Food poisoning

[Hazel33]

Hi, I am on WW for 6 years. Yesterday purchased prawns from supermarket and within one hour of eating felt most peculiar. I felt totally fatigued, had a metallic taste on my tongue and felt very sick, which I hate. Just managed to get through the night feeling as though I had a temperature. Hopefully I will be able to manage this. Will it confuse my blood readings as I see specialist tomorrow. Feeling very weird today. Any advice please other than don't eat prawns. Thank you.

[Jm954 Administrator]

Hi,

I honestly don't know if it will confuse your readings but if they're a bit 'off' you can explain the prawns to your Dr.

Prawns are tricky because they can be contaminated with bacteria that produce toxins. Cooking them will kill the bacteria but not eliminate the toxin and it's this that causes most of the adverse reactions to prawns. If the reaction occurs within a couple of hours of eating the prawns then it's probably a toxin and not a bacteria. The prawns can smell and appear perfectly fine so you can't tell if they are contaminated before you eat them.

This link has food safety advice, including cooking tips, for immunocompromised people:

cftqld.com.au/sites/default...

Hope you're feeling better soon.

[Hazel33 in reply to Jm954]

Thank you for your response. I will definitely aviod prawns in future

[Hazel33 in reply to Hazel33]

I have now seen my specialist. My wbc has jumped and so have my other readings. He said he is not worried and thought I looked well. Not sure about this as I was still feeling quite nauseous and pale. Perhaps he couldn't see through the make up. I will have to wait until my next visit in 3 months.

[Corkyrissa in reply to Jm954]

Jm954 have you heard anything about getting a massage if you have a blood cancer I have cll. I read a blog from a masseuse and she said that a deep massage would not be good. I have very bad neck stiffness have some hardware and whenever I got a massage it would relieve neck and back pain. Love this blog waiting to start ibrutinib praying side effects not to bad.

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator in reply to Corkyrissa]

If this question hadn't already been asked: healthunlocked.com/search/m... it would be worthy of a separate post

[Hazel33]

Another point, I told my specialist that I get extremely tired but he thought my blood levels weren't low enough and perhaps I imagine it?!? I actually wish I didn't know about the condition.😢

[PaulaS Volunteer in reply to Hazel33]

Hazel, it is SO frustrating when doctors say our blood levels (usually meaning our haemoglobin) aren't low enough for us to be tired. And as for your specialist suggesting you are imagining it - that just adds insult to injury!!

Most specialists now acknowledge that CLL can cause fatigue even in the early stages. Some say that our fatigue probably comes from cytokines in the blood which are NOT measured by the standard tests. (I'm not sure if there's any way of testing for cytokines).

But there are many other reasons for fatigue too. Have you had tests to rule out any other possible reasons for your fatigue (eg thyroid function, low Vitamin B12, low Vitamin D)?

I do hope you find some answers, and feel better soon.

Best wishes,

Paula

[Hazel33 in reply to PaulaS]

Thank you Paula. I am so happy to have found this group.

[Redlion in reply to Hazel33]

I have been on W&W 7.5 years and now approaching treatment time. From the start I have reported fatigue and tiredness and until the last few appointments my consultant refused to acknowledge it was connected with the CLL condition saying my red blood count was not low enough to cause it. This flys in the face of all specialist opinion that fatigue / tiredness is very much a hallmark of this disease. It is very disappointing that there are still consultants who are still misleading their patients about this, and it makes me wonder just how much many of these consultants actually know about CLL. I spent years concerned that I might have another underlying condition causing the fatigue, this was completely unnecessary as had I been informed correctly I would have known this was part of the effects of my CLL. It is thanks to this excellent forum that I have started to take control through the knowledge that I have gained here so that I now believe that I probably know more about my CLL condition than the consultant who is treating me. It is only by me pushing for some genetic marker tests that he requested a 17P blood test, I will be asking for more when I see him next month.

[Myrddin]

Recommend you forward the CLLSA QOL survey to your consultant - demonstrates that one of the most common complaint by those on w&w is fatigue. cllsupport.org.uk/cll-sll/l...

[Hazel33]

Thank you Myrddin for the survey which shows realistically what CLL is about. I don't know why the consultants won't acknowledge the symptoms. I am thinking about forwarding the survey on to him.