Pumpkins - stomach upset

[howliscream]

This is a bit of a strange one. We had pumpkins last week from Halloween, some of which we didn’t carve as they were the small green stripy ones. I don’t usually eat pumpkin - no real reason just not a vegetable I’d normally buy.

I didn’t want to be wasteful so thought I’d cook myself some for dinner. It tasted fine but I then had diarrhoea for 2 days. This passed but my stomach has not been right since. The best way I can describe it is it feels like when you have a stomach bug and it’s like a gnawing sensation and just feels odd. My stomach has cramps and feels like it’s churning. I’m able to eat but my appetite is definitely less than usual.

I’ve googled and there are so many contrasting things - some saying it can help gastric upset and others saying it can cause it. I even read about toxic squash syndrome which seems serious but unlikely surely?

Has anyone ever experienced this? Any advice gratefully received.

It’s possible that the pumpkins were simply old? All the halloween squashes and gourds sit around in the supermarket for weeks and there’s no way of knowing how fresh they are. The odd thing is that they can go forever without looking mouldy, however the inside will definitely not be ok to eat (we have a decorative pumpkin that’s been around for 6 weeks at room temperature now).

From experience buying pumpkins to carve, some of the insides look completely different to each other but you won’t know unless you have another to compare. Last year we had one which was slimy and dark but only compared to a fresher pumpkin bought from the same batch.

That’s the reason I don’t cook pumpkins either…just too inexperienced to tell if they are good or not. I also don’t think the pumpkin necessarily needs to be stinking and rotten to cause illness.

Everyone I know with Covid at the moment says their first symptoms were an upset stomach - could that be a possibility?

Thanks for your reply. I think that might be it, especially as I don’t usually cook/eat them. We got ours from a pumpkin patch so who knows how long they’d been there. It’s definitely put me off them for life! Still some cramping today - hoping it passes soon

I know what you mean about Covid as I had that 6 weeks ago and had an upset stomach then. Fortunately this seems to be stomach related only and no other symptoms.