Dear Reader,

This probably means that you have a gastrointestinal virus. Most "stomach bugs," or gastroenteritis, run their course within 24 - 36 hours, but not until after they've caused plenty of discomfort, pain, and even misery. While most people recover uneventfully from their bout of vomiting and/or diarrhea, some become seriously dehydrated. Dehydration occurs when the body loses too much fluid. Body chemistry also becomes unbalanced, because along with the fluid, one is losing essential salts and sugars, such as sodium, potassium, glucose, etc.

Symptoms of dehydration include:

• dry, sticky feeling in the mouth
• dry eyes
• peeing only tiny amounts of dark yellow urine
• sunken eyes
• extreme weakness

In the most severe cases of dehydration, an individual may become confused, unconscious, and/or experience seizures.

For these reasons, the most important thing to do when one has gastroenteritis is to try to avoid dehydration, difficult to do when someone "can't keep anything down." Food is not as important as fluids. A person needs to continue to sip or drink liquids and not worry about eating until s/he's clearly on the mend.

It's important not to drink just plain water, since someone's system needs sugars and salts, as well. Specially made drinks are available for this purpose, called oral rehydration solutions. Pedialyte is usually given to babies and young children; adolescents and adults can try Rehydralyte or Ricelyte. Sports drinks need to be avoided because they have too high a concentration of sugar, which can actually cause or aggravate diarrhea. If a person doesn't have an oral rehydration solution on hand, call a health care provider; s/he may be able to give a recipe over the phone for a reasonable, safe substitute.

Start by sipping just a spoonful or two of replacement fluid every 15 minutes. When a person can hold this down, push the time to every 10 minutes, then every 5 minutes. Then gradually (very gradually) increase the quantity.

Call a health care provider or have a family member or friend take someone for medical treatment if this individual:

• can't hold anything down for more than 24 hours
• continues to vomit for more than 3 days
• has a high fever
• has severe abdominal pain
• feels faint or woozy
• notices blood in his or her stool or vomit

A person may need to receive replacement fluids and electrolytes through a tube in his or her vein (called intravenous or IV fluids). S/he may have a bacterial infection that will require antibiotics, or some other complication that will require medical treatment.

Hope you feel better soon,

Alice

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