what kind of sickness could my friend have?

Question

i have a friend who went to Ecuador and she is really sick now.
she gets spells where she is fine and then all of a sudden she is feeling fine. she thought she had good poisoning but i told her that food poisoning doesn't last for 4 or 5 days. currently she is in montanita, ecuador and she went to a doctor and paid .50 and they gave her 2 shots. my question is what is likely her problem specific to problems in Ecudor? could it be a virus or a disease?

Answer 1

could be from contaminated food or water
due to lack of sanitation or improper food preparation
could be ecoli salmonella hepatitis or amoeba in the water
could have picked up a tape worm
get a stool culture done

Answer 2

food poisoning can last 5-6 days I am living proof of that. There are many bacteria that can do that, salmonella, E. Coli, and the bacteria that causes botulism. I had food poisoning twice in a row. I thought it was the food. Ihad it on December 26, 2005 for 5 days, and then I had it again January 5th 2006, with new food in my fridge!!! I threw out the old one. I was taking anti-diarrhea medication during the food poisoning days. It turned out that inmy case it was my refrigerator that didn't have a cold enough temperature and the food went bad, I only found out later after I bought a thermometer for the outside and consulted a refrigeration expert as to what temperature should be in the fridge. Anyways I have had food poisoning at least 12 times in my life and the stomach flu, at least 15 times, if not more. Anyways what has happened to me now since January is that I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome and I had to change my diet completely. My body is still mimicking the last food poisoning episode, my brain is doing that. So I can't have any dairy products, no meat no processed meat, no eggs.

What I now eat with irritable bowel syndrome is: oatmeal with vanilla soya beverage and maybe sliced bananas on top or maybe sliced strawberries, or sometimes grapes or blueberries. These seem to be the only fruits my body can tolerate. I can drink normal tea, I drink water, I can eat fresh baked bread from the bakery, French bread (white inside) it has no preservatives. I can eat bare rice and bare pasta no sauce, but I have tried sliced celery and sliced carrots with the rice. my body seems to take it well now. Ihave tried making homemade tomato sauce just out of tomatoes to put on pasta, but tomatoes hurt my stomach. See symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome are: bloating, pain, cramps, after eating, or even diarrhea, or painful bowel movements. I get bloating and sometimes diarrhea if the food doesn't agree with my system. I got all this information from a website on the net: it is a website made by Heather VanVorous Help for Irritable bowel syndrome, or in search put in irritable bowel syndrome and choose the heather vanvorous link. She said that rice, pasta, freshly baked french bread and oatmeal and soya are safe foods. So we are supposed to mix fruits and vegetables with these safe foods, try them out, which ones you can tolerate. I can now eat cucumber with lettuce with a vinigrette dressing.

However, I don't know if your friend is from Ecuador or South America, but other countries have diferent bacteria and different illnesses from Canada and the United States. For example they could have Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis A, or typoid fever, or yellow fever etc. I always call the international medical travel place, and ask them what kind of vaccinations I would need to go to a certain country. So I think she should come back here if that is where is lives, here and not Ecuador, and go to doctor for full examination and blood work and anything else the doctor suggests, to find out what she has. From your note up above you didn't mention that she has diarrhea or not, or what her symptoms are really, just that she is fine and then all of a sudden she isn't fine. That is too vague for me. But at least I have mentioned a few things it could be, but really she should consult a doctor.mermaid199

Answer 3

Try online WebMD.com This is a very helpful websit or maybe call your own doctor and ask their opinion. Food poisoning could last 4 or 5 days depending on the exact cause or maybe not poisoning but just a reaction to something she ate. Different methods of cooking---could be something in the water, not uncommon to fall ill when you're not in your own "atmosphere" Just like going to someone else's home. Different germs. Different places.

Answer 4

Tropical virus perhaps, your friend needs to boost her immune, eat fruits, drink v-8 juice and take vitamin C.

Answer 5

SHE may have a number of things. THATS why i dont travel.