My husband took a video of the cats sitting with me and I guess couldn’t resist panning up to my nauseated form.

My body is apparently making up for years of not being sick by trying to catch everything possible in the first quarter of this year. This week it was stomach flu, and I’ve only just been able to sit at a computer long enough to write. While the topic is fresh on my mind, here are my tips on surviving it!

Don’t write off the signs as stress. My body aches started hours before the puking did, and I decided I had looked at my computer screen wrong, that’s why my neck was hurting. I was stressed about a submission, that’s why my stomach was in knots. I had some soup for dinner and laid down for a second, but it all went to hell shortly after. Had I known, I would have popped some Advil and stayed away from the soup.
Audiobooks are great for this miserable time. I couldn’t read, I couldn’t watch anything, but I definitely couldn’t sleep, I was just thrashing around in bed. I put my headphones in and turned on an audiobook. Did it take the pain away? Absolutely not, but at least part of my brain wasn’t thinking about it. Bonus, the headphones stayed in while puking. Didn’t even have to pause the story!
Let work know ASAP. I work from home for a small company and I am one of the early people who is usually working hours before everyone else. (Due to being a morning person and also my placement in the country.) I messaged our group chat and gave everyone a heads up that I might be unresponsive tomorrow. This helped me mentally because when I woke up still feeling terrible, I didn’t feel pressure to answer any emails or even get out of bed.
Get a cat nurse. It is always nice to be purred over.
Just because you’re not currently vomiting does not mean you are better. I felt light headed every time I stood up. I could barely concentrate. I tried to go for a run which was just hubris on my part. I had nothing in the tank.
When you’re ready to try eating again, do the think test. The thought of soup made me queasy. In fact, the only thing that didn’t was bread. So I asked my husband to pick some up on the way home. He did, but he also got these cans of honey infused whiskey for himself. I took one look at them and my stomach turned. If your stomach revolts at the thought of it, don’t eat it.
Keep an eye on the clock. At almost exactly 24 hours, I was able to stop taking Advil for the body aches. I ate a cat nurse’s weight in bread. I was still very tired and went to bed early, but they call it a 24 hour stomach bug for a reason, I guess.

Fingers crossed I can avoid any further illnesses for at least a few more months.

Post Script! I’m going to add a new number to include developments that occured after the initial penning of this post!

8. If something made you puke immediately after ingesting it the night before, don’t try it the next night just because you think you’re on the mend. I take a magnesium supplement before bed. It’s a powder that dissolves in water and I love it, it tastes like a SweeTART. After eating an entire mini-baguette last night thinking I was all done, I felt tired and a little achy and decided to call it an early night. I slammed that magnesium down and immediately sacrificed all of my dinner.

Learn from my foibles!

Be well.

How to survive stomach flu.