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Is It Food Poisoning—or Stomach Flu? Here's How to Tell - Health
You're racked by nausea, your stomach is doing flip-flops, and your toilet has become your new best friend. As you make yet another dash to the bathroom and anxiously ponder what the hell is going on, two possibilities pop into your head. You've come down with the stomach flu, or you've contracted food poisoning.
But how do you tell the difference? That's where things get tricky.
“The stomach flu and food-borne illness are easy to confuse because the symptoms are almost identical,” Niket Sonpal, MD, assistant clinical professor at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York City and St. George's University School of Medicine specializing in gastroenterology and internal medicine, tells Health. Those symptoms, as you well know, include severe nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting.
You're racked by nausea, your stomach is doing flip-flops, and your toilet has become your new best friend. As you make yet another dash to the bathroom and anxiously ponder what the hell is going on, two possibilities pop into your head. You've come down with the stomach flu, or you've contracted food poisoning.
But how do you tell the difference? That's where things get tricky.
“The stomach flu and food-borne illness are easy to confuse because the symptoms are almost identical,” Niket Sonpal, MD, assistant clinical professor at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York City and St. George's University School of Medicine specializing in gastroenterology and internal medicine, tells Health. Those symptoms, as you well know, include severe nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting.