Question: Hello,
I am really hoping you can help me out. I am a healthy 45 year old non-smoking female.

3 weeks ago our son began vomiting in the night. It was happening every 15 to 30 minutes so we took him to the ER and were told by the doctor that the norovirus is going around our community and that is most likely what he had. The doctor told us it is very contagious and not to be surprised if he had diarrhea a few days later.

That same day my husband and I also began to feel nauseous. We all felt sick for a few days. At day 3 or 4 our son started to get diarrhea. At day 5 my husband got a fever, aches and had diarrhea. I began having the diarrhea the next day. My husband and son began to feel all better after 7 days, but our son was still tired for about 10 days. No one healed from this in 48-72 hours. It took us all at least a week to feel better.

Here is my problem. I am still not feeling well! It has now been 3 weeks. I have seen with my doctor twice. He did blood work and said I am definitely fighting something. It showed my white blood cells and neutrophils to be high. Everything else looked fine. He said my kidney function was good, liver enzymes were fine, thyroid was fine. I had an abdominal ultrasound and CT scan back in October which were perfectly fine, so he does not feel I need another one. I had a colonoscopy in 2014 and I was diagnosed with IBS (no polyps).

My doctor agrees with the ER doctor that we have most likely had a norovirus infection, especially since it’s in the community and we all came down with it at the same time. I am friends with a surgeon and she also agrees with that. My doctor and the surgeon both agree that the virus has likely caused my IBS to flare up. I do not have many flare ups so I am not used to this. I usually get better from a stomach virus within a week or so.

Like I say, I had some diarrhea on day 6. I took pepto bismol and did not have a bowel movement for 5 more days. When I did, it was diarrhea and I had pain in my stomach (not bowels) with bad nausea. I took pepto bismol again and did not have a bowel movement for 7 days. I finally had one yesterday and it was not diarrhea, but after I went my bowels became sore and have been sore for about 12 hours. My stomach has also been nauseous.

Basically I feel nausea every day. Some days it is worse than others. My stomach and bowels are gurgling a lot and I’m pretty sure I am full of gas. Sometimes I even feel like I have acid reflux, even though I take Dexilant daily. I have no appetite. I have days where I do not eat much at all. Many days I feel full, even if I have not eaten anything, or only very little.

I take zofran 4mg on days where the nausea is bad and I use pepto bismol if I have diarrhea or if I get bad cramps.

I have taken covid tests and they have all been negative. We have not travelled anywhere, my medications or diet have not changed leading up to this.

My doctor and my surgeon friend feel it could take me a month to feel better. My doctor said to contact him in 4 weeks if I am still not feeling better. I am at a point where I feel like this is never going to go away. It is causing me anxiety. I do not know what to eat anymore or how much. I’m almost afraid to eat for fear it will make me sick.

My regular medications include Bisoprolol 5mg for PVCs, Wellbutrin 150mg, Dexilant 60mg and Marvelon.

My questions are:
1. Have you seen anyone dealing with norovirus symptoms for 3 weeks or longer?
2. Do you agree with my doctor that this could take me a month to heal?
3. When I have pain in my bowels, can I use Tylenol for that? If so, can I still take Zofran and pepto bismol at the same time?
4. What type of foods can I be eating? I have mostly stuck to a BRAT diet. I have been avoiding caffeine, carbonated drinks, spicy or fatty foods. My surgeon friend told me to eat fibre. I thought that seemed a bit extreme since I have had diarrhea. Do you think I should eat fibre?
5. Can I have dairy? I would like to have yogurt, but I am afraid it will not sit well.
6. I have a concern that this is a bacterial infection, but my doctor feels it is viral. He said my husband and son should not be better either if we all had the same bacteria. He is not going to test me for that (I guess until 4 weeks from now if I’m still sick). I have a prescription for penicillin that I did not use (it was given to me back in the winter in case I had strep throat, but I didn’t). Should I start taking it to see if it helps?
7. How can I treat my IBS? Is there medication or is it only diet that can help? I live in Canada so I have access to good health care, but I believe some medications that are available over the counter in other countries require a prescription here.

Thank you so much for your help. I am sorry this was so long, but I like to give doctors all of the information I can to help.