How to Diagnose Gastroenteritis

If someone has a fever and nausea and suffers from abdominal cramping, they probably are suffering from gastroenteritis. If a fever is present, the cause—most likely—is a viral infection. The fever shows that the patient is contagious. So, cancel any plans they have for a couple of days (such as school or work). See the steps below in order to diagnose if the problem is truly gastroenteritis.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Flu-like symptoms
• Tylenol for fever
• Stomach and anti-diarrhea medication
• Physician contact information

1. Make note of the sick person's symptoms in order to diagnose the problem. Gastroenteritis is an intense abdominal irritation. Symptoms include fever, nausea, loss of appetite, diarrhea, weakness, muscle pain, dehydration and stomach cramping.
2. Treat the symptoms by giving medication for fever and upset stomach. Be sure the patient drinks lots of clear liquids and some juices. They will also need to be getting plenty of rest. A simple bout of gastroenteritis infection will be helped with this treatment. The important thing here is to ward off dehydration and diarrhea.
3. Think back. Has a virus has been infecting those around the patient at home, work or school? Any of these locations could show where the illness was picked up. Severe problems such as rotavirus and meningitis can go undetected when they are misdiagnosed as gastroenteritis.
4. Reflect on the past several days. Where has the patient been eating? Some hidden causes of gastroenteritis could include parasitic infections due to food poisoning. Food poisoning, worms and dysentery can mimic viral gastroenteritis. A physician will need to run blood and stool sample tests to look for bacterial or protozoa infections to determine this.
5. Consider whether the patient has had a history of gastroenteritis. A repeat bout could point to undiagnosed problems that have similar symptoms to this infection. Treatment of gastroenteritis symptoms could be actually controlling the true problem for a short while, only to allowing it to return again and again.
6. Take the patient to see a doctor if the infection gets worse. A more severe infection could be in the works. Get a diagnosis from a physician and follow his orders. This is where it will be necessary to consider a patient's past medical history.

Tips & Warnings

• The more a sick person rests, the better. This goes for any illness.
• Diarrhea and dehydration can be fatal—it ranks as one of the top reasons for deaths by natural causes.
• Consult your doctor if the symptoms are still present after a day. If this is the case, you should make an appointment for an examination.