That was awful...

[speeder]

Just had another go-around with food poisoning. It's pretty unmistakable if you've had it before, (I seem to get it once every 5-10 years), the old joke applies:

"First you are afraid that you're going to die, then you're afraid that you're not going to die..."

Luckily, I was at home when it struck. Still trying to figure out what was the culprit. The last 12 hours have been a series of 5 or 6, (lost count), sessions of extreme vomiting and retching combined with uncontrollable diarrhea. If you are at home or in a hotel room it's a nightmare but I just can't imagine what you'd do if you were out in the world somewhere when it strikes. I would not wish it on anyone, it would take down the toughest, healthiest young person and make them beg for death.

The only good thing is that it does not last long. Your body so completely evacuates itself trying to get rid of it, it's kind of interesting, actually. After the last session, I finally got some sleep and woke up feeling OK, other than really dehydrated, (understatement of the century).

What's the point of sharing this? I guess as a warning to be more careful what you eat? From past experience, the onset of sickness occurs within an hour or so of eating offending item. I felt fine all day until it hit. It was either a Trader Joe's frozen pasta dish that came un-frozen in my car after the market, or some really old tea that I drank. Is that possible?? The tea? Thanks all and glad to be alive again.

[red-beard]

When I lived in India, it wasn't a matter of IF you were sick, just how bad...

That is 6 months I'd prefer not to live again...

[Jim Richards]

I've been through this a handful of times. It really does blow (beets).

[john walker's workshop]

food truck wienie grande.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Been there, can't beat sitting on the pot with a trash can in your lap. Good times.....

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by red-beard

When I lived in India, it wasn't a matter of IF you were sick, just how bad...

That is 6 months I'd prefer not to live again...

Sickest I have ever been was in a hotel in Chandigarh. I lied on the floor in the bathroom for 6+ hours, only getting up to put my face or my arse on the toilet. I was weak for 2 days afterwards. Good times, good times.

[Rick Lee]

I last got it during a company conference at Red Rock Resort in Vegas. It was from a lettuce wrap, the kind PF Chang's is famous for. A co-worker later told me she thought she tasted some undercooked shrimp in hers and spit it out. I got the full treatment, only leaving my hotel room to buy more Gatorade. It was so gawd awful. I drove a co-worker back to LA to pick up my bike and he wanted to go for sushi at my favorite place in Pasadena. I was on the mend, but it was kind of hard to look at all those slabs of raw fish. I still got some and, with the steamed rice, it was just fine. The next day I rode my bike back to Phoenix a few lbs. lighter.

[Rick Lee]

Another bout with it I got around 1998 was, I think, caused by an ice cream cone from Baskin Robins. The only other thing I had eaten that day was some Lipton noodles, then gone on a 35 mile bike ride. Got the ice cream on the way home and 90 min. later I almost couldn't make it out of the grocery store.

[vash]

glad you are feeling better speed..

this topic is near and dear to my heart! (well, about 11 inches lower than my heart)

i've been in the hospital twice. i get it bad..overnight stays. BLT at howard johnsons, and chicken mole at la posta in las crusas. i wanted to die!!


i have swallowed stuff (still) and said to myself.."oh o..that didnt taste right!" i dont have the ability to smell danger. my wife, on the other hand is like a drug dog. nose from God.

[MT930]

The Taco Bus Quick Step !

Horrible at home.

Medieval out in the woods.

[Rick Lee]

I was in Germany in May 2011 when they had the e coli outbreak. I ate at a salad bar right by the farm they eventually traced it back to. And we had eaten salads several times the week before. But I hadn't been listening to the news at all because I was with an American buddy who didn't speak German. My buddy then flew to Paris and I turned on the car radio and heard what was going on. Two days later my buddy texted me from his hospital bed in Pittsburgh, saying he was deathly ill. It can take up to a week for e coli symptoms to develop. I was so scared. But it turned out to be campylobacter and the docs said he probably got it from some raw chicken touching a salad he ate in Paris. He said it was pretty bad, but he got better within a week.

[nynor]

mexican dive eatery in lincoln, nebraska. i thought i was going to die. crawling to the toilet was one of the most painful, wretched experiences of my life.

[pavulon]

Spaghetti Works, Omaha, Nebraska, 1991...never again.

[vash]

my wife has the intestinal fortitude of a hyena.

i watched some lady on the banks a muddy river in cambodia hack off a piece of grilled animal heart and give it to my wife..she promptly ate it. the woman also drank a glass of water from a taco cart in mexico city.

no issues. my butthole would have fallen off.

[aigel]

I don't recall having such an episode in a long time, at least college and there it may have been convoluted with some heavy drinking ...

Key is not to eat out every darn day. Home cooked food is much safer. Just look at what everyone posted. None of the food was something cooked fresh at home, was it?

Of course an iron stomach helps too. I may be blessed with one.

G

[nynor]

Originally Posted by pavulon

Spaghetti Works, Omaha, Nebraska, 1991...never again.

i ate there once, circa 1991 also. small world. i didn't get sick, however.

[cashflyer]

My first time was in Jakarta.
It was so bad that I had to be hospitalized for a couple of days.

The most recent time was in Khafji.
Didn't go to the hospital, but wanted to go to the morgue.

[vash]

Originally Posted by aigel

None of the food was something cooked fresh at home, was it?

thanks for the reminder..sea bass, my MIL cooked. we joked that she tried to kill me..nobody else got sick. i had to go to the ER..they probed me. the horrors.

[RWebb]

I thought you were staying away from LA's Chinatown?

[aigel]

Originally Posted by vash

thanks for the reminder..sea bass, my MIL cooked. we joked that she tried to kill me..nobody else got sick. i had to go to the ER..they probed me. the horrors.

Well, apparently you are just weaker than the rest of the family. Darwin ...

G