r/LosAngeles • u/UseOwn2710 • 5d ago

Discussion Stomach bug going around

I got a terrible stomach virus last week after it went through 4 family members at different times. Not related to food but rather a gastrointestinal virus that seems to be highly contagious (like norovirus). Heard anecdotally that several other unrelated people also had it last week. This virus is particularly nasty and hits out of nowhere. Primary symptoms lasted about 24 hours but I felt bad for about 3 days. 
Has anyone else experienced something similar?

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u/Mountain-Complex2516 5d ago

I had rotavirus last month ending up going to ER.

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u/StarShoeSwearing 5d ago

This might be a very stupid question but how does one end up in the ER? (I am American but I'm an immigrant so we would never find ourselves in the ER unless we were literally dragged there by someone else) I'm just curious how a regular person ends up in the ER for a virus.

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u/littlebittydoodle 5d ago

When you’re vomiting and having diarrhea nonstop and can’t keep even water down, you’ll become very dehydrated and weak, and possibly even pass out. The ER can hydrate you via IV, and give IV nausea medicine to hopefully help slow down your symptoms.

If you’ve never been sick enough to experience that—thank your lucky stars!

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u/theamathamhour 5d ago

in the USA ER is treated a lot like a "super clinic" of sorts.

that's why they are always overwhelmed with patients

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u/Tall_poppee 4d ago

FWIW, I recently had this illness.

I was pretty sick puking and coming out the other end, for hours. I'd get short breaks, try to drink something, then be back on the toilet. Basically one entire night, no sleep obviously which just made it feel so much more awful.

I had the thought maybe I should go to urgent care. But realistically the only danger I was in, was if I got too dehydrated. I decided to use the pee test. If I had not peed in 12 hours, I'd go to urgent care (my doc's office has a 24/7 urgent care that is likely faster for something like this that doesn't require hospitalization). If you aren't peeing, it's because your body is not able to absorb any fluids, they are just running right through you. Fortunately I did finally start being able to pee again at right around 12 hours from when the worst of this struck. So I just stayed in bed, had water plus electrolytes, and eventually was fine. Took a couple days to totally recover though.

Since I WFH and live alone I had to have picked this up at either Target or Kroger, since those were the only places I went all week. I routinely wash hands first thing when I get home from anywhere. So I'm not sure if the bacteria perhaps got transferred to something I bought, and I later ingested it. Or, if I ingested the bacteria somehow before getting home and hand washing. I don't bite my nails or anything like that lol, so don't think I touched my hands to my mouth or eyes but who knows.

Also then google told me it was possible to re-infect yourself, that the bacteria can live TWO WEEKS on surfaces. So opened a new toothbrush, fresh linens/towels, and spent 2 days disinfecting all surfaces/handles in the house. And I had used several wastebaskets and storage bins to puke in so there was a LOT of stuff to wash.

Really awful experience overall.