Food Poisoning and Stomach Virus symptoms

[ginger_saves]

Can someone please tell me from your experience the symptoms? The reason I askis because one Thanksgiving, I got so sick and had the worst v* ever-I slept on the bathroom floor. NO one else got sick from the food ( we all ate the same thing) and no one else got sick with an SV ( and there were about 12 people at my mom's house that night). The funny thing is that one of my aunt's said I looked a little pale at the dinner table that night.I told her I felt fine and thought it was weird she said that. I really felt fine and was eating away. A few hours later I was sick as a dog!! How come no one else got sick? I never will know if it was FP or SV?


Thenthis pastApril, I v* twice one night. My stomach was feeling off all day at work and was feeling heavy ( like a rock was in there) and I was feeling really uncomfortable. I didn't feel n* yet. I made up an excuse to leave work an hour early because my stomach was really bothering me. I went home and was feeling so n* suddenly..I ended up v* that night. No D*.My boyfriend didn't get sick and had kissed me earlier and we even ate the same chinese food the night before. At work that day, Iate nothing unusual. I think I barely ate muchbecause my stomach felt so heavy and lousybut the last thing I ate that day was a couple cookies(packaged from store not homemade), I think that just ruined my stomach and might have been the boiling point for whatever I had. I have been trying to figure out what it was and can't understand.


How can onedifferentiate an SV and FP? Does one have on symptom, and not the other? Also, how long does it generally take to feel the symptoms of both when you are hit with it? IFor example,have read some FP symptoms can hit you up to 8 hours later of eating the food and some say 1-2 hours after...





Edited by: ginger_saves

[scaredycat]

well, i'm not really sure if the symptoms are different. everyone I know that has had fp has had pretty bad stomach pain along with the v. and its been pretty violent. however, i read somewhere that a good portion of what people think is sv is actually fp. however, my husband once had a really bad sv and had stomach pain with it. sure looked like fp, but we all ate the same food and no one else got it.

[sage]

It's hard to differentiate for a couple of reasons. For one thing, most food poisoning is actually norovirus ("sv") contaminated onto the food by kitchen staff. Food-borne viruses, they call them. Secondly, if it's the food gone off, then there are several different kinds of bacteria that can affect food. Each carries its own symptoms and severity. It also depends on how long the food is left out of the frig...every 20 minutes the amount of bacteria doubles in the food. So it depends on a) what kind it is b) how much is there c) how long it's left out. Also, each person ingests a different amount,and each person will have a different immune response to the bacteria.


Sorry this isn't more helpful. I think that you just can't know. It's better to spend your energy on how to get rid of anxiety rather than how to avoid foods or food conditions or viruses. (I know that's easier said than done.)

[ginger_saves]

Thanks, sage. That makes good sense.I didn't mean for it to come off that way by me possibley avoiding foods or human contact. The reason I asked is because if I doV*, I'd want to know what would be the typical signs of both the illnesses because I wouldn't want to get anyone else sick. I know if it seems like FP, others don't have to worry about being near me,but I would hate to be contagious with an sv * and not know.Doctors usually can do tests, I assume?Thanks!

[xxsophiaxx]

besidesnorovirus (sv* that makes up about 50% of fp* cases), d* is usually more prominant in fp* than v*. and it's the other way around w/ sv*. at least that's what I heard... I dunno. I also heard somewhere that if you're in or past puberty (teens and adults) and you have d* more than 3 times in 24 hours (besides stress-related reasons or IBS) than you most likely have fp*. I remember one time having d* A LOT in one day. and a fever of 101. but I wasn't n* or anything, and i didn't v*. I do remember feeling really wiped out by the end of the day though, from all the d*. I ate just fine,but for the first half of the day I pretty much ignored the BRAT diet. my mother just thought I had a small disturbance. But I was having d* like 2 times every half hour and then I did the BRAT. And the next day I was much better. 24-hour bug I'm guessing?

[ginger_saves]

thanks, xxsophiaxx. Yeah, I remember last yearI had major d* for a week from eating at a popular Mexican place in town. No v* though ( thankfully) My boyfriend told me his son was sick with a stomach bug, and he thought maybe I caught it through him( which my boyfriend didn't get sick). I never asked if his kid v* or not, but I was pretty sure it was the damn food I ate the night before.