I have loose stool, nausea and lightheadedness after eating certain mushroom. Please help.

Question

Hello doctor,

I have been eating a lot of portobello and crimini mushrooms for the last few meals. Some are not fully cooked. My last meal was roasted coriander, caraway, and cumin high-speed blended with a bunch of parsley and a bunch of cilantro, drizzled over slightly cooked portobello with a beer. I had criminis for breakfast and portobello for lunch yesterday. One hour after my meal tonight, I had numbness and tingling in my right leg that eventually started in my left. Still, I have minor numbness almost five hours later. I have had little nausea and lightheadedness.

It turns out mushrooms in this family contain agaritine and gyromitrin, which metabolize into hydrazine. It looks like ytochrome P450 is involved. The spices and greens, plus beer, may all have contributing factors related to overloading liver metabolism. I am drinking lots of water and just had a loose stool. I feel slightly better, but I know that may not mean much when dealing with mycotoxins. Any suggestions? Should I be treated?

Please suggest.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Have you ever had a similar symptom earlier? Any history of allergies that you suffer from or had in the past? Any family history of allergy to food or medications? You have not mentioned your age, and I assume you to be an adult. It appears to me as a case of mushroom poisoning. Many people are allergic to certain foods, and mushroom allergy is not very rare to be found.

Firstly, whenever you take mushrooms, make sure they are edible mushrooms, boiled, and cleansed thoroughly in warm water, and cooked properly before consumption. Otherwise, all foods and vegetables must be thoroughly cleaned and washed in warm water before consuming or cooking. The two main varieties of mushrooms that are found to be poisonous, and these are Amanita phalloides and Amanita muscaria.

I cannot say if you consumed the above or just the edible ones, which were partly cooked and probably not washed properly. Beer does not directly play any role. Gastroenteritis, that is, loose motions which are watery are very common symptom of the same. If complicated, it may cause damage to the liver and kidneys as well. These are the other two organs involved apart from the GIT (gastrointestinal tract).

Liver, because the poison got metabolized there and may leave its damaging signs there, and kidneys, as it is excreted there and might have left its damage there also. Hepatorenal changes are common with such poisoning. Hence, you must get properly investigated and then treated as per the reports and damage caused. Get your complete blood investigations done, including complete hemogram, liver, and kidney function test, etc.

Meanwhile, take plenty of water as you are already doing to combat the dehydration caused by loose motions and also to aid in any remaining poison.

I hope this helps.

Kindly follow up if you have more concerns.

Thank you.