My family of 3 young children and two adults, has fallen for the third time this year to stomach "flu"?

Question

We have washed hands excessively and cleaned meticulously, only to have a helper here for two hours and now she's got it.
Is this airborne? My kids all have strangely mettalic smelling breath and it is freaking me out. Any different ideas than keep the fluids in? I am starting to worry anout toxins in my home.

Answer 1

The true "flu" doesn't involve the stomach. It is a disease of the respiratory tract only, so people with the flu actually seldom are sick to the stomach. The bad breath you notice in your children could be caused simply by the vomiting and conditions inside the mouth after being sick.
You didn't say if the helper comes in on a regular basis, but I would assume that her getting sick is probably just the bad timing and she was previously exposed to the cause of your problems.
What has likely happened is that you have a source of the bacteria/virus that you haven't located yet, and you are reinfecting yourselves with it. To begin with, I would do a serious deep clean and santize of the house, starting with the kitchen and bathrooms, which are the source of most tummy bugs. My personal favorite for sanitizing is a solution of bleach and water, with a basic detergeant like Ivory added in. After my family suffers a tummy bug, I use 1 cup of bleach to a gallon of water, with a good squirt of the liquid Ivory dish detergeant. Wear gloves, and use a clean cloth- not a sponge. Remove all the food that is leftover and toss. Be sure to get in the creases around the seal, and underneath the fridge as well.
Use this same solution to clean every inch of your kitchen. Toss out the sink sponge if you have used one and replace it. Wash all the kitchen towels with the hottest water they can take. Empty all wastebins and wash with the bleach solution inside and out. WIpe down all door handles, light switches, stair rails, remotes, keyboards, etc. Then do the same in your bathrooms. Every surface needs to be well sanitized. In the kids rooms, gather all the toys that can be washed, fill the tub with hot water, dump in a cup of bleach and drench them well- then let them air dry. Stuffed animals need a wash, if they can't be washed you can dampen them and give them a minute in the microwave.
Clean the carpets, drapes, cushions, pillows, blankets, afghans, and upholstery. Dust, wipe and clean from the top of your house to the bottom. If you have a filter on your heater unit, you will also need to change that out. If need be, consider having a professional come clean the carpets, upholstery and mattresses. They have solutions to sanitize and may be worth the expense just to have it done easier and quicker.
Because you don't know the source of the infection, basically you have to clean and santize the entire house. If it can't be washed or sanitized, it needs to go. The kids could be picking it up at a nursery school, and bringing it home- and from there it can rapidly spread to the rest of the family- but from the sounds of it, whatever the little buggy is has found a nice home somewhere in your house. If it were a toxin, you would stay sick all the time- which is why I suspect you just have it stuck somewhere. Once you have cleaned and sanitized, you need to keep a habit of a weekly sanitize wipe of things. If any of the children turn up with a bug, then you can concentrate more on things they handle. When you have small ones, it seems like the stomach bugs just strike more often, and of course they like to share. Normal cleaning just doesn't do it when you get a virus into the house- you really have to get aggressive with it to break the cycle. I've had pretty good luck in the past with the killer clean sweep, so I think it would work for you as well. It's loads of work, but once you do it you should be able to return to your normal cleaning routine with just a weekly antiseptic wipe down, and be healthy again. Good luck, and hope things get better for you soon.

Answer 2

I had a very reliable biology professor tell me that most cases of what people call the "stomach flu" are actually mild food poisoning. The metallic smell of their breath could also indicate this. Did your helper eat anything? Food poisoning could be due to a huge variety of factors, not just improper handling of food. It could even come from the type or utensils you are using. It could also be some sort of poison given off by some material or product in your home.

The other thought I had is lead poisoning, but that seems unlikely if your helper was effected so quickly. I would take the children to the doctor (or at least one of them). It is really important if there is some sort of poison effecting them that it be taken care of before it could do permanent damage.

I'm sorry if this sounds alarmist, but it is always a good idea to look into something with professional help when it becomes recurrent. Plus, if it was the same flu, they would be resistant to the strain now, so it would be VERY rare that the same virus would hit them all three times. Please see your doctor soon.

Answer 3

The stomach flu is a normal thing for everyone once in a while. If you are a clean person you don't need to worry about them getting it because of your home. They are probably picking up bacteria at school or at the park, around other kids. Yes, it is airborne. Maybe you should talk to your doctor if you're really that concerned and ask him what more you can do to try and prevent the flu. And also make sure to get routine flu shots every year.... If that's the same thing... Good luck!

