Digestive Discomforts While on Vacation

Q:  Please solve my unpleasant health problem. Whenever I fly down to Florida, I experience severe low intestinal gas attacks -- stomach growling, pains, aches, popping sounds, and urges of having to go to the bathroom for an evacuation which is gas or watery and loose diarrhea. This happens if I drink fluid or eat something.

Could it be the air or water that causes these symptoms? Or the sea level height of five feet? What remedy do you recommend for me to use so the next time I go so this does not occur? I have read that eating yogurt will work!

A:  My best guess (and it's just a guess) would be that the water where you stay in Florida affects you or that your dietary habits change somewhat. For example, do you eat a lot of citrus fruit that you don't normally eat in Wisconsin? Florida water may have a different mix of bacteria in it, so try drinking bottled water there and eating yogurt.

"Dear Doctor" is a compilation of patient questions answered by doctors from the Medical College of Wisconsin.