The most important thing to take for a stomach bug is fluid. Viral gastroenteritis causes vomiting and diarrhea that drain your body of water and electrolytes fast, and replacing those losses does more for your recovery than any medication. Most people feel better within one to three days, but what you put into your body during that window makes a real difference in how miserable those days are.
Fluids and Electrolytes Come First
Water alone isn’t enough. When you’re losing fluid from both ends, you’re also losing sodium, potassium, and other electrolytes that your muscles and organs need to function. Oral rehydration solutions (like Pedialyte or store-brand equivalents) contain the right balance of sugar and salt to help your intestines absorb water efficiently. Sports drinks are a step up from plain water but contain more sugar and less sodium than ideal.
Take small, frequent sips rather than gulping large amounts, especially if you’re still vomiting. A few tablespoons every five to ten minutes is easier for your stomach to hold down than a full glass. Once you can keep that down for an hour or so, gradually increase the volume. If you can’t keep any fluids down for several hours, that’s when dehydration becomes a serious concern.
Signs that dehydration is getting dangerous include urinating much less than normal, dark yellow urine, dizziness when standing, and feeling unusually confused or sleepy. A fever above 102°F, bloody or black stool, or diarrhea lasting more than 24 hours without improvement all warrant a call to your doctor.
Over-the-Counter Medications That Help
Two common options can ease diarrhea from a stomach bug in adults: loperamide (sold as Imodium) and bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol or Kaopectate). Loperamide slows gut movement so your intestines have more time to absorb water, which means fewer trips to the bathroom. Bismuth subsalicylate coats the stomach lining and can reduce both diarrhea and nausea.
There’s one important rule: skip these medications if you have a fever or see blood in your stool. Those symptoms suggest a bacterial or parasitic infection rather than a simple virus, and slowing down your gut in that situation can actually trap harmful bacteria inside. If your diarrhea hasn’t improved after 48 hours of using loperamide, stop taking it and talk to a doctor.
Neither of these medications is considered safe for infants or young children without a doctor’s guidance.
What About Probiotics?
The evidence on probiotics for stomach bugs is mixed. One strain, Lactobacillus reuteri, showed a meaningful benefit in a large analysis of studies involving over 1,200 children, cutting diarrhea duration by about 25 hours. Another commonly recommended strain, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, had inconsistent results. A smaller analysis found it shortened diarrhea by about two days, but a larger trial of 646 children found no significant difference from placebo in stool frequency, vomiting, or how long the illness lasted.
Probiotics are unlikely to hurt, and some people find them helpful. But they’re not a reliable fix on their own, and the quality varies widely between brands. If you try them, look for products that list specific strains (not just species names) and colony counts on the label.
What to Eat During Recovery
You may have heard of the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. It’s been standard advice for decades, but clinical evidence has moved past it. Randomized trials show that resuming a normal, age-appropriate diet as soon as you can tolerate food leads to less stool output, shorter illness, and better nutritional recovery compared to restrictive diets. Sticking only to BRAT foods can actually impair your body’s ability to bounce back and, in children especially, risks worsening nutritional status.
That doesn’t mean you should force down a heavy meal while you’re still nauseated. Start with whatever sounds tolerable. Plain carbs, lean protein, cooked vegetables, and broth are all fine choices. Avoid greasy, very spicy, or heavily sugared foods until your stomach settles, not because they’re dangerous but because they’re more likely to trigger nausea. Dairy bothers some people during and just after a stomach bug because the infection can temporarily reduce your ability to digest lactose.
Medications to Be Cautious With
Fever and body aches often come along with a stomach bug, and it’s tempting to reach for ibuprofen or aspirin. The concern is that when you’re already dehydrated, anti-inflammatory painkillers reduce blood flow to the kidneys at a time when your kidneys are already under stress from fluid loss. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is a safer choice for managing fever or aches while you’re sick, since it doesn’t carry the same kidney risk during dehydration.
Antibiotics won’t help a viral stomach bug. Gastroenteritis is caused by viruses like norovirus or rotavirus in the vast majority of cases, and antibiotics only work against bacteria. Taking them unnecessarily can worsen diarrhea by disrupting the balance of bacteria in your gut.
Helping Kids Through a Stomach Bug
Children dehydrate faster than adults, so fluid replacement is even more critical. The CDC recommends giving an oral rehydration solution rather than juice, soda, or sports drinks. For each episode of vomiting or watery stool, children under about 22 pounds (10 kg) should get 2 to 4 ounces of rehydration solution. Children over that weight should get 4 to 8 ounces per episode.
If a child is moderately dehydrated (dry mouth, fewer wet diapers, no tears when crying), the guideline is 50 to 100 milliliters of oral rehydration solution per kilogram of body weight over two to four hours. For a 20-pound child, that works out to roughly 16 to 32 ounces over that period. Severe dehydration, where a child is limp, very drowsy, or has sunken eyes, is a medical emergency requiring IV fluids.
Resume normal feeding as soon as the child can tolerate it. Breastfed infants should continue nursing. There’s no need to dilute formula or switch to a special diet unless a doctor recommends it.
How Long You’re Contagious
Norovirus, the most common cause of stomach bugs in adults, is highly contagious and stays that way well after you feel better. You can continue spreading the virus for two weeks or more after symptoms resolve. The CDC recommends staying home for at least 48 hours after your last episode of vomiting or diarrhea. During that window and beyond, thorough handwashing with soap and water is essential. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are less effective against norovirus than they are against many other germs.
Wash any contaminated clothing or bedding on the hottest setting, and clean hard surfaces with a bleach-based cleaner. The virus can survive on surfaces for days and only takes a tiny amount of viral particles to infect someone new.