About 48 million Americans suffer from food poisoning each year. The symptoms of food poisoning, their severity, and how long it takes for them to show up and to dissipate can vary widely. The way that food poisoning affects you depends on many factors, including the type of bacteria, virus, or parasite that you’ve been infected with, how much is in your system, and the health of your immune system. Here are six symptoms to look out for and four ways to help avoid food poisoning in the first place.
Nausea
One of the first symptoms you may experience when you’re infected with food poisoning is nausea—a feeling of uneasiness in the stomach that may come before vomiting. Like other food poisoning symptoms, nausea can appear within an hour after eating contaminated food or up to more than a week after contracting a foodborne illness. If you are experiencing nausea, avoiding activity and drinking small amounts of clear sweetened liquids like non-citrus fruit juices can help prevent the nausea from turning into vomiting.