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Improvement after food poisoning

Thinktank

Senior Member
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1,640
Location
Europe
Last week i suffered from food poisoning, it was quite mild though, some diarrhea for a few days and intestinal cramps the first night.
From the second day on it felt like some of my symptoms had improved, less brain fog and i could sit for a longer period of time. I had a busy day and the following PEM was less severe.

Now, i've felt this way before only after a colonoscopy-prep to empty my bowels or after fasting for a day.
I believe the diarrhea cleaned out my intestines from certain neurotoxins / overgrown bacteria, only to grow back but the improvement was noticeable for a few days.

Has anybody experienced something similar?

I'm planning to go on elemental nutrition for 2 to 3 weeks + LDN to see if i might achieve the same relief in symptoms.
 

Cheesus

Senior Member
Messages
1,292
Location
UK
I haven't heard of it in relation to food poisoning, though I did see a story about a girl who had stable improvements every time she caught a cold until she was finally fully recovered. I heard another story about someone who felt a lot better while they had a chest infection, and I believe someone on the forum felt really well whilst suffering from Zika virus.
 

Thinktank

Senior Member
Messages
1,640
Location
Europe
Yes, i've seen reports of people feeling better after catching the flu.

But in my case, the improvement in symptoms started after the first night of diahrrea, there must be brewing something in there that got cleared out. The brainfog returned as soon as my stool started normalizing.
 
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1,478
Hi. I had a similar experience after a cold. Normally I get dragged down and feel much worse in all symptoms (joint and muscle aches brain fog low energy etc.). About a year ago I had a bad cold and when it cleared up I had a day of what can only be described as a "euphoric sense of wellbeing" this was much bigger than having a "good day" I suddenly felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted and suddenly the whole world was in sharp focus and bright. This sounds like an epiphany or something but it literally felt like I had been cured overnight. I got quite excited told my wife and family and checked off all my symptoms and sure enough these were all in remission. Next day everything went back to the way It was before the cold. At the time I assumed this was an immune system response or reset ....endorphins spike ...something that my body produced in response to me recovering from the cold. It was short lived unfortunately but was great when it lasted. Not sure if this is the same thing since I only felt amazing directly after the cold.
 
Messages
75
Interesting topic.
I experience something that is not the same, but its like it a little bit.
A day before I get a cold, or the flu I often feel really good and energetic. Even when I already feel the symptoms of the cold or flu coming on. For some reason, I feel great, and then the next day the house of cards falls down.
I have often thought it might have to do with the bodies response, the fight so to say, it is delivering to overcome the invading bacteria or virus. Maybe the adrenals work harder then, causing a short lasting bout of energy, which drops because it gets depleted.

Maybe its something like that. Maybe, after your food poisoning, maybe your body was still in the fight modus, creating a feeling of temporary extra strength and energy.
I do think the other ideas here are very possible as well. I will be following this :)
 

xrayspex

Senior Member
Messages
1,111
Location
u.s.a.
for me there are 2 issues in what you are saying that I have experienced and suspected---1) I sometimes do feel better at certain point of having a cold/flu, almost euphoric like "arewenearlythereyet" described. I had that happen in the last couple months, it was very enjoyable but then I went back to my general malaise baseline, but for a couple days I went into denial feeling like I could hold onto it like a hypomanic or something :)

and then issue #2 as far as getting cleaned out with food poisoing etc I have noticed that if either from sickness or too much roughage or whatever reason--that when I get emptied out I feel worse at first, sort of poisoned for a dayish and yea maybe its toxins getting out of my system etc but I don't think I really get a euphoria or feeling of significant betterness once it passes, maybe just a decent baseline and might be happy not to feel acutely poisoned anymore.....its made me take pause on what I put in my smoothie etc ;) too bad tho because its probably a good thing to get things cleared out but that is the paradox I find with this neuro-immune issue whatever it may be........a lot of things are flipside of a coin, kind of like antibiotics and herxing.........something might be good for me or I will feel better down the line from it......but I don't know if I can handle the ride anymore on the way there or if I want to
 

Seven7

Seven
Messages
3,444
Location
USA
I get remission w colds ( used to w my periods but not anymore), I was the one that had remission w Zica.

I had a cold for 3 days and I don't have to manage energy at all when I have a cold. I can tell you exactly when Cfs is back is like a switch. I have it then I don't.
 

JES

Senior Member
Messages
1,320
Yes, i've seen reports of people feeling better after catching the flu.

But in my case, the improvement in symptoms started after the first night of diahrrea, there must be brewing something in there that got cleared out. The brainfog returned as soon as my stool started normalizing.

It's possible though that your improvement had nothing to do with the diarrhea. I have twice felt a similar improvement in my symptoms over the past couple of years. The first one came after catching a stomach bug like yours, which removed most of my symptoms for the next 48 hours. The second one came after a classic cold this year (with no stomach symptoms this time), again similar kind of improvement in CFS/ME for the next 48 hours. So what I deduced from this is that it's likely the immune system itself that somehow resets after catching a virus, which is behind my improvements.
 

KME

Messages
91
Location
Ireland
My understanding is that we might feel temporarily better ME/CFS-wise while we have infections because our immune system shifts from its usual dysfunctional mode of operating to a much more functional get-rid-of-the-infection mode of operating. While busy fighting the infection, our immune systems can't get up to their usual shenanigans of making us feel bad. Some people talk about a Th1 to Th2 shift or vice versa happening during those times - I suspect it's a lot more complicated in reality, but it sure can feel a bit switch-y sometimes.

