16 replies to this topic

[PhilB]

Ok boys and girls.  We have a great tendency to blame every sympton we have on the drugs, so try this for size.

Tonight I'm feeling pretty good and sit down to enjoy the nice dinner I've cooked.  Roast pheasant, roast potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, turnip greens, a glass or several of sauvignon blanc and my usual 400mg of the Big G.  Half an hour later I'm throwing up and my eyes have nearly swollen shut.  The only things I had that my wife didn't were the Glivec and the turnip greens from the garden.  So do we blame the G or was there one of those interesting caterpillars lurking in the turnips?  Now there's a question to ponder whilst I'm trapped in the loo for the next few hours.

Ho hum

Phil

[Steve-o]

Or the "glass or several" of wine?  Since I'm only about a month in, I haven't drank alcohol yet since diagnosis.  Do you always drink with your Gleevec?  I've seen that question posted previously on this forum.

As Elvis Snow says in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, "I'm four weeks sober, mate."

Steve-o

[hannibellemo]

Well, it definitely wasn't the Savignon Blanc, so put that out of your mind! Were your eyes swollen from vomiting violently or could this have been an allergic reaction to something you ate or something on something you ate? If it has to be an allergic reaction I would vote for the turnip greens - not that greens aren't very tasty, but the other veggies are wonderful and would hate to think you're allergic to them!

Has G ever made you vomit before? Get this out of your system before I visit or, with my instant gag reflex, you will have me vomiting right along side. (I knew if I tried hard enough I could find a way to make this all about me).

I don't suppose you found anything helpful like 1/2 a caterpillar, did you? Salad greens?

Got to be the G, probably will never happen again. So, did this help? 

Pat

[Happycat]

Do you treat your garden with pesticides?   Those can make you sick.  When I was a kid, I went cherry-picking with my family.  My mom trained me to "check" the sweetness of the cherries on the trees before I started picking, by taking a cherry, rubbing it on my shirt to remove any pesticide spray, and then eating it.  Of course, being a kid, I ate about a pound of them, and my shirt was probably so full of pesticide spray, I was rubbing it back on as quickly as I rubbed it off.  Anyway, I got good and sick that night, puking my guts out.  My grandmother, another cherry taste-tester like me, also was sick and throwing up.

Of course, with the eyes swelling shut, it also makes me think of allergies.  That can make you throw up, too, at least it did for Em when she developed a milk allergy.  She was still throwing up 3 days later.  You didn't feel any throat or chest-tightening, did you?  Tongue or lip swelling?  Hives?

Hope you're feeling better,

Traci

[Susan61]

Hi Phil:  Are these things that you have eaten before, and have you ever combined all these veggies in one meal?  I do not think it was the Gleevec.  It sounds like one of the foods gave you a reaction. The swelling in the eyes sounds like an allergic reaction more than the vomiting.

     I really think that some of these things maybe should not have been consumed together.  Hope you start to feel better later on, after you empty out.

[PhilB]

The really weird thing is the absence of other symptoms.  I was feeling absolutely fine until the nausea hit and suddenly I'm talking to Hughie on the big white telephone.  Even that didn't actually make me feel particularly bad and then afterwards I see my eyes in the mirror and go WTF?  Neither the eyes or the nausea have ever been big issues for me with the G, although the big D that hit half an hour later most definitely is.  But through all of it I actually feel remarkably well (or maybe just comfortably numb from the wine).

Veggie bed was completely pesticide free and I'd eaten the greens from the same plants a couple of times before with no ill effects.  Hence my suspicion regarding lurking beasties. On the other hand if there's one thing I've learnt about G it's that those warnings you get on financial products should also be applied to drugs - past performance is not necessarily a reliable guide to future performance.

What fun

Phil

[Trey]

That was too fast for food poisoning of any type.  Bugs usually go down easily and are quite nutritious.  The swollen eyes at the same time suggest a rather severe allergic reaction.  Try eating just turnip greens and Gleevec some time.  Turnip greens alone would make me puke.  And okra -- don't even get me started....

[GerryL]

Hi Phil,

The two times I've thrown up from the Gleevec - it hit about 5/10 minutes after taking the Glivec and once I puked up the Glivec I felt perfectly fine. No other side effects followed. Just wondering if you already had a tummy bug and your meal just set it off - though that doesn't explain the puffy eyes.

I was going to ask what pheasant tasted like, but you'd probably tell me how it tasted the second time round, and that's something I don't want to know.

Hope you're feeling better now.

