You Don’t Have a “Stomach Flu”

Most stomach and intestinal ailments are caused by bacteria. Flu is a resperatory virus and will not cause gastro-intestinal distress. More often than not vomiting and diarehha are caused by bacteria in food. Yup, food poisoning. It is far more common than you would think. Most of us have had mild cases of it at some point. The last time I vomitted was a pretty significant case of food poisoning. This was 18 years ago. It is the worst I have ever felt in my life. Proper food handling and paying attention to the sources of your food can go a long way to help prevent food poisoning, but it is not completely avoidable.

There is a virus that causes pretty much the same symptoms as food poisoning. The only way to verify one way or the other is to perform cultures. In either case treatment is pretty much the same anyway. Keep hydrated and ride it out. In severe cases hospitalization is necessary, but this is rare.

This comes up because I am dealing with a mild case right now. Hanging in, but feel pretty awful. I still haven’t broken my 18 year streak…