How quickly do you know you have food poisoning?

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I got Campylobacter two years ago. I was sick for five days BEFORE I became paralized and had to be hospitized. This was the worst time of my adult life. I was in for 11 days and out of work for at least 7 more.
The bad thing is I remember the chicken wing I ate. I looked at it and said "OH this one is under cooked." Then I dipped it in blue cheese and I ate it.
I will never do that again. I bet I did not eat chicken wings for 2 months after that.

Wow! I'm so sorry to hear this happened to you. I still can't believe how sick he got or that it took several days to come on. We are still not sure what it was he ate but we had just spend a weekend in Budapest. Even though we stayed at a 5 star hotel and ate in nice restaurants, you just never know.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes, I'm headed back down to the hospital soon. :(
 
I got poisioned with what I thought was fresh fruit, I had a couple small necterines and a
couple hours later I did`nt know if I was going to live or die. I was sick in bed for 7-8 days in bed.
 
What exactly do you mean by this? Do you mean that if the meat is from a reputable source that the risk of food borne illness is pretty small?

My initial reasoning for opening this thread was that I hate it when I am cooking a roast or any type of meat and I am not 100% sure that it is at the proper temperature (like sometimes my thermometer will say 140 or so for pork or 120s for salmon and I am not sure if it's safe). So I just want to know how much I should be concerned for things like that. Along those lines, whenever I eat a piece of meat that I feel is questionable in terms of whether it was as done as it should have been, I wonder how long it is until I am "clear" or if illness could still occur.
You can actually make yourself sick wondering if you've made yourself sick. I've done that. I was so worried about some cooked chicken I made myself believe my stomach was upset but my daughter, who is far more sensitive than I am, ate the same dinner and felt fine.

Steak and roast in general will be more done on the outside than the inside, in my experience. As long as you have a good cut of meat, you should be fine. Again, in my experience, getting food poisoning from steak you've cooked and handled yourself is pretty unlikely.
 
Does anyone here know why chicken is more dangerous than, say, a steak? A lot of people would probably eat a steak at 130-140 degrees but a chicken breast at that temperature would be considered unsafe. I can see why ground meats are more risky, but why a piece of chicken? Is there inherently more bacteria in poultry or is there some other reason?
 
IN GENERAL, staph is 2-12 hours onset and Salmonella is 12-24. This is for a "normal" dose, with "normal" virulence, and a "normal" immune system.

IN GENERAL, the severity of the symptoms are based on the amount of the organism ingested and its virulence. Small amounts of pathogenic bacteria can be fought off by your body without significant symptoms, if you have a "normal" immune system. This would be the lite headache and other mild diarrhea symptoms. Maybe.

The only way to know for sure is with a stool specimen examined by your doctor.

Of course, this only happens when the symptoms are acute, so many minor food poisonings go both undiagnosed and untreated and run their course if you have a "normal" immune system.

Slightly undercooked meat that is not ground and contains only part of a muscle will not likely cause severe food poisoning. This is why beef can be served rare. The is no way for the bacteria to penetrate to the inside of the muscle, and the outside will be cooked well enough.

Almost all food poisonings can be traced to grossly improper cooking or what happens after cooking.
 
From my limited experience, if you had tainted food for supper, it's gonna hit you at around 3 in the morning,when you're sound asleep and can't QUITE make it to the bathroom!
 
From my limited experience, if you had tainted food for supper, it's gonna hit you at around 3 in the morning,when you're sound asleep and can't QUITE make it to the bathroom!

I cannot be certain, but I think that is exactly happened to me once after I ate a chicken crepe (sounds gross and it was... why I ate it I do not know). I was throwing up for about 12 hours and then had diarrhea for about 3-4 days afterwards followed by another few days of stomach cramps. That was not pleasant at all. Could that have been salmonella?
 
I got poisioned with what I thought was fresh fruit, I had a couple small necterines and a
couple hours later I did`nt know if I was going to live or die. I was sick in bed for 7-8 days in bed.

You may had had a norovirus. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Respiratory and Enteric Viruses Branch

Although it says it clears up in 1 to 2 days, that is not always the case.

OTOH, people often associate illness with food because they come in close proximity (eating and getting sick) It may just be a coincidence. After all, most of us eat 3 times a day at least.

If one of your symptoms was a cough or other respiratory symptoms, then you probably had an old fashioned influenza and the symptoms came on after you ate, but were in no way related.
 
Does anyone here know why chicken is more dangerous than, say, a steak? A lot of people would probably eat a steak at 130-140 degrees but a chicken breast at that temperature would be considered unsafe. I can see why ground meats are more risky, but why a piece of chicken? Is there inherently more bacteria in poultry or is there some other reason?

