I Believe I May Have Severe Gastroenteritis . I Have

Posted on Thu, 12 Mar 2020

Question: I believe I may have severe gastroenteritis. I have had abdominal cramping, nausea, vomiting, and a small amount of bright red bloody mucus in my diarrhea. This has been going on for about 24 hours, and the onset was very sudden. I haven't eaten anything out of the ordinary recently either, so I don't believe it's food poisoning. I'm not sure if it just needs to run its course over a few days, or if I need to see a doctor due to the small amount of blood in my stool. My abdomen has not been tender to the touch, and also does not feel bloated or hard. I have a slight fever right now of 100.2 degrees.

Answered by Dr. Shinas Hussain (57 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Antibiotics may be started.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for the query.
The symptoms are typical of gastroenteritis.
As there is dysentery( blood in stool) antibiotics must be started empirically.
Consult a general practitioner and start a short course of antibiotics preferably combination of ciprofloxacin-metronidazole which is effective against most of the pathogens.
As of now drink plenty of water or ORS solution to prevent dehydration.
An ultrasound abdomen and stool routine to look for any other causes.
Hope I have answered your query.
Thanks

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Kampana