I get on and off vomit with diarrhea, bloating and abdominal pain. Is this due to my previous infection?

Question

Hello doctor,

I have on and off vomiting paired with diarrhea, bloating, and midsection pain for the past nine days. I have these same symptoms two years back on my last two abroad trips and had a normal stool culture. I am wondering is it possible that I picked up a bacteria long back that flares up from time to time or am I just prone for getting stomach bugs? During my last abroad trip, I felt painful bloating every day after I ate or drank anything. Please help.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Well, it is possible that you may have acquired some infections on your trip, not necessarily the bacteria, but virus, or parasitic infections, which also can cause similar symptoms.

Did you swim there? Did you have a fever or felt ill on the trip? How is your energy now? Do you feel weak or pain in the calf muscles? Do you have a cough or shortness of breath?

The one way is to give you an antibiotic considering it is traveler diarrhea. The other way is to test you with certain stools and blood tests, and then decide which antibiotic or treatment to be given. I prefer the second approach. Because at least we would be sure what we are treating, whether bacteria, viruses, or parasites.

I suggest you get the following blood and stools tests and show me once the report are available. Meanwhile, you can take tablet Onsett (Ondansetron) 8 mg thrice daily half an hour before meals and capsule Esomeprazole 40 mg (proton pump inhibitor) half an hour before breakfast once daily.