The time it takes food poisoning symptoms to start can vary. Illness often starts in about 1 to 3 days. But symptoms can start any time from 30 minutes to 3 weeks after eating contaminated food. The length of time depends on the type of bacteria or virus causing the illness.
Food Poisoning Treatment
But if you're otherwise healthy and you think you can get through it, it's probably going to last six to 12 hours, and then you should feel better. You may want to go to the ER if you need to get some fluids, need to get some medication for nausea and vomiting, just to get through it.
Myth: The last meal I ate is what caused my foodborne illness (food poisoning). Fact: Except for some toxins and viruses, most harmful microorganisms take longer than a few hours to make you sick. Symptoms of foodborne illness can start anywhere from a few hours to several weeks after eating contaminated food.
Every year, an estimated 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die from foodborne diseases.
Symptoms of food poisoning
While different types of pathogenic bacteria can cause different symptoms, food poisoning generally presents itself with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and fever.
Replace fluids with water, sports drinks, juice with added water or broths. Children or people at risk for serious illness should drink rehydration fluids (Pedialyte, Enfalyte, others). Talk to your doctor before giving rehydration fluids to infants. Ease back into eating.
Replace lost fluids and electrolytes
You should drink plenty of liquids. If vomiting is a problem, try sipping small amounts of clear liquids. Replacing lost fluids and electrolytes is the most important treatment for food poisoning. Eating saltine crackers can also help replace electrolytes.
However, the key distinction is time: The symptoms of a stomach bug will take 12 to 48 hours to develop, while the symptoms of food poisoning typically develop much faster, usually within 6 hours of consuming an infected dish. Another common difference between the two is the length of illness.
High-fat foods take longer to digest than foods lower in fat, and saturated fat leads to buildups in stomach acid, which can make its way into your esophagus.
Raw and undercooked foods from animals, including meat, chicken and other poultry, eggs, raw (unpasteurized) milk and products made from it, and seafood. Raw vegetables, grains, and fruits or products made from them, including leafy greens, sprouts, and flour.
Bacteria destroyed by cooking and the toxin is destroyed by boiling for 5 to 10 minutes. Heat-resistant spore can survive.
Salmonella Symptoms
Symptoms usually start 6 hours to 6 days after infection. They include diarrhea that can be bloody, fever, and stomach cramps. Most people recover within 4 to 7 days without antibiotic treatment.
But it's still not a guarantee it makes you sick. You still have to eat an infectious dose. One bite might not do it. It might though if it is highly infected.
You can also: take paracetamol for any fever or aches and pains. get plenty of rest. use special rehydration drinks, available from community pharmacies if you have signs of dehydration, such as a dry mouth or dark urine.
Struggling with the stomach flu
Sleep on your side with your head elevated: If you find yourself vomiting a lot, then sleep on your side with your head elevated.
While the main symptoms are nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach cramps, you also may have a fever, headache, muscle and joint aches, or blood in your stool. You may also be dehydrated, so your mouth and throat feel dry and you don't pee as often as you typically do. Dehydration can make you dizzy when you stand up.
Cramps in your stomach and gut, diarrhea, and vomiting may start as early as 1 hour after eating tainted food and as late as 10 days or longer. It depends on what is causing the infection.
The illness normally begins with nausea, leading to severe vomiting. Other types of food poisoning such as campylobacter may only cause diarrhoea and abdominal cramps, without vomiting, although vomiting can occur in some cases.
The best foods to eat after a bout of food poisoning are bland foods that are easy to digest and things that restore hydration. These include bananas, rice, oatmeal, chicken broth, crackers, and rehydrating solutions like Gatorade and Pedialyte.
Green stool can also be a sign of food poisoning. It may also mean that food is moving too quickly through your large intestine and is common in people with conditions like colitis and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
The causes are germs or other harmful things in the food or beverage. Symptoms of food poisoning often include upset stomach, diarrhea and vomiting. Symptoms usually start within hours or several days of eating the food. Most people have mild illness and get better without treatment.