Food poisoning symptoms, similar to the flu, can occur within 12-18 hours of eating contaminated food, causing bloating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration. Abdominal pain, fatigue, and headaches are also common. Seek medical attention if experiencing severe symptoms or dehydration.
Symptoms of food poisoning often feel like the flu and come on within hours, usually no more than 12 to 18 hours, after eating the contaminated food. They often cause feelings of headache and fatigue and just a general feeling of being unwell. Bloating or indigestion are also some of the first ways to recognize the onset of food poisoning, followed by nausea. Food poisoning will then rapidly progress to full symptoms, such as vomiting and diarrhea, which can last for a number of hours or even days. If you experience dehydration, which is very common with food poisoning, you may need to visit the emergency room for IV fluids and treatment.
Recognizing the symptoms of the onset of food poisoning is important to ensure you have enough time to go home before becoming seriously ill. Fever is uncommon with food poisoning, which is one of the easiest ways to differentiate early symptoms from the flu, as they are very similar. The flu will often present with a fever. Fatigue and headaches are common and a feeling of sickness throughout the body which can be difficult to identify the source at first is also a normal occurrence.
Generally, abdominal pain also occurs at the onset of food poisoning. This can cause bloating or heartburn, although the pains can also be concentrated and sharp. Over-the-counter medications designed to treat heartburn generally have no effect on this symptom, which is another clue. It is very common to feel nauseous at this point, and feelings of headache and fatigue will also continue to get worse. Some people just don’t notice these food poisoning onset symptoms yet, because it can be difficult to identify if you’ve never had food poisoning before.
Unfortunately, there is often little you can do once you’ve eaten bad food and are experiencing symptoms of food poisoning. You will likely experience vomiting or diarrhea as the body attempts to flush the bacteria or other toxins out of the system as soon as possible. In some cases it will only last a few hours, while in others they will experience it much longer. Dehydration is a risk that can be fatal, so it’s important for anyone who can’t hold down clear fluids or finds that urine output is slowing down, go to the emergency room for treatment with antinausea medications and fluids.
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