Fever, Vomiting, and Diarrhea – Discharge

Transcript

“If you have been discharged from the ER, you should be able to keep fluid down. Your doctor may have given you a nausea medicine to take several times a day to ensure you’re able to drink. Once the vomiting is less frequent or has stopped altogether, try eating bland foods, such as crackers, toast and soup broth, but be aware that you may start vomiting again. If it seems too soon to start eating, just go back to fluids. Hunger is usually a good sign that you can restart a simple diet. If you have diarrhea, you need to replenish all of the liquid you’ve lost. So drink more fluids than you normally would. As long as you have fever, diarrhea, or vomiting, you are contagious. Please stay home until the symptoms resolve so that friends and coworkers don’t get sick. If you need a doctor’s note longer than the ER team wrote for, please call your primary care team.

The goals of the ER team were to identify a serious cause of your symptoms and provide relief for any pain, nausea, or vomiting. If the symptoms return or worsen, you should come back in. Specifically, be on the lookout for the following: no improvement in 24 hours, inability to take fluids or medications, signs of severe dehydration, such as cotton mouth, lightheadedness, and rapid heart rate, and trouble breathing. Blood in the vomit or stool, severe headache, mental confusion, any of these symptoms should prompt return to the ER or a call to your primary care team. It’s always a good idea to check in with your primary care team after a visit to the ER. Depending on how things are going when you call, the office will recommend being seen again, or not. If the symptoms are a regular occurrence or last for longer than one week, please make a followup appointment. You may need a specialist referral or other testing.”