Food Poisoning

Last Thursday we had our department holiday lunch. We went out to a local restaurant that's known for their fried chicken, but I thought that would be a heavy and salty meal for me, so I opted for the seared tuna.

Oh, that was a bad idea.

It came. I ate it. It wasn't fabulous, but I just figured it was because I was ordering a fish dish in a chicken restaurant.

Later that night, just before bed my tummy started to rumbling and I had a touch of diarrhea before turning in. That's not a big deal for me, especially when eating around the holidays - I'm lactose intolerant, yet I still eat/drink the stuff and had a little cup of egg nog at a party that night. So I thought nothing of it.

The next morning it was no longer a touch of diarrhea. It was watery diarrhea. No chills, no aches, no gas, just pure liquid. So, I showered and took a half of a regular immodium pill to calm me down (because I figured that was no good, I would get dehydrated putting out that much fluid). I drank about a quart of water and headed off to the office. I was there for about a half an hour, I drank a cup of green tea and still had the diarrhea and started feeling really weak. So I headed home.

By the time I got home, I was in a bad way. A little temperature (no chills) and I curled up in bed, figuring that I had to rehydrate so I just kept drinking water.

Then, a little after noon I threw up.

I'd not thrown up in nearly thirteen years. I'm not a vomiter - never have been and I'm quite pleased with that (my mother throws up at the drop of a hat - sun too bright, she throws up, bad smell, she throws up, graphic story on the news, she throws up).

I spent the afternoon throwing up, then trying desperately to put fluids back into my system. And then within the hour I'd throw it all up again. I tried a little pepto, but that came up pretty quick.

I figured I just had to tough it out, though my husband paged the doctor who felt if I threw up one more time that I should head to the emergency room for some IV fluids.

So by 7PM I was done with that and was able to not only get down about a quart of fluids (water & gatorade), I also took two tylenol which brought down my 101.5 fever.

Gah! That was unpleasant.

There was some dispute between me and my husband during the weekend whether it was food poisoning or stomach flu. As far as I was concerned, it didn't really matter, except that I didn't want to give it to him.

This, of course, has thrown a huge monkey wrench in the holiday plans as the weekend was a complete waste with me down for the count. I managed to go out on Sunday to take care of the things that only I could take care of in preparation for the big trip to see the family.

I'm feeling loads better and am happy to report that the swelly belly is nearly gone (nothin' like dehydration to get rid of it!).

Posted by Elizabeth M. on December 22, 2004 7:13 PM