Anyone know anything about prolonged bout of food poisoning / stomach bug

[wheresmypaddle]

Hi there, my mum has been really poorly with sickness and diarrhoea for 10 days now.

She felt generally off colour for about 24 hours before developing horrendous vomiting and diarrhoea.

The vomiting has eased up to about once a day but she is still suffering with diarrhoea about hourly.

She has barely eaten anything- everything goes straight through including the water that we are all forcing her to drink.

Her GP has asked her not to come to the surgery (understandable). They initially suggested rehydration salts and said to 'wait it out'. Yesterday they said to try immodium to ease the diarrhoea, our chemist raised his eyebrows at this as he thought it would slow doen the passing of the infection through her system. She said the immodium made her feel really really sick so she only took it once and won't try again.

She is feeling terribly weak and has lost tonnes of weight.

I am getting a bit concerned and wonder if its time to push for a bit more help from the GP. I am not sure what I expect them to do but I have never known anyone to have these symptoms for so long.

Can anyone give me any advice? Is there anything the GP could do?

Sorry no real advice but to go and ring gp again have they taken sample? Could it be salmonella [sp?] or another type of infection
Hope she gets well soon

I'm sorry but I don't think your Gp's advice is good enough .
Maybe they think you're exaggerating ?
Yes ,you need to push the GP for more help - do they understand that she's been vomiting for 10 days ,albeit " only " once a day ?
That she's having d.every hour ,that she's loosing weight ?
10 days is far too long .
Maybe ring NHS and ask for their advice - they'll prob.tell you go back to Gp or hospital but ask them what you can say to GP to convince that it's serious ?
Good luck ,hope someone else comes along with more advice.

Thanks for your advice. Hope they don't think she exaggerating- she's the type who "doesn't like to make a fuss".

We contacted NHS Direct over the Bank hol and they just said to keep hydrated and contact her doctor if it was not better by Thursday (tomorrow- which will make it 11 days sonce this started).

It could be salmonella- she had chicken the day before she felt ill. But then again it could be so many things. They haven't asked for a sample.

Sorry for the stupid question but would knowing what it is make a difference? Would they maybe treat her with something if they knew what it was?

I have persuaded her to weigh herself and she has gone from 9stone 2 lb to 8 stone 3lb.

You have made me feel more justified in insisting on some more help- I will contact her GP in the morning and stamp my feet!!

Knowing may or may not help but at least if they know the source ie bacterial etc they may or may not be able to give specific treatment such as antibiotics Demand they take a sample and do bloods I am that they have not suggested it [or maybe my gp is a closet vampire as am always like a pin cushion after a visit and my gp is generally useless] Just be forceful when ringing and demand they see her either by appt at surgery [get 1st appt to avoid contact with people or else ge them to come to her] You can get sample pots at boots/ chemists just ask and that way you can just present it to gp.
At least demand a diet/ re hydration plan and a plan of action ie try x for so many days and then review if no better
Good luck

That's a lot of weight to loose .
Tell doc that .
Have you made an appointment ?
Good luck.

Has she been in hospital recently, taken antibiotics...if so it could be c-difficile.

Her dr is NOT doing enough. She needs samples testing immediately for this among other organisms.

Please don't leave it another day, if it is C-diff it could be incredibly serious to leave it. I don't mean to worry you but it needs ruling out.

vomiting is not so common with C-diff though...I wonder about another type of gastro bug, something they can diagnose if they test - again, they need a sample or three.
Why haven't they done this yet - the mind boggles!

and I concur with chemist, immodium is a dreadful idea.

She might need a special kind of antibiotic. But really, don't let her take anything like immodium.

My DS has just had a long lasting stomach bug, vomiting settled but still revolting diarrhoea for nearly 2 full weeks. I asked GP to send a stool sample - it was rotavirus for him. But they can easily send a sample to rule out salmonella/campylobacter/c diff etc which may need specific antibiotic treatment.

Would suggest requesting a telephone consult and saying something along the lines of 'So I'll send a sample to the surgery later then, ok' and they will likely agree, even if they weren't going to suggest it Keep going with the rehydration stuff and agree avoid imodium while the cause is unknown.

Thanks again everyone. She did visit a friend in BUPA hospital about 2 days before she fell ill. Not that being BUPA should make a difference but would have hoped they would close if they had C dif? I don't know much about it- I will look it up.

She has promised me she will call the doc first thing in the morning and insist on an appt or home visit. So far they have given the impression she just needs to ride it out and they really want her to stay away from the surgery. I do understand this but she needs some more advice- I'm sure we can organise a sample without her attending in person if necessary.

If she doesn't call I will do it for her.

Thank you again.

Not tying to be bossy ( don't need to try ! ) but personally I'd opt for phoning on her behalf .

