivalent of the word condom, and with sex being the first 3 things on the minds of Spring Breakers, it seemed an interesting choice of words.

Now its time for a serious question, though - if Cipro is readily available and already overused in Mexico, what's the point of abstinence by visitors from the US? I would expect that when an antibiotic-resistant strain of some deadly (or even not so deadly) germ becomes bred in Mexico, it's next stop (particularly coming from Cancun) would be in the United States, and at that point it won't make any difference whether the US population will have been abusing Cipro or not.

It's a small world, no?
Your thoughts?

[Rondo]

Cipro is very expensive in Mexico,even though it's cheaper than here,out reach for many locals but not for tourists.

[Naoautorizada]

Got it. :!:

Thanks for your response and again sincerely for your highly informative posts.

-=-=0-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-

As an aside, we've had somewhat of an interesting find from one of our recent trips to Mexico. I have a female relative who does not and cannot stay 'regular' unless she regularly consumes a regimen filled with fiber and a number of other foods (like Activia) and fairly potent food supplements (Acidopholous - and Natures Secret Super Cleanse daily in this instance). I'm told that such chronic irregularity is common among women, or at least more common than among men.

She joined us for a week of our stay in Mexico last season and lo and behold, for the first month after returning experienced little or none of the discomfort that she typically endures from this condition. Unfortunately, the beneficial effect of living/eating/doing-whatever in Mexico subsided and she's back on a diet of food and supplements focused mainly on regularity.

Clearly (or so it seems to me) she caught a bug while in Mexico which, although probably not one I'd be happy living with, did her a world of good. How does she replicate/reinvigorate this (very good - for her) bug without going to Cancun every month?

[Although I'd suppose that if you HAD to provide a prescription, that one would be as welcomed as any <smile>]

Your thoughts?
And thx again!

[Zibbyzap]

Garden of Life makes a product called Primal Defense which works pretty good.

www.primaldefense.net/primaldefcap.htm

I used it a couple of years ago down in Cancun when my stomach began to act up. We bought it at our local GNC.

[MartinnVegas]

No sex and she'll be all right.

[Naoautorizada]

Originally Posted by MartinnVegas

No sex and she'll be all right.

[MartinnVegas]

So, does Yoda get any? Yikes! I just got a visual. EEEEKKS!!