While travel can broaden and relax your mind, it can loosen your stools. Traveler’s stomach typically happens due to the change in your routine and the disruption of your usual bodily rhythms. Typically, if you develop traveler’s stomach, you’ll have crampy digestion, loose stools, and an urgency to go to the bathroom.
However, you can also experience traveler’s constipation, where you may have a hard time relieving yourself for some time after traveling.
While both of these are safe and not a cause for concern for the majority of individuals, it is important to be aware of your symptoms and seek medical help if they continue for too long.
Causes of traveler’s stomach
While you can develop traveler’s stomach anywhere, you are more likely to experience symptoms if you are traveling to a low or middle income country. Around 40,000 people visiting these countries develop diarrhea every day.
This may be due to different hygiene laws and sanitation infrastructure in these countries than in countries like the United States or United Kingdom.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the areas where you are most likely to experience traveler’s stomach include:
- Asia (except Japan and Korea)
- Africa
- Mexico
- the Middle East
- Central and South America
The cause of traveler’s stomach is typically an infection, most commonly caused by a bacteria. Bacterial infections are responsible for up to 90% of cases, while viral infections of the intestines account for up to 15%. Travelers typically contract these infections through contaminated water supplies.
What you may know as food poisoning is a type of infection that may result from toxins already in the items being consumed or when specific infectious agents release toxins after they arrive in your digestive system. Food poisoning typically resolve within 24 hours.
Symptoms
The time frame in which different causes of traveler’s stomach trigger symptoms varies. For example, if you contract an infection caused by eating a food containing a toxin (i.e., food poisoning), you will generally experience symptoms within a few hours of when you ingested it.
However, bacterial and viral infections can take longer to develop into symptoms. This is the incubation period, which can be between 6 and 72 hours after you contract the infection.
Symptoms to look for include:
- abdominal cramping
- urgent and loose stools
- severe stomach pains
- fever
- vomiting
It is really easy to become dehydrated with symptoms of traveler’s stomach, due to the amount of fluid loss you’ll experience. Try to keep sipping water to maintain your hydration levels.
Be sure to avoid caffeine and alcohol, as these can further place you at risk of dehydration.
Treatment
Without treatment, diarrhea from traveler’s stomach can last up to 7 days. Approximately 50% of traveler’s diarrhea resolves within 48 hours.
Traveler’s stomach can also irritate your digestive tract, which leads to the continuation of your symptoms even in the absence of an infection. This is known as enteric symptoms.
If you experience any of the following, you must seek medical help as soon as possible:
- blood in your stools
- severe pain
- dizziness
- a pulse that is quicker than usual
- sunken eyes
Treatment for these symptoms depends on the type of infection causing them but can include:
OTC medications
Over-the-counter (OTC) options for the treatment of traveler’s stomach typically focus on pausing your symptoms to allow you to continue to enjoy your vacation. They can also help slow fluid loss and prevent you from becoming dehydrated.
If you are traveling, it is a good idea to bring bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol) with you, just in case you experience any symptoms. This helps to treat mild symptoms of diarrhea and feelings of nausea. It can also be taken in advance to prevent traveler’s diarrhea.
Antimotility medications such as loperamide (Imodium) are also effective, but you should reserve them for emergencies, such as if you have to catch a flight. This is because they can trap the toxin inside your colon, worsening the disease and stopping your body from flushing it out.
Prescription options
If your symptoms do not go away within a week, or if they worsen, you may need prescription medications to clear the infection. These are typically antibiotics. Antibiotics work by killing the bacteria causing your symptoms.
Sometimes a doctor suggests a stool analysis to determine the cause of your symptoms and ensure it is the result of a bacterial infection.
If this is the case, a doctor will prescribe ciprofloxacin (Cipro) or azithromycin (Zithromax), depending on where you began experiencing symptoms.
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