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Drink Pepto but Throws Up After feed Pepto Again

You know the feeling: You tin't keep nutrient down, yous're running to the bathroom every 10 minutes and it feels similar your stomach is doing cartwheels. Either you ate something spoiled or you picked upwards a terrible bug—but which one is it? And what can y'all do to feel better fast?

"To exist honest, the clinical symptoms of stomach flu and food poisoning really overlap a lot," says Dr. Michael Rice, director of inpatient medicine gastroenterology at the University of Michigan. "You can accept vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal discomfort and fever with either." Ofttimes, he says, the easiest manner to decide the cause of such an illness is to expect back at the person'due south contempo history.

"If the symptoms are caused past nutrient poisoning, they tend to occur within hours of eating something," says Rice. So if you can recall snacking on something questionable, or if others who ate the same matter as y'all have similar symptoms, you may accept found your culprit.

If you're the simply ane who got sick after eating a certain dish, still, you more probable picked up a viral illness in another way—from a sneeze, a handshake or a contaminated doorknob, for instance.

This blazon of "stomach influenza," which doctors telephone call acute gastroenteritis, isn't caused by the influenza virus. While influenza is largely a respiratory illness, stomach flu is brought on by other common viruses that cause more than severe GI bug. For these infections, symptoms normally start one to 3 days after exposure.

When it comes to treatment, says Rice, it may not matter where your symptoms came from. In some cases—when a chef infected with norovirus prepares food and contaminates it, for instance—food poisoning and the breadbasket influenza could actually be one and the same.

Regardless, your biggest concern with either blazon of illness should be making sure you're getting—and keeping down—plenty of fluids. "Anything involving vomiting and diarrhea tin atomic number 82 to dehydration, and so you desire to make sure y'all're drinking water or a rehydration drink, similar Pedialyte or a sports drink," says Rice. (People with diabetes should ask their doctor nigh consuming sugary beverages, he adds.)

If yous can continue food down, Rice recommends the tried-and-true "Brat" nutrition (bananas, rice, applesauce and toast), or fifty-fifty just cola and saltine crackers. "At that place's no real scientific discipline behind these, merely they seem to do well," he says. "If y'all're getting saccharide and salt, you're replacing some of the calories and electrolytes you're losing." If you lot're sensitive to caffeine or dairy, avoiding these food groups may also help yous recover more quickly.

If a person starts to start to bear witness signs of serious dehydration—including dark or decreased urine, lightheadedness or musculus cramping that's divide from breadbasket cramping—they should run into a medico, says Rice, because they may need an IV to replace lost fluids. That's particularly of import for children or the elderly, he adds.

You should also seek medical attention if you don't start to feel better after two days, or if yous accept a fever over 101 degrees that doesn't break in a day or 2. Call your doctor right abroad if you lot're airsickness blood, if you discover blood, fungus or pus in your diarrhea, or if you feel neurological symptoms similar numbness or tingling; this could suggest that y'all've ingested a bacterial toxin, says Rice.

Pregnant women, people with diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease and anyone taking immunosuppressant drugs should too let their doctor know if they're experiencing a tummy illness.

If none of these scenarios employ to you, says Rice, it's normally fine to wait out your tum issues at dwelling house. An over-the-counter anti-diarrheal or anti-nausea medication, like Imodium or Pepto-Bismol, may make the wait a little easier.

You lot can besides accept steps to keep your illness from spreading to others and to avoid getting sick in the futurity. If you suspect food was to blame, throw out items that may exist contaminated, alert others who may take been exposed and be sure to do good food-condom hygiene—similar frequent hand washing and not cross-contaminating cut surfaces—going forward. And if y'all call back a viral infection is at play, disinfecting surfaces and avoiding shut contact with others can help continue it independent.

Contact the states at messages@time.com.

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Source: https://time.com/4703804/food-poisoning-vs-stomach-flu/