# Springtime gastrointestinal distress? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 14, 2023, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677 "2023-04-14T16:47:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/1 "2023-04-14T16:47:27Z")
Has anyone else experienced this in the first weeks of warm weather? I’ve noticed it for some time now, and it’s happened to some people I’ve known. Symptoms are bloating and diarrhea, without vomiting or fever, and it usually lasts around a week. If it isn’t just me or coincidence among those who’ve confirmed it, and if it is in fact related to higher temperatures, I’m wondering if it might have anything to do with gut microbiota and/or increased chlorination of tap water. Is that even likely or possible? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/2 "2023-04-14T16:53:17Z")
Are pollen allergies a possibility? ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/3 "2023-04-14T16:54:58Z")
I’ve been having terrible indigestion for the past few days. Allergies never occurred to me as a source, but lord knows I’ve been sneezing the whole time! ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/4 "2023-04-14T16:57:22Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Are pollen allergies a possibility? That’s a good suggestion, as it’s a marked change in ambient conditions around this time of year, but I haven’t had those problems since my very early adult years. I’ll still get a little itchy in the eyes and nose, but that could also be dryness. So, in my case, I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/5 "2023-04-14T17:10:11Z")
My wife is affected this way, but her allergies are pretty bad causing a post-nasal drip and she’s taking medication for it that could be upsetting he stomach also. Did this start after the Daylight Savings Time change? ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/6 "2023-04-14T17:17:03Z")
Last week or two, same for my elderly neighbor (same symptoms and timeframe). I should add that what I had in my childhood was hayfever (I think “ragweed” was the term used). Like I said, my eyes and nose will be a little itchy around this time of year, but it’s nothing like what I went through into my early 20s. Profusely runny nose, and I looked like I’d been rubbing my face with sandpaper (which might have actually felt good back then). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/7 "2023-04-14T17:44:13Z")
Ragweed was assumed to be the source of the pollen that bothered people. I don’t know why ragweed in particular was chosen but I assume it was before a time that individual pollen allergies had been identified. I still have ‘hayfever’, an allergy to who knows how many types of pollen, but nothing severe, itchy eyes and nose as say. This year it’s bothersome because I’m just over an eye infection that had me close to being effectively blind, plus I have bad cataracts that I will have removed in the coming weeks, so I’m in bad shape when my eyes tear up from the pollen irritation. Another idea but I don’t have any facts about it is some theory that the ionization of air in the spring affects people in some way. I’ve heard that said to be the cause of ‘spring fever’, a nebulously defined sort of unease in the spring time, or as I remember it a lot of kids not wanting to get up to go to school in the springtime. So, some other possibilities, does it follow Easter and heavy consumption of chocolate, jelly beans, and styrofoam or whatever the hell Peeps are made of? Are you Catholic, have you been eating seafood through Lent? I remember someone telling me they’re upcoming birthday gets them into such a state also. Obviously there’s the weather and increased daylight too, if SAD can depress people in winter maybe a variation of it can upset peoples stomachs in the spring. And finally, did you get your taxes done and how did that come out for you? ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/8 "2023-04-14T17:50:09Z")
No, and no thank you. Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/9 "2023-04-14T18:09:26Z")
@TriPolar: Rereading your post, I think you’re trying to be helpful, so sorry if I responded too brusquely, but you’re straying from the questions I’ve asked (taxes, religion, WTF?) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/10 "2023-04-14T18:23:09Z")
I was just considering all the things related to this time of year, didn’t mean for them to weird you out. They are possibilities for some people, eating candy at Easter, eating a lot of seafood for 7 weeks, could do it. And I certainly feel it in my stomach at tax time. I’m glad those aren’t causes of your distress though and hope you find an answer. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/11 "2023-04-14T18:25:47Z")
Thanks. It only lasts a week or so, and I’m not really concerned. Just interested to see if it happens to anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/12 "2023-04-14T19:01:48Z")
Fresher veggies? Granny called it ‘spring fever’ ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/13 "2023-04-15T08:19:26Z")
Thanks for the suggestion, although I don’t see how fresher vegetables could result in a week’s worth of diarrhea. I cook all vegetables except for those that go into salads, which are tomatoes and carrots, which I always peel, and lettuce hearts, which I wash and are probably grown in greenhouses. Like I said above, **I’m not asking why this happens to me but whether others have noticed anything similar.** I poked around online for definitions of “spring fever,” and loose bowel isn’t among the symptoms. Would your granny have considered that spring fever? I did find information suggesting that noroviruses are common in spring, but, like I said upthread, I’ve never experienced vomiting or fever when this happens to me. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/14 "2023-04-15T14:29:47Z")
It’s spring, and a young person’s fancy turns to Pepto-Bismol. Or [“raw water”](https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/1/4/16846048/raw-water-trend-silicon-valley) from springs and other sources. Maybe there’s a correlation with nicer weather and people eating out more, from food trucks and other possibly dubious sources. Or grubbing in the garden and not washing your hands afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springtime-gastrointestinal-distress/982677/15 "2023-04-15T14:53:15Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Are you Catholic, have you been eating seafood through Lent? Bingo! As a youngster every spring like clockwork I’d get a stomach flu right around Easter. I vividly remember languishing for days after a double ended bout of the flu cursing the last supper of fried fish and burnt garlic bread. I haven’t had the stomach flu like that since.