Chicken is a carrier of the Salmonella organism and almost all chickens have this in great amounts in their bodies. It just likes what it gets from chickens.

Technically, A chicken breast that is skinless and boneless will not have an interior that is contaminated, however the outside of the breast will contain both the Salmonella bacteria, and the toxin. The toxin needs to be heated above a certain temperature and for a certain period to destabilize. White meat also cooks at a lower temp then dark meat.

So a slightly juicy BS breast won't hurt you as long as you have thoroughly cooked the outside of the meat.

This is too complicated to get across to the general public, so the warnings about chicken are based on a whole chicken, including the the really dangerous cavity.

You might notice that restaurants serve juicy chicken breasts. There is no way these have been cooked to 175 degrees. !60 is adequate, and if rested will be closer to 165.
 
Sorry, I was just dealing with my own experience. Thank you for enlightening me.
I learn something every day.

Glad you've only had ONE experience with it, Constance! :ermm:

As has been said, some cases can grab you right away, some, the next day, the next week... some can be so mild that you're likely to think it's the "stomach flu." Some docs I'm friendly with say that ALL cases of "stomach flu" are really food poisoning. :ohmy:

and most cases of food poisoning are caused by people not washing their hands....
 
I cannot be certain, but I think that is exactly happened to me once after I ate a chicken crepe (sounds gross and it was... why I ate it I do not know). I was throwing up for about 12 hours and then had diarrhea for about 3-4 days afterwards followed by another few days of stomach cramps. That was not pleasant at all. Could that have been salmonella?

Even I would have gone to the doctor then. Things like this should not go untreated, or at least checked.

As far as cooking meat, red inside doesn't mean it is bad. What about people who eat rare meat or uncooked altogeter. If meat is fresh it is not going to hurt you, if it is cooked proparly. If you relay on your termometer, then you better make sure your thermometer is a good one. Also it is mportant to learn how recognise food being done without thermometer. You need to be able to tell wisually if your foods are done. No matter what it is, meat, chicken or rice and noodles, for that matter.
 
Even I would have gone to the doctor then. Things like this should not go untreated, or at least checked.

I did visit the doctor. He did not really think much of it... he just said to wait a couple days to see if it goes away (which it did). I did not think there really was any treatment for food poisoning except to just wait it out.
 
I did visit the doctor. He did not really think much of it... he just said to wait a couple days to see if it goes away (which it did). I did not think there really was any treatment for food poisoning except to just wait it out.
In most cases, this is true and it will go away but it is the cases that have something a bit nastier than standard, as at least half a dozen of us can testify to, then early intervention can be the difference between life, death and life-altering illnesses. Even after my experiences, I would say give it one day, maybe two at the most and if you aren't feeling better towards the end of day two, you really need a blood test as a minimum. An increase in white blood cells will indicate that you have an infection. A decrease in your haemoglobin show anemia or something impacting on the reproduction of red blood cells. And so the test results go on. A stool sample will not produce any results for a couple of days while any bugs are grown but that should be done if it continues more than a couple of days.

The best treatment is to keep the fluid levels up as getting dehydrated is not good. Any unusual symptoms or prolonged symptoms should be investigated properly. Generally though your body will tell you if you are on the mend. Have faith in what your body tells you and once you've eaten the food, don't worry about it cos unless you intend to (if you'll excuse me saying) make yourself regurgitate the food, there isn't much you can do.
 
I made this tonight-

Molasses Pork Tenderloin with Red Wine Sauce Recipe - Pork - MyRecipes.com

I seared on a skillet and cooked it at 375 for 20 mins (I had only one .80 lb. tenderloin instead of three). After letting it rest, I cut into it and it was still pink-ish, almost dark red in color. Should I be concerned? I was not sure if the ingredients could have darkened it a little bit or something. My thermometer said 155 when I took it out but maybe it was not in the thickest part of the meat. Do you think there is much risk?
 
Have you already eaten it? If so, think it becomes a "time will tell" situation!! I don't cook pork but I thought it wasn't meant to be less than medium-rare, preferably medium, and that is only in the stuff that is now deemed safe. If the pork is from an area where that is still not the case, then it was definitely undercooked. Pork cooking standards have only recently changed in Australia, but I am not sure what the standards for pork are where you are.
 
i guess this will depend on how much content of the food you've eaten. There are times when, you eat too much not realizing that the food you had eaten is contaminated by food poisoning. Usually this just takes a few days. Sometimes, it vomiting occurs in less than 24 hours.
 

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