how bad does a tummy bug/diahorrea need to be before contacting the doctor? TMI warning

[LackaDAISYcal]

I've got some sort of lurgy; either bug or food poisoning and feel pretty rough; temperature, aches and pains, vomitting, sore in the area of my kidneys and the worst diahorrea I have ever encountered. Diahorrea started on Monday night and has been pretty constant since then. I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast yesterday, and if I drink I am instantly wracked with horrible stomach cramps and it runs right through me. I had two instances of shitting myself when I was asleep last night, only waking up as it was happening and have been putting some left over newborn nappies to good use today

Is there any point contacting the doc? I know it will probably just have to run (haha) it's course, but I've never experienced anything as severe as this before...tis pretty miserable

Claire - it might be worth seeing your gp, I ended up with post-infective ibs. If you have seen your gp and they've not helped then ask to see a consultant. There are meds that can help.

How are you feeling this morning Daisy? [concerned]

Ah fantastic thank you- been back to the GP six times since my second course of anti biotics. Resigned myself to the IBS- a friend of mine has it. Will go back next week and ask to see a consultant. Thank you very much!

Hope you are a bit better Daisy, try to get lots and lots of rest. Unless I was being ill I was asleep!

You are welcome emphasise how big an impact it is having on your life. You shouldnt have to live life like that.

Thanks so much. Have printed off a load of information on it and sounds exactly that. Had resigned myself to just getting used to it. Am normally exceptionally careful but the last week has been horrific. It is having a huge effect, expecially when it is something I didn't realise I cannot eat, reactions as fast as 5-10 mins!

Thank you again :-)

I'm glad to hear you're on the mend now!

I've never told anyone this - I was 21 and in a Women's Aid safehouse. I got a bug out of nowhere, I found myself in the bathroom not knowing which end to place over the bowl - when I sat down my puke hit the door 6' away, when I put my head in the bowl... er, shit hit the aforementioned door. In the end I just kneeled in the bath.

I wanted to die - I was so ill it didn't even occur to me to phone the doc - I just begged my housemates to not go in the bathroom for an hour because I needed to lie down before I cleaned up.

Grooooooo!

In future skihorse its bum on the loo and head in a bucket/bin

I had something like this around 18 months ago - hideous, I'd never been so ill in my life.

The diarrhea stopped with me within a few days, provided I didn't eat - if I had anything at all, my temperature would spike and I would suffer agonising cramps - for 4 weeks I don't think I was far off being hospitalised - got very dehydrated at one point and temp got so high my limbs were shaking uncontrollably - I'm not used to being ill and this terrified me

I ended up with antibiotics after that, but to start with, they thought it was a virus and just told me to treat with paracetamol. I went back when the cramps were almost unbearable and was prescribed Buscopan, which definitely helped the cramping.

As for recovering - I started by having the odd teaspoon of Activia plain bioyoghurt - this did wonders - it actually felt "right" and soothed when it went down. After 2 days of that, I was still getting cramps, but the diarrhea stopped. I still keep it in the fridge now and have some every day - the GP told me she would prescribe it if she could, it is that effective at rebalancing the gut. I have gone through episodes of IBS and thought it would recur after this illness, but the bioyoghurt fixes it every time - a wonder food

Sadly, with my snail-like metabolism, I only managed to shed 5lbs - most disappointed !

Badkitten If only I'd known what was going to happen I could've prepared myself - it was a "refuge" anyway - so we didn't have tons of "usual" household items around e.g., spare bin/bucket. Possibly one of the worst nights of my life - you'd want me to say that though wouldn't you - I mean how much worse can a poo incident be?

i have had similar also , 3 years ago had v bad tummy bug , left me with IBS , now bowels still bad .... have to watch what i eat etc ...although much better than was ... hope you recover soon

I'm feeling much much better today, thanks for asking and for your concern badkitten

I still have diahorrea, but the cramping has gone and is replaced with hunger pangs so that's a good sign. The temptation is to eat everything in sight, but I'm trying to take it easy and made some chicken broth and strained it so I was just having the liquid. I've made plenty for later as well so I'll build myself up to eating solids gradually.

