Diarrhea was, apparently, a common cause of death about 100 years ago or so. How? I ate some bad food, and my poop stopped being solid, and now *I’m going to die?!?*
I ate some really, really delicious General Tso’s Chicken yesterday from a local restaurant. Hours later, well, I think you can do the math. The after-effects are still hitting me today. Annoying, sure, but if this were 100 years ago, apparently my current state means I need to whip out my fountain pen and start writing letters to my beloveds, telling them to please take care of my poor cow Bessie, such a good little lady over all these years, please give her the love she deserves as I slip the surly bonds of earth and touch the face of God. Either that, or, I could just drink a bit of water and eat some incredibly inoffensive food like bread (wasn’t everyone basically eating bread and little else back then anyway) and regain my health?
Can someone explain?
In: 0
Safe drinking water. Dysentery, typhus, cholera, etc. was a big thing back in the day, still is in some parts of the world.
You still can get very ill or die from diarrhea, if you don’t take care of it. My elderly father caught Covid, very mild case, but one of his symptoms was diarrhea. He didn’t want to make a big deal of it, but it went on for days and he ended up in hospital with kidney damage. We only caught it in time because I talked to him on the phone and realized he was incoherent – he was so dehydrated it made him confused.
Obviously as a young person it’s easy to get over a bit of gastritis, but when you aren’t well or have fragile health, diarrhea can be very dangerous.
Heh. I live in a seriously first-world country. Nonetheless, I have almost died twice from dehydration caused by vomit and/or diarrhea.
It’s still one of the biggest killers in the world, everywhere.
Latest Answers