Desperately seeking a remedy for stomach flu is natural if you are suffering from this depressing disease, whose technical name is viral gastroenteritis. It is not really flu at all, but stomach flu makes you feel just as bad as any other type of flu, while at the same time you have vomiting, diarrhea or both.
The good news about stomach flu is that the body will cure it within a few days. Exactly how fast you can expect it to clear up depends on how healthy you are in general, and how you act when you have it, whether you take enough rest, for example.
You probably will not want to eat when you have stomach flu. You can go with your feelings on this and avoid solid food for the first day or until you are beginning to feel better. When you start eating, begin with food that is easy to digest such as a nutritious soup, toast, rice or bananas. Some foods should be avoided until you are completely well again. These include dairy products (except live yogurt), spicy foods, processed foods, caffeine and alcohol.
It is vital to drink plenty of liquid such as water or fresh fruit juice to help the body get rid of toxins and bacteria as fast as possible. Sip the water slowly if you have vomiting, but keep taking it. Avoid sports drinks because they will burden your body with a lot of sugar without adding the minerals and vitamins that are found in fruit juices.
If you have severe diarrhea, you may be losing so much liquid that there is a risk of dehydration. You can use rehydrating drinks that contain glucose and essential minerals such as potassium. These oral rehydration fluids are available over the counter.
Don’t stop drinking because you want to stop the diarrhea. Your body needs to flush the virus out of the intestines. Besides, dehydration can kill.
Most people don’t drink enough water. On a regular day the general advice is that we should be having around 2 liters or 8 x 8 oz glasses spread over the day. When we are not eating we will need more because we usually take in at least 1 liter of water from our food. However, how much water we need depends also on our . The general advice is for a person of around 150 pounds.
It is important to see the doctor when you have stomach flu. Unfortunately there are no complete cures for viral diseases. Unlike bacterial infections they do not respond well to drugs. However, a doctor can check that this really is what is wrong and perhaps offer something to help with the symptoms, such as medication to stop the diarrhea. This can help you to recover faster even if you do not find a complete remedy for stomach flu.
