Help me beat back pregnancy paranoia : another accidental ingestion of banned food thread

[HJBeans]

I ordered some pasta with blue cheese last night on the grounds it would be cooked through, but my first bite had a big chunk of not cooked through cheese in it. I then ate most of the rest of the dish (in which the cheese was mostly cooked through) through overload of Britishness and not wanting to send it back. Also thought cheese likely a hard blue and am trying not to go nuts over minimal risks. It was very greasy, not very nice, and I have stomachache this morning. Made mistake of googling cheese type to check hardness and is not only not hard, it's a locally made variety the producer of which was shut down due to listeria content of their cheeses several years back. (No illnesses, just testing of the cheese itself.)

Know chances of contracting listeria are small and that the only sensible thing to do is keep an eye out for flu-like symptoms over the next 3-70 days.

But I suffer from anxiety and am finding it very hard not to get stuck in unuseful mental circles about this, especially while still feeling poorly from the heavy meal this morning. Have already battled back paranoia about undetected genetic disorders this week following completely positive 20 week scan. Is hugely exhausting to slide back into overwhelming worry. Can anyone help?

[Dixiechick17]

Did you get the make of cheese from the menu? Just a wondering how they would still be serving that cheese if the company had been shut down. If the menu it could be that they haven't updated the menu buy are now using a different make cheese? X

[profbadbride]

Why not make an appointment with your GP and explain what happened and that you are very worried? He or she should be able to reassure you better than anyone on here could, and arrange for some extra monitoring of you if he/ she thinks it necessary ( I'm no medic, but hear that docs can take blood samples to check for infection). You could opt to just keep an eye out for symptoms, but 70 days is a long time to spend fretting! See a medic and put your mind at rest.

[HJBeans]

Thanks for the replies. The type was from the menu and the makers reopened after a lengthy debate several years ago. From brief scanning of article that pops up when you type the cheese and pregnancy into Google, testing found listeria in the samples but not the strains usually linked to illness. And the argument is that it exists in lots of artisanal cheeses and that requiring samples to be free of it would effectively put small-scale cheese makers out of business. The onus is on the particularly susceptible consumer (like me!) to avoid blue cheeses if they shouldn't be eating them.

Feeling a wee bit calmer as my upset tum improves over the morning - though I know these symptoms definitely aren't listeria related to that cheese, it just keeps reminding me what I are last night! - and I've managed what seems a sensible plan. In the absence of flu-like symptoms, which would have me off to the GP demanding testing like a shot, I'll mention my concerns to my midwife when I see her in two weeks. If she doesn't seem knowledgeable, I'll book in with my GP. Unless they can reassure me that I definitely am not at increased risk, I'll request a test when it's sensible to have one in terms of ruling out listeria. It's apparently reasonably well treated with antibiotics, so my big worry is that I don't recognise mild symptoms and the baby is affected before or at birth. I'm sure given the history of this cheese and my anxiety, they'll be willing to err on the side of caution in testing if only for my
mental health.

And I will vow never to be too embarrassed to query menus and to send something back if needs be.

[Awfulknitter]

HJBeans, you poor thing! Not only do you now have the worry about a forbidden food, you didn’t get to enjoy it either! That really sucks. Your plan sounds sensible, and it’s so so so unlikely that the crap blue cheese pasta has given you listeriosis.

I have actually developed a bit of a fascination with the pregnancy food dos and don’ts, probably linked to both my job as a civil servant and a general thing I have about liking to know the reasons for things even if they're weird and useless. So I find myself reading fun things like ‘Summary of Listeria monocytogenes surveillance, 2014 (data report)’.

The main thing you might find comforting: in 2014, there were 169 cases of listeriosis in the whole of the England and Wales – that’s in a population of 56.6 million people. So it is pretty rare.

I don’t even think that being pregnant increases your risk much, although the effects for pregnant women can be pretty bad, as everyone is keen to tell us. In 2012 there were 884,748 conceptions and 17 cases of listeriosis in pregnant women. That makes a 0.0000192% rate of listeriosis – you don’t need me to tell you that all those zeros mean it’s a low rate.

If you want to compare with another statistic, in 2012 the rate of road accidents in the population was 0.003046% - quite a bit higher! And how much do we worry about travelling about on the roads? (Well, I do actually – much more than I do about listeriosis – and I did too before I was pregnant. But there you go – we’re all going to worry about different things.)

I hope that helps you stay calm. It was probably a bit boring and know-it-all!

[docmcstuffins1]

Great post Awfulknitter, and you're absolutely right, being pregnant does not increase your chances of catching listeria, just that the outcomes can be worse if you catch it while you're pregnant.

[Bluesand1]

I also get paranoid about the things I eat! At about 16 weeks I got suspected food poisoning in Portugal from a fried chick sandwich (I think). My gp took a stool sample and they tested it for listeria and it was fine although they caveated and said they couldn't say for sure. I think you can have a blood test to know for sure...

Try not to worry I know it's hard. I spend days super stressing about these things but the risk is so so low x x

[Bluesand1]

Def go to your gp and push for a test it will make you feel so much better and reassured

[HJBeans]

Belated thanks to all, especially awfulknitter for those reassuring stats. I'm a scientist by training and take great comfort in numbers! I was actually thinking of the listeria vs. road accident comparison as I drove away on holiday earlier in the week - lucky me, my over-anxious mind can worry about both in parallel! - so really interesting to see that on my return.

Did see the GP today as I'm still feeling rubbish - nausea all week like morning sickness has returned but with stomach pain as well. Had a good check over and she said it likely I'd a mild case of (non-listeriosis) food poisoning or simple irritation of the stomach lining. I'm to hit the antacids over the weekend and come back Monday if I'm no better. Feel much less panicky - though not looking forward to the seven hours I'll be spending on trains over the weekend. Any stats for rail disasters, anyone? ;-)

Anyway, thanks again.

[Awfulknitter]

Sorry to hear you're still feeling rubbish - but glad it's not listeriosis!

No stats for rail disasters, but I did a bit of train travel with morning sickness - I was glad I went prepared with bin liners, bottle of water, and toothbrush!

Hope you're better soon.