Touring - Ever get sick on tour?

The wife and I (yes, both of us) get a bad case of Salmonella food poisoning two weeks ago. Ended up spending 5 days in the hospital and only now am I beginning to feel "good", although my legs still feel a bit weak. Of course, riding during this nightmare has been absolutely impossible.

I was thinking about touring while in the hospital and wondered if any of you seasoned vets have ever gotten really sick while touring...thinking what I'd do if I were touring and got food poisoning.

Two things I learned though: (1) stay away from eclairs and (2) God can use even the worst of circumstances to bring blessings!

you dont usually get salmonella from eclairs. The kitchen hygiene where you ate must be non-existent- probably put the eclairs on a surface where raw meat was previously prepared and then left the eclairs for a day or two to incubate :eek:

I've had occasion to use my ("just in case") prescribed dose of Ciprofloxacin while touring through Romania. I'm glad that I brought it, and actually should have started taken it a day earlier.

I managed to get a cold while touring Spain. I guess 35C and sun can do that. It stayed with me for about a week until I made a high altitude crossing over Sierra Nevada.. Pushing through sickness or pain, with care, has worked on many occasions.

A couple of years ago in Estonia I ate one raw hotdog hidden in a bun. 20 hours later I payed the price.. Fortunately I got rid of whatever it was and continued without any further problems.

My first tour I got some stomach bug. I was hella sick. Thank goodness it was only a 24 hour thing.

Fortunately I haven't gotten sick ... at least not any more than a slight cold ... but I did have an accident on my Australian tour, and had to stay off the bicycle for about 5 days to recover from the injury.

We had an intoxication during our Pyrennees tour in Bagneres de Luchon: It was 40 degrees hot that day and the hotel standard seemed not to be THAT good... We spent the following night "outside the bed" and the next day we tried to continue our way over the Peyresourde pass. We managed it but were not ready for the next cols Aspin and Tourmalet.
marmotte

I got food poisoning half way across the USA. We had to stop at a motel after only thirty miles. I holed up there for a day and a half with six blankets, sweating, freezing, unable to eat anything. I think I lost about 10 pounds. When I got back on the bike one of our group told me I would have to ride 150 miles to make up for missing a day. I told him to f*** off. He left the tour the next day and rode off into the distance.

Found blood in my urine after several particularly long (and hot) days half way through my first solo cross country ride a few years ago. Thanks to the nice (and competent) folks at the Litchfield, IL, hospital, I was put right and sent on my way. I can't overstate the care and concern of the folks at the hospital and those in town who helped me out... they're the best.

I guess some common sense "should" keep you away from most nasty things like food poisoning...just making sure you're eating fresh foods and that everything is cooked correctly if you're cooking. I know there's never any way to be 100% that you won't get sick as we can't control our bodies. I was just curious though after enduring this crud for the past few weeks (only now having energy to get back on the bike -- after 2 full weeks!).

Thanks for your comments, very interesting stuff. I can't imagine the freak-out that you had drcrash when you noticed that blood! Yikes!!

I got giardiasis from contaminated water at a campground on my second cross country tour that was serious enough to go to a hospital (Lawton Oklahoma). after that I never drank water from a hand pump well unless I boiled,filtered or treated the water first. On a tour from Washington DC to Savannah Ga I caught a bad cold and had laryngitis for nearly two days

I got giardiasis from contaminated water at a campground on my second cross country tour that was serious enough to go to a hospital (Lawton Oklahoma). after that I never drank water from a hand pump well unless I boiled,filtered or treated the water first. On a tour from Washington DC to Savannah Ga I caught a bad cold and had laryngitis for nearly two days
Which hospital in Lawton? I live 15 mile fro there! I guess the biggest question is why Lawton on a crossing? (oklahoma and Arkansas are the only two CONUS states that they don't have a trail through) Best, John

On a recent tour to Prince Edward Island, my wife ate a small piece of cheese that had been in her pannier for 4 or five days. While still in its original and sealed package, it had melted and solidified a few times. She was able to continue biking but felt weak and sick all through the day. She could only drink a glass of ginger ale and eat a few soda crackers that night. The next day, she was ok and was able to complete the tour.