Need a diagnosis.

[NuclearZombie]

Hey docs. I'm an 18 year old male, in fairly decent shape (though I could stand to lose a few pounds and gain some muscle)
Er... No idea how this works, first time post, so I'll just post what happened to me. I'll explain the potatoes later.

Fridat night I had potatoes with dinner, my mom had her special gravy so I had extra, that stuff is amazing. Then yesterday for lunch, I had tater tots, and there were too many made, I don't like wasting food so I ate those.
About three hours after lunch it waas time to go grocery shopping. It was at this point that I started to feel my stomach twitch and got a mild headache.
Once at the store, it only got worse, with me getting dizzy and nasuseas, my stomach hurting more.
Leaving the store I broke out into a cold sweat and started losing srength, having to use the shopping cart to keep myself up.That continued all the way home.
Once home I bolted to the bathroom. I figured I just had to take a big one, and well, let's just say I now know what a woman goes through during birth. So I started feeling better, for about 5 minutes. A that point I rushed back to the bathroom, this time with a bucket, and began vomiting and having pretty severe diarrhea. That last about two and a half hours, non-stop, at which point I started dry heaving until my body realised I had nothing to expel.
I drank a few glasses of water, hoping to maybe flush stuff out of my system, and went to bed after that stayed down. A few minutes ago I woke up and feel fairly well. All but the headache are pretty much gone, however that diarrhea/vomiting caused me to lose a lot of strength, I had to lean on the wall just to get to my desk.

Now, I mention the potatoes because of one thing. While there is a virus going around here a lot like what I dealt with, I read about Solanine poisoning before going to bed. So, I'm wondering, does this sound like I just caught an ugly virus, or did I maybe catch Solanine poisoning and nearly kill myself?

Thanks for any help,
                              -Chris

[NuclearZombie]

Sounds simple enough to me. The reason I asked about the Solanine is because my symptoms seemed very similar and I did eat enough potatoes to cause it, although I read somewhere a case hadn't been reported in about 50 years. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to die from the stuff.

But I guess that means I have to put off the homemade chili tommorow =[

Ah, well. Thanks for the tips, and I'm feeling quite better now. Had a peice of toast just to get something in my stomach. Headache is gone, stomach still feels empty (Figures, since theres almost nothing there) and the weakness has started to subside, I'm walking around fine although my legs are somewhat sore from it. Anyways, I'll try to keep to that diet and get myself in decent shape again, so thanks.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

How are you?

The symptoms you have mentioned are due to gastritis or food poisoning.

Noroviruses are a group of viruses that cause a mild illness (often termed "stomach flu") with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, and low-grade fever. These symptoms usually resolve in two to three days. It is the most common viral cause of adult food poisoning and is transmitted from water, shellfish, and vegetables contaminated by feces, as well as from person to person.

Don’t worry. Just take some antiulcer drugs like zyrtec, omeprazole.Maintain your electrolyte and fluid balance by taking plenty of fluids, ORS solution, lemonade and juices. The weakness that you are feeling is due to loss of mineral salts in the vomitings.ORS is very helpful in such cases.

Choose foods that are easy to chew, swallow, and digest like yoghurt and rice. Try to avoid fatty, greasy, or fried foods, very sweet foods, such as candy or cookies and spicy hot foods. Also, drink a half hour before or after meals but not with your meals and wash your hands before eating. Wash your vegetables before cooking and see that they are not undercooked.

If the symptoms persist, then pls consult a physician.

Do keep us posted on how you are doing.