What Is Gastroenteritis? The Causes, Symptoms And Treatments Explained In Under 7 Minutes
What is Gastro?
Gastroenteritis or gastro for short, is one of the most common conditions that people present with at outpatient clinics and emergency departments.
In fact, the name by definition is pretty much broken down to mean inflammation of the stomach and intestines (gastrointestinal tract), caused by something.
Generally its’ caused by viruses, but can also be caused by bacteria, toxins from either of these, or parasites.
Acute gastro is commonly manifested through excessive diarrhoea (at least 3 or more times per day), usually accompanied with vomiting, nausea, abdominal cramping and sometimes a fever. Secondary to this, some people may also complain of a sore throat or cough along with these other symptoms, a lot of the time because of the excessive vomiting too.
Causes
The most common culprits of viral gastro are two viruses known as norovirus and rotavirus.
Other causes can include bacteria such as salmonella, bacterial toxins, caused by species such as staphylococcus, or from parasite infections such as giardia lamblia or cryptosporidium.
In terms of gastro caused by viruses or toxins, these tend to manifest themselves very quickly, with people reporting symptoms within 2-12 hours after ingestion, and usually these symptoms last for a few days before going away (although it may take a bit longer for things such as your diet and stools to get back to normal). Certain organisms can cause the gastro to last for longer, possibly up to a week, or cause more severe symptoms that require urgent medical care and often hospitalisation, such as bloody diarrhoea, extreme dehydration, rapid weight loss, or severe abdominal pain.
A lot of these symptoms may be indicative of less common causative agents such as clostridium difficle or certain species of E.coli.
But for most of us, it’s a virus or a toxin that clears in a couple of days, and it doesn’t really need any treatment.
Your body will in essence, switch off your gastrointestinal system, which is why you might feel unwell before everything starts coming back up, which is your body’s way of getting everything including the cause out of you. It cranks up your body temp causing a fever as part of the immune response.
And, as a side result, you get dehydrated as you can’t hold water down and excrete so much so fast that you feel weak and awful.
Treatment
If we were to add any medication to stop the diarrhoea, it potentially prolongs the time these microbes and toxins are in your body, which then means it takes longer for you to get better.
If someone is very nauseous and cannot stop vomiting, anti-nausea medication could be indicated to help relieve those symptoms, but again, unless your doctor or professional prescribes something that dissolves under the tongue in your mouth, it’s unlikely that the pills you swallow will have enough time to be absorbed before they come back up.
The mainstay of treatment is to manage dehydration through the use of oral rehydration salts and water.
These solutions are really just salty water that you mix together which contain all the electrolytes our body needs to function such as sodium and potassium, as well as a small amount of glucose. It’s really all the stuff you’ll be losing every time you vomit or have diarrhoea.
I would avoid reaching for sport’s drinks however, as a lot of these have much higher concentrations of sodium in comparison to other electrolytes, which is more likely to add to your dehydration rather than treat it.
Diet During Gastro
Introducing simple bland flavoured foods such as a piece of toast, a boiled potato, or a small bowl of rice is best.
Simple, starchy foods are easier for the body to break down and absorb, and they tend to lack flavour and spices that could act as irritants to your gut.
Over time your appetite will return to normal and then you can go back to eating a standard healthy diet.
If you have a severe infection from bacterial or those parasites, it will take a while longer and will require you to be much more attentive to what foods you eat.
The information contained in this video is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. All content, text, graphics, images and information contained in this video is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your medical professional. Consult your own physician for any concerns that you may be having.
I do not own any of the footage used during the video. All rights to the footage belong to the respective company. The footage was used purely for entertainment purposes with no financial gain being created.