Help feeling worried food poisoning

[hellodolly1]

I had a really nasty food poisoning was in hospital for nearly a week on IV fluids and antibiotics. My temperature took ages to come down. Won't be eating chicken any time soon again ... It's coming up for a month and I'm still knackered , still having diarrhoea ( though has calmed down ) trying to eat the right things . I'm scared this feeling of tiredness is going to last forever ! Should I be feeling better by now ? Has anyone else had problems after food poisoning? Thanks to anyone who has been in same boat who can help !

Was it campylobacter?

I had this when I was 19 OP (campylobacter). Previously very healthy and active teenager and it floored me. I was exactly the same as you. I was eating 5 year old sized portions for well over a month, and up to a year after if I ate anything like a curry it would upset my stomach. And I went right off melted cheese for ages.

I remember I was so dehydrated until they got me on a drip that I was hallucinating. I thought I was on the roof with a little blonde child holding a balloon. So weird.
It’s horrible - take care of yourself. I remember the weakness. My mum had to dry my hair as a shower took it put of me and I missed the first week of second year of uni. It won’t last forever but it will take a while.

I'm I was in hospital in October last year with Campylobacter, and was sooooo ill. Took me a couple of months to feel normal again.

Thanks for replies - yes was campylobacter. Sorry you had that experience @otravezempezamos sounds scary - I am middle aged . I was very surprised about the effect it had on my body . Yes very bland diet atm and feel odd and woozy.
@Covidwoes what helped you feel better ?

It is truly awful. It took me weeks to feel "normal" again. I didn't eat chicken again for a couple of years, and even now I only handle raw chicken with gloves on.

@hellodolly1 gosh you poor thing. You have my sympathy. I had this back in 2009 and have never been so ill.

Are you taking supplements like multivitamins and iron? You need to repair your body. Sleep as much as possible to heal and drink plenty of water. I hope you feel better soon x

Did you ever find out the ring was that caused it? I'm completely in the dark - I did have chicken 3 times the week before which is unusual for me ( normally only eat meat once a week ) and I'm wondering if hygiene wasn't so good..

Thing *

My doctor told me you catch it from handling raw chicken, which I had prepared and cooked. Hence the gloves now. The rest of the family, who only ate it, were unaffected.

sympathies op I have been ill for a month with food poisoning , not as seriously (I’ve been at home thankfully rather than in hospital). Also I’m almost certain from chicken.
I thought I was doing ok and ate some vegetables for the first time in a month yesterday , omg bad idea, went straight through me 🙈 I can only eat really really plain stuff, a couple of spoons of rice, crackers etc. Any fruit/ veg/ spice I can’t tolerate at all. I’m so surprised as I’ve travelled quite extensively for years and always avoided anything like this. I’m also totally knackered. I feel it’s gonna be a slow path to recovery.

My dad had campylobacter and nearly died. It took him a long time to get his strength back - you lose so much weight in such fast amount of time that your body needs to seriously recover.

My dad's consultant told him to eat whatever he fancied - if it was ice cream for breakfast, eat it. No low calorie foods, nothing ultra processed. Lots of cream, butter, fats etc to get his strength back.

Your gut health will be shot, lots of probiotics and gut friendly foods, even a few years on he can randomly suffer the effects of it

@Soluckyinlove actually that makes sense for me. I don't think my hand hygiene was very good maybe!

@Velvetmama I know what you mean about the veg and I stupidly had some rye bread which caused chaos! Someone suggested to me whizzing up some veg in a soup makes it easier to digest. I just had a bit of salad so fingers crossed.!! It's going to be a boring food time - I can't ever imagine eating a curry again :( also it's just the exhausting mess of it all .

@NeedSomeAnswersPlease sorry to hear about your dad and glad he's ok . I think maybe I'm expecting to be ok sooner and perhaps a bit unrealistic .

@hellodolly1 I was signed off work for a bit, which helped. I also stuck to a fairly bland diet for a bit. I did lose a lot of weight though, and went down to 49kg, as my appetite was really poor. However, I've managed to gain 5kg since, so there is hope! Plenty of rest, fluids, and bland foods are the way forward. Dioralyte, while foul tasting, is also good for replenishing electrolytes.

Luckily @Covidwoes I am over weight so losing half a stone is ok - but it's definitely taken it out of me .

