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How Do I Know If I Have Food Poisoning?

If your symptoms are mild, you probably don't need a doctor. If symptoms last beyond two days, you may need to have your stool, blood, or vomit tested to identify the cause of your illness.

Botulism is diagnosed from a description of symptoms and by tests for the bacteria in samples of blood, stool, or the suspect food. Chemical food poisoning can usually be diagnosed by a description of symptoms and by testing food potentially responsible for the poisoning.

What Are the Treatments?
Vomiting and diarrhea are the body's way of flushing poison out of your system, so don't take any antiemetic or antidiarrheal medicine for 24 hours after your symptoms develop. Once you can keep fluid in your stomach, drink clear liquids for about 12 hours or until the diarrhea has passed. Then eat bland foods like rice, cooked cereals, and clear soups for a full day.

Because repeated vomiting or diarrhea can remove large amounts of water from your system, dehydration is a potentially dangerous complication, especially in children and older adults. You must ensure that lost fluids are replaced promptly and completely. If you cannot keep liquids down, intravenous fluid replacement may be necessary.

Medications
If symptoms are severe or persistent, your doctor may prescribe medicines to control diarrhea or vomiting until the condition is under control. Infants, children, elderly people and anyone with diabetes or other chronic conditions will be monitored for dehydration and other potential complications. For the most common causes of food poisoning, your doctor will not prescribe antibiotics. Antibiotics can actually worsen the diarrhea.

If you have botulism, you will be hospitalized immediately. Although botulism can lead to respiratory failure and even death, prompt treatment greatly increases your chance for full recovery. If symptoms indicate chemical poisoning, you may need to have your stomach pumped out as soon as possible, or the poison could affect other organs by the time you receive treatment for the specific toxin.