Bacterial Infection From Hades

[bluelotus]

Hi all,

I went into the emergency room the other night with extreme vomiting and diaherra (and I mean extreme) - felt like the girl from the exorsist and thought I was going to die. When the docs first saw me, they suspected a viral infection b/c I guess one is currently going around (at least where I am) with very similar symptoms. They just called with my test results and said that it was bacterial, a bacteria that normally occurs in the intestine, but took over for whatever reason. I am suspecting that this is related to my celiac disease and possibly a leaky gut. I had been exposed to gluten unknowningly for the last 4 months or so, though I think I have that under control. Maybe that was just too much on my system after a while (I thought I had been gluten-free for about a year with a few mistakes).

What do you all think? I'm interested in knowing if anyone has suffered from something similar.

[elonwy]

My boyfriend got that once after eating ethiopian food (not sur if there was a relationship, but he won't eat it now), and he's not a celiac or anything else. No food allergies, nothing. He just got horrendously sick and it was all bacterial. They gave him fluids and antibiotics and let him go after a day. I think sometimes this just happens.

Elonwy

[jenvan]

Wow...so is that why you thought the chili was giving you issues perhaps?? Bacterial infections are not uncommon...for many causing ulcers and gastritis. I haven't had any myself... So are you on antibiotics? I would be taking some acidophilous to help replace the good bacteria... Or was this good ol' food poisoning that just had to run its course? Hope you feel better soon!

[bluelotus]

They are pretty certain its not food posioning (I hadn't eaten anything out of the usually that would have caused problems). I thought maybe it was caused by the fact that we had a work lunch at a restaurant and I had been breathing in stuff there (though I brought and ate my own food)....like a glutening or something. But, the docs agreed that it wasn't gluten b/c of my excessive vomiting and D. I have never been made nuaseous (sp?) by gluten and always had mild D, nothing like these symptoms. Who knows ..... it was pretty scary. I am not capable of driving at the moment, but when my husband gets home, we'll be picking up my anit-biotics (which, I know, are pretty bad for my body, but at this point, I'm willing to take them).

Guess I was just curious that maybe with a leaky gut, bacteria could 'sneak out' into the blood stream and cause problems.

I appreciate both your thoughts though. And, jenvan, I thought the same thing, maybe it wasn't the chili, but the beginning of this illness. After I'm feeling better, maybe I will try the chili again to test myself.

[DQ1Squared]

Hi bluelotus--Your question is addressed in the book "Dangerous Grains" on page 32...not sure if we're allowed to quote verbatim here, but the gist of it is that leaky gut can allow bacteria to leave the intestine and cause infections in other parts of the body.

Something similar happened to my dad recently--he suddenly developed a klebsiella infection in his bloodstream. He hasn't been diagnosed with celiac disease although he was biopsied for it (negative). However, he has all the hallmarks of celiac disease/gluten sensitivity--severe digestive problems, anemia, hypothyroid, etc. Since klebsiella normally resides in the intestine, I also wondered if his infection was due to leaky gut.

Hope you're feeling better!

DQ1Squared

[bluelotus]

Thanks.. ...I have that book and knew that I had obtained that idea from somewhere. sorry, just too sick to look it up myself. i appreciate your help. i think that is the same bacterial infection i have too. hope your dad is doing better. for a while there, i thought i was going to die...... now all i want to do is sleep.

[bluelotus]

I finally found out what it was (after getting them to release my medical records)...it was Clostridium difficile toxin. This bacteria is found normally in the GI tract and when it gets overgrown, can cause illness. This bacteria commonly affects those taking antibiotics and will often cause diaherra and illness in hospital patients b/c of the overuse of antibiotics (I guess regular antibiotics may lead to C.d.'s overgrowth). I, however, had not been taken any antibiotics. This is not a bacteria associated with food poisoning. The docs have no idea how I got it. After talking with them, I did a little research online and it appears that those with Crohns and/or colitis will get this infection on occasion with no explanation, so I wonder if this would be true for Celiacs...... Maybe the bowel problems or absorption problems occasionally lead to an imbalance of our regular bacteria?

Also, my blood tests came back good, so it is likely that this bacteria did not 'sneak out' of my leaky gut.....otherwise, I would have had blood poisoning (according to a doctor anyway).

Just thought you all might be interested in a follow-up. Hope no one has to go through the same hellish experience. After 2.5 days, I am still a little ill, but doing much better. Should be back to normal by Monday.

[RiceGuy]

I can only add one thing, since my own experience with toxins. Here's my post on it: Open Original Shared Link

You might be able to Google your way to some answers, once armed with the correct search terms. If the docs are right, I don't know how my experience applies to you if at all, but it seems similar in certain ways. My docs were always totally wrong, BTW.