How to Treat Viral Gastroenteritis

Viral Gastroenteritis is a highly contagious intestinal infection and causes extreme diarrhea and vomiting. It is the second most common disease in the United States. Despite its terrible effects on people, viral gastroenteritis is treatable and usually dissipates over time.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Adult Treatment

1. Recognize the symptoms of the virus. These include headaches, diarrhea, fever, chills, abdominal pain and vomiting and usually occur within 4 to 48 hours of exposure to the virus.

2. Don't eat for a few hours once you realize you have it. Your stomach needs to settle.

3. Drink plenty of fluids once your stomach has settled, as your body can easily become dehydrated during the time you are affected by viral gastroenteritis. If your stomach doesn't settle after a few hours, drink liquids in small amounts or suck on ice cubes.

4. Get plenty of rest. Don't overextend yourself too much.

5. Reintroduce small quantities of food you can easily digest once you've gotten plenty of rest and your stomach has settled. Try toast, apples, rice, broth and bananas.

Child Treatment

6. Recognize the symptoms of the virus. These include headaches, diarrhea, fever, chills, abdominal pain and vomiting and usually occur within four to forty-eight hours of exposure to the virus.

7. Let the child rest for several hours to allow his stomach to settle.

8. Give the child an oral rehydration solution to get minerals and fluids back in to their bodies.

9. Reintroduce easily digestible foods (such as rice, apples, bananas, toast and broth) in to their systems once symptoms of viral gastroenteritis have subsided.

Tips & Warnings

• The only vaccine available for viral gastroenteritis is Rotateq, which has been approved for use by infants 6 to 32 weeks of age.
• Avoid dairy products, alcohol and caffeine while symptoms persist. Wait until your body has completely recovered from the virus before reintroducing these things back in to your system.