Categories: HEALTH & WELLNESS

A Natural Cure for Food Poisoning

The Centers for Disease Control has warnings and information regarding food poisoning, with good reason. Apparently one in six Americans gets food poisoning every year, resulting in about 3,000 deaths.

I knew the dangers of food poisoning, so I maintained safe food practices but I wasn’t as careful as I should have been. A couple of weeks ago I made the mistake of eating some old, leftover fish for lunch.

The fish was refrigerated soon after it was cooked, but it had been in the refrigerator for a couple of days longer than it should have been. I smelled it and looked at it closely. It looked and smelled okay, so I ate it.

(Note to self: Just because something looks and smells okay, doesn’t mean that it is safe to eat.)

Food Poisoning Symptoms

About two hours after I ate the fish I knew I was in trouble. My stomach started to feel odd and gurgling sounds were coming from it. I figured that it would stop and everything would go back to normal. I was wrong.

About an hour after I started feeling oddly, the stomach pain started. I knew that herbal tea might help, so I made a cup and drank it. Half an hour later the pain was worse and I started to feel nauseated.

Soon, the only position that was comfortable was lying down in a fetal position. I was in big trouble. This same thing happened several years ago when I got food poisoning after eating in a restaurant.

At that time it took three days of numerous trips to the bathroom, day and night, to recover. It was not something I wanted to deal with again.

Food Poisoning Self-Care

I needed to do whatever I could to stop this process, so I took the following food poisoning self-care measures:

I stopped eating
I stopped drinking everything but water and tea (herbal, non-caffeinated tea since I wanted to be sure I didn’t get dehydrated)
I took Vitamin C to boost my immune system
I laid down to rest

Unfortunately, within 2-3 hours my symptoms were much worse. My stomach pain led to bad cramping every 20-30 minutes. I was miserable. Suddenly, I remembered that mint could be helpful with stomach ailments.

The Miracle Cure

We happened to have some mint tea, so I made a cup. I sipped it slowly. Drinking the hot tea seemed to be helping so I finished the cup. It turned out to be a miracle cure!

Within 30 minutes of drinking the mint tea, the stomach pain greatly decreased in strength and the cramping decreased in frequency. Within an hour I had no stomach pain, but my stomach was still making some gurgling sounds.

I decided to take it easy and give my stomach a rest. I only had water and a piece of toast with peanut butter on it for dinner, even though I was pretty hungry by this time.

People who have symptoms as bad as mine were often end up in the emergency room. I know this because I took care of many of them, as patients, throughout my nursing career. Mint tea saved me from having to go to the hospital and I am so grateful.

Note: While mint tea worked for me, it may not work in every situation. You should always consult your doctor if you think you have food poisoning.