Travel Makeshift Treatments

By Author: Steve Robinson
Total Articles: 467
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Cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, and cheap vacation packages help make travel affordable, but would be travelers sometime wonder if they should pack a medicine chest before traveling.

The following are some novel ways to treat common travel illnesses when away from home:

• Travelers with digestive ailments (i.e., stomach problems), can often find relief by chewing sugar free gum.

• Constipation is a common ailment of travelers that can be relieved by taking sorbitol, an artificial sweetener found in sugar free gum.

• Chewing gum has also been known to help with heartburn by stimulating the production of saliva.

• Nausea is another common travel malady. Chewing ginger root can help reduce nausea. Experts have found that chewing two inches of unpeeled, unadulterated ginger root reduces the impact of airsickness.

• To ward off buzzing, biting bugs, try burning coffee grounds in a saucer. Alternatively place talcum powder in your hair before going outside.

• If bitten by a bee, flick the stinger out first and then apply ice.

• To deal with itchy ...
... bites like those provided by mosquitoes, as well as poison-ivy rashes, apply water as hot as is tolerable. This provides a lengthy and effective period of relief. This treatment desensitizes the nerves that send itch sensations to people’s brains.

• Applying vinegar is a well known way of dealing with jellyfish stings.

• Diluting 1 part baby shampoo to 10 parts water can be used for some eye infections or irritated eyes. Be aware though that baby shampoo does not cure eye infections like an antibiotic, though it can alleviate the symptoms.

• Sprinkling pepper right out of a shaker on a bleeding cut will help stanch blood flow. Sugar can double as an antibacterial treatment because it acts osmotically and draws fluid out.

Remember when dealing with real medical emergencies, travelers should use common sense and get medical help. If makeshift treatment is going to be effective, it should help within three hours, or it is probably not going to work.
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