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Post by Raoul Duke on Mar 27, 2006 23:30:46 GMT 7
Whattya know, Noobs was right. First time in forum history.  You can indeed buy Imodium-type (loperamide hydrochloride) diarrhea medicine in China now. This is great news because 1) loperamide is the only really decent diarrhea medicine in the entire history of diarrhea, and 2) we're in China, the land where delicious but extremely oily foods of questionable origin are sold directly on the filthy streets by unwashed displaced agricultural workers. Ah, home.  Hell, they probably invented diarrhea here, sometime back in the Tang Dynasty. Anyway, the Chinese name is Yi2 Mong2 Ting2. I bought it in Shanghai at 6 tablets for about 6 yuan; in other cities you can probably buy the same box for about 1.5 yuan.  It might help to also be able to name the condition in Chinese: la4 du2 zi. My box has pictures of big complex molecules on it...the way medicine should look. When you buy it, the pharmacy gargoyle will probably wave various nostrums containing extracts of various (probably all counterfeited) roots, leaves, berries, and animal gonads at you. You should wave these off with a derisive laugh and a contemptuous sneer. Don't let them distract you. I don't know about you, but if I have diarrhea I don't want to spend unnecessary hours or days on the ol' Thunderbucket, contemplating how much gentler the Chinese version is being on my body.  I'm American, dammit, and I want fast, temporary relief. Which WE invented.  |
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Ruth
SuperDuperMegaBarfly 
God's provisions are strategically placed along the path of your obedience.
Posts: 3,915
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Post by Ruth on Mar 28, 2006 7:26:59 GMT 7
Raoul stop being mean to Mr. N. He's the resident expert on poo (pun intended) like this. Funny story from bootcamp. We were learning about diseases and the teacher, referring to diarrhea, said, "It's very popular in China." Something is always lost in the translation  Common - yes. Popular - no. |
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nolefan
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Quod me nutrit, me destruit!
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Post by nolefan on Mar 29, 2006 21:49:26 GMT 7
Another good thing to keep around is a medicine called "smecta" (sorry, can't think or remember the chinese name). It's from europe and is widely considered the swiss army knife to deal with stomach issues. My wife regiously carries a little sachet of it in her purse and uses it whenever food of dubious origins is presented to us. It has helped her reduce the amount of emergency runs (pun intended) exponentially...
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Post by Raoul Duke on Mar 29, 2006 22:32:29 GMT 7
I've used that stuff. I suspect it may be a bit like Pepto-Bismol in the States...again, sort of a universal stomach potion.
Like Pepto, I never got much relief for the ol' Spanish Tummy from Smecta myself. Smecta seems to form a sol and rely mostly on physical action. Slow and unreliable. Imodium, on the other hand, seems to be a chemical bitch-slappin'. Ahhhhh.
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nolefan
Barfly
Quod me nutrit, me destruit!
Posts: 686
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Post by nolefan on Mar 29, 2006 22:54:55 GMT 7
true.. but that is the good thing about smecta, it's preventative instead of reactive...
pop a sachet in some hot water anytime you suspect the food to be a bit shady and you might just escape a round of Mao's revenge
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Post by Mr Nobody on Mar 31, 2006 21:54:35 GMT 7
Mr N says: Imodium, please, if available.
The other stuff was suggested in whatever now unnecessary thread because I thought is wasn't, and is largely useful for minor conditions. Imodium is just about the only useful stuff for things that ain't minor but more closely related to biological warfare.
Well spotted Raoul.
I still have half a packet of the original packet I brought, though, so the other methods had a work out. They are fine unless you are REALLY ......
Ok, I guess you already got the picture.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Mar 31, 2006 22:28:29 GMT 7
Twasn't me, Mr. N. All I did was follow up Newbs' assertion it was here...IMHO Newbs qualitifes as our resident expert on diarrhea.  |
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Decurso
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Post by Decurso on Apr 1, 2006 2:35:14 GMT 7
Ammodium gets my vote.OR(here's a novel idea..) eating rice after dinner.It soaks up the oil and cuts tour trips to WC in half.
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Newbs
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Post by Newbs on Apr 1, 2006 4:24:55 GMT 7
I'll thank you not to mock that debillating and chronic condition that I have been suffering from all my life.
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Post by Lotus Eater on Apr 3, 2006 23:28:18 GMT 7
I will still toss in a good word for the quaintly named Fishing Pills I bought in Nanning for a friend in need. Chinese name - he Wei Zheng Chang Wan. If my Chinese is right they contain belladonna dry extract, Creosote, cinnamon and clove, Glycyrrhiza, menthol and salol.
They worked a treat while travelling on trains and buses.
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Post by mermaid56 on May 24, 2006 22:42:30 GMT 7
Here's a different idea. I travel with a "natural nostrum" Grapefruit seed extract (GSE) available in health food stores, etc. in the USA. It does not act as fast as immonium...which after all is a BLOCKER, not a cure, and I find that in a day or so I am back to normal.
GSE is taken a few drops in water several times a day. tastes awful, as good medicines should and actually kills the little buggers in there. Good followed with a treatment of Yoghurt to restore normal bacteria levels. GSE is also good for soaking salad greens overnight, wiping on the surfaces of apples, grapes etc. (after you have washed them with soap, now WHY? is it we live in China?) anywhere you want to make questionable produce safer.
If you are going on a long trip, or just have to teach I guess you are stuck with a blocker.....
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Post by Lotus Eater on May 25, 2006 0:47:26 GMT 7
I NEVER do anthing more than wash my fresh fruit and veg under tha tap. I probably eat half of my fruit and veg minus washing - straight in the street or on my travels. How much washing do you truly believe happens when you eat at restuarants?? I eat out 98% of the time.
It is the bloody western food I buy (pizza, KFC etc) or western friends give me from their homes that gives me the 'la duzi'.
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Post by mermaid56 on May 26, 2006 6:10:48 GMT 7
I probably eat out 3% of the time. I just dont like chinese food, I take that back, I just don't like Chinese food here around my ffree-standing college in Guangdong. I think the restaurants around campus are the equivilent of the greasy spoons which surround college campuses at home and are not the best representation of chinese cuisine. Grease being the operative word.
I have made it a policy not to go in the kitchens, you can know too much about how your food is made. This is sometimes difficult as the toilet, inevitably, is in or adjacent to the kitchen.......
I have had it expained to me that the watery, tasteless soup they are so pround of here in Guangdong is made with health inducing herbs and vegetables and is good for me, although I feel it is important not to inquire too deeply into the bottom of the pot.
I really like the food in the North and there is a Haerbin Restaurant only a short bus ride form here that is really good. I love street food, once I am away from campus. I did have a recent bout after eating an underdone bao zi on the street in Guangzhou, but I figure if you eat on the steet anything is possible, from the sublime to the deadly (I got hepititis on the street in Guatemala, but that is a different story)
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