Percy

Hi Leslie_S

I also always take Immodium and Cipro with me.

Most times I do not need it but I have given it to others that were sick and did not have medications with them

I was in Cuba a couple of years ago and this lady from Vancouver ( USA cannot go to Cuba ..so far ) was sitting in the lobby of the hotel ( about 7 PM ) looking very dejected and just plain not happy....

I asked her what the matter was and she said that she and her husband have booked a trip to Havana ( from the resort hotel), and that....

she was very nauseated and was having acute diarrhea episodes.

" How can I ride the bus tomorrow to Havana" she said.

I introduced myself and told her I could give her a Gravol injection for her nausea and also some Lomotil ( better than Immodium but you need a prescription ).

I went with her husband and her to her room...got the medicine from my room...a few doors down the hall as it turned out !

I told her the Gravol will make her sleepy ,but she was going to go to bed anyway...

she then took 2 Lomotil pills I gave her and I told her to take another Lomotil if she woke up in the middle of the night.... she did...and she did.!!

In morning I said take another Lomotil and I told her what to avoid at breakfast and what to eat only lightly... as fluids were her main concern.

I saw her the next morning and she was happy and going to Havana and wanted to pay me for the medicine..

"No Thanks Lady ...Just enjoy Havana."

Last year I gave some people sinus medication at the Serengeti Lodge .

But don't kid yourself ,I have had my share of being sick on holidays also.

Leslie_S

Sounds like you saved her day. I'm afraid I'd have been so wary of a stranger offering an injection in his hotel room that I'd have been suffering in my own room and not on a bus to Havana the next day!

skibumette

Our travel clinic has stopped prescribing Cipro because we are seeing increasing numbers of difficult-to-treat bacterial (C. difficile) diarrheas acquired WHILE taking Cipro. (There is also the issue of Cipro-resistance in India/Nepal/Thailand/SE Asia, as well as the black box warning for tendonitis/tendon rupture.) We're using Zithromax intead, which is just once a day dosing. Both will work ONLY if the diarrhea is caused by a bacteria.

Re: Tamiflu -- most of the seasonal flu is now resistant to Tamiflu, at least in the US...and we're concerned how much longer it will work for H1N1 (swine) flu. If you've got some, take it along; it may or may not work. But I wouldn't go out of my way to acquire some....

BTW, anyone who is pregnant should not take Pepto; it can affect bleeding times. Hopefully pregnant ladies will avoid exotic-disease destinations anyway!

Percy

Hi Leslie_S

The injection was in her hotel room with her husband there.

After they knew who I was , I showed my credentials, they accepted !!

skibummette:, a good point is mentioned here, and Asia travel is where most of the Cipro resistence bacteria is at present.

Of course not all the bacterial is resistent to Cipro even in Asia,it is just that they have a higher incidence.

Both Zithromax and Cipro offer once a day dosing, and with

Zithromax you can get the Z- Pak which makes it handier to take.

However , Cipro comes( for several years now) in an an XR tablet of either 500 mgm or 1000 mgm.

So you can take one pill once a day for 3 days.

There is a similar dose regime with Zithromax...so both are convenient to take.

There is no hard and fast rule as to which medication to take, but rather what the resistent trend is for your location of travel.

I went to Kenya , Tanzania and Zanzibar last year and took Cipro.
If I was going to Thailand or Viet Nam , I would take both.

Only a culture for sensitivity can determine if the bacterial you have been infected with is resistent or susceptible to a certain drug....

and you are not about the start having that done on your holidays....( unless of course you wind up in the local hospital for several days)

It is too bad that Tamiflu is the only drug that offers some aid in the battle against the Flu.

Of course the flu vaccine is better than Tamiflu, if the vaccine happens to cover the virus you have aquired.

Right now I am sure ,that this season's flu vaccine is being made....and the experts are doing their best to come up with the best educated "guess" as to what combination of H and N to cover.

Tamiflu will help you very little ( if at all) if you take it after 48 hours... there is a reason for this , which I will not go into...

but suffice it to say that as skibumette has mentioned,,if you have some at home take it with you..... because

it is no good to you at home if you get the flu in Cairo or Copenhagen...I know from experience .