I know this is an old post but I'm hoping the OP can give me some hope!
I'm 2 months post campylobacter infection now (not hospitalised but probably should have been! And it took me 14 solid days to get over the crippling stomach cramps).
My appetite is just totally shot to bits.
To be fair I was about a stone overweight, so thus far, I have lost a few lbs and I haven't minded that.
But every meal I eat atm is just such hard work. I often can't finish tiny potions that would have left me starving before. I've often had days with just 1 or 2 small meals. I can feel I'm weak and tired all the time. I know I need to eat but I just can't seem to stomach it. I'm just hoping someone can tell me this gets better! I don't even want anything sweet which is unheard of 🤣

@Potatogoddess hi it's horrible isn't it? I felt very much like you . I can definitely say nearly 6 months on my stomach has never been the same . I've got to be careful what I eat . Anything too spicy or lentily etc really sets me off and lots of sugar is a big no no !
I had some sausage with some spices in and spent the night up with wind and cramps ! It's made me eat more healthily and I lost over a stone mainly from cutting out alcohol, sugar and crap. I've had to go gluten free and low fodmap- that's what helped the most . I think at 2 months I was just eating things like plain fish, potatoes some veg .
There is light at the end of the tunnel but you have to find through trial and error what you can eat and what you can't. I saw a dietitian who helped me with the fodmap diet .
It affected me in other ways - I've had post infection fatigue ever since . You'll get there !!

Thank you for the reply.
Even though I'm hoping this won't go on for another 4 months! 🫤
I've had IBS for 20 years and incidentally eating so little and basic, bland foods with barely a vegetable has actually helped my bloating and gas no end.
I'm literally living off plain frozen fish with mixed frozen veg and butter or spaghetti bolonese with very little pasta (I hide mushrooms and peppers in there) with a tiny amount of cheese.
It's like I can feel I'm hungry but I just can't face the thought of eating.
I'm glad to hear you've improved somewhat, although I'm realising this might take longer than I realised to feel better.
I've been totally knocked out since I had it and I can see that eating so little isn't helping but I just can't seem to face eating most of the time. It's not like me at all

@Potatogoddess campylobacter is hideous - bar Covid it's the sickest I've been. I was hospitalised because of my high temp more than anything - I was getting dehydrated. Do you know how you got it ? I think mine was a bad bit of chicken. Or bad hygiene.
I have IBS previously too for 20 years . I've found since the infection I can't eat lots of leeks, onions, cauli, peppers, and tomatoes- though I've just started eating more recently. Can't have loads of tomato sauce . Have a look at low FODMAP it really has been the best thing for me and probably need to go back on it has been off a bit over Christmas.
Also, it's not too late to go to the GP and have a stool test and blood tests as some of my blood and bowel inflammatory markers were very high for awhile afterwards which made me feel awful as well.

I think it was undercooked chicken for me. A conveluted set of circumstances meant I didn't properly cook (didn't realise at the time obviously) but then also properly didn't reheat my food at work caus the microwaves were broken ☠️
I've been through A LOT of personal experimentation with foods I can tolerate over the last 5 years and have delved into FODMAPs before, which definitely had a positive impact on some symptoms for sure.
I haven't actually had any physical IBS symptoms at all really since I finally recovered from the food poisoning and it's been great! But equally long term, such a restricted diet is not good for anyone.
Just I can barely face any food at all and I get full after just a few mouthfuls.
I will definitely consider going back to the GP if it doesn't resolve though. Thank you.
I did have some stool tests at the time (a week into symptoms and I was still doubled over with cramps and diarrhea 🫣 ) but obviously they were skewed by the campylobacter 💩

I had it recently and lost 17lbs
Took probiotics which seemed to help and stuck with bland stuff for a while
Hula hoops, rice, toast mostly

Oh and that was October, I haven't touched chicken since

I hope you feel better soon OP

My DD was hospitalised with shigella when she 6. Bloody scary.

In terms of chicken, and every type of meat, I only use my left hand so I can turn the tap on with my right hand to wash my hands. Knife and board or plates get washed with scalding water and scrubbed. When it’s a whole chicken for roasting I run the tap before I start so I don’t touch anything before washing my hands.

The only few times I’ve had food poisoning was from BBQs at friends and in-laws. Luckily not sever.

I had Campylobacter food poisoning last Easter. Was very unwell for about 2 weeks. Apparently it can take up to 10 days to appear in the system. By the time I’d been ill, the GP decided I needed a stool test, and the results had come back… about 3 weeks had passed.

I think I was unlucky while prepping chicken.

I remember feeling very pissed off by the time it took me to feel vaguely normal again. I ate stewed apple with a bit of cinnamon…and ironically chicken soup. (That was before I’d had the tests back!)

All the portions were about egg cup sized.

About 2 months later, I did loose a lot of my hair. I can only assume it was the depletion of a lot of vitamins. It’s all grown back.

Id recommend taking something like Biokult probiotics. They have some extra gutsy 😉 ones for really boosting your digestive system.

I haven't eaten chicken since my infection! Just can't bring myself to! One day maybe.. but it's made me over the top with kitchen hygiene!

@Ohyeahwaitaminute that's interesting - mine was October and my hair shedding is so bad at the minute