When do I worry about a tummy bug?

[longdiling]

I probably just need to be handed a grip here...

10 year old ds started puking quite violently Saturday afternoon and had some diaohrrea. There are now gaps of 4 or 5 hours between being sick but he has just been sick again, retching quite violently. In between being sick he feels very very sick although he did just manage a good sleep of 5 hours. He hasn't really eaten anything but has been sipping drinks.

This is unusual for my kids. Tummy bugs tend to be 6 hours or so of being sick and then bouncing back well within a day.

I'm thinking I should get him dioralyte in the morning for sure but at what point do I worry enough to call the surgery for advice?

Yes, I would get some dioralyte into him as soon as you can, is he still passing urine? Is he in pain (severe pain rather than pulled tummy muscle pain)? If the vomiting is still continuing 48 hours after it started I would be calling for advice. Hope he feels better soon.

He hasn't moved from the couch for at least 12 hours, so he hasn't had a wee in that time. He's very lethargic. I'm going to call the gp soon as they open I think. He isn't complaining too much of actual tummy pain, just sickness.

This is an unusually bad tummy bug for us, I wasn't sure what the general norm is. Thanks for your reply

The lack of urine would concern me more than the vomiting, can you call 111 now? Our guidelines for seeking advice were no urine output in 8 hours and he has exceeded that, how much fluid is he taking? Is his mouth dry?

He had been sipping water fairly constantly but has slept most of the night bar the one puking episode so hasn't taken much in. I'm not sure his input is exceeding his output.

I will call now, thanks. In the meantime Asda opens at 7 so I'll dispatch dh for dioralyte

Hope he's better soon OP. Definitely get some rehydration into him if you can and call GP if not, he may need IV fluids and antiemetic to rehydrate.

He suddenly woke up and had a wee Thank God. I'm about to go in for dioralyte and I'll hang fire on calling until the Dr opens.

Dd1 (6) is just recovering now after starting Wednesday. Took her to the docs on Friday who said it was viral and could last up to 5 days.

She was however urinating so I was confident she wasn't dehydrated. She was so sick though, your poor ds (and you!)

He may need sugar in the water.

Ds1 used to be sick, go into some sort of ketosis and carry on being sick (it can make sure very nauseous). He wouldn't take dioralyte so I'd add sugar to the water - he'd keep that down (sips at first)- then we'd move onto food. If he got into that state it was usually three days start to finish.

When my DS was little he ended up in hospital with dehydration and all he was given was dioralyte but the turn around was amazing. The doctor said it is brilliant for sickness bugs and should continue to be given for 48 hours after the vomiting stops

My dd had what we thought was a tummy bug and turned out to be a telescoped intestine requiring emergency surgery. Clues were:
Sudden onset of severe pain
No fever
Vomiting that extended beyond the usual 24 hours
No diarrhea
No passing wind
No rallying with calpol
Vomit went through bile to brown "feacal" vomit.
Belly swelled over 48 hours
Became unable to walk more than a couple of steps
Became confused then very very sleepy

Sorry not a very nice list but these were the clues that we weren't dealing with a run of the mill tummy bug. Hope he's better soon.

Thanks for all the replies. I'm reassured by your replies small and four, hopefully now he's weeing I can stop worrying so much.

I'm just waiting for him to get off the loo but if he can't tolerate the dioralyte I'll pop some sugar in his water.

That sounds awful oldbirdy, your poor dd. I hope she recovered well. Mercifully ds doesn't really have those symptoms.

I didn't think he did, it was meant to be reassuring in a funny sort of way :)

Oh it was, thank you! He's managing to slowly drink the dioralyte and says he feels very sick rather than very very sick so fingers crossed he's going to turn a corner