Gerry

[PhilB]

The pheasant was lovely.  One of the last ones in my freezer from last winter.  If you've never had it, imagine a chicken with about five times more flavour.  Looking forward to the rest of it this evening in a baked pasta dish with cream, garlic, nutmeg and white pepper.

I think Trey must be right about the allergic reaction.  I was dtill a bit ropey this morning, but now I'm pretty much back to normal apart from lingering rash around the eyes.  The turnip leaves look like the prime suspect as I did eat a whole lot of them but I've never had a problem with any brassica before - hence my suspicion that maybe one of the more brightly coloured and toxic caterpillars was lurking in amongst the leaves.  I don't think I'll risk any more of the leaves for a while just in case.

[Happycat]

I would think after spending the evening hurling your guts out, you wouldn't want any more turnip leaves.  I got a stomach virus about 5 yrs ago, and spent 24 h hrs throwing up my last meal - chicken nachos and broccoli.  Took me a good 2 yrs before I could face either dish again.

We had friends over this spring we haven't seen since graduate school.  We had a lot of cheap white wine at their wedding (about 20 yrs ago) and even now I can't drink white wine without my stomach saying, "Oh, no you're not!  We're not going through that again!"

Glad you're feeling better,

Traci

[GerryL]

Hi Phil,

Glad you're feeling better.

We don't get pheasant here, at least not in any of the supermarkets I shop in, it is probably available in delis. If I ever see it on a menu in a restaurant I will give it a go now.

Those caterpillars were probably just paying you back as you wanted to train them for eyebrows the other day. They probably don't have much of a sense of humour.

Gerry

[CallMeLucky]

The reaction seems too violent and quick to be related to Gleevec.  Of course I have no way of knowing, but my vote would be either allergic reaction, or you had already picked up a stomach bug and the timing is coincidental.  The reaction in the eyes certainly points towards allergy.

Hope you are feeling better.

[everonward]

Hi Phil

I love pheasant - I suspect it was an allergic reaction. I have fortunately never chundered after Glivec, felt a bit queasy sometimes mine. Are you sure there wasn't a bit of slug in the leaves - very nasty creatures, or as you say it could bew a caterpiller.

[PhilB]

I was perfectly happy thinking it might be an adverse reaction to a caterpillar.  Now I'm feeling ill all over again at the thought it might have been a slug!  What I don't understand though, is why the thought of eating a slug is so repellent when I'm perfectly happy eating snails?

I had no further ill effects the following night from the repeated combination of Pheasant, Glivec and Sauvignon Blanc so it definitely looks like a raction to either the turnip greens or a lurking beastie.  (In the interests of scientific accuracy, the second night was a New Zealand wine against Chilean the first night, but I think we can discount that as a factor.)  The only question now is do I continue to let the turnips take up so much space in my raised veggie bed or do I pull them up given I really don't fancy eating the leaves again!

[everonward]

Sorry

Pull the turnips when the size of a cricket ball and place around a slow roasted shoulder of lamb that has been smothered in butter and morocan spices, cook dry for 30 mins then add a glass of white wine cover (tightly) with foil and continue at a low temp (150C) for about 4- 5 hours. Thos allows time on Sunday afternoon to kill offending slugs and  caterpillars while tending the rest of the veg. Shalloots, courgettes, carrots and celery also work well.

ps - my local pub has just launched a brilliant idea - excess produce form the garden in exchange for beer or wine.

[Susan61]

Hi Phil:  I have to ask if your the one who does all this cooking or your wife?  I am such a terrible cook, and even though you got sick, it sounded like a real feast that was prepared.  My husband can tell stories about how many meals I have ruined because I cannot cook.  He is the one who can cook, but does not do it very often with his crazy work schedule.  Our biggest joke is when he tells people that I got cut on Spaghetti.  They have to ask HOW??

I always break my spagetti in half before I put it in the pot, and I actually got cut on the edge of it and was bleeding all over the place.

Anyhow, glad your feeling better.

Susan 

[PhilB]

My wife is a good cook too, but since we had the kids the division of labour is usually that she does the kid's tea and then I cook dinner for the two of us once they've gone to bed.  It can be a real struggle sometimes, especially if I've just got back from my long commute to London, but I do like to eat 'proper' food every night - although usually one course only during the week.  Not sure what we'll do once the kids are eating dinner with us, but that's probably still a year or two away.

I like the sound of your lamb recipe Marian, the only problem is it involves me opening a bottle of wine and then still being sober enough to eat five hours later!