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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Original poster

Listeria while pregnant.

9 replies

Redelephant18 · 16/10/2017 20:13

I'm kicking myself. Am 20 weeks pregnant and ate smoked salmon that was three days out of date by mistake. I didn't cook it, just had it in a bagel.

I've spent quite some time googling and now pretty scared about the risk of listeriosis and the awful effects it can have on the baby.

As far as I can see its best to only go to the docs if I get symptoms between 2-90 days after today. Even though it says that sometimes there aren't symptoms for me but still awful consequences for the baby.

Please can anyone offer advice on what the best course of action is. I don't think that any doctor would prescribe antibiotics preemptively would they? I'm trying not to stress out about this but not succeeding at all......

OP posts:
Flossy1978 · 16/10/2017 20:19

Listeria is soooooooo extremely rare. You'll be fine. Try not to worry.

JKR123 · 16/10/2017 20:20

Please try not to panic. Listeria is very very rare and it is extremely unlikely that you will have it. You are clearly very worried so I would try not to think about it tonight and give your midwife a call tomorrow. I bet they will tell you that they have had loads of other mums to be that have done similar and everything has turned out ok Flowers

Original poster
Redelephant18 · 16/10/2017 20:23

Thank you for the swift replies. I am really trying to stop stressing - I'm not usually like this!

Calling my midwife is a good idea- I'll do that tomorrow.

OP posts:
mindutopia · 16/10/2017 20:51

I would really try not to worry. Know the symptoms of listeria infection and be mindful if you suddenly develop those, but I really wouldn't stress about it. Several weeks ago, I ate brie that was clearly gone off. It wasn't out of date (we'd just brought it home from the store about 5 minutes before), but it was bad. I opened it, thought it smelled funny (even for brie, we otherwise each a lot of smelly cheeses and I've never avoided them in any of my pregnancies), but I ate a piece anyway. It tasted really bad. My husband came in a few minutes later and I made him try it and he confirmed it was definitely gone off. We threw it away, but I did eat some first. So far, all fine and I've actually not thought about it again since. Listeria is not common and usually shows up in large outbreaks rather than just randomly, so more than likely you'll be fine.

PossibiliTea · 16/10/2017 20:54

I thought smoked salmon is ok? And it's usually that well packaged or treated it should be fine even if it's past it's use by. Also if you got it straight out of the fridge it won't have gone too bad.

That combined with how rare listeria is I think you will be completely fine :) in having a few freak outs myself lately but seeing the logic in things more now!

mineofuselessinformation · 16/10/2017 21:07

Believe me, you will know if you have listeria! It's not something mild...
I had a gut reaction to an antibiotic that caused symptoms that were similar. I honestly (for the one and only time in my life) thought I was dying.

Original poster
Redelephant18 · 16/10/2017 21:11

Thank you, the reassurance is helping! Logic certainly seems to have gone out the window at present. I'm highly emotional. I thought this was meant to ease up in the second trimester?!

OP posts:
clarebear1983 · 16/10/2017 21:38

The treatment for listeriosis in pregnancy is IV antiboitics, so you couldn't just go get a course from the GP. There is a blood culture but you need to actively have a fever associated with listeriosis for the test to prove it was present.

I had a scare with it and my GP was really unfamiliar with it, especially in pregnancy. After speaking with the microbiologist at the hospital he confirmed its very rare and almost always presents with abdominal pain and diarrhoea initially (I had some flu like symptoms combined with morning sickness). If you develop either of these then I'd go to the GP just to be on the safe side or call 111.

Listeriosis tends to actually have quite mild symptoms in most cases so it's certainly not always a case of 'you'd know if you had it'. I'm not saying that to scare you, just to arm you with the facts so you can keep yourself and baby safe. It's important you know what to look out for just in case.

Original poster
Redelephant18 · 16/10/2017 21:42

Thank you clarebear, that's really helpful information. I had read about the antibiotics being IV but wasn't sure if there was also an oral option.

I'll keep an eye out for those symptoms and if I get any, go to the doctors straight away.

OP posts:
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