{"id":688,"date":"2015-05-08T05:20:13","date_gmt":"2015-05-08T05:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.schechtermd.com\/?p=688"},"modified":"2015-05-08T23:53:19","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T23:53:19","slug":"dealing-with-stomach-ache","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/dealing-with-stomach-ache\/","title":{"rendered":"What To Do and How To Cure A Stomach Ache"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"How<\/a>When a patient has a stomach ache, it can be confusing, worrisome etc and I try to help them find a stomach ache remedy<\/strong> as quick as possible. Often the first reaction is: \u00a0“it must be something I ate”–i.e. food poisoning.<\/p>\n

But usually it’s not. \u00a0Stomach flu or gastroenteritis, often caused by a virus, is far more common in Culver City<\/a> and Beverly Hill<\/a>s areas than is food poisoning. \u00a0Food poisoning comes on hard, often more vomiting than diarrhea, and leaves relatively quickly. \u00a0It can make you miserable in the meantime. \u00a0Often people you ate with get sick or the restaurant or friend’s house may report other folks with similar responses (if they’re honest).<\/p>\n

How about serious conditions? \u00a0Well severe localized stomach ache, especially in that right lower region could be appendicitis, in the left diverticultis. There is often local tenderness, low grade fever, and it gradually worsens. \u00a0Any question about this, see a doctor\/urgent care or emergency room<\/a>. \u00a0But statistically this is far more rare than the annoying and common gastroenteritis. \u00a0Most of these are acquired by contact with someone who’s sick or is about to be sick or has recently been sick or their kids or your kids.<\/p>\n

The symptoms vary from person to person and time to time but include nausea, sometimes vomiting, sometimes fever and a generalized stomach ache without the localized quality of appendicitis (right lower) or diverticulitis (left lower).<\/p>\n

Step One:<\/strong> The first thing to do is to deal with the nausea. That’s the bear because it feels terrible and it doesn’t allow you to hydrate, drink fluids, etc. which you need to get better. I like to prescribe ondansetron for this, ideally orally dissolving tablets for their ease in consumption even with nausea. It’s also known as zofran and in my offices<\/a> I have an injectable form as well which works quickly.\u00a0 This medicine really breaks the nausea cycle and allows the patient to proceed to Step two.<\/p>\n

Step Two:<\/strong> \u00a0hydration. \u00a0Start with sips of water. \u00a0Small sips at first to ensure they stay down and then gradually larger sips and larger amounts when you’re sure you can keep fluids down. \u00a0Too much too soon can set you back to Step One (the nausea cycle). \u00a0If you have Gatorade or flat regular sprite or cola (not diet), this is your change to sip these as well or mix with water to dilute them. \u00a0Gradually get the fluid in to keep up your strength, fight the fever and rehydrate from any vomiting, and flush out the virus where possible.<\/p>\n

Now you may be dealing with a stomach ache and diarrhea by now. \u00a0This is the body’s way of expelling the infection, so it’s not all bad. \u00a0But it feels lousy and it takes a lot out of you (so to speak). \u00a0Again, the hydration helps this a lot. \u00a0But with more diarrhea, and less stomach ache, and no nausea, you realize you ready for Step Three.<\/p>\n

Step Three:<\/strong> Begin to introduce dry, calming food bits to nourish the body and help the stools to start forming again. \u00a0The famous BRATT <\/a>diet is first. \u00a0Bananas, Rice Applesauce, Toast, Tea is where the acronym comes from. Variations include dry saltine crackers. \u00a0Start slowly, small amounts, enjoy the white rice (I top it with cinnamon), continue to hydrate, and you’ll gradually feel stronger, replace lost calories and your bowels should begin to bind up. \u00a0This stage may be a 1\/2 day to a day depending.<\/p>\n

Stage Four:<\/strong>\u00a0 You are keeping the BRATT diet down, you’re more hungry, stools are tightening up. What do you eat next that won’t blow your gains so far? Chicken without the skin\/grilled or baked. \u00a0Dry grilled fish (or baked). \u00a0Baked white potato. \u00a0Avoid dairy products, vegetables, salads. \u00a0This whole recovery thing is like a chance to eat fairly unhealthy for a couple of days while you are getting healthier. \u00a0Kind of a medical paradox!<\/p>\n

Stage Five:<\/strong> \u00a0After a day or so of these simpler, drier foods, it’s time to expand the diet, although dairy products and greasy foods should usually be re introduced last of all. \u00a0Many gastroenteritis infections affect the intestines in such a way as to give everyone a temporary lactose intolerance and that’s why dairy is to be avoided. \u00a0Greasy foods just seem harder to digest when you’re recovering as well.<\/p>\n

Stage Six:<\/strong> \u00a0Normal diet. Just remember the other stages for a friend or if you get sick again.<\/p>\n

Remember: \u00a0unexplained worsening, high fevers, severe abdominal pain or localized abdominal pain means getting to the emergency room or doctor’s office ASAP. \u00a0Don’t self-diagnose or rely on this or other educational materials to the exclusion of competent medical care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When a patient has a stomach ache, it can be confusing, worrisome etc and I try to help them find a stomach ache remedy as quick as possible. Often the first reaction is: \u00a0“it must be something I ate”–i.e. food poisoning. But usually it’s not. \u00a0Stomach flu or gastroenteritis, often caused by a virus, is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":699,"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688\/revisions\/699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}