FenTiger

The past two occasions I have been in Hungary I've spent a fair amount of time visiting the loo! Last year returning from Hungary I visited my GP (locum) and she suggested I may be allergic to dairy products so since then have cut all those out. I have always had a sensitive stomach and as I have got older it seems to have become more sensitive. This time in Hungary I avoided dairy products but still ended up visiting the loo a little too often for my liking.

Since returning to the UK my stomach has settled and returned to normal so I am puzzled what was the cause of it! This year we experienced a heatwave in the first week and cooler weather the next week, last year it was a mixed bag of weather, etc. I did wonder whether the heatwave was causing me problems.

I've also wondered whether it was the Hungary diet, food quality, way of cooking but my wife helped her mother cook alot of the meals we had and would have picked up on anything which might upset my stomach. I do tend to drink more alcohol when in Hungary but my stomach troubles started the next day after arriving so seems a bit puzzling.

Has anyone experienced anything like this or do you know what might be causing the problem?

wolfi

Hungarian women often cook with zsír aka grease - luckily my wife prefers mediterranean: olive oil or even butter.
Generally I found food in Hungary to be on the fatty side ...
On the other hand it just might be the different microbe population - washing everything (salads, vegetables, fruits) thoroughly might help then.

fidobsa

Could it just be the drinking water? Next time you could try cleaning your teeth etc using bottled water rather than at the tap. Certainly the hot weather can make a difference and it is best to eat a bit less as you are not burning calories to maintain body heat. I also have similar sensitive stomach problems and I find I can't eat high fibre foods like brown bread. I don't think I could give up dairy products although it would not bother me if I never ate another crumb of Hungarian cheese!
Hungarian meat tends to be more fatty then British meat and they tend to fry stuff instead of grilling so I'm glad I do my own food shopping and cooking. Eating out is not an option for me unless I drive 25 minutes to the town!

cathyg

Could be the drinking water... I am still drinking bottled water as where we live by the lake the water is very hard and we have issues with lime scale in kettles etc.
however when we stay with friends by Budapest I can drink tap water without any problems....

wolfi

I don't think that "hard water" as we call it in Germany is the problem - all that lime scale is bad for the machines (we have it too near Keszthely) but good for humans - had it in Germany too many years ago without any probs ...

FenTiger

I suspected it might be tap water when cleaning my teeth. Had done this for many years in Hungary but thought why now! One area I thought might be an issue is my father in law often peed in the garden courtesy of drinking too much. The issue here is does he ever wash his hands! If he is touching everything including the fresh bread he buys in the morning is this a problem? My parents in law leave bread on the table on which I often find flies and it's this same bread I'm eating. My sister in law has eight cats, they have freedom of the house but at night they are all chucked outside. Could this be an issue as they are not neutered or spayed? There was one occasion when I woke up 3am and thought my pillow stank..... as I'd been drinking thought nothing of it and put towel over pillow. Next day told sister in law realized one of the cats had marked the pillow as it's territory.

wolfi

You're thinking about a cat hair allergy? That has different symptoms afaik.

Washing your hands regularly with antibacterial detergent might be an idea on the other hand.

fidobsa

That would be enough to put me off ever wanting to stay there! I have sometimes stayed with friends who gave strict instructions to leave my bedroom door open all night or the cat will scratch the door. In such circumstances I don't generally take up any subsequent offers to put me up there!

Peter_in_Hungary

Usually a persons constitution can cope with a number of bugs that if continously around the body will get used to and will cause no problems. When you move to a new place there will be new (different) bugs and a period of aclimatisation will be needed whilst the body adapts. Several things can affect the newly aquired tollerance. e.g. antibiotics will not help and anything that degrades the imune system will also slow down the process.

I doubt that there is anything wrong with the water, (assuming it is piped water) as the authorities are v. hot on any contamination. Hard vs. soft water will (should) not make any differance. (Except as said above hard water is good for us but not for washing machines).

I would expect that a longer stay would see the problem disappear, but it might reappear after an extended absence.

FenTiger

The only other country in Europe where I have had stomach issues is Turkey! Even though I avoided tap water I still had stomach problems. Everywhere else until two years ago I was fine.

I agree that once I move over things may settle down but in the mean time I think I will stick to bottled water to clean my teeth. I am going to Hungary again this christmas so it will be interesting to see what happens. My GP has advised me to jot down everything I eat and drink so I can eliminate what the problem is.

PaulinEger

I used to have the same problem. Before we moved here we used to visit 3 or 4 times a year and I would always have stomach problems. I know it wasn't the food as we used to eat a lot of Hungarian food at home, prepared in the same way. Once we moved here though my upset stomachs stopped.
Last week though we we were back in England and I had the same upset stomach every night and as soon as we returned to Hungary it stopped.

FenTiger

Very interesting. I'll report back what happens over Christmas. So far back in UK my stomach is back to normal.

scot47

Remember to post regular updates on your bowel movements !

PaulinEger

Would you like photos as well?