Violently sick 24 hours after swimming in a river

[CrazyHorse]

21yo DS went kayaking (and I assume swimming) in the river, according to DD (DS isn't up to talking atm, I'll ask him later)

He's now being violently sick, repeatedly, even though there is nothing left to come up. His body, really, really doesn't want what ever is in him to be in him! Does this sound like something caught from the river or just a general sickness bug? Does it make a difference in how I can help hiim? I've asked him only to only have sips of water.

The same thing happened 5 years ago when he swam in a ford which is now well known to be polluted.

We had this OP. DS and pals went swimming after GCSEs. He was sick once but a day or so later DH and I had 24 hours of thinking we might die. Truly awful but over fairly quick.

You have heard about record levels of sewage released into rivers right? He's caught something from the river.

There was even athletes coming down with illness in the olympics.

I would get him to phone the GP, sounds like he could have caught an e.coli infection, which can be very dangerous.

Most UK rivers and coastal waters are now polluted. Never get why so many people make a thing of wild swimming in this country.
As I child I was regularily in my local river swimming, had endless throat infections every time, that was years ago

The Irish male swimming medal winner couldn’t carry the flag as he’d gotten sick from swimming in the Seine and was sent to the hospital! I’d ring the doctor and just ask what to do to make sure

probably e-coli poisoning

Yes, I've heard about the pollution, but it seems DS hasn't! I'll give it a while before I get him to phone the GP - it seems he thought he could go to work, so got up and had a Berocca this morning, and it didn't end well!

Oof
i got cryptosporidium from unfiltered tap water from a river. Omg, both ends non stop for 12 hours. But ok once it stopped, recovered really quickly.

My sympathies to anyone who has had anything like this - luckily it's not both ends. I've been to buy rehydration salts. He only wants to communicate by hand gestures, and it seems he's been in the river Avon twice. He has gym membership and access to a clean pool!

I can't catch this can I? He seems to want a lot of nursing, and I'm frantically disinfecting everything.

Please don’t tell me it’s the Avon at Batheaston 🤢
It horrifies me the number of people swimming, kayaking, paddle boarding there, oblivious of the obvious sewage floating past/hanging from the riverside bushes.
I know of at least 8 people who’ve contracted d&v from the water there yet idiots continue to ignore the advice NOT to swim etc in the river Avon. The sewage outlets are just upstream and constantly flowing into the river.
Read this
top-of-the-poops.org/waterway/wessex-water/river-avon

@CoffeandTiaMaria - nowhere near - I'm guessing Leamington or Warwick area, but I've honestly no idea!

Hope he feels better soon OP. What a sorry state our country is in when we can’t enjoy these simple pleasures in our waters.

Sounds like e coli to me. My dc regularly go kayaking and paddle boarding in our local river but last summer they all got a horrific sickness bug. Some children from the year below my ds3 at school went kayaking at the same place a few months ago on a school trip and about half of them got e coli. Ds3's trip the following week was cancelled much to his disappointment and my relief and I haven't let any of the dc go this summer.

How long has he been vomiting for and can he keep down water? Call 111 if he’s still being sick continuously

Well, he was finally able to keep down some liquid yesterday evening, and this morning has asked for some toast. Please nobody swim in the Avon, even in picturesque areas in Warwickshire. It's really not safe.

Fucking humans, man. We could've had these beautiful rivers to enjoy but we had to ruin it. Sorry your son got ill.

It's insane what we humans are doing to this wonderful plant. Or rather the shitty Governments unable or unwilling to regulate and fine the greedy water companies for NOT doing their jobs and enjoying HUGE profits. Makes my blood boil. Fearful Sharkey is a ruthless campaigner for cleaner water.

So DS was first vomiting and now tells me it was D&V on Tuesday evening - he slept for the whole
Of Wednesday, was able to keep down fluids on Thursday and Today has eaten. Now he has severe stomach ache. What's the best thing to do? DH has given him Gaviscon tablets, and I've gone online to see what 111 suggest and they will call in the next couple of hours. I'm not sure what the best thing to do is - he's quite tough and not a fusser, so when he's writhing in pain I know it's bad Any advice?

@CrazyHorse

Can I suggest you report your son’s sickness at Surfers Against Sewage
https://www.sas.org.uk/water-quality/submit-a-sickness-report/

They are working hard to gather as much information as they can about this awful issue.

Don’t know how the water companies can get away with all this sewage being dumped 😡 We should all be refusing to pay the sewage parts of our water bills.

Hope he’s fully recovered.

we had this after dc went surfing.
officially the seawater was ok that day, but that never removed all the risk.
all it takes is a minor contamination araw fed dog shitting on the beach

I will report it.

Apparently DS's friends went swimming in the same place at the beginning g of the summer and were all ill. Apparently they learned to keep their mouths firmly closed and have been back several times since! (And not been illl) DS has just told me
he was laughing at something and so swallowed a big mouthful of water.

I'm innocently thinking the illness could be cause by cow dung!?!

111 want to send DS off to hospital. DH and I have both had a Friday night Prosecco, and I think DS just needs to sit this out, and there isn't actually anything a hospital can do. I don't think he needs antibiotics, so I'm not going to get an Uber. He's currently hugging a hot water bottle and chatting to DH, so he's not at deaths door.

my children went paddleboarding on a canal earlier this week

(an instructed lesson)

The first thing they told us before they did the activity was that if they get ill, tummy / flu symptoms in the next few days they MUST go to the Dr and MUST tell them that they have been in the canal, as there were some nasty bugs which they could get if they either injested the water, or had it get into their system through open wounds, and the Dr would know which antiobiotic to prescribe.

I suggest you take your child to see a Dr and let them judge if treatment is necessary

I would take the advice of 111 and take him to the hospital. Better to be safe than sorry. If nothing else, it will add to official statistics on people getting sick from swimming in polluted waters, which might contribute to some action being taken on the issue.

The lady who rang was VERY irritated when i said we didn't have a car to get him to the hospital, but DS is 21 and usually very healthy- I think he needs to sit this out rather than. Have antibiotics (and I'm the first person to take antibiotics for anything!)

I want to know how to help him through this- paracetamol? Gavciscon? Kefir ? Just sips of water? I've told him to have a shower as water will help with the pain and suggested he takes some of his sisters melatonin to help him sleep, but he's told me I'm stupid, and he may have a point there.

I appreciate I sound like a an idiot. I hate it when he's on pain, because he's not a fusser.

This is the DS that ends up in A&E quite often.because he takes bloody stupid risks I will take him if he's still writing in pain the morning .