Last night I experienced "stomach flu", and I just wanted to share what I did about it and what effect it had. My symptoms were typical of stomach flu according to what I found - sudden surges of diarrhea and throwing up at the same time (the first bout sure caught me by surprise!) accompanied by cold sweat and extreme weakness - basically you feel like you might be dying, or at least a quick death suddenly doesn't seem like such a bad thing at all. It started last night around 7pm when I was feeling a little "queasy" and slightly nauseous, but didn't think much of it and went to bed, hoping some sleep will get rid of it. Needless to say I couldn't fall asleep and suddenly around 3am I find myself running to the bathroom to experience the sudden horror of simultaneously expelling liquid from more orifices than I'd like. I did some research, and decided to try a home remedy many are recommending - activated charcoal. I happened to have the kind that comes in little pellets designed for fish tank filters, but it's pure activated charcoal so its "designation" is most likely irrelevant (hey, Laura drinks ironing water!), and that's all they had in Petco. Anyways, I took about a tablespoon-worth and chugged it down with water. I tried going back to bed, but about 30 minutes later at 4am I was once again in the bathroom expelling more liquid than I thought physically possible. However, I was able to fall asleep after that, and suffered no more (except a relatively small follow-up bathroom break at 6am that did not include throwing up this time).
I was taking about 1 gram of Vitamin C per hour today, and the entire day my stomach kept making noises and feeling a little unsettled, which was definitely from the stomach flu and not the ascorbic acid - but no more nausea and no more running to the bathroom for any reason, so who cares about a little stomach grumbling! I plan to eat another tablespoon of activated charcoal before bed and hopefully my bout with this nasty virus is over.
I have read that many people swear by activated charcoal for many things, see _http://www.sharingsustainablesolutions.org/activated-charcoal-medicinal-tips/ for example, but never had an opportunity to try it myself until now. I have read that stomach flu can last between 1 to 10 days, and that it is not uncommon to be expelling liquid every hour or so for more than 24 hours. Unfortunately this wasn't a very scientific test because I have no way of knowing how much trouble I would've had without activated charcoal. For all I know, maybe it did nothing and my symptoms were going to improve rather quickly anyway. I found myself thinking the same thing after taking a headache pill in the past - how do I know the pill worked, what if my headache was going to go away anyway within the next hour? I guess I'll never know :) But anyways, that was my experience, and I'll most likely use activated charcoal closer to the beginning of the symptoms next time - knowledge protects!
Edit: I was also drinking water regularly today with no food to replenish the lost fluids, and even got some vitamin water for to get some electrolytes back and camomile tea because it's supposed to be soothing for stomach problems. Towards the end of the day I had some rice and canned saury fish. My stomach complained slightly for a few hours afterwards but no real trouble.
I was taking about 1 gram of Vitamin C per hour today, and the entire day my stomach kept making noises and feeling a little unsettled, which was definitely from the stomach flu and not the ascorbic acid - but no more nausea and no more running to the bathroom for any reason, so who cares about a little stomach grumbling! I plan to eat another tablespoon of activated charcoal before bed and hopefully my bout with this nasty virus is over.
I have read that many people swear by activated charcoal for many things, see _http://www.sharingsustainablesolutions.org/activated-charcoal-medicinal-tips/ for example, but never had an opportunity to try it myself until now. I have read that stomach flu can last between 1 to 10 days, and that it is not uncommon to be expelling liquid every hour or so for more than 24 hours. Unfortunately this wasn't a very scientific test because I have no way of knowing how much trouble I would've had without activated charcoal. For all I know, maybe it did nothing and my symptoms were going to improve rather quickly anyway. I found myself thinking the same thing after taking a headache pill in the past - how do I know the pill worked, what if my headache was going to go away anyway within the next hour? I guess I'll never know :) But anyways, that was my experience, and I'll most likely use activated charcoal closer to the beginning of the symptoms next time - knowledge protects!
Edit: I was also drinking water regularly today with no food to replenish the lost fluids, and even got some vitamin water for to get some electrolytes back and camomile tea because it's supposed to be soothing for stomach problems. Towards the end of the day I had some rice and canned saury fish. My stomach complained slightly for a few hours afterwards but no real trouble.
