Post-holiday syndrome? Vomiting and diarrhea

This is the 5329th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

The unprecedented 8-day long Spring Festival holiday is like a lively and happy party, where everyone enjoys reunion, food and fun. However, for me, Dr. Ding, who works on the front line of emergency and digestive endoscopy, this Spring Festival is still busy and fulfilling, and I am always on call to protect everyone's health.

The "grand scene" of emergency room queues on the eighth day of the first lunar month

We thought that as the peak of the influenza A virus that raged a while ago gradually subsided, the emergency room could "catch a breather", but unexpectedly, a new wave of visits came, with a large number of patients with symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, and highly suspected of acute gastroenteritis, flocking in.

Discussion on a certain platform about this wave of "vomiting strain"

The symptoms of these patients are quite characteristic. Most people do not have fever, nor do they have severe stomach pain. However, they vomit whatever they eat and drink. It is really distressing to see how uncomfortable they are. Fortunately, most people recover quickly after emergency treatment. This acute gastroenteritis after the holiday is like an uninvited guest, disrupting the rhythm of life for many people. In order to make it smoother for everyone to see a doctor and better cooperate with the doctor's treatment, today I will share with you some practical tips for seeing a doctor after the holiday.

1. What you eat is not simple, you should explain it clearly when you see a doctor

Acute gastroenteritis is usually caused by eating. When you see a doctor, be sure to describe in detail whether you have eaten unclean or particularly greasy food.

During the Spring Festival, many people choose to go out for fun, and it is common to eat in scenic spots and service areas. The food hygiene conditions in these places vary. Some fast food and junk food may have problems such as unfresh ingredients and irregular processing. Eating such food can easily allow bacteria, viruses and other "bad guys" to enter our bodies and cause acute gastroenteritis.

Some people also overeat during the holidays, eating a lot of meat, fried foods and other high-fat foods in one meal, which will put a huge burden on our stomach and intestines, leading to gastrointestinal disorders. In addition to the possibility of causing acute gastroenteritis, we also need to be vigilant about the occurrence of cholecystitis and pancreatitis. Cholecystitis and pancreatitis are more serious diseases than acute gastroenteritis. When they occur, they are extremely painful and even life-threatening.

Greasy food can strongly stimulate the gallbladder to contract and discharge bile to help digestion, but if there is a problem with the gallbladder itself, such as gallstones, bile duct stones, etc., it may cause inflammation. At the same time, overeating or greasy food will cause the pancreas to secrete a large amount of pancreatic juice in a short period of time, which exceeds the normal discharge capacity of the pancreatic duct, causing pancreatitis, which can be life-threatening in severe cases. Therefore, if you tell your doctor about your diet in detail, the doctor can more accurately judge the condition and take appropriate treatment measures in time to avoid worsening of the condition.

2. Don’t hide your drinking when you see a doctor

Many of the patients who visit the doctor after the Spring Festival have participated in various gatherings during the Spring Festival, and drinking is an indispensable part of the process. However, you may not know that drinking, which seems to be a common thing, is very particular when you seek medical treatment. When you see a doctor, you must take the initiative to tell the doctor whether you have drunk alcohol in the past week.

Why is it so important? This is because when the doctor prescribes medicine for you, he will choose the appropriate medicine according to your physical condition. For example, the commonly used antibiotic cephalosporin drugs may cause a serious disulfiram reaction if used after drinking. Once a disulfiram reaction occurs, it is no joke. The patient will experience a series of symptoms such as facial flushing, headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, palpitations, and difficulty breathing, which may even be life-threatening in severe cases. This is like igniting a "time bomb" in the body that may explode at any time.

For example, a few days ago, a patient came to see a doctor for acute gastroenteritis. The symptoms were quite serious, and Dr. Ding initially determined that he needed antibiotics. When asking about his medical history, he did not mention drinking at first. Fortunately, Dr. Ding asked a few more questions, and he remembered that he had drunk a lot of wine with friends the night before. If ceftriaxone is used without careful questioning, the consequences will be disastrous. Therefore, everyone should not underestimate this simple inquiry. Taking the initiative to inform the doctor of the drinking situation can avoid many potential dangers and make the treatment process safer and more effective.

3. The situation of relatives and friends can also give a "bottom line" to the condition

When seeing a doctor, there is another important piece of information that needs to be told to the doctor, which is whether relatives and friends around you have similar symptoms. If a family or a group of friends have symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea in the same period of time, it is very likely caused by group food poisoning or infectious diseases such as norovirus. By understanding the situation of people around you, the doctor can quickly determine whether there is a possibility of food poisoning, and then take targeted treatment measures, such as gastric lavage, catharsis, etc., to remove toxins from the body as soon as possible and alleviate the patient's symptoms.

In addition, if it is caused by an infectious disease, timely understanding of the situation can also help doctors take isolation measures to prevent the further spread of the disease. Some intestinal infectious diseases, such as norovirus infection, are highly contagious and can easily spread among the crowd. If not discovered and measures are not taken in time, the whole family may be "infected". This small piece of information can quickly help doctors make a judgment and cut off the source of infection immediately.

4. Pay attention to the body's signs of dehydration and inform the doctor in time

Finally, when you see a doctor, you should also pay attention to whether you are obviously thirsty or have little urine output. These two symptoms are the body's signal to us that we are dehydrated.

Patients with acute gastroenteritis will lose a lot of water and electrolytes due to frequent vomiting and diarrhea. If not replenished in time, it will lead to dehydration. Severe dehydration will affect the normal function of various organs in the body and even endanger life. When you feel obviously thirsty, it means that your body is already in a state of dehydration. Reduced urine volume is also an important manifestation of dehydration. Under normal circumstances, our daily urine volume should be around 1000-2000 ml. If the urine volume is significantly less than this range, we must be alert to the occurrence of dehydration.

If you have these symptoms when you see a doctor, be sure to tell your doctor immediately. The doctor will take appropriate fluid support treatment according to your degree of dehydration. Patients with mild dehydration may be able to replenish the water and electrolytes needed by the body through oral rehydration salts; while patients with moderate to severe dehydration need to be quickly rehydrated through intravenous infusion. Timely and effective fluid therapy can help patients restore the body's water balance as soon as possible, relieve symptoms, and promote physical recovery.

Finally, although the post-holiday "vomiting and diarrhea" is fierce, as long as we master these tips for seeing a doctor, we can communicate better with the doctor during the visit, so that the doctor can understand the condition more accurately and develop a more appropriate treatment plan. In recent days, no matter how much the patients vomited, the symptoms were quickly relieved under the doctor's treatment, so everyone does not need to worry too much.

I hope everyone can spend every day in good health and stay away from diseases. If you are unfortunately infected, don't panic. Follow these tips. Dr. Ding believes that everyone will be able to recover soon!

Shanghai Health Science Popularization Special Plan, Project No.: JKKPZX-2024-A07

Author: Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine

Ding Hui, attending physician, Department of Gastroenterology