I keep catching stomach bugs!

[Bettyfoureyes]

I’ve had a total of five since summer 2022.
I used to catch one once a year or possibly once every couple of years.
This is just totally crazy.
The last one was literally 4 weeks after the previous one.

I do have young DC, but we try and clean throughly if they’re unwell.
The last three, I’ve had but my DC haven’t, so I’m assuming I’ve picked them up from somewhere outside.

Is there anything I can do to prevent this from keep happening and should I be concerned it’s happening so often?

Wash your hands before you eat, bite your nail or prepare food like you have been chopping chillis and you are about to masturbate.

If others haven't caught it it's more likely to be food poisoning. Look at food storage and handling at home.

Also, in case it is a stomach bug, norovirus is only killed by bleach. Most antibacterial sprays aren't effective.

Be vigilant in your handwashing. Not only yours but the whole families. Cook food thoroughly.

Get a good probiotic.

Keep a food diary to see if there is a common food that you eat around the onset of symptoms. Adult onset allergies are a possibility - vomiting and diarrhoea are not commonly known allergy symptoms.

FWIW, if I accidentally ingest my allergens (cross contamination), my symptoms don't start for 4+hrs.

I just wanted to say that my family have been experiencing this over the last 6 months or so as well. My partner and I have now had bad stomachs 3 times in the last month. Neither of us were particularly susceptible before. We have a 3 Yr old at nursery, so I'm hoping the bugs are coming from there rather than there being something wrong with the house. We moved into our new house last September.

Could you be anaemic or have low vitamin d? Both make your immune system crap.

Did you have covid before this started? It can both linger in your gut and affect your immunity, therefore making you more susceptible to other illnesses, and cause lingering GI issues. There are quite a few articles about this.

Perhaps try a course of probiotics to boost your gut biome.

I’m not sure about this but I think if you’ve had Salmonella in the past, when “conditions” in the gut are right again, it can re-occur. You might want to ask your GP about this.
Meanwhile up your hand hygiene for all the family.
Keep your worktops and chopping boards immaculate.
Make sure your family are washing their hands properly after toilet, putting the bins out, changing cat litter,
when they come in from school or work etc. Do this as soon as they enter the house. Good vigilant habits for extra hygiene care might be all it takes.

Wipe phones. Don't touch door handles. Don't let colleagues make you a drink. Don't share hand towels with kids.
I had to go to silly lengths to minimise illness when I had little kids.

I’ve literally just had my third one in two years.

Have you had Covid? Because that’s the only thing that’s changed for me prior to getting them. Covid/vaccines. I only ever had one D&V bug in my life up until now.

Thanks for the advice all. Have ordered some probiotics and will try and up the hand-washing as much as possible - especially with little one when they get back in the house after being out.

I have had covid, but only two weeks ago for the first time. I suspect my immune system being down from the sick bugs may have contributed to me finally catching it. I'm hoping trying to build back up with the probiotics will help things. I got some Bio-Kult everyday capsules. I do also take vit d and a multivitamin every day, but that's clearly not enough lately.

I don't do any proper exercise other than normal daily walking, so I need to try and get back to doing something as I also suspect that's something to do with why I'm run down. It's so hard when you feel you don't have the energy (or the time) though.