I do think it's also possible that being cleared out could be helpful - if it's true that part of the problem is that bacteria pass from our intestines into our bloodstream and release their toxins there, then temporarily having fewer bacteria could provide short-term relief, but may not be helpful long-term.
 
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1,478
I wonder whether .....don't take this the wrong way pleeease...it might be our brain turning off pain receptors. As I understand it part of the immune response to a cold or whatever infection is to make us feel bad so we conserve energy. Pain receptors are activated as part of the response and the brain processes feedback from the receptors like an on off switch with a dial down if required. An example I have from my world is food taste. So our perception of chilli heat is actually a pain receptor as oppose to a taste bud type receptor (like sugar salt etc). What happens with chilli is that the more you eat foods with it in, the more accustomed your brain becomes to receiving the pain message and so it dials down the response. This is why people who eat curries a lot find that they are always wanting more heat.

Is it possible that what we are seeing here is a brain reset ...adjusting to a change in feedback? I.e baseline is always dialled to a certain level (annoyingly painful for most of us) and then a virus comes along and upsets the baseline and for a while the brain gets confused and doesn't know what level it's dealing with and we end up with the euphoria? It might explain why it is on and off like a switch...it's the central processor that's faulty as a result of confusing feedback? I've probably massively oversimplified it :rolleyes:
 

Solstice

Senior Member
Messages
641
I get remission w colds ( used to w my periods but not anymore), I was the one that had remission w Zica.

I had a cold for 3 days and I don't have to manage energy at all when I have a cold. I can tell you exactly when Cfs is back is like a switch. I have it then I don't.

The famous old switch I think Ron Davis was talking about? It would be great if something like that was really found and we'd go from sick the one to better next day. One can only dream.
 

justy

Donate Advocate Demonstrate
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5,524
Location
U.K
There does seem to be a subset of people who feel better with colds, flus etc - although this is the first time I have heard of it with food poisoning or stomach bug. Your theory Thinktank sounds very plausible.

Unfortunately I am not in that group of people - my immune system doesn't put up a proper fight against intruders and I limp along feeling much worse for months, without getting properly sick. When I finally recover I am often worse off than before...The ONLY thing that improves my health is intense rest, and then all gains are lost as soon as I start to get up, get dressed, cook dinner or go out etc.
 

xrayspex

Senior Member
Messages
1,111
Location
u.s.a.
There does seem to be a subset of people who feel better with colds, flus etc - although this is the first time I have heard of it with food poisoning or stomach bug. Your theory Thinktank sounds very plausible.

Unfortunately I am not in that group of people - my immune system doesn't put up a proper fight against intruders and I limp along feeling much worse for months, without getting properly sick. When I finally recover I am often worse off than before...The ONLY thing that improves my health is intense rest, and then all gains are lost as soon as I start to get up, get dressed, cook dinner or go out etc.[/QUOT

.

Justy I have had periods of what you describe---things went wonky for me about 27 years ago (how time flies when yr having fun) and for many years my immune system didn't seem that off as far, I had pain and fatigue onset after gb surgery and chiropractic adjustment (long story) but it didn't dawn on me for many years that maybe my immune system was involved. Then in new millenium I realized I didn't get sick much and concluded could be autoimmune and then I did get dx with Sjogrens AI syndrome. for about 10 years didn't catch many colds or flu etc but did feel worse malaise for long periods of time after exposure to sick people but wouldnt get full on cold or flu etc That changed in the last few years where now I have had pnemonia, flu and colds but its not excessive. I still get times where seem to be fighting it off and pain can be worse then
 

Seven7

Seven
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3,444
Location
USA
The famous old switch I think Ron Davis was talking about? It would be great if something like that was really found and we'd go from sick the one to better next day. One can only dream.
I wish to be tested before a cold and during a cold see if they can find the difference maybe get a clue. I am not the only one with temporary best / remission periods. We should study it, find patterns.
 
Messages
1,478
I wish to be tested before a cold and during a cold see if they can find the difference maybe get a clue. I am not the only one with temporary best / remission periods. We should study it, find patterns.
Me too.... happy to be someone else's lab rat for a change ...hey perhaps they could find an endorphin based treatment.....oh wait that might be illegal!
 
Messages
2,391
Location
UK
Does make you wonder if suggestions of gut bacteria being implicated in ME could be on the right track. When really ill it can purge the system pretty thoroughly. Maybe the body just gets a brief respite from bad bacteria (or good bacteria in the wrong part of the gut?), and/or toxins produced by them? Sarah Myhill discusses gut bacteria issues quite a lot.
 

Thinktank

Senior Member
Messages
1,640
Location
Europe
@frederic83 , unfortunately i don't know, but my best guess is something like e.coli or listeria.

@JES, perhaps, perhaps not. But the fact that i feel the same improvement after a bowel cleanse / prep for a colonoscopy means there's probably something in there that makes me feel so toxic.

@justy, That sounds awful. Perhaps the IV abx you're going to start soon will help your immune system to normalize.

@Barry53, i believe i had some respite from the neurotoxins certain bacteria produce. Or perhaps it washed away a load of LPS so less of it went through my hyperpermeable intestinal lining. (???) I'll never know for sure.
 

IreneF

Senior Member
Messages
1,552
Location
San Francisco
Maybe it's just because you're getting extra rest?

OTOH, early cancer treatments with infectious diseases were sometimes successful, e. g. Coley's toxins.