Eating a virus

[Grog]

I had it once, I don't think there was anything wrong with the oysters, maybe it was a reaction to stress - ever since oysters don't really appeal to me anymore.

Although it's not the case here because there were no oysters in Shootingstar's paella, British Columbia oysters (and presumably those from Washington state too) have had a few episodes of toxicity these last few years. I can't remember the exact problem (the bacteria Vibrio parahaemolyticus turns up upon a google search but it might be something else too). Problem is, the oysters look and smell fine, they just make you really sick. Probably doesn't kill anyone though, but maybe that's because pregnant women and immunocompromised folks don't eat many oysters at a time... (!) If the oysters are cooked, in theory, it should be fine, but if they have contaminated kitchen instruments and stuff like that you might still get sick.



This being said, I still eat oysters whenever I can. And I had wonderful fresh prawns on Christmas day (a relative of ours is a fisherman).

[Crankin]

It sounds like a developing shellfish allergy. I ate all shellfish until my late 30s. Then I started getting severe gastric distress when eating clams, shrimp, and lobster.
The next year, I had a clam roll and started having trouble breathing and my lips swelled up. That was it. I can eat scallops, but nothing else.

[OakLeaf]

a slight temperature rise is possible with allergic reactions, but I wouldn't characterize it as "fever." Anyway, any reaction to the shellfish doesn't account for the apple. Sounds like coincidence to me.

[Eden]

Sounds like a coincidence or food poisoning.

Remember real flu (what you get the shot for) is *not* a stomach illness. Actual flu is a very bad respiratory infection. Most of what people call flu (stomach flu) is actually food poisoning or a viral gastroenteritis that makes you throw up, get fever, etc.

Also, some types of food poisoning can happen even if you properly cook the food. Sometimes its not the bacteria themselves that make you sick, but rather the toxins that the bacteria produce and cooking/heat does not always destroy those toxins.

[RoadRaven]

Like Oak I have doubts about the seafood allergy - the apple doesn't make sense. And you are talking about 2 incidents separated by a year...

Methinks its just coincidence too... but if in doubt, see a health professional about it.

Oak... allergic reactions can cause death (anephylactic spelling? shock) - so I think a fever/high temp is entirely plausible in a food allergy situation.

[OakLeaf]

Oak... allergic reactions can cause death (anephylactic spelling? shock) - so I think a fever/high temp is entirely plausible in a food allergy situation.

I've been carrying an Epi-Pen for 32 years now, I've had anaphylactoid reactions to both bee stings and ingested items, plus I have the other type of food allergies too. Apparently anaphylaxis does increase core temperature, but that shouldn't last 24 hours I don't think - and mostly I don't think it would be a symptom that's very noticeable to the victim considering everything else that's going on during an anaphylactoid reaction.

I've had food poisoning four or five times and it's never been gone in 24 hours either. Also food poisoning usually takes several hours from ingestion to onset of symptoms. "Stomach flu" is usually a rotavirus or norovirus - influenza virus is something else entirely.

Shootingstar, did you have any other allergy type symptoms? Sneezing, itching, swelling, congestion, hives, wheezing, rashes, rapid or irregular heartbeat, conjunctivitis...? Anyway, hope you're feeling lots better!

Beth, you ARE carrying an Epi-Pen, aren't you?

I'm just sayin'...

[bmccasland]

Beth, you ARE carrying an Epi-Pen, aren't you?

I'm just sayin'...

Yeppers. Been carrying my life-insurance-policy-in-a-purse ever since I found out the hard way that I'm still allergic to the Hymenoptera group back in college - cough, cough, some mumble mumble 30 years ago. Not the same pen, I DO get it changed regularily! Now if they'd make an Epi-pen that would fit in a little clutch purse, I'd be a much happier camper.

[OakLeaf]

Now if they'd make an Epi-pen that would fit in a little clutch purse, I'd be a much happier camper.

Or in a reasonably sized seat pack, either. And why did they have to make the outer packaging so much BIGGER in the latest revision, when the pen itself is the same size.

I'm ready to go back to the old Ana-Kit just for the smaller packaging. I give myself my allergy shots so I don't mind doing it the old fashioned way. (I guess Epi-Pens are automatically IM though, so I wonder if they're more effective than giving oneself a subQ injection? I don't think I'd have the nerve to inject myself IM with a regular syringe like you get in the Ana-Kit!)

[shootingstar]

I've had food poisoning four or five times and it's never been gone in 24 hours either. Also food poisoning usually takes several hours from ingestion to onset of symptoms. "Stomach flu" is usually a rotavirus or norovirus - influenza virus is something else entirely.

Shootingstar, did you have any other allergy type symptoms? Sneezing, itching, swelling, congestion, hives, wheezing, rashes, rapid or irregular heartbeat, conjunctivitis...? Anyway, hope you're feeling lots better!

Just a sore throat from coughing alot right now. Will see a doctor if I don't get better. I actually have booked ages ago a few vacation days off next wk. Just as well I wasn't at work with this stuff.

I do need to recover soon since must deal with a whole whack of work stuff in final work week for transfer of responsibilities/training before I leave old employer...for new employer.

[kelownagirl]

I've been carrying an Epi-Pen for 32 years now, I've had anaphylactoid reactions to both bee stings and ingested items, plus I have the other type of food allergies too. Apparently anaphylaxis does increase core temperature, but that shouldn't last 24 hours I don't think - and mostly I don't think it would be a symptom that's very noticeable to the victim considering everything else that's going on during an anaphylactoid reaction.

Have you considered getting immunotherapy? I started my monthly shots for a severe wasp allergy 18 mos ago and after 1 year, I don't have to carry an epi-pen. I do have to get the shots every 2 months for the next 4 years tho. well worth it imo

[OakLeaf]

I had immunotherapy right after I had the reaction to the sting. Then about the time I finished it, the Powers that Be declared that the old mixed hymenoptera shots were ineffective. I've been stung many times by many different things and only had the reaction once, but I was stung in the face and didn't actually see what it was.

Same with whatever it is that I ate... when I had the worst reaction, I thought it was aspirin, but then I ate twice more at the same restaurant and broke out in a prickly rash all over - enough to make me go park outside the ER until it was over, but not enough to go inside. So I think it was either some odd ingredient they were using, or some kind of contaminant, but again I don't know what. Haven't taken aspirin since then, but I'm actually thinking I'll go park outside the ER and challenge that sometime soon, since there are so many health benefits to low dose aspirin.

I do take shots for my inhalant allergies, and I TOTALLY swear by immunotherapy. Nothing, nothing, nothing has improved the quality of my life so much as those shots (plus identifying and managing my food allergies). Used to be I couldn't even function for two or three weeks in late summer (weeds and molds), and suffered all year round with allergies to one thing or another.

But I haven't had good luck with developing a tolerance the way some people do. I'm a lot less sensitive to certain things than I used to be, and there was one mold that I didn't react to at all the last time I was tested, but everything else (of the 20 or so inhalants in my shots) I still react to. I was on sublingual drops for my food allergies for a while, but the allergist's office themselves admitted that immunotherapy for food allergies isn't usually very effective, and it didn't seem to do much for me.

But in any case, I'll continue to carry the Epi-Pen even though I've never had to use it. The way my allergist explained it, developing an allergy is like walking off a cliff... with each "step" (exposure) you get closer to the edge, but nothing seems any different until you fall. Specific allergies develop via exposure, but the immune dysfunction that causes them "lives" in your immune system, so I could develop an allergy to something else. I just figure it's a stupid thing to die of for want of a $50 prescription (reimbursed by insurance).