pepto bismol prevents illness?

[donaldsc]

Has anyone heard of this or tried it? My in laws cruise A LOT ..like every few months (they are retired). My mother in law was telling me she learned from a crew member several years ago that taking pepto bismol every day on the cruise will prevent Noro virus and any other stomach diseases.

 

She has been doing it since and has never gotten sick.

 

I did look it up and saw a few articles about it but nothing reputable? I am not sure if this is just an old wives tale or if it really works.

 

I am not thrilled about giving out the pink stuff everyday to the family. Honestly ... it sounds way more OCD then I can handle. At the same time we did spend a whole lot of hard earned cash on this big family cruise. It would totally suck if we got sick and ruined the trip.

 

 

Does anyone know if there is any medical facts backing this up or is it just one of those many myths?

 

I kind of like hubby's approach to not getting sick. He just drinks the hard stuff and often enough that nothing could possibly stay alive in his gut while on a cruise HA HA

RC might frown on my doing the same for the kids ... :p

 

1. Does your MIL actually believe a crew member's diagnosis about a medical issue. The crew member's name in Pedro, not Pedro, MD or Pedro, Ph.D.

 

2. A basic knowledge of the scientific method would tell you that if you take something and bad things do not happen, this does not mean that whatever you took stopped the bad thing from happening. Anyone that knows anything about science would know that to test a hypothesis, you have to test both with and without that thing that you are testing. In your case or your MIL's case, you would have to have 2 identical in laws doing exactly the same thing and eating exactly the same stuff on exactly the same cruise. One would take pepto bismol and one would not. The experiment would have to be repeated several times in exactly the same way to gather enough data to make a statistically valid conclusion.

 

Your MIL's "scientific" conclusion is the equivalent of saying that she drinks a gallon of pickle juice every day and she has never been in a car accident, drinking the pickle juice is the reason that she has not had an accident.

 

Pure hokum.

 

With regard to Veloman's post, noro is caused by a virus. It is not caused by bad food or water.

 

With regard to Travan's post - have they tried taking the trip without pepto. Have they tried taking a trip where one person takes pepto and the other person does not.

 

 

DON

Edited January 27, 2017 by donaldsc

[SadieN]

One interesting side effect of Pepto is a black tongue.

[mom says]

Y'all realize you're responding to a 5 year old zombie thread, right?

[SadieN]

Y'all realize you're responding to a 5 year old zombie thread, right?

 

 

Some zombie threads are still valid today as when they were first started. :):)

[veloman]

I don't even know what a zombie thread it. I am still trying to figure out how to navigate this site.

[crystalspin]

@veloman

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic! Reborn threads happen all the time. You search for a topic and find it and post your question or answer to it without noticing the date of the OP. Someone blasts you. If you start a thread on a common topic, someone would criticize you for not searching!

 

It may seem like you can't win here! Hang in there, we're mostly not such a bad type, and there's much good information that is shared.

 

I for one had not seen this thread (I go months not reading CC, until we book another cruise!), and I was intrigued by the reliable sources cited. dr'spin is a family physician and our massive "toiletry" kit does include PB tablets... although we've never taken them prophylactically.

[Langoustine]

1. Does your MIL actually believe a crew member's diagnosis about a medical issue. The crew member's name in Pedro, not Pedro, MD or Pedro, Ph.D.

 

2. A basic knowledge of the scientific method would tell you that if you take something and bad things do not happen, this does not mean that whatever you took stopped the bad thing from happening. Anyone that knows anything about science would know that to test a hypothesis, you have to test both with and without that thing that you are testing. In your case or your MIL's case, you would have to have 2 identical in laws doing exactly the same thing and eating exactly the same stuff on exactly the same cruise. One would take pepto bismol and one would not. The experiment would have to be repeated several times in exactly the same way to gather enough data to make a statistically valid conclusion.

 

Your MIL's "scientific" conclusion is the equivalent of saying that she drinks a gallon of pickle juice every day and she has never been in a car accident, drinking the pickle juice is the reason that she has not had an accident.

 

Pure hokum.

 

With regard to Veloman's post, noro is caused by a virus. It is not caused by bad food or water.

 

With regard to Travan's post - have they tried taking the trip without pepto. Have they tried taking a trip where one person takes pepto and the other person does not.

 

 

DON

 

Ooh, logical thinking and science; how rare on this site. And how good to see it.

[Sea Hag]

Yuk, any time I've taken it to try and settle my stomach it has had the opposite effect and made me sick!!!!

 

I thought I was the only one! For me it's like this: Pepto goes down, everything comes back up. Yuk!

[Tudorcruisers]

Only done about 20 cruises but for us it's the hand washing I feel resllŷ helps.

[Haoie]

If you believe this, I'd like to sell you this rock which keeps away tigers.

 

Does it work? Well, I don't see any tigers!

[Damicom]

The first time I went to India a specialty travel clinic told me to take Pepto daily. In our group, half of us took it, half didn't. None of the people who took it got sick. Some but not all of the others did. I've been to India three times since and never got sick. The ingredients in Pepto create a protective barrier against infection. I'd certainly rather take a daily dose of Pepto than spend my precious vacation days with my head in the toilet....or hospitalized in a third world country. I take probiotics too.

[Hey Tina]

Lol, you're so off base with the whole "The ingredients in Pepto create a protective barrier against infection" thing it's almost funny. I can't believe that's your first post here...

[Damicom]

OMG! Are you always this rude? I was trying to be helpful. Yes, I simplified my explanation of how Pepto Bismol works but the point is there is sound medical evidence that is does work. My husband is a physician and I'm a nurse. We understand pharmacology and in this case it makes sense. You can choose not to believe it. But honestly, you need to work on your manners. If you're an example of the personality of the board, I certainly won't post again. It's all yours

[Hey Tina]

Yes, I'm always this rude. Bye, see ya never?

[Damicom]

Yes. Hopefully never. Sorry life never worked out for you.

[crystalspin]

@Damicom

 

Not everyone on CC is as rude as HeyTina, but note that <400 posts is way a newcomer here. Heck I'm a newcomer here with almost 2000!

 

This is, however, a "zombie thread" (as in, back from the dead). Writing to a long-sleeping thread tends to bring the flamers out of the woodwork. Sorry about that!

 

Hang around, if only to read on some of the informative threads. You will see that we aren't all rude, all of the time. Sometimes we are even helpful. Especially look out for posts from 'chengkp'... because cheng is short for Chief Engineer and there is a person who knows their stuff about ships, and (I swear!) they never lose their cool.