curing someone with a possible stomach flu and preventing it for myself?

[shutyoureyes]

i'm visiting my boyfriend this weekend (we're long-distance) and he thinks he may have caught the stomach flu that someone else has/had at his workplace (feels 'bleh', loss of appetite, needing to go to the bathroom frequently). i fly up saturday night. and assuming the worst, that he does indeed have the stomach flu, what can i do to help him

Comments

[termofart]

Stomach stuff isn't flu, it's other.

Washing your hands goes a reeeeeally long way to preventing it, but he'd have to washing his like mad as well.

The likeliest way he'd transmit it to you is from not washing his hands (particularly after going to the bathroom)

I know it's gross, but there you have it.

[shutyoureyes]

Yeah.. he's not a very avid hand-washer. I think the only time he ever washes his hands (that I've seen) is after a bowel movement.

I have no idea how to instill in him how important it is to wash hands more often than that, but I wish he would. :\

[noveldevice]

Start telling him to wash his hands before you guys make out or have sex. I think it's valid, and maybe he'll get the picture.

[termofart]

Let's see just how sick he gets.

Then, when you tell him he probably could have avoided it entirely by washing his hands, maybe it will give him the push he needs on the subject. ;)

[noveldevice]

Disinfect everything when you get there, don't touch his or your face, wash your hands frequently.

DO NOT GIVE HIM TEAS OR HERBS, particularly randomly. With stomach flu, anything you try to do is likely to just make his diarrhea last longer. If it's stomach flu, he just needs to take it easy and get it out of his system. If it's food poisoning, same basic thing. If he gets dehydrated he should go to the ER or urgent care but really your amateur interventions are more likely to make it worse than otherwise.

If you take more vitamin C do you get diarrhea? Because that seems counter productive.

[myskat]

Too much Vit C will cause stomach trouble!

[inertiaflux]

This.

Not to mention we only utilize a certain amount of vitamin c a day...the rest is urinated out. Not point going over board with the vitamin c.

[unkle_social]

For him: BRAT diet

For you: Go next weekend, or risk it and wash your hands every time you touch something, avoid touching your face, avoid touching him, and read up on the BRAT diet.

[nerdular]

apple cider vinegar and vitamin d are also great preventatives.