Homely Scientist

NB: The information in this post is not intended to replace the advice and information provided by your doctor or another healthcare professional.  Your doctor is always the best source of information about your health.

Yeah besides that.  The extra laundry, the ginger ale, crackers, soup.  No, I mean you get a giant gap in posting.  We have a little contest going here on the Sci-Health channel, the person who posts the most, gets a litte prize in July.  I don’t think I’m going to be winning, unless I pull out some of my old 6-10 posts a day stuff like I used to do.

Regardless, stomach flu.  First, I have heard, that there is no such thing as a "24 hour bug"", it’s usually food poisoning.  The really stomach flu/gastrointestinal virus is a lot more nasty.  One of the more infamous ones is the Norwalk virus.  Remember those cruise ships where everyone got sick?  Yeah that’s the littler bugger.  Causes all manner of gastro-intestinal distress and is highly contagious.  Oh, even better, it lasts on surfaces a while.  I remember hearing about a friend’s family who had it for weeks.  One person would get it, then another, then back … the whole house reeked of bleach I’m told trying to cleans all the surfaces.

So, first let’s talk hygiene.  Hand washing.  Lot’s of it.  My hands are so dry now from constant washing over the past week (first my kids had it, then they shared it with me).  Hand washing it critical for trying to limit the spread.

Dish washing.  In this case normal soap and water might not cut it.  A little bleach in your rinse water will zap the last remaining foes.  Now, I have a dishwasher (yay!) and it has a great setting called "Sani Rinse", it claims to be hot enough to do the same thing.  As a regular thing whenever there is sickness in the house the Sani Rinse setting is turned on.  And boy those dishes are piping hot when they are done!

Surfaces.  This is what’s going to "get" you.  Doorknobs, faucet handles, etc.  Man these are just the places where stuff likes to linger.  Standard course is a 10% bleach solution.  Personally, I hate it.  I use vinegar instead.

When you do get it, well normal mom’s advice applies here.  I’ve heard that the famous "BRAT" diet (bananas, rice, apples, toast) isn’t as great as once thought.  Don’t know, but I have found bananas and toast to be "generally well tolerated in test subjects"—my kids.  Personally I also use acidophilus capsules.  There is some evidence that they help with the nasty side effects of antibiotics.  Regardless they are supposed to replenish your body’s natural digestive flora.  They help, I think, for getting things to rights when things have calmed down.

So, that’s the deal.  I’ve been dealing with sick kids or sick for a while.  Hence, no posts.

I no return you to your regularly scheduled blog reading, I’m taking a nap.

Tags: stomach flu, Norwalk virus

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