Apparently I ate something that didn't sit right on my stomach yesterday. Last night it was like I was having an allergic attack, I wasn't hungry and my stomach felt bloated. This morning I still felt nauseous and had trouble belting down my tea to try to settle my stomach, I was still belching up the flavor of yesterday's lunch. I finally ate some Taco Hell "food" around 1:30PM and it seems to have done the trick... just got off the toilet after yesterday's food went "splotch!" in a liquid mess into the toilet. Ah, blessed relief!
This is supposed to be my vacation. Bummer :-(.
-- Badtux the Tummy-achin' Penguin
mmm, TMI? ;-)
ReplyDeleteHope you're feeling better..
Taco hell makes me feel that way not better.
ReplyDeleteHope you feel Ok now. Maybe Fang tried to poison you because you made him angry. Just saying. ;-)
Thanks for sharing Runstux!
ReplyDeleteBummer. I hope you're better now.
ReplyDeleteTry to identify the offending substance so you don't repeat the experience. I like to play medical detective, so I'm trying to nut out your problem based on the symptoms. The digestive tract works quickly, so it's usually something you consumed within 24 hours of when the problem started.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably more an intestinal issue than a stomach one. Stomach problems tend to result in pain, acid secretions and vomiting. You sound like you had woes from further down the GI system.
The intestines are where almost all of the work of digestion occurs. Bloating and diarrhoea (as it's spelt here) indicate gas production and inability of the body to metabolise what you consumed. Basically, some bad shit was rotting inside of you and your body was trying to expel it. The "off" feeling you had was likely your body diverting extra fluid to the intestines to liquefy the offending substance, and the peristalsis of your gut was speeding up to push the stuff out the "back passage" (as doctors here colloquially call the exit point. Sounds like something Capt. Cook would have sailed through in 1788.)
Food allergies are possible, but rare. Mrs. Bukko is allergic to cucumber, green peppers (called "capsicum" down here) and certain Indian spices. The slightest trace of these, even when she didn't know they were in the food, sets off three days of irritable bowel syndrome. I will not describe the effects, other than to use the old-fashioned term "bloody flux."
Food poisoning is more common than you might think. That would be my bet. E. coli is the most common culprit, as you know from reading the news. Basically, you're eating someone else's shit. Sometimes it's on poorly washed produce; sometimes it's because some jerk food service worker took a dump and didn't wash their hands well enough. Snotty noses or spitting in food are less likely to cause GI blues because the offending viruses there affect the respiratory tract, not the digestive. Not appetising, but true, Tux -- someone may have crapped in your mouth.
It doesn't take many shit particles to cause a problem -- e. coli multiplies massively. Your degree of sickness will depend on the number of bacteria you ingested and the ability of your intestinal flora to fight off the invaders. There are many strains of bacteria in the gut and they serve to keep each other in check, like bears and wolves and foxes in a forest making sure one species does not predominate. With the foods you describe eating, Tux, I reckon your gut has been battle-hardened more than many.
Sorry to sound ethnically prejudiced, but could it be from one of the Chinese/Vietnamese joints you frequent? I like Chinese food, but Mrs. Bukko had friends in the restaurant biz in S.F. They told her about the cockroaches, re-use of old food and other crappy practises in most Asian restaurants there. No cheap Chinese take-away for us! We trend toward high-end and mostly cook at home because we like to be in control of our guts.
TMI
ReplyDeleteI concur, tmi
ReplyDelete