Food poisoning is a condition most people are familiar with. It results from eating foods that have been contaminated with parasites, viruses, bacteria, or other chemical toxins. It is a common infection that usually causes mild symptoms like diarrhea and vomiting. In most cases, patients suffering from it get better within a few days even without any kind of treatment. But in some cases, this condition may take an ugly turn and cause severe symptoms like rectal bleeding associated with fever.

To identify and prevent this condition from occurring as much as one can, it is important to know what the symptoms of food poisoning are, what causes such conditions and how these can be treated.

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Symptoms of Food Poisoning

These symptoms of food poisoning can appear within a few hours of food ingestion to several days later of food intake.

Nausea

One of the most common symptoms of food poisoning is that it makes people feel nauseous. The affected person will feel the inclination to vomit every now and then. This queasiness might also be accompanied by a feeling of dizziness.

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Diarrhea

Another major symptom of food poisoning is that it can upset the stomach. A doctor’s assistance should be immediately sought if the patient spots blood or mucus with their stool. Rectal bleeding happens quite often in people with food poisoning and it should not be ignored at any cost.

Abdominal Pain

Diarrhea is mostly accompanied by cramps in the abdomen. These can make the patient feel the urge to defecate frequently and is an unpleasant experience.

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Fatigue

The aforementioned symptoms can cause severe fatigue or loss of energy in the affected person. Feeling weak or dizzy while standing up can be a sign of this fatigue in the body.

Fever

Although this does not happen quite often, some people with food poisoning can be seen with a raised temperature that suggests fever in the body. The patient might also come down with chills to indicate the inception of fever in the patient.

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Muscle Ache

All these symptoms can make the body feel weak and sore. It might hurt for the affected person to raise their arms or to even walk as there is a chance of muscle ache occurring in the whole body.

Causes of Food Poisoning

The causes behind food poisoning can be categorized into four according to the pathogens or chemical substances responsible for it.

Bacteria

Food contamination by different varieties of bacteria is one of the primary causes of food poisoning. Dangerous bacteria like salmonella and E. coli are the two main culprits behind polluting food.

Food usually gets contaminated by these when it is not cooked properly. These pathogens are present on all sorts of food, but once they are cooked in high flame, the pathogens are killed before reaching our stomach. Eating raw food on the other hand, might cause these bacteria to affect the gut.

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Virus

Viruses are also responsible for causing food poisoning in people. Virus like norovirus is the principal pathogen to cause food poisoning in a lot of people. In some conditions, people diagnosed with such food poisoning may also develop severe symptoms leading to fatal conditions.

Parasites

Although food poisoning caused by parasites is not that common, yet this can be quite dangerous to people with weak immune systems and pregnant women. Parasites like toxoplasma can enter into the digestive tracts of humans and live for years. These parasites can be found in the litter boxes of cats and can spread to the human body through food resulting in food poisoning.

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Toxins

Toxins released from the food that is taken can also be a leading cause of food poisoning. Some fishes, meat or plants when ingested can secrete toxic juices under certain circumstances that are bound to cause infection in the stomach to cause food poisoning.

Treatments of Food Poisoning

While there is no such hard and fast rule for treating food poisoning as it normally goes away with some time, still its treatment can be divided into two based on what can be done to minimize the symptoms and recover from it as fast as possible.

Controlling nausea

The nauseating feeling that accompanies food poisoning is extremely uncomfortable and needs to be given proper attention. Avoiding foods that can cause bloating or gas in the stomach like milk-based food products are to be avoided. Apart from that, sticking to bland food and avoiding spices as possible is also a good idea to battle nausea. With the guidance of a physician, medications that help to control nausea can also be taken.

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Preventing dehydration

Since diarrhea and vomiting are the top symptoms of food poisoning, the body loses a lot of fluids. As a result, there is a high chance of electrolyte imbalance occurring in the body causing extreme dehydration. In order to control this situation, it is necessary to provide the body with sufficient fluids that will help to restore the body’s electrolyte balance. Persisting to fluid intake like intake of saline in small frequent amounts can be a good way to tackle food poisoning and its symptoms.

Recovery Time

Food poisoning usually lasts from 24 hours to 48 hours in the body. After this time, the symptoms start to dissipate and the body starts to recover. But in some extreme cases, food poisoning might persist in the body for more than 72 hours. If this happens, there is a high chance of dehydration in the body that can result in fatal situations. In such cases, immediate care should be taken and the patient should be hospitalized as fast as possible.

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Bottom Line

Keeping small things in mind like washing hands properly after using the washroom or carefully washing fruits, vegetables, and other food items before eating and cooking them as such that the food is thoroughly cooked, can help prevent food poisoning.