How NOT to Catch the Stomach Virus/ Flu?

I change the bathroom hand towels every day. Each person has their own in a color they can easily recognize.
If guests come to house I change the towels in the bath once they leave. That is I put out fresh ones.
I have 2 sets of everything in the kitchen so I can wash in hot water or dishwasher asap and still cook a meal.
Yes I am a clean freak. I have the wicker baskets for dirty clothes. I use the plastic ones for clean clothes.
I change the towels in the kitchen every day. There is one for hands and another for dishes. Never use one for the other. I bought terry ones for the kitchen that are halfway between a small bath towel and a hand towel size.
I wash my hands endlessly between tasks and taught my children to do so as well.

Take a LOT of extra vitamin C....you can take up 5 thousand MG a day. Spread it out throughout the day. You won't over dose, what ever the body does not use, it will flush out. Skip the flu shot...they are worse then the flu itself.

I never had any luck using lysol to spray surfaces but I spray it in the air and that seems to work since lots of cooties are airborne.

I also use the clorox wipes on everything when someone has a tummy bug. Wipe everything down several times per day

Wash the sheets, towels in the hottest water possible. No sharing towels for anyone.

Use paper towels to dry hands rather than hand towels till everyone is better.

Try to keep him contained to one room if possible like master bed/bath. That will help a lot.

Flu shot and vitamins unfortunately won't help prevent tummy bugs. They are just nasty and spread so easily/rapidly that sometimes it's impossible to avoid.

Quarentine your husband!!! LOL!

Well throwing up is not the flu so getting the flu shot will not help you with a stomach virus. The only way to prevent getting it is stay away from him and wash wash wash wash and wash your hands some more. Also if hubby or I are sick the healthy one sleeps out on the couch and the sick one stays confined to the bedroom we do the same thing with the kids if one of them is sick I also use a lot of Lysol every time someone sick goes in the bathroom the toilet gets wiped down and the room sprayed door knobs, faucet, sink, etc my oldest had h1n1 last year and doing this prevented it from spreading throug the entire house.

Hi C. - As some of the others have mentioned, the stomache flu is one of the many viruses we are exposed to that can't be vaccinated away. Taking vitamins and staying healthy will help your immune system be strong and you will recover faster. We've been hit with the stomach flu the last two winters, and it's terrible! I'm sorry for you, and I thought I would share a few tips. Camping out on the floor, on a bed of bath towels or old blankets, is a good idea for kids once vomiting starts. You can keep a bowl next to them at that point and damage control the mess. Give them pedialyte when they can drink something, and that will help you and hubby too. You only hold an immunity to most viral intestinal illnesses for a few months, so this can hit again and again. I hope you don't get it, good luck!

I'm not sure how 'not' to catch it. My fiance got this last year and I was spraying lysol, washing hands. You name it I did it, lol. I even went as far to stay away from him.

My daughter and I both ended up getting it anyway a few days later. It's a terrible bug.

Good luck!

You can take all the vitamins you want, the stomch flu virus is stronger. Washing hands and common use objects sometimes works but if it is a bad one like we had several years ago you will get it. Good luck to you.

Vitamins, unfortunately, do not prevent the flu or stomach virus. The flu shot will help minimize your chances of getting the flu, obviously. But there isn't much you can do once you've been exposed to the stomach virus other than lysol the heck out of every surface, and try to keep the sick person away from common areas of the home. My daughter got it last year and we had absolutely no idea where she picked it up. Both my son and I got it too, a few days later, despite my best efforts to clean and confine her. My husband never got it, but since he is out of the home all day he wasn't exposed as much as the rest of us. I wish I knew how to prevent it, because it is the least fun thing to come down with. I'd rather have the flu!

Vitamins aren't going to keep you from getting this. The flu shot isn't for the stomach flu, it's for the upper respiratory flu, has absolutely nothing to do with stomach flu. Unfortunately the most contagious time is right before you come down with it and that's when you don't know someone has it.

At this point all you can do is keeping sanitizing everything, keep him isolated and don't use same bathroom as him then when it's all done clean that bathroom. It's going around really bad everywhere so there's not much you can do.

My husband caught that Christmas night. It was awful. He had it coming out of both ends really bad. I made him stay in our bedroom for 2 days straight. He wasn't allowed out of the room. He was only allowed to use the one bathroom in the house. I made him constantly spray it with Lysol after everytime he used it. Me and my 2 girls slept in the same bedroom away from him for about 4 or 5 days. We managed to avoid it!!! I know sometimes you can't if you had already exposed youself to it...but we were lucky!!!
And getting the flu shot will not help you for the stomach flu. The flu is a respiratory virus and the shot will only protect against that.