It's possible she picked up something there, yes - they wouldn't necessarily know they had it, iyswim, so wouldn't close...but anyway, if you do take a sample in, make sure it is kept refrigerated until you take it - c diff cpores can die within a couple of hoours at room temp, and easily get a false negative. This is why they usually want 3 samples for it - or ought to, anyway, though the level of ignorance among HCPs is rather alarming still!

Very careful with hygiene, too - (sorry, it may not even be a superbug, but just in case)

handwashing is crucial, with soap, for about 30 seconds at least. You can only kill these bugs with bleach, not that rubbish gel stuff at the hospital - it's counterproductive imo as it kills all the other ones that could even be keeping the superbugs in check.

I won't touch it.

and flush with lid down, and bleach entire bathroom (not necessarily pure bleach just something containing it) fairly regularly till she is better.

Metronidazole normally knocks it out but it is common to recur, so they can then re-treat and if that doesn't work, go onto vancocin or I think another new drug that works better.

Don't worry, in short - but do take precautions. Good luck and let us know how she gets on.

byw sorry for typos, spores, I mean - and handwashing is to wash OFF the bugs, because that's the only way to get rid of them - they won't just die in soap and water!

She prob has campylobacter or similar.
Hope she is Ok soon.

Thanks for your advice. I called her doctor this morning who again said she should not go to the surgery with diarrhoea but said they are unable to do a home visit. We considered our local walk in centre but this usually has a huge wait and she is uncomfortable about the urgency of needing to dash to the loo and not making it in the waiting room.

So I rang NHS direct, they took doctors details and called us back with an appointment at GPs at 10am.

Well done.

If all else fails, turn up at A&E announcing loudly that she has a superbug and they will deal with it just watch them!

Thanks for your support Fliight. The doctor said it was a 'bug'- talk about generalisation!! He said many of these can last for 3 weeks and that she was not dehydrated which is good news.

He asked for two samples which I took in for her yesterday afternoon. The results should be back in 2-3 days.

Meanwhile we have made sure has had no contact with DS and my grandma and I have been very careful with hand hygiene.

I have to say this has made me a little paranoid about hygiene- am currently potty training DS and have got through a lot of soap and bleach. My hands are getting sore!!

Oh crikey. Please don't be paranoid!

Okay, let me put it in perspective. the reason your Mum needs to be careful about hygiene, I mean using bleach etc, is that if it IS a superbug (which let's hope it isn't) she might reinfect herself. Not other people - in almost every case, you are only vulnerable to it because you have had antibiotics, which decimates your natural gut flora...therefore the c diff or whatever can take hold. If she hadn't been on antibiotics prior to going into the hospital, she is unlikely to have c diff.

I'm thinking it's far more likely to be a nasty bug, as the Dr says, but possibly a specifically nasty one which needs an antibiotic.

With me so far?
Sorry to have worried you.

Don't use bleach at home unless you have someone with an infectious illness using your bathroom. There's simply no need.

Please don't worry about catching a superbug from her, it's very very difficult to catch, unless as I said you have a compromised immunity or have taken certain antibiotics recently.

People live in the same house for ages with a patient and don't catch it. Really, you're more likely to catch what she has if it isn't c-diff. This is why it usually occurs in hospitals and not in the wider community - full of people who are already ill.

hope that is a bit clearer, so sorry to have panicked you!

Btw, glad you got the samples organised - that should give them the info they need to treat it. Hope your Mum feels betetr soon x

Her weight loss is over 10% have you told the dr that? It is a big loss to have especially for an elder person.

Fliight you haven't worries me you have given me great advice.

I just have been into more contact with 'bodily fluids' than usual with mum being poorly and potty training DS. I thought I should be using bleach when he has an accident- particularly a pooey one (sorry TMI)!! Will try not to get too paranoid!!

Debs75 The doctor was not concerned about her weight loss given that she has barely eaten anything and had been so poorly for 10 days when she weighed herself (12 days now). She's 61 so not old as such. We will keep an eye on this though.

Thanks again everyone for your advice.

I would definitely get the GP to send off a stool sample for tests. They did this for my ds and it was piece of mind getting the results that indicated a nasty virus that he got over.

Even if it is something your mum is meant to recover from on her own it sounds like her body isn't fighting it very well and needs extra tests to determine any medication or further investigation she might need.

Hiya!
Oh that's good, didn't want to create panic, in fact I prob shouldn't have mentioned c diff.
Babies can have it in their poo up till about 18 months old, when it seems to stop occurring for some reason...I never knew this before. Also many labour wards carry it.

But unless you have been on antibiotics, don't worry too much. One good reason to avoid taking them though!

Thought I would post an update as people took the time to help me out with my original post.

Mum's results finally came back and she had a 'bug' called gardia (hope that's how you spell it). She now has some antibiotics.

She is so relieved that she know knows what was wrong and is beginning to feel less nauseous and weak.

The GP couldn't help her shed any loght on wheer she may have caught it as he said its usually caught abroad of rom swimming pools- neither applicable in Mum's case!!