Stomach Bug??? - Minneapolis,MN

T.,

Hi, my name is T.. I'm a mother of three ages 16, 11 and 7 and I'm a nurse and a therapeutic lifestyle educator. Sounds like a couple of things could be happening here and fortunatly the answer to resolving them is the same. #1 it could be a stomach bug. #2 is a little more important because it has to do with regulating immune health. #2 is that his digestive flora could be out of balance. This would cause all of the symptoms you have described and would lower his immunity to viruses etc...

I put all my patients on a multi-strain probiotic. Not only does it start to correct flora imbalances but it also boosts the immune system. You want to look for a probiotic that #1 is refrigerated, #2 has a minimum of 4-5 strains of good flora and #3 has no less than 10billion live organisms in it before the expiration date.

Probiotics are safe for the whole family, including kids. Just give them some yogurt or apple sauce and open the capsule up and mix it in. Just a word of warning, the job of probiotics is to overpower the bad flora in the gut and to populate it with good flora. Sometimes when people start a probiotic, the can get loose stools for a day or two. This will pass and it's important to not stop taking it because every time you do, you're starting all over.

Probiotics are one of those things that everyone should be on every day. It's preventative medicine.

Please feel free to connect with me if you'd like further help. You can get more info on my website at www.justonebite.net

Good luck!
p.s. Did I see a mention of Soy milk? Soy is a no no for everyone. It's alters hormone regulation and attacks the thyroid.

Is your son cutting any teeth? If he is that will cause additional mucas to run down his throat and give him an upset stomache. You might try and give him pedialyte and saltine crackers and see if that will stay down If it soes give things that have nuetral tast such as dry toast, graham crackers etc. Or he might have a touch of the flu. Dr' say that teething doesn't cause any of these problems but a lot of mom's will tell you different. If he starts have diaherra I would get him back to a dfferent physician.

Glad you posted this question... with so many bugs out there it's good to know whats going around right now. My 18 mo old woke up 6 days ago and vomited twice. Seems a lot more tired than usual but otherwise okay. Ran a fever for a couple days. Stools have been looser and less of an appetite since then but otherwise okay. Last night the diarrhea began. Oh my... with 3 kids I've never experienced anything quite like this. I'm hoping this is the last leg of the virus. I'm not worried about h1n1 since she shows no respiratory symptoms.

We are experiencing this in our house the last couple of weeks. I am pretty sure it is not a bug but could be sinus/allery drainage. I have had that my whole life. My mom used to tell me that was what it was and I never believed her. My 2 year old has been getting singulair at night and sometimes zyrtec during the day. Ragweed is terrible this time of year. Just a thought.

Our daughter, 14 mon, just had the "Stomach Bug" a few months ago. Right at her 1st Birthday, lucky her. She just woke up one night, about three hrs after bedtime, puking. No other symptoms. Fever, cough, dehydration, nothing. I was not so concerned with the lack of symptoms. I thought maybe she ate something bad. I wasn't too worried about taking her to the doctor just yet, but I did. I had an appointment, prescriptions to pick up and we were leaving for our family vacation in two days. So they agreed to see her. Doc said "Stomach Bug." I was not surprised because she goes to the Y and church. If your son is in day care he probably picked it up there. You can ask to see if something has been going around. Ped. said BRAT diet, and lots of fluids. We went to our family vacation. BTW she had thrown up two days and then the diarrhea began. Her mood was fine, she played fine, her attitude was great. She did however loose her appetite. The ped. said it would last 3-5 days. However, it lasted 7 with the diarrhea continuing four weeks. We do think that it lasted longer b/c she passed it to her cousins, and we think back and forth while on vacation. We saw the doc when we came home, they did a stool sample, due to the ongoing diarrhea. Negative test. We concluded that it was due to weaning from formula to milk at the same time she was sick. Ped. recommended soy milk until it passed. All in all it was a lot going on at once... not to mention teething. Which caused a runny nose and cough... doc said it could have also added to the upset stomach. She came through it fine like nothing was going on. We were exhausted. Is your son getting his molars? Anyway, we had no flu related symptoms and it passed in 7 days. When we were on our way home of course.

This is what ticks me off about how the CDC and the WHO are treating the H1N1 virus. The CDC has instructed doctors not to test for the Swine flu virus unless a patient has been admitted to the hospital. I've got four children in Minnesota schools and I have yet to hear from the school system what their protocol is for the virus. "They are working on it." They are coming home each day and telling me about how many children are sick and that a couple of their class/bus mates have been in the hospital for swine flu. Anyway, I digress...

About your question, according to a New York Times articles from May 12, 2009:

"Many people suffering from swine influenza, even those who are severely ill, do not have fever, an odd feature of the new virus that could increase the difficulty of controlling the epidemic, said a leading American infectious-disease expert who examined cases in Mexico last week."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/health/13fever.html

This does not mean that your son has swine flu. Most of his symptoms suggest that he does not. Some viruses may take even up to ten days to pass. The most important thing is to make sure he is getting enough fluids--and it sounds like he is.

Try feeding him the BRAT diet in small portions. Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast. Mush the bananas. Use white rice without any topping or even instant baby rice cereal. Use applesauce with no sweeteners. Use white toast, not wheat and don't put any toppings on it. The object is to give him the simplest foods possible and see how he tolerates them.

Watch him to make sure he isn't getting worse, lots of cuddle time, and the fact that he is sleeping a lot is good for getting better.

Good luck

It sounds allergy related. It's probably just some seasonal hayfever, which is really bad right now for my whole family. My 7 yr old daughter and my 2 yr old have these similar symptoms. They don't really get a runny nose either, but they have coughs and they complain of tummy aches. I think your doctor is correct. Did he recommend an antihistimine? My pediatrician recommended OTC Claritan or Zrtec. I give my 2 yr old Zrtec. My doctor said he could have 2.5mg (which I think is 2.5ml - look at the bottle). He told me that when allergies are really bad I can give him up to 5 mg. My daughter is on the full dose of 10mg and it seems to help with her coughing. You might try this and see if his tummy aches improves.