The children's cheesy chilli wraps at lunchtime looked and smelled divine though!

Thanks for the tip on the bio-yogurt Joolisam; I'll get DH to get some when he is out at the shops later.

Sorry for those of you left with problems . Fingers crossed this has no lasting effect as I already have coealiac disease and have had gut issues all my life. IBS would be the cherry on the cake! Funnily enough though my coelaic disease was diagnosed after a tummy bug that never cleared up and the doc said it was obviously one strain too much on my gut and my previously undiagnosed coeliac disease stepped up a gear.

Oh dear skihorse, that sounds horrible. I had a bug like that when I was about 13, but my mum was there to do all the clearing up after me! Still very undignified though!

Right off for a shower and I might even venture out of the house later!

def second the activia. I still have live yogurt every day.

skihorse, apart from a campsite I can't think of a much worse place for that to happen. You poor poor lady!

Am very glad you are feeling better today Daisy very sensible to take it easy on the eating, watch for faintingness if you do try and venture out.

ha, spoke too soon

obviously my gut had other ideas about the chicken broth and I had put some clothes on and was downstairs and never made it to the loo in time

back to bed within five feet of the loo for me

:-( Really, really feel for you. I slept with a towel under me after two accidents. Is horrific.

May me an idea to have a chat over the phone with your doctor? Once I was onto the antibiotics (and keeping them inside proved a problem at first) I began to feel a bit better quite quickly.

I think I'll call them Claire, although they'll be thinking "not her again" as I had to call about DS2 this morning who has a huge swelling on the top of his head!

Oh dear

Other things I tried that seemed to help, or at least give me a little energy - Warm water (cooled from boiling) with a little bit of sugar

Filling a litre bottle of water and making myself drink two of them every day to rehydrate - this is after thinking AF was late, then realising I was so dehydrated, AF couldn't flow !

Flat real coke - apparently there is some enzyme in it that is known to settle the stomach - it did seem to work

Dextrose tablets - again for energy - I used to suck them slowly and they were little enough not to upset a fragile digestive system

could eventually cope with sipping the orange lucozade - was seriously weak by that point, so the energy was welcome

First meal was home-made vegetable broth - possibly kinder on the tum that a meaty one ?

Hope it eases soon

Spoke to doc who has written me a prescription for loperamide (is that immodium?) and wants me to hand in a stool sample as he says it definately sounds like food poisoning and wants to check for campylobacter and can then see about antibiotics.

thanks jools I've got some dextrose tablets left over from my labour bag; I'll dig them out!

I am soooo fed up with this . I had a busy weekend planned with a birthday party followed by a day out with my sis tomorrow who is holidaying near here and then an old uni friend who has emigrated coming to stay on Sunday; he has said he'll book a hotel now though.

Yes, Loperamide is immodium - useful to take if you HAVE to go out, but I'd have thought it is better to just let things run their course ?

Glad they are actually listening to you now. Mine were very good and as soon as the results came back he wrote me a prescription, my Mum collected it and I was taking it straight away.

It took me a good four weeks to get back to normaly energy levels- work were very nice and sent me home early a fair few times.

Get lots of rest :-)

Joolsiam - when I was hospitalised with campylobacter I was put on loperamide. I think it can get to the point where actually you do need to slow down the runs.

Sorry its not improving Daisy. You might need to get your iron levels checked when it settles. Mine left me pretty anaemic.

I'm worried now. My friend has been ill all week and was diagnosed with gastroenteritis but from the kidney pain and stomach cramps when eating it sounds like campylobacter.

She also had bleeding so they have done loads of tests.

How did you get on last night? Hope you're beginning to turn the corner.

Hope you feel better soon.

Claire, I have IBS and funnily enough Pizza Hit pizza is one of the worsth things for me to eat. Must be something in it.