Norwalk Virus: A Sequel?????

Factual Questions
1

Just wanna mention, If I had posted this last night when I wanted to it would be in the pit. I’ll just do my best to bite my tongue when necessary, but I am in a very, very bad mood.

I got me some of that Norwalk (presumably) last Thursday night. 24 hours of complete and total hell with seemingly endless puking and diarrhea and nasty stomach discomfort which had me tossin’ and turnin’ all night. I was becoming more and more interested in really getting to know Death, and not just the frightful image, but the man behind the black.

Anyway, it passed and I felt better. Yay! So I immediately got on the phone to compare notes with all the friends and family who I knew tasted Norwalk recently as well. One sentiment kept reappearing in these conversations: “Well, at least now it’s over and done with, and you won’t have to deal with it again for some time”.

OK, not the greatest consolation, but a valiant attempt at optimism regardless.

However, last night (4 days later) around 8pm my stomach begins aching, and this progresses very gradually over time until about 2 am when again I find myself in sheer agony, tossin’ and turnin’ and cursing and wonderin’ what the heck is going on?

I was up all night again, not a friggin wink. The discomfort in my stomach was, and is, very much the same as it was last thursday. However, this time no puking or diarrhea what so ever; I even tried to induce both but to no avail.

I took some Pepto Bismol in the middle of the night which seemed to do nothing at all. I’m still in such pain right now and I have so much to do today.

I just wanna talk to the damn virus responsible for this, wring its tiny little neck and tell it to leave me the heck alone, go bug someone else. But I don’t know if it is really indeed Norwalk at all.
So the question is: Is it possible for me to be infected with this virus twice in such a short amount of time? Shouldn’t I have the necessary immunities to it at this point? Does the absence of puking and diarrhea rule out Norwalk, and could it therefore be coincidentally something else entirely?

Exhausted and currently residing in Hell,
Moe

2

The 3rd page??!! Are you kidding?

**QTM, barbitu8 ** other Dr. Dopers? Can someone please just give me their best educated guess on if and how I got the same damn virus twice within 4 days of each incidence? I’d really like to know.

3

This particular variant of the Norwalk virus is known to mutate. Reinfection with Norwalk is possible, but our local infectious disease doctors tell me it takes several weeks.

Norwalk is different, but similar to, influenza and parainfluenza viruses. The second infection could have been one of these. Indeed, it is possible (but unlikely) neither infection was Norwalk.

I have seen several patients unlucky enough to get both Norwalk and stomach flu. Most likely, you are one of them.

4

Thanks Doc.

Does stomach flu typically come with diarrhea/vomitting?

5

Very much so. We have had an outbreak of Norwalk in our hospital, but really the only way to tell the difference is with a positive stool sample analysis.