No one enjoys being sick, especially if it means reliving what you ate for dinner last night. What we typically call ‘stomach bugs’ or ‘stomach flus’ are actually more serious than we think. They kill hundreds of thousands of people every year, including many children.
Stomach viruses, or more technically, the viruses that cause viral gastroenteritis are not just an inconvenience. While these stomach diseases are not considered deadly by any means, the real concern is the dehydration they may cause.
Unfortunately, these stomach bugs are extremely common. In fact, almost every child in the world will have contracted a stomach virus at least once, before their fifth birthday. These same viruses infect hundreds of millions of people every year.
It is important to understand that our stomach’s health is directly related to our long term health.
The importance of a healthy stomach
Many doctors consider the stomach to be the most important organ in the body, mainly because of how related gut health is with long term health in general. If you have a healthy stomach you will feel energetic, get sick less often, and have better mental clarity and greater emotional wellbeing.
On the other hand, a lot of research has been showing that poor stomach health is related to auto-immune conditions, diabetes, neural-degenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s, and even emotional issues like anxiety and depression.
Most of your stomach’s health can be attributed to what you eat. When you eat poorly, it will have two bad effects:
- It will prevent you from getting the nutrients you need to stay healthy
- >It can damage and change the composition of your gut microbiome causing an inability for proper nutrients to be broken down.
For all those people with stomach viruses, dehydration combined with nutrient deficiency can create an even worse situation in both children and adults. Fortunately, scientists have been researching the types of virus infections that contribute to stomach flus the most, in an effort to develop vaccines.
How are stomach viruses treated?
The issue with treating a stomach virus with a vaccine is that
- they are not entirely accessible and
- not totally effective either.
While there is good research and development in stomach virus vaccines, the truth is that they will only work if your body can launch an immune response.
For all these reasons, doctors have been looking further into how to fight the infections when they inevitably do happen. Because of how widespread and common stomach bugs are, this research has yielded way better results than attempting to prevent the virus in the first place.
They have discovered that the best way is to boost the body’s own defense mechanisms. It’s important to understand that even though your stomach and throat are inside of your body, they are still on the front line of exposure to the outside world through the foods that we eat.
Whenever we have a stomach virus, what’s really happening is that the cells that line our digestive system are becoming infected. These cells are responsible for transporting water and nutrients smoothly in your digestive system. When they become infected, your small intestine stops absorbing what it should, and our digestion slows down.
When that undigested food makes it to our large intestines, or colon, our body compensates by redirecting water in our body and resulting in symptoms like diarrhea which could lead to severe dehydration.
Researchers have learned that our bodies launch an immune response at this time. Signals are sent throughout your systems to alert your body that viruses are present. It’s this step of the process where boosting our immune systems with vitamins, NAD, or any combination of IV therapy treatments can help.
How can I treat a stomach virus with IV fluids?
Now that we understand how exactly a stomach virus affects your body, we know why treatments like IV therapies can help.
The various concoctions of IV fluids availablein drip therapies can boost your immune system and maintain energy production within your cell. Vitamin drip therapies can rapidly rehydrate and compensate for any deficiencies that a stomach virus may be causing.
While these drip therapies are not cures alone, understanding how they are helping your body’s immune response is important in being able to make more informed decisions for your health, and what other treatments you may want to seek out.
Traditional treatments for stomach viruses include staying hydrated by drinking water, weak teas, or even chewing ice chips if you are having trouble drinking. While these methods work, they can be inefficient because you are relying on your digestion to support a problem with your stomach.
Even without a stomach virus, almost 50% of vitamins or nutrients taken orally are actually being absorbed by your body. Having a stomach bug only makes this worse.
What makes IV drip therapies so effective is that the nutrients and vitamins are being injected directly into your bloodstream. Your body can rapidly uptake what you need through this method. The boost that IV treatments provide is exactly what your body is asking for when it is experiencing stomach flu symptoms.
If you have a stomach virus, you may be feeling sluggish and lethargic, because your body is conserving energy and telling you to rest. By providing the necessary nutrients and vitamins your body needs for its immune response you are actively helping your body fight the virus in a natural way.
How do I know if I have a stomach virus?
With over 200,000 people being hospitalized each year from stomach viruses, it’s good to know what early symptoms may look like so that you can begin supporting your body’s immune system sooner than later.
As we mentioned before, the most important thing to look for isdehydration. A lot of the warning signs for dehydration are obvious to most adults, however, it gets more unclear with children. Since younger children are most prone to stomach viruses, it’s important to know what signs to look for in their behavior, like if they are urinating less or have few to no tears when they cry. The tops of babies’ heads will also soften, their eyes will become more sunken, and their mouths and lips will look cracked and dry.
Understanding how the virus spreads and how contagious it is can also help you prevent exposure to yourself or even others around you. Children are most affected because their systems are still growing, but also because stomach viruses are spread mostly through oral contamination. Kids are often touching and placing things into their mouths, which in turn will allow the virus to spread more quickly amongst them.
How can I receive IV drip therapies?
If you decide that IV therapy treatments are something you want to explore, you can order IV therapy anywhere in South Florida by phone or online here. Be sure to mention that you are sick with a stomach virus and are seeking IV treatments to ensure the safest environment for both you and others around you.
You can book a video consultation online here, or visit ivmenowfl.com for more information. The sooner that you are able to identify and understand your symptoms, the faster you can seek the proper treatments and consult with a professional for what may be best for your personal situation.
The best you can do, along with these treatments, is to continue to educate yourself on what it is your body is experiencing and asking of you. Do not be afraid to reach out to your healthcare provider or professionals if you need any clarity about the treatments you are seeking.
