[Grandma2CiCi]

My DD and I just returned from GC last week. We got there from Wednesday and flew home early Sunday A.M. This was our second trip, the first was in the middle of January. Neither of us had any problems on the first visit although we were careful about using bottled water and not eating certain fruits or veges.

This time, I became violently ill on Thursday night with vomiting, d. and was so weak afterwards that I stayed in bed all day Friday. I felt somewhat better on Saturday so we had lunch at the hotel restaurant. Within two hours of eating again, I had terrible cramps in my stomach. No vomiting that time but everything else. The only thing that I had both days was the iced tea in the restaurant. If thats what made me sick, I don't know why I wouldn't have been ill when we stayed there before because I drank it every day. We had been assured that their water had been purified and was safe to drink.

I'm not prone to having stomach problems, in fact, I'm very seldom sick with vomiting, etc. My daughter ate and drank almost everything I did on both visits and was not ill at all.
My best recommendation is to check with your doctor to see if you can get a prescription just to be on the safe side.

[csw]

Hi,
The Doc in Guatemala told us to take Cipro..I was vomiting and my husband had severe diarrhea..going 6x an hour! We had brought Immodium and the MD told us to go get Cipro...Cathy

[vickibunni]

If I take Cirpo as a preventative would that make it a lot less likely to get vomiting and diarrhea? Just trying to figure out what I should ask my Dr for tomorrow when I call. Thanks a bunch to everyone who responded. I really appreciate it.



Blessings,
Vicki

[Kate'sMom2B]

I got sick on my 2nd trip there, in December.

We stayed at the Marriott, which we loved, but there just be something to the Marriott Burger curse. I had eaten that the afternoon I got sick, then I came here and read a couple other people had gotten sick after eating it. I drank bottled water there and had no salads or fresh veggies or peeled fruits.

It started out diarrhea, luckily some kind adoptive parent gave me some Immodium as she was just leaving and didn't need it. That nipped that in the bud pretty well, but that night (fm picked up the baby that afternoon) my stomach hurt so bad that I said a little prayer around midnight for some relief...sure enough, less than a minute later, the vomiting started. And I was *grateful* because I had been feeling worse and worse for hours and I had to get that stuff out of my system.

I'm so glad the worst of it happened *after* the baby went home. But I have to say the emotional letdown of parting with the baby, paired with the physical illness, was a double whammy. By the next morning I was feeling a lot better, but not great, but by the following day I was pretty much up to par, with no more diarrhea or vomiting.

[csw]

Vicki
It is not recommended to take prophylatic antibx,..if taken ahead of time they will actually make you more prone to catching something or getting ill because they destroy the normal bacteria in your gut,,the ones that help keep you from getting sick! Cathy

[LP2003]

Cathy,

You are so right!!! Do not take the antibiotics as prophylatics (prevention) because you really will do more damage than good.

I visted Guatemala several times during our process and was never sick. I ate most of my meals at the Marriott and was somewhat careful about my selection.

I tried to stay away from certain fruits and vegetables. I drank mostly bottled water, but I can tell you, I had ice in EVERY one of my drinks and so did my friends and my 6 year old son. We also brushed our teeth with the tap water. The Marriott says that their water is purified, I believe it. We never got sick once.

I have heard of several people getting sick after eating the hamburgers though. Hmmmm, I did not eat one of those. Maybe it is the lettuce? I did not eat lettuce either.

On our gotcha trip, unfortunately, my husband did get sick. The nearest we can figure is that it was due to some chicken eaten at another restaurant. He got ill about 24 hours after eating it, so it makes sense.

There are several types of food poisoning you can get. Some take only 8 hours to occur. Others take 24 hours. It depends on the strain of bacteria. My husband is an expert in the field of food born illness due many years of study in vet school. He knew exactly what had caused it. He got so sick we even had to call the paramedics to the hotel. We had cipro and he started that at the first sign of illness, but he was still pretty sick!Sheesh!!! What a trip to remember!!

So, just be careful what you eat and have a safe trip!

Lori
Mommy to Rachel-17months-Guatemala
Sean-bio-6years

Lori

[LP2003]

Hey, I almost forgot something. There is something that might do you some good if you begin taking it in advance. (If you don't already)

It is Acidophilus. It is a "probiotic" that you can find at the health food store and some of the better grocery stores. It is actually good bacteria that help keeps your intestinal tract healthy. It is found in yogurt too.

Last month we my daughter got diarreah and our doctor suggested we give her some of this and wow! It really did help her.

Acidophilus is actually something you can take every day. It is good for you!

It has to be refrigerated though, so be sure to put it in the minibar.


Lori

[sppalser]

We just came back from Guatemala and we would have to say "Enjoy". We did not run into too much stuff we would have been afraid to eat. Besides, there is plenty to choose from so if you do feel uncomfortable about something just move on to the next selection. We ate at a steak house while there and ordered from the "local" selections and have to say we had one of the absolute best steak dinners we have had in years. Don't bother taking food with you. Save the space in your luggage. Just have a taxi take you to a SuperMarket. They have a decent selection of foods to choose from and all in all your overall bill at the checkout will probably be less than what you would pay here in the States. We spent about $40 at the SuperMarket and we checked prices when we got back...$52.00! Better restaurant meals run 20-35% less than comparable meals here. Plus in many cases the service is better.

Steve