food poisoning/dehydration
 

so last night i seem to have gotten food poisoning from a restaurant we ate at (don't worry...i had a huge salad and a whole bunch of their OP meats and baked fish, which filled me up). well, a few hours later i was so sick...i was in the bathroom for 3 hours throwing up/etc. until there was nothing left in my body. this led to being completely dehydrated (obviously).

i'm a borderline hypoglycemic, and so i think my blood sugar levels were just completely low because everytime i would stand up, the room would start spinning and i'd almost pass out until i quickly laid back down on the floor.

(after explaining all that...here's my question, lol)

because my sugar levels were out of whack and drinking water wasn't making me feel better...i had a glass of gatorade (which is mainly sugars). i know this is bad for the SB lifestyle...but it is ok considering the circumstances? everything my mom had ever taught me to eat/drink after throwing up would have been considered cheating also...(eating a piece of bread or some crackers, or drinking some ginger ale soda). but within minutes of getting the gatorade into my system i felt SO much better and went right to sleep and woke up this morning feeling ok.

the way i see it...my well being at the moment was more important than sticking strictly to the plan.

Dreaming, I think you made the right choice. Dr. A stresses over and over in the books that this plan needs to be flexible and one that you can live with. Being alert was a much better choice than continuing OP and sick.

Just be ready for the sugar low to hit again today. Dr. A says that it is so much easier to prevent those dips than deal with them when they happen, as you are probably used to. Make sure you eat lots of protein today to stave off the cravings and normalize your blood sugar.

Hope you feel much better soon!

I agree with BeachGal. Anything you can do to make yourself well in the moment. You can always go back to SB the next day.

I remember a friend not wanting to take throat drops for her cough -- because of the sugar in them. So, since she wasn't properly hydrated and nothing to coat the throat, she wound up messing up the lining of her throat. It was ugly.

thank you both for the encouragement and making me feel i did the right thing. w/o the sugar in my system, i know i would have still probably been on the bathroom floor, too afraid to stand up because i would've most likely blacked out! not a good scenario.

i haven't had any sugar cravings yet this afternoon. i'm working up the nerve to actually get some food into my system...i'm afraid because my stomach still feels a little weak.

Just spotted this now! You did absolutely the right thing. I know how I feel when my sugars get low - I'm type II diabetic. Gatorade works. So do lifesavers.
I hope you continue to feel better and are fine by tomorrow.
By the way, did anyone else get sick? The restaureant probably should be reported if so.

This is slightly off topic, but Jenn mentioned the thing about the sugar in cough drops... I was able to find them w/out sugar the last time I was sick back in March. They just used aspartame for sweetener and didn't taste all that different.

Dreaming, I can't think of what else you could have done either. My mom, the nurse, always recommended the same stuff every time for nausea/settling the tummy/balancing electrolytes...gatorade, Sprite, saltines, mashed potatoes. The only other things that occur to me are maybe some soups you could try (I think there are some OP soups in the new cookbook) or maybe some unsweetened applesauce or sugar free jello? Sounds like hospital food. :)

Glad you're feeling better today. :flow2:

i'm wondering...is it normal to not have very much of an appetite after something like that happens? this morning (er...afternoon, as i slept in..hehe) i made a 3 egg broccoli/cheese omlette and 2 slices lean turkey bacon...and i could barely eat half of it. and now it's 8pm and i'm STILL not hungry! i'm making bottom round steaks on my little george foreman grill tonight for dinner (my boyfriend's at class until 9:30ish, so it's a late dinner for us. not good, i know.)

just curious if this seems normal.

That's completely normal. It may be a few days before your appetite is back to normal, especially if you already have blood sugar issues like you mentioned. My husband went through a similar food poisoning episode a couple years ago; he vomited or "expelled" everything he could, and still had dry heaves after. It was at least a week before he was back to his normal eating habits.

Make sure you're pushing fluids, and take it easy on your stomach. I'm curious how round steaks were for you last night. Sounds like heavy fare to me for just having gone through such a nasty bout.