About once a year I get
it. It arrived last night around 11pm, after I had been asleep a
couple hours. And no, flu shots don't touch it. The
stomach-intestinal virus is not what people get vaccinated for. The
vaccine is for the upper respiratory, fever, headache, feeling like
you were hit-by-a-truck sort of flu.
When you get the
stomach-intestinal flu – often accompanied by a variety of
symptoms, including but not limited to nausea, vomiting, headache,
body aches, intestinal and stomach cramping, and lastly BAD diahrrea.
The very BEST thing you can do when this hits is to follow these
instructions.
Back in the '80's I was
the only K-8 School Secretary for our Teachers, Principal and 330
Students. So many times sick children would be in my office holding
a bucket in front of them waiting to be picked up by a parent and
taken home. These sick students would be back the next day, looking
very pale, in my office buying lunch and milk tickets! Not a good
idea at all. I had to send so many of them home two and sometimes
three days in a row, it was clear some educating was needed. I typed
up a sheet, similar to this, to hand out to parents the first day
they came to get their child. This paper earned me the title of
School Puke Doctor :o)
When you find yourself
sick in this way, if there is vomiting involved, wait 4 hours after
your stomach finally stops revolting, then begin liquids. If
vomiting wasn't a part of the mix, well, lucky you! You can SLOWLY
start the liquids as soon as you begin to get hungry, thirsty. Don't
eat anything solid though, or you'll have to start the process over
again. For the next 24 hours, all you should do is treat your
headache, body aches with NSAIDS if you can. Drink or eat clear
liquids. No matter how hungry you get, remember NO solid foods!
Start by preparing the
following liquids. Jello, chicken or beef bullion, naturally
sweetened tea (real sugar, honey or maple syrup) your body NEVER
likes artificial sweeteners, and especially not when it's stressed
like this. For cold drinks, such as regular (not diet) sodas, colas are best. There's
something in the cola bean that relaxes the long muscles of the
stomach, take away the cramps and spasms and are especially
beneficial right now. Later, for a little variety you could also
drink some ginger ale, clear lemon-lime soda, 50-50 or Squirt. (the
Jello parfaits shown have half regular set jello topped with a little
of that same jello whipped with a beater just for a little extra
touch to make your sick person feel special.) The balance of salt (sodium) and sugar in these easy-to-digest foods will restore the energy your body needs now.
Once the magic 24 hour
has passed you can begin to introduce bland solids. A few fine pasta
noodles in your bullion, soda crackers, very thin potato soup that is
NOT cream or milk base. Stay off all dairy products for at least a
week. During a very bad stomach-intestinal bug, the good bacteria in
your intestinal tract needed to digest the lactose in all dairy
products is wiped out. Dairy will really irritate that and cause the
symptoms to return. If you would like to help jump your body's
ability to reintroduce the good bacteria, go to your local food co-op
or health food store and get a good quality 'probiotic' and take it
for a couple weeks each time this virus hits.
Here's hoping for a Happy
Healthy Winter for all my Food Blog and Facebook Food Page friends.
Listen to your body and remember to eat smart, especially when you've
been sick. . .Lin
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