OT - Listeria Infection

Needed to get this off my chest, so what better place than Healingwell

Woke up Yesterday (Sunday) feeling a little off. It got worse as the day went on, by evening I was running a fever, mild headache, and achy all over, with a bit of queasiness in my stomach. Took some Tylenol, went to sleep. Woke up, feeling 90% bettr. But I had diarrhea . (Sorry if TMI). Had the runs all day.

about 4PM I got an email from Whole Foods, informing that one of their brands of ricotta cheese was being recalled for listeria found in the product. I compared the description and UPC code to what I bough on Friday, and ate on Saturday, and guess what…. It was a match.

So I went to urgent care. Dr said, too much of a coincidence to think it’s not Listeria. Gave me Cipro (an old friend from past prostate issues).
Told me nothing by mouth but water for 24 hours, and no physical activity while in cipro, not even pick up a box. Cancel golf,no gym, just relax at home, because cipro makes older people highly susceptible to tendon ruptures.
Kill me now, I’m gonna go crazy sitting around for a week,

Said if stomach issues are still an issue by Thursday, Friday, go to ER.

Funny thing is, I shop at Whole Foods when I’m looking to eat clean and healthy LOL.
And BTW, I’m not complaining, crap happens. With all I’ve seen in the last few months , within my large circle here in Florida, I wake up every morning saying “thank you”

Ugh

Amazon has to keep those prices down any way it can, including accepting bad batches sometimes.

"tendon ruptures" ? That is frikkin' scary and 1/2.

JNF said...
Listeria can be very dangerous. A friend’s daughter became infected while she was pregnant and it caused a miscarriage.

Hope you do well, Ken, and do like I do…shop at Sprouts and Publix!

Thanks, Jack, I know, I read the mortality rate for severe Listeria is something like 25% thats why I went running to urgent care. And in fact Pregnant women like your friends daughter, and Seniors age 65+ are most at risk.

@81, yup, thats the one, in fact the email I got mentioned that particular manufacturer as the "culprit"

So to close the loop (I hope) on this, I started reading, and as I suspected, Cipro is not the preferred first line treatment for Listeria, Penicillin/Ampicillin is. Cipro has been shown to be effective with CERTAIN STRAINS of Listeria, but Penicillin family meds have been shown to be MORE EFFECTIVE. That, combined with the fact that the Doctor at Urgent Care was a bit of a dick, had me concerned and I didn't want to mess around with the possibility that this thing could get out of hand.

So this morning I went to another Urgent Care center which is actually a remote location Emergency room of a regional Hospital, Delray Medical Center. It was a real ER, (and bills as such) with beds, on site imagine, labs for bloodwork etc.
The ER Dr told me that Listeria is very rare, and in his 13 years of practice he has not seen one case. And the fact that I am feeling much better makes him believe it was a bad coincidence that I got that email, and it was just a stomach virus.

So they did bloodwork, CBC, Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, and every thing came back within normal limits except White blood count which he said was consistent with a virus. They also did a Covid PCR, which came back normal, and blood cultures to test for Listeria. He said he would be shocked if it came back positive for Listeria I will know in a couple of days.

From having the runs all day yesterday I was feeling a bit weak, and they gave me IV fluids to rehydrate me (I had lost 7 pounds in 24 hours ).
Got home, had a big breakfast, snacked after the meal, and no issues, feeling totally normal, played pickleball for an hour this afternoon LOL.

So moral of the story....urgent care can be good but sometimes it can really suck. And coincidences happen.

I'm glad I was proactive, or I would've been on Cipro for a week for no reason.