How to Stay Healthy (But don't think you won't get sick)

So yesterday I went up to Columbia and got a very informative health talk by such a cute little ol' lady who would gently touch your arm during her delivery of important information. Loooving her!

Anyway I did get quite a few good tidbits from her, though some I did already know from doing all my research.

Here are my notes from that lovely ol' lady:

Water:

-always wash and dry cans or bottles every time before you drink something.

- drink atleast 8 16oz. bottles of non caffeinated or non alcoholic liquid a day

-you should have to pee every 3-4 hrs and it should be clear

-if the water seems iffy don’t drink it! Can depend more on carbonated drinks (tonic, seltzer, club soda, etc)

-boil water to make it safe to drink

-run water through cheese cloth (can buy at super market) and then boil for atleast 5min.

Foods:

-Don’t ever eat salad!

-All foods must be cooked

-Don’t eat fruit unless you have washed and peeled it yourself (even if its bananas doesn’t mean its safe.) No grapes!

-No fresh squeezed juice

-Be careful with fish…must be cooked fish, don’t eat barracuda.

-Don’t drink milk or cheese that is not pasteurized…might just use powdered milk for coffee

Sickness Prevention:

-Always wash hands for atleast 20-30sec vigorously with soap..tap water is fine.

-Use purel only if there is nowhere to wash hands.

-Bring own towel to dry hands with…a towel is a good thing to have always.

-Take probiotics: Culturelle is a good one, take before leaving and every day while there, puts good bacteria in your system so its ready to fight bad bacteria.

-Have a Dr. check your stool upon return as there might be bacteria still in your system.

-Bring Pepto-Bismol and Imodium to take during diarrhea.

-Have a prescription filled before leaving in case of severe diarrhea.

-Get a prescription of Tamaflu for flu like symtoms

-No swimming in any water that isn’t open ocean or chlorinated pool. No fresh water.

-Can get crazy snail thing that burrows into your skin..yuck!

Malaria Prevention:

-Malaria mosquitoes are prevalent dusk till dawn and very bad at twilight.

-Same mosquitoes that carry Yellow Fever carry Dengue Fever, these mosquitoes bite at all times of the day and are prevalent all over Africa.

-Minimize areas where mosquitoes can bite by wearing long pants and long sleeved shirts.

-Put DEET atleast 35% but definitely don’t get 100% very bad as often as instructed on bottle.

-Put sunscreen on 1 hr before leaving and put DEET on top of sunscreen before leaving in the morning. Reapply both frequently.

-DEET makes your sunscreen 50% less affective!

-Put DEET on all exposed skin, and even on face, but not around eyes or mouth. Just need a little, it absorbs into your skin.

-Get Permethrin spray to spray clothing and netting to protect more from mosquitoes, don’t put this spray on your body.

-Bring Duct tape to tape any holes you might have in hotel screens.

-Take Malarone pills with a meal at the same time of day to prevent symptoms.

-Tuck your bed netting around you at night when you sleep, tuck the netting into the sides of your bed when you leave in the morning to prevent creepy crawlies from getting into your bed.

-Yellow fever shot not required to enter Nigeria, but strongly recommended!

-Contact American Embassy on arrival to Nigeria.

-Most important rule of safety, if your antenna think something is wrong then do not do it or eat it!