Why is my body mad at me?

March 26, 2013 12:23 AM

Last night I had an episode of intense tremors and nausea shortly (< 2 hours) after eating. This morning I feel fine. What gives?

I had a pretty normal day yesterday - woke up, went to work, came home. I ate three square meals and haven't had any problems sleeping or staying awake. I'm female and in my early 20's, if that matters.

I came home from work yesterday and fixed myself dinner of filled cheese pasta with basil pesto. Nothing unusual there, I've been eating it for months without issue. About two hours after eating I started feeling shaky, muscles jumping and twitching, which gradually got worse to the point that I couldn't type a sentence without missing half the keys because my hands were shaking so bad. As the tremors got worse I was hit with a feeling of nausea and figured I was coming down with a virus - previous bouts of nor I have started the exact sane way - so I quarantined myself in the bathroom to wait out the inevitable. As it turned out, though, all my body wanted to do was dry heave a bunch and eventually throw up hardly anything. I went back to bed and promptly fell asleep curled around a bucket. Now, after about 8 or 9 hours solid sleep, I feel fine, albeit a little sore and hungry.

So my question is this: YANMD etc etc but does this sound like a virus or just bad food mojo? I wouldn't be worried normally - everyone gets the odd tummy ache - but the intensity of the trembling I experienced has me a little worried that something is going on. Google suggests everything from a bug to hyperthyroidism (which could actually be a possibility - my mother has also had lots of issues with her thyroid). Do I go to the doctor with this? Or just keep an eye on it? Your advice greatly appreciated, Mefites!

posted by fight or flight to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

I've had similar reactions from bad food. I think it can happen when you don't exactly get food poisoning but there is a buildup of bacteria that leads to a toxic shower and the body goes into shock. It comes on strong but goes quite quickly. My brother once had what felt like instant flu, and actually passed out, from eating some old ham, but was fine after a few hours!
Obviously IANAD etcetera.
posted by KateViolet at 12:57 AM on March 26, 2013

IANAD and have no medical background whatsoever, but I've had a few similar experiences (+ sweating and heartracing) which I think were cases of reactive hypoglycemia
posted by akrasia at 3:51 AM on March 26, 2013

Best answer: This sounds like something that would be worth bringing up with your primary care physician who will have access to more of your medical history as part of a routine appointment.
posted by Blasdelb at 4:26 AM on March 26, 2013

Best answer: Inadequately cooked filled pastas and pesto with poorly washed greens are super obvious vectors for contamination, so if you were me I would consider the case fairly clear-cut. Your immune system recognized the problem early on, went into overdrive and put the smackdown on your dinner; the battle was short but hard fought.

Throw out any leftovers and uneaten portions of those packages, though.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:28 AM on March 26, 2013

Response by poster: I'm back to 100% normal operating status today, so I'm pretty sure it was something I ate. Betrayed by delicious pasta!

If it happens again though, my GP will be my first point of call. Thanks for the sounding board, dudes.
posted by fight or flight at 4:41 AM on March 26, 2013

Best answer: Keep an eye on yourself. I had the same thing years ago and then about two or three days later it hit me like a freight train and I wound up in the hospital. Paratyphoid fever from what I ate.

If you start running a fever go to the doc immediately, don't wait like I did and wind up with really really REALLY bad mojo.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 4:46 AM on March 26, 2013

Best answer: You had what sounds like a very small case of food poisoning. I had this myself last week. I ate some old leftover chicken from the fridge Wednesday night, woke up with a terrible headache Thursday morning, and vomited Thursday afternoon. Drink lots of fluids!
posted by Mr. Justice at 4:51 AM on March 26, 2013

Are you lactose intolerant, or have it run in the family? (I've only figured out that I am as an adult. Like, 38 years old.) I can get away with some cheeses, but my wife's migas (eggs, cheese, onions, salsa) give me a weird jittery nauseated feeling if I don't take a lactaid pill (or two) before hand.
posted by notsnot at 4:51 AM on March 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Think about it this way - if you have something like a thyroid issue, it would be unlikely to show up as a single time-limited episode of symptoms.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 7:14 AM on March 26, 2013

Huh, I had exactly this thing happen a couple of months ago. Mystified me at the time, but hasn't recurred. I think we'd been out to eat that night. I think we'd been out to eat that night so I'd buy the food poisoning idea.
posted by curious nu at 7:36 AM on March 26, 2013

I've had this happen a couple of times and put it down to bad food that my body was alerted to very quickly and dealt with swiftly and firmly. It once happened so quickly that I actually fled the restaurant at the end of a meal (bad mushrooms I believe) and barfed in a planter outside. As an added bonus, it was the dinner when my parents first met my boyfriend. AWESOME.
posted by marylynn at 10:32 AM on March 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Out of curiosity - any chance you could be pregnant? My only episode of "morning sickness" was exactly what you describe - feeling icky shortly after a meal, nausea with no vomiting, and feeling 100% better in the morning. It never occurred to me it could be pregnancy-related because it was so much like food poisoning and I didn't have any other pregnancy symptoms.

Just, you know, something to rule out.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 10:44 AM on March 26, 2013