If you ever ate (the cooked outside part) of undercooked chicken...

[JiraffDeSaki]

...how long did you fret for, or when did any illness materialise?

On Saturday night I ate the crispy skin, wing and a small bit of the outer cooked part of a chicken quarter from our local butcher (breast on the bone) - bought fresh that day, it had been in our air fryer at 190 degrees for minimum 30 mins. When I cut further in, I saw that it looked very undercooked beside the bone - I don't mean bloody or pink, it was pale but had a smooth, slimy (OK, raw!) appearance.

I immediately spat out what I was chewing and didn't eat any more. It's coming up for 48 hrs since I ate it and I seem fine, but campylobacter and salmonella can take 5-6 days to become symptomatic!

I'm a bit of a worrier and I can't stop dwelling on it. I can't find much reassurance online - can anyone soothe my anxiety or give me some positive tales? I've eaten nothing but dry bread and a few hobnobs for 48 hrs so I'm shaky and that's making me panic more.

I don't fret.

You ate cooked chicken. Not seeing a problem to be fretting about?,

Did it touch the undercooked bit? Did you lick the fork after touching the undercooked bit? If none of the above you're not getting sick.

Nothing happened at all. The end.

Overthinking! It's so stupid but a lifetime irrational fear, I've come up with every type of catastrophe my phobic brain cells can muster.

Thank you.

Hahaha that made me laugh, thanks! I'm sure you're right. I hope you're right.

I cooked chicken breasts for DH and myself for dinner, somehow his was cooked perfectly and mine was raw underneath (no idea how I managed this, they were a similar size). So we are eating and I am saying this isn't cooked, DH is telling me its fine stop being silly because he was looking at his chicken.

Anyway he finally looked at mine and agreed that yes it was practically raw.

I wasn't ill and I had eaten a lot of it.

I thought about it for maybe 3 minutes, at a banana and some live yoghurt, just in case (🤷🏼‍♀️) and then carried on. Nothing happened.

That's very reassuring, thanks! I realise every scenario is different and there are no guarantees, but it does make me feel better.

I think contamination of raw chicken in the UK with salmonella and campylobacter is a pretty low percentage these days anyway, but even so...the bowel-clenching horror of having eaten raw chicken (or eaten from a piece that wasn't properly cooked) is quite something.

I did a few years ago and had very mild tummy upset. (Similar to eating to many strawberries- not the sweats and cramps type)

We bough a thermapen meat probe and probe everything it's so easy.

It's expensive but dupes on Amazon - I got this as a gift

The chicken you ate was cooked though so what is the issue?

Mild I can handle! Although I suspect if there was going to be a mild effect it would have happened by now, rather than after the horribly long-incubation of more serious infections... <hopes>

Well, quite. The anxious brain is a peculiar creature!

My irrational thought is that pathogens from the uncooked part may have infiltrated the cooked part.

@JiraffDeSaki

It the continual internal monologue of was it really uncooked?

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I think that, if you were going to become ill, you’d be showing symptoms by now, @JiraffDeSaki - please don’t worry.

The acid in your stomach does protect you against some bugs.

Thanks @thedendrochronologist I've crossed everything so much I've got the start of a bloody UTI now. 🤦‍♀️

My internal monologue is demented. OMG undercooked is worse than raw. But I didn't eat any of the undercooked bit. Or did I? Maybe I snagged a bit of it? Maybe it was ALL RAW. No it wasn't. But the bacteria would have multiplied in the rest of it. Wouldn't it? Maybe not. Yeah I'm fine. OR AM I...etc etc.

Oh thank you @SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius , that's what I believe deep down. 🙏 But if someone else thinks the same, it helps! Yes, a doctor friend once told me that bacteria and viruses have to get past many immunity obstacles before they can start to multiply - salivary enzymes, stomach acid, stomach enzymes, white (?) blood cells and the like.

I rarely say the word on here as it tends to generate a collective MN eyeroll, but I have been severely emetophobic since before anyone really knew that's what "fear of vomiting" was called - and certainly before MN existed! 🤣

As nobody ever comes back to these threads to update, I thought I would...it's day 4 and I am still perfectly well.

I had some cramping this afternoon and a uncomfortable bathroom visit, but even in my anxiety I can conclude that, 1. I've eaten nothing but beige soluble fibre in 4 days and 2. I do suffer from IBS anyway, so could predict that my intestines would revolt at the stress and change in diet.

So in summary, er, still counting to days 5 and 6. I relayed this to a friend today and she was most amused at my abject nonsense.

I’m glad to hear you are feeling OK, @JiraffDeSaki.

You mention IBS - I have that, and lymphocytic colitis, and my GI consultant put me on Cholestyramine 5 years ago, to help with the IBS symptoms. He says that, in quite a lot of IBS sufferers, their symptoms are at least partly caused by bile acid.

This is produced in the liver, and goes into the small intestine, to help,with digestion there, but it is supposed to be reabsorbed before it gets to the large intestine. In some IBS sufferers, the bile acid is not reabsorbed properly, so it gets into the large intestine, where it causes inflammation and that causes diarrhoea.

Cholestyramine is a bile acid binder - it binds to the acid and stops it causing inflammation.

I have found it has made a big difference to my symptoms - they haven’t gone completely, but they are a lot better than they used to be.

I did once. After some Googling I drank a couple of glasses straight away and nothing materialised. But it did prey on my mind for a good few days. It’s not a nice experience. To be honest - even the placebo effect of the wine was probably helpful!

Yes I've heard of that - I lost my gallbladder about 7 years ago, and in the immediate aftermath was frantically googling bile acid malabsorption! Luckily it settled down really quickly, but I've often wondered if bile acud could be responsible for some of the IBS symptoms.

I had a double endoscopy a couple of years back and was reassured that everything was normal. Stress and worry definitely affects me.

On the plus side, the painful cramps and other symptoms this evening were so incredibly familiar - and limited to two short episodes - that I'm confident it is NOT an impending campylobacter infection!

Googling is terrible isn't it, and I don't even drink.

It's amazing how your mind takes over and you're spiralling before you know it. I still feel slightly disturbed by the experience, it is fading but I'll be happiest when I'm a full 7 days clear!