Gastrointestinal Influenza – home remedies

When are gastrointestinal home remedies useful?

Home remedies for gastrointestinal flu are conveniently available without a doctor’s prescription and are already available in most households anyway. However, whether and how well gastrointestinal home remedies help varies from patient to patient. In any case, they do not hurt if used correctly.

In general, however, try home remedies such as healing earth or apple pectin only for a simple, uncomplicated gastrointestinal flu. Normally, the symptoms also resolve on their own after a few days, and the patient becomes well again. However, certain gastrointestinal home remedies can reduce the unpleasant symptoms like the typical diarrhea. However, the disease duration can not be shortened.

When do you go to the doctor better?

In principle, a doctor should be consulted in most cases at the beginning of the disease. First, because you or your children because of the high risk of infection for others urgently need to stay away from community facilities (workplace, school, kindergarten, etc.) and usually require a sick leave. On the other hand, of course, because only the doctor can be sure of how dangerous the gastrointestinal flu is.

As a rule, it is an unpleasant, but relatively harmless disease. Sometimes, however, it can also be very serious (especially in older people and young children), in which a therapy by gastrointestinal home remedies alone is not sufficient.

In other cases, patients often require prescription medication (such as antibiotics, fluid infusions, anti-abdominal medication), such as high fever or bloody diarrhea due to gastrointestinal influenza. Home remedies alone do not help here.

It is also advisable to visit a doctor if the gastrointestinal flu may be related to a trip abroad.

Which gastrointestinal flu home remedies are there?

There are many different home remedies for gastrointestinal flu. Particularly effective are home remedies for diarrhea. Although there are a number of drugs for diarrhea in the pharmacy, many gastrointestinal home remedies work according to the same principle. The two most important groups are adsorbents and swelling agents.

adsorbents

Adsorbents are understood to mean a group of active ingredients which bind (adsorb) bacteria and their intestinal toxins or even viruses. They are then excreted together with them, so that the intestines can recover. The adsorbents include pectins, healing earth and white clay as well as activated carbon.

The effectiveness of adsorbents against diarrhea is partly controversial among experts and has not yet been clearly demonstrated in studies. However, the funds seem to help many people. Healing clay and activated charcoal belong to the stock of every pharmacy. However, always have your pharmacist explain it to you and inform him about medications that you are already taking. Because with some medicines (for example cardiac glycosides) interactions with the adsorbents are possible.

pectins

are an example of herbal adsorbents. These plant compounds are found in apples, bananas, carrots, citrus fruits, apricots and oak bark. This is also the reason why, for example, grated apple and banana porridge are often used as gastrointestinal flu home remedies. By the way, carrots are more digestible when cooked or prepared as a soup. In the pharmacy pectin-containing foods are also available as finished preparations with a high pectin content.

Healing clay and white clay

The so-called healing earth also belongs to the Adsorbentien. It is a special, very fine grinded sand (loess), which consists of various minerals and trace elements (especially aluminum and silicon compounds). The fine grain results in a large surface area, which allows many toxins to be enveloped and rendered harmless. For self-treatment for diarrhea, mix one to two teaspoons of healing clay in half a glass of cold water or tea. Drink the mixture in small sips.

Similar to the healing clay is the kaolin-containing “white clay” (Bolus alba), which is usually combined in finished preparations together with other active ingredients.

activated carbon

The medical activated carbon belongs to the Adsorbentien. These are charred organic substances that are finely ground and offered in tablet form. Activated carbon is used not only as a gastrointestinal flu home remedy, but also for all kinds of poisoning: It binds bacterial toxins and other toxins and prevents them from being absorbed into the blood via the intestine.

Bulking agents

Swelling agents are often used to treat diarrhea, but also for constipation. These are substances that bind water in the intestine. As a result, the chair as a whole increases in volume. In case of diarrhea, the increase in volume lengthens the passage time of the stool in the intestine and solidifies the consistency of the stool. By swelling, the stool envelops bacteria and toxins in the intestine, so that they are also excreted. In constipation, however, swelling agents contribute to a softening of the stool due to the binding of water. Typical swelling substances are, for example, psyllium husks and linseed. It is important with swelling substances that they are always taken with sufficient liquid.

Other gastrointestinal flu home remedies

Gastrointestinal tea

As another home remedy for gastrointestinal flu, various teas are used. Classics such as fennel or chamomile tea have a calming effect on the gastrointestinal tract and are also anti-inflammatory. Some teas also contain tannins, which build up a kind of protective protein layer on the intestinal mucosa and thus protect it from bacterial attacks. One example would be blueberry tea: pour two teaspoons of dried and crushed berries with 150 milliliters of boiling water, let stand for ten minutes. You can drink up to six cups of it daily. You can also chew the berries. Do not replace the dried berries with freshly picked ones, as these can cause diarrhea! Also blackberry leaves and green and black tea contain tannins and help against diarrhea.

probiotics

Probiotics are now known to most people in advertising. But how effective are probiotics as a gastrointestinal flu home remedy? The human gut is colonized with countless micro-organisms, collectively referred to as gut flora. These are, above all, beneficial bacteria that aid digestion and, to a certain extent, protect against pathogens by suppressing the growth of harmful bacterial strains. Probiotics are preparations from certain microorganisms, which multiply in the intestine and displace pathogenic bacteria there. The immune system should also be boosted by probiotics. Yeasts such as Saccharomyces boulardii also bind bacterial toxins.

The effectiveness of probiotics in the use against diarrhea in gastrointestinal influenza has not yet been proven properly. However, probiotics are used as a preventative measure against traveler’s diarrhea and after antibiotic treatments to strengthen the intestinal flora.

People with immunodeficiency should not take probiotics with fungal cultures, otherwise they may become overly fungal.

warmth

With a gastrointestinal flu, the diarrhea is usually accompanied by abdominal cramps. Here, heat helps, for example in the form of a hot water bottle. A damp washcloth between the abdomen and the hot water bottle intensifies the effect (moist heat).

Also potato pads are strong heat donors. Simply boil the potatoes, crush and lay on a cloth. Then let the potatoes cool a bit, and then lay the pad on the stomach and tie it with a cloth. Caution: Potatoes that are too hot can burn!

Uzarawurzel

The ingredients of the Uzara root also have an antispasmodic effect and also reduce intestinal activity. Juices, tablets and drops based on Uzara root are available over the counter at the pharmacy.

Cola and pretzel sticks – a suitable gastrointestinal flu home remedy?

The fluid and electrolytes that are lost in a gastrointestinal flu from vomiting and diarrhea, must be replaced again. Cola and pretzel sticks are still considered a classic gastrointestinal flu home remedy in this regard, but they are not the best choice. Cola, of course, is a form of liquid, but hardly contains any electrolytes. In addition, the soft drink is very rich in sugar and caffeine, which additionally irritates the stomach and intestines. Fruit juices, milk, alcohol, coffee and all carbonated drinks are also counterproductive.

Although saltpox contains a lot of sodium, but no potassium, which is equally important and is excreted in large quantities in diarrhea. That’s why salt sticks alone do not help, even though they are well-tolerated.

In case of a gastrointestinal flu you can eat it well, for example:

• soup broth
• White bread
• gruel
• potatoes
• rice
• zwieback
• baby food

So there are many ways through Gastrointestinal flu home remedies and the right food to make the time of the disease more bearable.