Hey guys,

I've been living in the PH from the UK for the past 18 months and my stomach still cannot come to terms with the new way of life.

I seem to be getting "Traveler's diarrhea" once every month or so.

I'd class myself as healthy, I'm 28 and active, good weight, dont smoke or drink.....

My diet consists of a few take aways a week such as Mcdonalds or pizza's then grocery bought meat and rice etc.

Anybody else have these problems and any advice on how to overcome this?

Thanks

Your water intake from where?

come to think of it....

I'm using tap water to clean my toothbrush maybe that's the culprit.

Is the tap water you use regularly tested?

Ask others using the same water supply if they trust / use the tap water.

Use bottled water for the toothbrush and see if that solves the problem.

If it doesn't, and you can't identify an alternative source such as eating unwashed fruit and vegetables, get checked by a clinic in case you have a health problem.

We had to get water tested every month that we used at a food concession. The lab came to take the sample and charged a few hundred. They were on the main road near the Paranaque City Hall and he could enquire at his local City Hall to find one as water testing is a common requirement for such operations.

If I were you I'd see a doctor. You may well have, or have had, a parasitic infection which requires treatment.

Been here nearly 5 years and not had any problems. We buy purified water which is delivered and very cheap. We never drink tap water. Vedgetables washed using tap water, again no problems.

If you think it may be a parasitic problem and are having difficulties getting to a doctor or hospital at the moment you can always use Ivermectin which is readily available at rice/feed stores. Have used it myself, very effective.but tastes awful. Looks like this.

Been here 6 years and it's a common problem for me in the last year or so and always have Imodium or similar to hand. Think it is due to having to use ice in my beer. Never had to do that before.

I was just going to say the same. My husband had similar after a biz trip overseas, he went to the doctor who diagnosed a parasitic infection.

They're nasty things. When my son moved out of home at 18 he got giardia. His doctor was required to notify the Health Department, who investigate to find the source. They traced it to a McDonalds, staff not washing their hands properly after using the toilet. Never mind 'would you like fries with that?', this was a case of 'would you like some faeces with that?'. Son moved back home after that.

Hubby always tried to avoid eating when travelling to the Far East, India, Africa etc. Always carried muesli bars etc with him, but at various times couldn’t avoid biz dinners.

I remember reading about a US celebrity’s husband, who picked up a parasitic infection from eating an apple at home. Easily done.

An old Filipino woman once told me that she used to eat Balut so that the birds would eat all of the bugs in her stomach when they woke up.

Golden rule when in the tropics. Always consume food hot and only eat fruit you have to peel.
Personal hygiene of servers the deviating from above always a problem.