Possibly TMI - diagnose/help me

[LoveTrains]

So on Sunday afternoon I started feeling a little queasy. Then I started having intestinal pains and cramping. I had McDonald's breakfast around 6 am on Sunday, no lunch, and an apple oatmeal muffin for dinner.

I took pepto bismol and felt a little better. Woke up on Monday and felt a little better but not 100%. Had diarrhea a few times but not too bad. Had a bagel (no spread) mid-day and some ginger ale.

Felt better around dinner time so had some pasta with meat sauce, a glass of champagne, and a slice of chocolate cake.

Intestinal cramps come back that night. I had diarrhea so bad that night I shit myself. Woke up Tuesday morning felt awful. Really nauseous and took pepto and Imodium. Then ate nothing but still threw up. Then drove all day and felt hungry around 7 pm. Had some Xmas ham for dinner.

Now I have had diarrhea and intense cramping constantly. I have taken Imodium which made the diarrhea stop but feel gassy and have intense cramping and pain.

What do I do? Help!!! I normally have a stomach and gut of steel but this is ridiculous. I am in so much pain. I am also traveling so over 500 miles from home.

[Deleted]

No diagnosis for you, but I think you need to follow the BRAT diet until feel a lot better and can keep that down. I wonder if your overdoing it with rich foods when you feel better.

[ijack]

it sounds like you have a GI bug. I second the recommendation for BRAT and easy foods like crackers.

[Deleted]

Jello and Pedialyte work well for me. I think the Jello is just a throwback to when I was a kid, my mom used to make it all the time when we were sick.

[Pom]

That sounds miserable. I would do sprite or ginger ale with crackers for a while. Could it be gall bladder with the rich foods? Hopefully, it is only a stomach bug.

[mrssavy42112]

Dec 27, 2012 12:43:36 GMT -5 @ruralrabbit1 said:

No diagnosis for you, but I think you need to follow the BRAT diet until feel a lot better and can keep that down. I wonder if your overdoing it with rich foods when you feel better.

I thought the same. Just because you feel better, doesn't mean you should go back to your regular diet right away. Ease into it. Clearly it keeps on irritating it.

[LoveTrains]

What is BRAT?

[jennistarr1]

Oh no...was it the berger cookies???

Stop taking the immodium...to me...you take that when you need to get down the aisle for a wedding, long plane ride, camping, severe dehydration...

but for now, get that shit out.

Our stomachs have been not feeling right with all the random eating, so I think that's part of it, but the throwing up is concerning.

I would try and eat regular meals, even if you're not hungry...keep them small and non-acidic and incorporate the brat diet foods and hope you can get yourself regular again

[ijack]

bananas, rice, applesauce, toast - basically just really bland foods that help bind you

[LoveTrains]

Yeah I assume I have norovirus or a GIbug but I just don't think I have ever had one that lasted this long.

[jennistarr1]

bananas rice applesauce toast

[LoveTrains]

I took the Imodium the first time so I could make it through an 8 hour car ride. That is the only time I took it.

[dr.girlfriend]

Banana yogurt is okay too.

That sucks. Stomach stuff is the worst, especially when you're not home. I had that experience at a lake house trip with friends. Every time I felt better and tried to eat something normal I would get sick again. It suuuucked. Lasted about five days.

[chessie]

I know myself if I go outside my regular diet I get those symptoms completely, I feel completely off this week, and I told myself to not to eat all this crap and now I feel like shit, add that and being sick, makes for shitty recovery. What I do is just go back to eating very clean, and call it a day. I told DH, we won't be eating out for a very long time, 3 days out completely killed my stomach.

[Deleted]

Yeah, it sounds like the stomach flu--you have to try bland city for awhile...

[Deleted]

Stop taking OTC meds and eat mild foods for the next few days.

I'm guessing "meat sauce" is a tomato sauce, and that's one of the worst things you can eat on an empty stomach because of the acidity, topped with champagne, holy hell. Then you added some salty ham. Your stomach and intestines hate you right now.

And also stop with the OTC meds. They can have varying effects depending on what exactly is going on in your stomach/intestines. Diarhhea is sometimes your body natural way of getting rid of something that's irritating it.

[Deleted]

I don't have anything to add, but I hope you feel better soon!

[LoveTrains]

folks, how do you suggest I make it through an 8 hour drive without OTC meds? I had to suffer through an eight hour drive, on xmas, immediately after throwing up and shitting myself.

I am staying put for today but have another four hour drive tomorrow, then a four hour drive on Saturday, followed by a four drive on Sunday.

The meat sauce didn't have any tomato sauce in it, just some diced tomatoes.

But seriously, I NEVER have stomach issues so I really don''t know what to do!

[hbomdiggity]

I also never have stomach issues and puked my brains out Friday night. I was feeling a little better and indulged on Xmas. I don't know if it was a hangover or what but my stomach is still not right and I only want blandish food.

[sa]

What everyone else said. You need to stick to a bland diet for a while.
If you're throwing up, I might even do a clear diet (broths, juice, gatorade, tea) for a while.

Make sure you get your fluids throughout the day so you don't get dehydrated.

[mrssavy42112]

Dec 27, 2012 14:14:42 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

I would take the meds for travel only. Definitely stick to a very bland diet for at least several days after you feel better. It sounds like you kept triggering your system as soon as it started feeling better. You probably couldn't pick worse things for a stomach bug than meat sauce, cake and booze.

Nothing acidic (tomatoes are even if diced), no alcohol and nothing high in fat for a week or so. Feel better!

All of this. Particularly the bolded.

[mrs.jacinthe]

I got food poisoning at the ILs this year. The 10-hour drive home was awful. I figured I'd treat my stomach issues like I would if it were the dog, so this is what I did:

1st 24 hours after last "issue": No solid food. Water and gatorade only.
2nd 24 hours: Introduce only super-bland foods - I started with cheerios, then when I was sure that would stay down, switched to BRAT, except substituting broiled chicken (no spices, just chicken) for bananas. I like bananas, we just didn't have any.
3rd 24 hours: Less-bland but still non-intense foods (red meat, but not spicy, no alcohol, no sweets, etc) for 24 hours
4th 24 hours: Return to normal food.

It worked great. Was it overly cautious - probably. But the last thing I wanted was to travel with the pukes.