Well I do think the right vitamins and minerals can minimize your chance of getting a virus because it helps build your immunity. I also think if you get it, then it will be less severe and last a shorter amount of time. But I don't believe vitamins are all the same and you need to choose good ones.

For us, its not about avoiding illness all together (which wouldn't give our immunities a chance to build), its about cutting the illness. My son and I had the stomach flu going around last fall - where most folks we knew had it for 7-10 days, ours was gone in 24 hours. When my son has had colds with his friends, their's last 10-14 days and my son's last 5-6 days.

Year round, we do: chiropractic adjustments, take quality supplements (multi vit/min, ascorbate C powder, whole cell D liquid, omega 3, probiotics) and neti pot (for us adults, nasal spritz for son). During the winter, we steam our bathrooms and add eucalyptus oil, then run humidifiers. Good luck!

Yes to all the things below. No amount of vitamins can prevent the stomach bug, and it's not the same thing as the flu for which you get flu shots.

As well as isolating him and not letting him share the same bathroom as the kids if possible, I also would use Clorox or Lysol wet wipes on doorknobs he may have touched before you realized he was coming down with it. And any he has touched since then. My husband confines himself to our room and bathroom (fortunately attached) when he's sick and I use disinfecting wipes all over the rest of the house in case he was contagious, but not throwing up yet, before he was shut away in one room. Paper plates etc. for all his food also helps eliminate worry and means I don't feel worried about his dishes sitting in the kitchen sink if I can't wash his dishes immediately in very hot water....

It's an awful bug that is highly contagious and can't be really helped. Chances are they have already been exposed. Sorry.
The good thing is these bugs are generally short lived, and don't cause anything serious. Lysol and wipe down everything. Keep those hands washed and keep him away from the rest of the family (use seperate bathrooms).

take probiotics, also.

Stay away from him clean & disinfect the bathroom several times a day,disinfect everything that is touched on a regular basis the phone, cell phone, computer, door handles, keys,wash hands,good sleep,good nutrition,just remeber that alot is airborne & is unavoidable if they don't catch this from dad they are likely to catch it from school :)

Wash your hands A LOT and have him wash anything he comes in contact with while sick. His own clothes, the sheets, etc. My daughters and I had the flu while DH was out of town. When he finally came home weeks later he ended up catching it. Apparently the germs were still clinging to something.

There is no such thing as the "stomach flu" so of course the flu vaccine won't help. Flu is strictly upper respitory -- Not intestinal.

As with almost any infectious illness - Hand Washing Hand Washing Hand Washing. Here's what the CDC says:

Keeping hands clean is one of the most important steps we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. Many diseases and conditions are spread by not washing hands with soap and clean, running water. If clean, running water is not accessible, as is common in many parts of the world, use soap and available water. If soap and water are unavailable, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol to clean hands. [meaning -- Purell is NOT as effective as good old fashioned soap and water.]

When should you wash your hands?
*Before, during, and after preparing food
*Before eating food
*After using the toilet
*After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet
*Before and after caring for someone who is sick
*After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
*After touching an animal or animal waste
*After touching garbage
*Before and after treating a cut or wound

What is the right way to wash your hands?
*Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold) and apply soap.
*Rub your hands together to make a lather and scrub them well; be sure to scrub the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
*Continue rubbing your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the "Happy Birthday" song from beginning to end twice.
*Rinse your hands well under running water.
*Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.

Well as others have said, and I didn't read all the posts so sorry if I repeat. But stomach bug is not the flu and flu shot will not protect from stomach virus. Unlike a cold or upper resp infection, a stomach bug is most contagious once symptoms begin, unlike a cold which is contagious before, stomach bugs are most contagious after onset of symptoms and for up to two weeks after symptoms are gone. Your body will continue to shed the virus for up to two weeks after symptoms are gone and the most common way to catch a stomach bug is by coming in contact with someone who is better but does not realize they are still contagious. Most other viruses the contagious period is over within a few days of onset of symptoms and usually you are no longer contagious when fever is gone. Not so with stomach bugs. After symptoms are completely gone you will still be contagious for likely a week or more(depending on the person immune system), so it very important to continue hand-washing for everyone, especially the person who was sick!!! Hand-washing is so important but most important for the person who is sick. Have him wash his hands frequently, wash down anything everything you can, clothing and bedsheets in hot water, etc. Hand sanitizer does not work well on stomach bugs so you all need to wash your hands. Vitamins can help strengthen your immune system but will not prevent you from getting sick. Good luck! I hate stomach bugs, it always ends up with my daughter in the hospital for a week or so. So I have had to become well educated on the subject. I hope you all don't get it.