A stomach bug can’t be cured with medication, but the right care at home can shorten your misery and prevent complications. Most cases last one to two days, though symptoms occasionally stretch to two weeks. The single most important thing you can do is stay hydrated, because dehydration, not the virus itself, is what sends people to the emergency room.
Why You Can’t “Kill” a Stomach Bug
Viral gastroenteritis is caused by viruses like norovirus and rotavirus, and no antibiotic or antiviral will clear them out. Your immune system has to fight the infection on its own. What you can control is how well you support your body while it does that work: replacing lost fluids, resting, eating when you’re ready, and avoiding things that slow recovery.
Rehydration Is the Priority
Every round of vomiting or diarrhea pulls water and electrolytes out of your body. Replacing both is critical. Plain water alone isn’t ideal because it lacks the sodium and glucose your gut needs to actually absorb fluid efficiently. Your intestines have a transport system that moves sodium and glucose together, and when the two are present in roughly equal amounts, fluid absorption improves dramatically.
Oral rehydration solutions (sold as Pedialyte, DripDrop, or generic store brands) are formulated to hit this ratio. The World Health Organization’s recommended formula contains 75 milliequivalents each of sodium and glucose per liter, at an overall concentration that pulls fluid into your body rather than out of it. Sports drinks, sodas, and fruit juices don’t meet these criteria. They typically contain too much sugar and too little sodium, and the excess carbohydrate can actually draw more water into the gut and worsen diarrhea.
If you can’t keep anything down, take very small sips every few minutes rather than gulping a full glass. Even a teaspoon at a time stays down more reliably than a large volume. Once vomiting eases, gradually increase how much you drink.
What to Eat During Recovery
You may have heard of the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast), but current medical guidance doesn’t recommend restricting your diet during a stomach bug. Research shows that following a limited diet doesn’t help treat viral gastroenteritis. Once your appetite returns, you can go back to eating your normal foods, even if you still have diarrhea.
That said, your stomach will tell you what it can handle. Many people naturally gravitate toward bland, starchy foods at first, and that’s fine. Just don’t force yourself to avoid protein, dairy, or other foods out of a belief that they’ll make things worse. The sooner you resume normal eating, the faster your gut lining recovers. The same applies to children: give them what they usually eat as soon as they’re willing to eat again.
Over-the-Counter Medications
Anti-diarrheal medications like loperamide (Imodium) and bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol) can reduce the frequency of bathroom trips in adults. They won’t shorten the infection, but they can make the experience more manageable, especially if you need to sleep or travel.
There are important exceptions. If you have a fever or see blood in your stool, skip these medications entirely. Those signs point to a bacterial or parasitic infection rather than a simple virus, and slowing your gut down in that situation can make things worse. These medications are also unsafe for infants and young children unless a pediatrician specifically recommends them. For nausea, some people find relief with over-the-counter options containing dimenhydrinate or meclizine, though rest and small sips of fluid are often just as effective.
Signs of Dehydration to Watch For
Dehydration is the main risk of a stomach bug, and it escalates quickly in young children, older adults, and anyone who can’t keep fluids down. In adults, warning signs include extreme thirst, urinating less than usual, dark-colored urine, dizziness, confusion, and fatigue. If you pinch the skin on the back of your hand and it doesn’t flatten back right away, that’s another reliable indicator.
In infants and young children, watch for no wet diapers for three hours or longer, a dry mouth, no tears when crying, sunken eyes, and unusual crankiness or sleepiness. A rapid heart rate or a sunken soft spot on the top of the skull are more urgent signs.
Seek medical attention if diarrhea has lasted more than 24 hours, if you or your child can’t keep any fluids down, if there’s blood or black color in the stool, or if a fever reaches 102°F or higher.
How Long You’re Contagious
You’re most contagious while you have active symptoms, but viral shedding continues after you feel better. The general recommendation is to stay isolated until two days after your symptoms have completely stopped. That means two full days with no vomiting and no diarrhea before returning to work, school, or group settings. Norovirus in particular is extraordinarily contagious, and going back too early is one of the main reasons outbreaks spread through offices, schools, and households.
Preventing Spread at Home
Norovirus is resistant to alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Soap and water is the only reliable way to remove the virus from your hands. Hand sanitizer can be used as an extra step, but it is not a substitute for washing. This catches many people off guard, since alcohol-based sanitizer works well against most other common germs.
For surfaces, use a chlorine bleach solution: 5 to 25 tablespoons of standard household bleach (5% to 8% concentration) per gallon of water. Spray or wipe the solution onto contaminated surfaces and leave it in contact for at least five minutes before wiping it away. Focus on bathrooms, doorknobs, light switches, and any surface the sick person has touched. Standard household surface sprays that aren’t bleach-based may not kill norovirus unless they’re specifically registered with the EPA for that purpose.
Wash any contaminated clothing or bedding in hot water on the longest cycle available, and dry on high heat. If someone in your household is sick, give them their own towel and, if possible, their own bathroom until they’ve been symptom-free for two days.
Helping Children Recover
Children get dehydrated faster than adults because of their smaller body size. Oral rehydration solutions are especially important for kids. Offer small, frequent sips rather than waiting until they ask for a drink. Popsicles made from oral rehydration solution can help if a child refuses to sip from a cup.
Don’t withhold food once they show interest in eating. A common mistake is keeping children on clear liquids for too long. As soon as they want to eat, let them have their usual foods. Returning to a normal diet sooner helps the intestinal lining heal and provides the calories their body needs to fight the virus.