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Having Fever, Vomiting, Cramps And Diarrhea. Should I Go To ER?
Question: Late saturday night started feeling pretty bad thought nothing of it but it turned into vomiting and fever witch went away very rapidly, thought it was over but since sunday have had severe cramps and diarrhea. Diarrhea is not that productive but still obviously unpleasant, almost as bad as the cramping. no other known intestinal issues, just had checkup everything was good, otherwise healthy never had any major illness or condition so far----recently had small amount of pink/red blood in toilet, should I go to ER?
Hello,
thanks for the query
From the information you have given, it is likely that you have an infection of the digestive tract. Possible causes could be bacterial infections such as
-Salmonella
-Shigella
-E. coli etc.
Bacterial toxins as well could explain your present situation ( food poisoning) but in this case there will be a notion of some other person with the same problem and who ate the same food that you did eat.
The appearance of blood in stool makes the situation serious and even more since you talk of fever.
Other possible causes such as inflammatory bowel disease or tumors are less likely due to the acute onset and no past history.
It would be important to go to the ER so that a detail examination can be done with tests such as
-WIDAL to rule out Typhoid
-Stool analysis and stool culture if fever is present
-Complete blood count etc.
In the case of a bacterial infection, you will be given antibiotics to take for a couple of days together with some pain killers. Meanwhile, you should avoid milk and take more bananas and carrots to cut the diarrhea.
Hope this answers your query. If you have more query, i will be glad to help.
Wishing you good health
thanks for the query
From the information you have given, it is likely that you have an infection of the digestive tract. Possible causes could be bacterial infections such as
-Salmonella
-Shigella
-E. coli etc.
Bacterial toxins as well could explain your present situation ( food poisoning) but in this case there will be a notion of some other person with the same problem and who ate the same food that you did eat.
The appearance of blood in stool makes the situation serious and even more since you talk of fever.
Other possible causes such as inflammatory bowel disease or tumors are less likely due to the acute onset and no past history.
It would be important to go to the ER so that a detail examination can be done with tests such as
-WIDAL to rule out Typhoid
-Stool analysis and stool culture if fever is present
-Complete blood count etc.
In the case of a bacterial infection, you will be given antibiotics to take for a couple of days together with some pain killers. Meanwhile, you should avoid milk and take more bananas and carrots to cut the diarrhea.
Hope this answers your query. If you have more query, i will be glad to help.
Wishing you good health
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Well thank you very much for your reply. A few quick questions for you. If I believe that the bleeding was just a rectal tear (blood was never in the actual diarrhea, just a little at the end and on the tissue) would it still be an emergency? And the fever was very brief and started and ended before the cramping and diarrhea. I am not necessarily trying to avoid the emergency room just making sure it's the right thing before I go. I feel absolutely fantastic in between cramping (which doesn't necessarily happen only after food and water - its very intermittent) and I am keeping myself remarkably hydrated with electrolyte drinks and tons of water. I just would like to know the upper limit on days with cramping diarrhea of trying to tough it out and at what point (5-6-7 days?) am I really putting myself in jeopardy. Again thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
Hello XXXXXXX
thanks once more for the query.
If the blood was just a rectal tear or not associated with the stool, then it wouldn't be an emergency unless the bleeding is excessive.
It is not possible to have a fever and out of a sudden within the twinkle of an eye its all gone. It is less likely that it was a fever and more likely that it was the discomfort you felt that made you to assume it was a fever. Fever is a severity symptom in diarrhoea indicating a more serious problem thus the absence of fever is some how comfortable.
It will be important to take note of the the meals you take to see if there is a particular meal that causes you the troubles i.e. a meal which you could be allergic to.
Meanwhile rehydration is important adn you should continue it. The absence of fever, blood in stools, abundant diarrhea etc make your presentation less likely to be a severe condition. Thus, you could observe some diet modification as there is a chance what you are presenting is an irritative bowel disease which has no particular treatment but diet modification.
There is no defined number of days as to when to seek medical care but then there are severity symptoms that would have to be look after including -abundant diarrhea
-bloody stools
-persistent vomitting,
-fever plus diarrhoea etc.
Hope this answers your query. If you do not have further query, you could close the discussion and rate the answers.
Best regards
thanks once more for the query.
If the blood was just a rectal tear or not associated with the stool, then it wouldn't be an emergency unless the bleeding is excessive.
It is not possible to have a fever and out of a sudden within the twinkle of an eye its all gone. It is less likely that it was a fever and more likely that it was the discomfort you felt that made you to assume it was a fever. Fever is a severity symptom in diarrhoea indicating a more serious problem thus the absence of fever is some how comfortable.
It will be important to take note of the the meals you take to see if there is a particular meal that causes you the troubles i.e. a meal which you could be allergic to.
Meanwhile rehydration is important adn you should continue it. The absence of fever, blood in stools, abundant diarrhea etc make your presentation less likely to be a severe condition. Thus, you could observe some diet modification as there is a chance what you are presenting is an irritative bowel disease which has no particular treatment but diet modification.
There is no defined number of days as to when to seek medical care but then there are severity symptoms that would have to be look after including -abundant diarrhea
-bloody stools
-persistent vomitting,
-fever plus diarrhoea etc.
Hope this answers your query. If you do not have further query, you could close the discussion and rate the answers.
Best regards
Note: For more detailed guidance, please consult an Internal Medicine Specialist, with your latest reports. Click here..
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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