Run with it
Look, it’s something none of us like to talk about. I’ve seen people married for 50 years that won’t even admit to each other when they have the runs.
But you can add it to the list with death and taxes (and fluoride), ’cause diarrhea is something you just can’t avoid.
Yes, it’s uncomfortable. Yes, it’s embarrassing. But the fact is, if it persists long enough, it gets much worse. Diarrhea can quickly spiral downward into serious problems you don’t want to mess with – problems like dehydration and kidney failure.
So you want to get rid of it as soon as possible. Well, right now the only thing you can do is lock yourself in the bathroom or take something that plugs you up (which is the absolutely last thing your body wants you to do!). But I’m here to tell you that an age-old natural remedy can rescue you from your bathroom jail.
We’ve all been there, and probably for a few different reasons. There’s the old standards: lactose intolerance, a side-effect of one of Big Pharma’s precious drugs, or you might be dealing with a digestive disorder like ulcerative colitis or IBS. It could also be caused by a virus (in which case, you should just hole up in your room so you don’t contaminate everyone around you). In situations like these, there’s not a whole lot you can do, other than load up on liquids and electrolytes, stick close to your bathroom – and pray it passes quickly.
But diarrhea that’s brought on by bacteria is another issue altogether. Contaminated food and water can carry parasites or batcteria (such as salmonella, E.coli, and campylobacter), all of which will wreak havoc on your intestines.
If it turns out bacteria are to blame for your sudden bathroom trips (and often even if they’re not), your doctor will just take the easy way outand hand you a prescription for antibiotics. But researchers from Taiwan’s China Medical University have found a much cheaper and much more natural way to disarm the bacteria.
Ginger is one of those ancient remedies that people relied on centuries before Big Pharma came to our rescue with expensive “solutions” for an upset stomach or nausea. And like a lot of ancient healing secrets, no one needed to know how it worked – the fact that it did was good enough for them. Now a new study, reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, shows us that ginger’s benefits could extend beyond nausea relief – and can work on even the toughest- to-treat diarrhea.
When bacteria such as E.coli get into your intestines, they form a toxin that latches onto your cells and ultimately leads to loose stool. Turns out that there’s something in ginger that actually blocks the toxin from taking hold in the first place.
The research was done on laboratory mice, so I can’t tell you what an effective dose would be. What I can tell you is this: You can’t overdose on ginger. So next time you find yourself camping in your bathroom, send someone to the grocery store to get some ginger root. If your symptoms don’t go away in a day or two, you may have to break down and try out those antibiotics after all. But I’ve always found that the medicine cabinet should be a last resort, not the first place you turn.
