Stomach Flu vs. Food Poisoning

[Grog]

I'm so sorry Mr. Silver (and for Silver too!!), I hope you're okay and travelling as planned. Just keep washing your hands and hydrating, okay?

And, by the way, antibiotics can't do a thing against the norovirus because, well, it's a virus. Antibiotics target bacteria. I'll be very careful not to catch it this year, it ruined part of my trip to Belgium last year!!

[donnambr]

The worst thing about norovirus is that it mutates so fast, you can catch it multiple times a year, so long as it's making the rounds.

[Mr. Bloom]

The worst thing about norovirus is that it mutates so fast, you can catch it multiple times a year, so long as it's making the rounds.

...and that's encouraging?????

[bikerchick68]

I have the whole list of food borne illnesses at my office... and what symptoms they have as well as time tables... did you know that there are several food borne illnesses that "incubate"? You may not display symptoms for a long time! Weird huh?

But, most foodborne stuff happens anywhere from 2-6 hours after eating the contaminated object... and the only way to ascertain for sure that it's food borne illness is to 1) have your stomach pumped (I think your body took care of that for you already!) or 2) have a stool sample taken (again, taken care of). Foodborne illness almost always passes in a matter of 24 hours... as soon as all the bad stuff is... expelled... you begin to recover.

Based on my knowledge of this topic, yep, you got a nasty case of the flu... sorry and hope the crackers and propel have you feeling well soon!

[Mr. Bloom]

I woke up feeling really good this morning. I'm packing for Phoenix and leaving for the airport soon. I had a normal breakfast and a power bar a few minutes ago.

I'm convinced that it was food poisoning. Here's why:

• - initial onset 6 hours after my last meal
  - I had no nausea, just a feeling that something in me needed to get out (I know that's weird, but that's the only way I can describe it)
  - within twelve hours of initial symptoms, no more 'incidents' just weakness from the experience and shakiness from whatever toxins I had ingested.

But, either way, I'm back to normal (as normal as I'm capable of being ) and as Young Frankenstein would say "I AM ALIVE"

[xeney]

I'm glad you're feeling better. I just went through this myself, after a trip to Mexico (but I got sick on the airplane on the way home, I was fine in Mexico), and I had read up on the issue and talked to my doctor before we left because I'm pregnant and I needed to know what foods to avoid, as well as which kinds of illnesses were going to require a doctor's visit, and which would just require adequate hydration. (I get sick every time I go to Mexico, no matter how careful I am, so I was probably a little paranoid.)

Anyway, what I found is that while there are lots of different food-borne illnesses you can pick up, and some of them are very serious, what you actually get is almost always norovirus. And most "stomach flu" episodes are also norovirus. And so are most cases of "Montezuma's revenge" or traveler's diarrhea or whatever. The vast majority of the time, norovirus is the culprit, whether you get it from your significant other or from a food worker who didn't wash his hands. So whether it's food poisoning or flu isn't really a question, because they are the same thing.

And hoo boy, did I get it. I'm still down eight or nine pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, and I'm 15 weeks along. (Some of that was morning sickness, but mostly it was the stomach bug.) Fortunately the baby is fine, but two weeks later I'm still not quite myself.