Stomach bug

Well, we are going through our first "puking" sickness (sorry TMI). Add it to my mommy stripes. Jude sick Thurs-Fri (started while I was holding her and paying at Children's Place for clothes with a whole line behind me...let's just say a memory I will never forget as it projectiled all over me, her, the counter, the floor, and a bunch of new summer clothes...HA), Zoe sick Fri-Sat, then skipped a day, now DH sick. So, here I sit downing Emergen-C's and just praying that it isn't coming for me, although probably inevitable. I just hope DH is through it before it begins. Now, the real question...what are major things I can do to try to keep it from coming around again? I am disinfecting everything I can. I don't know where we got it. Maybe from some used toys I just bought at a sale and probably didn't clean good enough? We have not been anywhere for 3 weeks! UGH. :bad:
oh, not to mention I can't get them to eat or sleep on schedule...I suppose that will take a while to get back to?

 

:hug: I'm sorry the little ones got sick and now dh!! I hope you're able to avoid it but you're right.
We had a 24 hour stomach bug hit us a couple months back and they are NO fun!! You can catch it anywhere, from anyone. I think disinfecting everything is your best shot. :hug:

 

:hug: I hope Zoe and Jude feel better soon and you are able to ward it off. I agree with Brigette, those can pop up from anywhere and disinfecting is your best bet.
Feel better soon!

 

My family caught the stomach bug for Christmas. First My mother and my aunt got it. Then my boys got it. Then my cousin and her three kids got it. Somehow, it skipped my step-father, my DH, and I (Thank goodness!), but we found the culprit was most likely my other cousin/cousin's DH who arrived first at my aunt's house. She saw my aunt first and then my mother. She and her whole family caught the bug the week before. Her DH was still feeling a little ill, but no longer throwing up or otherwise. She thought it was done. NOT! Thanks for sharing that wonderful Christmas gift! I'm not upset with her, but she acted like she had no idea where everyone else could have caught the bug until she confided in her sister (my other cousin) what happened before she came for Christmas. I suppose I'd have liked a little heads up so we all could keep some of the greetings down to a minimum.

 

We had it over Christmas as well. Fiona & I got it first. She woke up wailing & when I went in to her she had thrown up everywhere. I had it at the same time - it was awful, I had to hold her while she was sick, clean her up then hand her off to my husband so that I could throw up. Sheer misery! Her sister caught it 4 days later. I just washed all of the small plastic toys, put all of the plush/fluffy toys away for the duration, and used disinfecting wipes on the big stuff. I did it a few times & that did the trick.

Hang in there - it took about 3 days/nights for us to get back on track with the routine after the 24 hr bug.

 

We are JUST getting over it now. It's been a ROOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHH week!

Hugs. I haven't realy OVERLY disinfected, just handwashing like a maniac, cleaning w/ bleach like I usualy do and using common sense.

Good luck. It's NOT fun! it's our first stomach thing we've had! Not nice!

 

We're also just getting over it here too and it's been a awfully long, rough week. It hit everyone here with the exception that I didn't get it too bad .... knocking on wood right now! This was our first "serious" stomach bug and man, did it kick us down. Today was a better day but I can definitely see that the schedule we had so nicely in place is going to take awhile to get back and order and not to mention eating.... oy. :blink:

I hope you all get better really quick! :hug:

 

Thanks everyone - still hanging in over here. DH really sick and girls doing better as each day passes, but erratic eating and no sleeping today - I had to put them to bed at 5 pm. I have been feeling sketchy since about noon - I am ignoring it, taking emergen-c and drinking a ton of water. Sorry for those of you who have went through this recently. The hardest thing all day for me so far was trying not to kiss and slobber on them like I usually do.

 

Ok… the good news is MOST stomach bugs are caused by viruses and, the worst case scenario is a virus like Norovirus is one of those tricky viruses that often causes stomach illness that evades the human immune system (like RSV) humans DO build immunity to the specific strain for several months. SO, chances are it is a virus and it will not ‘come around again’ after everyone has it. When your family’s immunity wanes the virus will no longer be living on your household surfaces…as even the most hardy stomach viruses don’t live more than a few weeks outside the human body. If it is caused by a bacteria, things might be different, but most likely it is a virus and you will not pass it back-and forth.



Ok… the bad news. You probably know how stomach bugs spread, but if you don’t, here’s how.. (kinda gross) mostly we ingest it. It can be inhaled as it is aerosolized in vomit/diahreah and spread like a cloud… but MOST of the time tiny little particles (as few as a few viruses) cling to our hands after we touch surfaces that have touched surfaces (hands, etc) that have even touched surfaces that touched vomit or feces or aerosolized virus. So, transfer several times we can still get it. PLUS it is also picked up from aerosolized virus from vomiting/diahreah, so if you touch any surface, say, your bathroom mirror even several hours after your husband has been sick in the bathroom, that mirror it likely has virus all over it, and if you rub your eye, eat food with your hands, etc… you’re sick. ALSO, depending on the virus can still be shed up to 7 days after a person stops showing symptoms…so…. Long contagious period.



***The best way not to get sick is to clean everything with bleach often, and, what I would do, is sanitize your dishes if you have a dishwasher AND, if you haven’t gotten sick, avoid rubbing your eyes and do NOT eat with your hands for at least 1 week after everyone else is better. Wash your hands often often often, but you have to wash a LONG time to wash off all the viruses (and when you use the sink faucet to turn off the water your hands get the virus on them again) and *HAND SANITIZERS DO NOT WORK ON MANY STOMACH BUGS, LIKE NOROVIRUS. So, my advice is use sanitized utensils and plates for your food. Don’t touch food with your hands, or allow your kids to stick their hands in your mouth. Don’t use common toothpaste, buy a new toothbrush and put it in a cabinet, etc. This doesn’t always work, but it has worked for me at least once or twice.



(I’ve done lots of reading on the subject as I HATE HATE HATE stomach bugs!)



Good luck, I’m sorry your family is sick!