Stomach bug when to drink?

Then you pick up a stomach bug, and learn you can’t make yourself invincible.

A stomach virus—sometimes called the stomach flu, though it’s not a form of influenza—has symptoms that (not surprisingly) are associated with your gastrointestinal system: stomach cramps, watery diarrhea, nausea and perhaps a fever. It can take up to three days after you contract the virus for those symptoms to show up.

Because those symptoms also crop up in other common ailments, you may not realize right away what you’re dealing with. That’s why it’s important you know when to see the doctor—and the answer to that question varies based on age.

Grown-ups should contact a doctor if they’re experiencing the following:

Kids should be taken to a doctor right away if they have:

Infants should also be taken to a doctor immediately if they exhibit the following:

Note that while spitting up is an everyday occurrence for a baby, vomiting is not. It is often a symptom of a condition that requires medical attention.

For adults who aren’t exhibiting severe symptoms, there are ways to make dealing with a stomach virus (somewhat) more bearable.

The constant vomiting can lead to dehydration, which can lead to other health problems. Try to sip on water every hour to replenish what your body is losing. Unfortunately it may not always stay down, but it’s still important to quench your body’s thirst during the fight.

It’s also important to replace the electrolytes lost through dehydration. This can be done with sports drinks or rehydration solutions. If you choose a sports drink, be sure to dilute them with water—the sugar and sodium in these drinks can sometimes lead your body to further dehydrate itself.

Often times, eating sounds miserable during the stomach virus but your body needs to replenish nutrients lost to constant vomiting and diarrhea. Some good options are clear broths, crackers, bananas and chicken. It’s just as important to avoid eating certain things, including dairy, alcohol, caffeine and fatty or spicy foods.

No, not actual kicking. Try and find ways to relax and rest while staying as comfortable as possible. Throw on your favorite TV show or movie and lie back and relax. The time between trips to the bathroom is going to feel sacred, so enjoy it and try to take it easy.

Many different viruses can cause stomach flu, including rotaviruses, adenoviruses, and the Norwalk virus. The body fluids of infected people contain the virus, sometimes even before their symptoms begin. The virus can be spread by direct contact with an infected person. For example, you might get it by kissing or shaking hands or by sharing food, drink, or eating utensils.

The virus inflames the stomach and intestine. When the stomach and intestine are inflamed, they don't work as well as they should. Food may move faster through your digestive tract.

When you have stomach flu, you may have one or more of the following symptoms:

The illness may develop over a period of hours, or it may suddenly start with stomach cramps, vomiting, or diarrhea.

Some bacteria, parasites, medicines, or other medical conditions can cause similar symptoms. If your symptoms are unusually severe or last longer than a few days, your healthcare provider can determine if the diarrhea is caused by something other than a virus.

Your healthcare provider will ask about your symptoms. He or she will examine you. You may have lab tests to rule out more serious illnesses and to check for problems that can be caused by stomach flu, such as dehydration.

The most important thing to do is to rest the stomach and intestine. You can do this by not eating solid food for a while and drinking only clear liquids. As your symptoms go away, you can start eating soft bland foods that are easy to digest.

If you have been vomiting a lot, it is best to have only small, frequent sips of liquids. Drinking too much at once, even an ounce or two, may cause more vomiting.

Your choice of liquids is important. If water is the only liquid you can drink without vomiting, that is OK. However, if you have been vomiting often or for a long time, you must replace the minerals, sodium and potassium, that are lost when you vomit. Ask your healthcare provider what sport drinks or other rehydration drinks could help you replace these minerals.

Other clear liquids you can drink are weak tea and apple juice. You may also drink soft drinks without caffeine (such as 7-UP) after letting them go flat (lose their carbonation). It may be easier to keep down liquids that are cold. Avoid liquids that are acidic (such as orange juice) or caffeinated (such as coffee) or have a lot of carbonation. Do not drink milk until you no longer have diarrhea.

You may start eating soft bland foods when you have not vomited for several hours and are able to drink clear liquids without further upset. Soda crackers, toast, plain noodles, gelatin, eggs, applesauce, and bananas are good first choices. Avoid foods that are acidic, spicy, fatty, or fibrous (such as meats, coarse grains, vegetables). Also avoid dairy products. You may start eating these foods again in 3 days or so, when all signs of illness have passed.

Sometimes treatment includes prescription medicine to prevent nausea and vomiting or diarrhea.

Nonprescription medicine is available for the treatment of diarrhea and can be very effective. If you use it, make sure you use only the dose recommended on the package. If you have chronic health problems, always check with your healthcare provider before you use any medicine for diarrhea.

Stomach flu rarely lasts longer than 1 to 3 days. However, it may be 1 to 2 weeks before your bowel habits are completely back to normal.

Dehydration is a potentially serious complication of stomach flu. It can happen if your body loses too much fluid because you keep vomiting or having diarrhea. If you are severely dehydrated, you may need to be given fluids intravenously (IV). In children and older adults, dehydration can quickly become life threatening.

The single, most helpful way to prevent the spread of stomach flu is frequent, thorough hand washing. Also, avoid contact with the body fluids of an infected person, including saliva. Don't share food with someone who has stomach flu.

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If you’ve got a vomiting kid, you don’t need to rush out to the drugstore and buy those oral rehydration solutions. Just add some water to the juice you have in the refrigerator, and you’re all set.

That’s the bottom line of a study published in JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association). Researchers studied about 600 children who came to the emergency room with stomach flu and minimal dehydration. Half of them were given dilute apple juice, and half were given an oral rehydration electrolyte solution (like Pedialyte), colored to look like apple juice and sweetened to make it taste better. The families whose children got the apple juice were told to give them whatever fluids they would take once they got home, while the ones who got the electrolyte solution were told to continue giving the solution at home.

The children that got apple juice were less likely to need intravenous fluids or end up back in the emergency room.

There are a few reasons why doctors have recommended the special solutions. The major reason is that they worry that fluids that have a lot of sugar in them, like juice or Gatorade, can worsen diarrhea. The other reason is that when you have a lot of vomiting or diarrhea, you can lose electrolytes like sodium that are crucial for your body’s function. And certainly, in children with severe dehydration or in very small infants, these are real worries.

But for the average child sick with stomach flu who has only mild dehydration, these aren’t big worries. Those kids generally do just fine as long as they get fluids into them — pretty much any fluids. And as any parent knows, kids are most likely to drink fluids that are familiar to them, and that taste good. Solutions like Pedialyte are not familiar to most children — and while they don’t taste bad, they can have an odd taste that many children don’t like.

Here are some important tips when giving fluids to children with vomiting and diarrhea:

If your child can’t keep anything down or is having repeated diarrhea, goes more than 6 hours without urinating, seems excessively tired to you, has a high fever, or has really bad pain of any kind, call your doctor. You should also call for advice if your child is less than 6 months old or has any ongoing medical problems.

Try to sip on water every hour to replenish what your body is losing. Unfortunately it may not always stay down, but it's still important to quench your body's thirst during the fight. It's also important to replace the electrolytes lost through dehydration. This can be done with sports drinks or rehydration solutions.