In Reply to: Travelan won't help posted by clovis on Sunday, 14. September 2008 at 15:31 Bali Time:
Well sorry to disagree but I will now always be a very strong supporter of this medication and am spreading the word to anyone travelling.
I have just returned from my 6th asian holiday (no not a frequent traveller ),(have been to both Bali and thailand) and I am a serious Bali Belly sufferer. I never vomit but I suffer for weeks after returning home, require endless Dr visits and at least 3 repeat scripts of antibiotics for a cure/ clean slate to return to work. The worse bit is not just the cost to my body and mind and suffering but the WEEKs of lost income when I get home as I cannot possibly go back to work. (there is a bonus I get to loose lots of weight !!)
I tried Travelan this last trip in august and Oh my god I feel like I could take off every week now.
I also suffer from irrital bowel and I am a nurse so I know the difference and I am not a studid person. I travelled with 2 other female family members and we all took travelan breakfast, lunch n dinner but we also followed all the other "usual" precautions that I always do in bali and here at home.I consider that I have excellent hygiene and handwashing technique after 25yrs as a nurse and follow the rules of where to eat and what not to eat in Bali. We were religious users of hand gel as well. I am not a fruit eater nor a drinker so that is not a criteria for my episodes of bali belly. I also went to Bali in Jan this year with all my kids (7 of us) and we all got bali belly and were all on antibiotics and we followed the same actions/rules that we did just now in august except we didnt take travelan!!
Anyway the low down for me is that this trip the travelan covered us all well and none of us were sick, and in fact I kept it going when I came home as it seems to have worked a treat on my irritable bowel as well. My 15 yr old neice stopped taking it the last day in Bali (she ran out) and coincidently or not she was at her GP 2 days after returning with vomiting and diarrhoea.
I can see from articles that there is some question of the ingredients but I also know from my career that the drug standards are VERY strict here in australia and If there is a problem it will be banned pretty fast.
BUT really lets face it.... most of you are drinking down way more crap in your coffee's and red bulls n alcohol !!
I would rather take the medication / precautions available to me and enjoy all my holiday than waste days being ill and miserable when away and back home. My holiday time (and my hard earned money) is precious to me !!