Answer 4

First, a flu shot is for respiratory influenza. It won't prevent stomach virus'. Are any of the children in school or day care? We got these sicknesses so often during the school years.

Don't worry about toxins. If your helper got it, she was probably incubating it when she came. I could almost always smell something before and during my children's illnesses.

Washing your hands, eating a good diet and getting enough sleep are the best preventatives.

There have been lots of outbreaks of Norwalk viruses everywhere. We don't develop immunities to them. They are spread by fecal contamination.

Keep in mind that ginger can help settle a sick stomach. Use it alone in hot water and add honey or with tea or with lemon or whatever seems good to you. We used to add dry ginger to regular ginger ale for the kids. It can help if the active vomiting is lessening enough.

Hang in there!

Answer 5

Normally stomach "flu" is caused by so-called food poisoning. I would look to your refrigerator as being the suspect item. I recommend that you place a thermometer in a glass of water and see what the temperature is after 2 hours in the refrigerator. If it is not 40 degrees or below, adjust the temperature downward. LOL.

Answer 6

Yes, you definitely have to be worried of. Btw, where are you staying and how is your surrounding like because you are getting strangely mettallic smelling breath, which might be due to the pollution around.
You see, our body contains these 3 elements:- toxins, heavy metals and chemicals. We easily get these 3 elements through the air we breathe and the drinks and food we consume. So, we have to detoxify them using liquid zeolite (which is proven effective, base on 37 years of research) and at the same time, increase your body immune system.
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Answer 7

1. How important do you think timelessness/agelessness should be when considering names for a child? I think that if they are timeless then it is an advantage, however, it really shouldn't matter. What should matter when naming your baby is that you love the name, it means something to you, and that it isn't stupid or something the kid will get bullied for. Agelessness isn't first priority for me. 2. Which of these categories of names do your favorites generally fall into? Which ones do you think make the best choices for a child? a) Modern Trendy Names: Names that were either invented or discovered in our time. (examples: Madison, Peyton, Camryn, Nevaeh, Kayla, Caitlin, Brayden, Kade, Hunter, Riley, Cole) b) Classic Comeback Names: Classic names that may have seemed "old-ladyish" or "old-mannish" a generation ago but are definitely back in style. They have the advantage of sounding stylish, but the disadvantage that if they once sounded like old-people names, they'll probably sound like old-people names again someday. (examples: Stella, Ruby, Hazel, Emma, Clara, Sophia, Eleanor, Henry, Jack, Julius, Zeke) c) Ahead-of-the-Trend Names: Names that seem almost ready to come back in style but haven't quite yet. They currently seem "old-ladyish" or "old-mannish" to most, but choosing one of these could make you a trendsetter, and when your child is an old man, his name might sound younger than he is. (examples: Dorothy, Sylvia, Gloria, Lois, Ruth, Walter, Arthur, Lawrence, Gilbert) d) Behind-The-Trend Names: Names that were most in style one or two generations ago. They might sound a bit dated, but they have the advantage of being very "normal" sounding while ensuring that your child won't be one of five in her kindergarten class. (examples: Jessica, Heather, Diane, Lisa, Cheryl, Brian, Scott, Eric, Todd, Jeremy, Jason) e) Timeless Names: Names that have been in use relatively consistently for the last 100 years and can't be dated to a specific decade. (examples: Elizabeth, Katherine, Miriam, Rachel, Caroline, Lydia, James, William, Victor, Samuel, Grant) f) Oddball Names: Names that are so uncommon they can't feel typical of any era and thus have some of the timelessness of the category above. (examples: Demetria, Rosamund, Evadne, Gawain, Abdiel, Piers) B) Classic Comebacks probably, my kid's names are Jacob James and Lily Belle. 3. Which of those six categories above do you like least or think makes the worst choice for a child? Oddball names, to be obvious, haha! They can be nice but often the parents just seem to be trying too hard. Good survey!!

Answer 8

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Answer 9

have you been to a doctor???? washing is good but schools are a major contributer of spreading germs, on surfaces and by sneezing. you need to see a doctor and find out if its really flu or if its something else.

Answer 10

ya a flu shot sounds really good! and you might want to check about toxic mold growing in your home...