Food poisoning this week at D-land?

[brentm77]

My family went to Disneyland on Tuesday, June 3. The only food I ate all day was at Disneyland - the enchiladas and beef at the Mexican restaurant for lunch, a churro, and clam chowder in bread-bowl for dinner.

By 6:00 that evening my stomach was sick. So sick we left two hours earlier than planned. By the next morning, I was throwing up.

We were supposed to be at California Adventures today, but I am weak from my experience yesterday.

It could easily be a stomach bug. But it felt like food poisoning. Did anyone else eat at either of those two places and get sick?

 

[Malcon10t]

More likely a virus. Food poisoning is very unlikely. If you seriously think it was food poisoning, you shoudl go to the ER so it can be recorded and investigated. Did the rest of the family get as sick?

 

[Kittyskyfish]

Did you have diarrhea, stomach cramping, and fever, as well? If not, this sounds like a case of really bad indigestion made worse with repeated sensory stimulation. You ate a lot of super-fatty foods yesterday, which take a long time to digest, and spent the day in the sun and on rides.

 

[luulu1999]

I would think that if others in your group ate the same food and did not get sick it is not the food...it does suck that your sick on your trip though!

 

[brentm77]

I suspect it was more likely a stomach bug, though it did feel like food poisoning. There was no fever and it came on suddenly and it now gone today.

 

[GatorChris]

The only thing worse than a stomach bug is a stomach bug at Disney.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Sure your gallbladder isn't going bad? Park food is notorious for setting off a GB attack and lots of people can end up throwing up (although mine was more the other way). I've had mine out, best thing I ever did. I'm still not perfect, but the surgeon said I would be 80-90% better and he was right. Between eating GF and taking probiotics, I'm almost functional!

But no seriously, don't discount your GB. Most of us eat differently when we go to an amusement park and lots of fat can set it off (and for some of us, lots of fiber can set it off).

If you didn't have a fever or the other stuff, it's doubtful it was food poisoning or viral. If you were sick, than you were sick. Otherwise, I'd look at getting a HIDA scan and ultrasound when you get home, that would be my next move if I was OP... In the meantime, eat as light as you can, very little fat. Maybe stick to some fruit or some like chicken or fish. Keep it grease-free and light if you can... Skip the beans (I ate chili one time and rolled on the couch for hours, combo of fat AND fiber yikes), so skip the mexican, the fried churros, etc. Sad but true if you GB is on the fritz...

(btw, there was a long cruise trip review on cruise critic where the girl got sick and threw up the entire trip and they quarantined her and everything in case it was Norovirus - also a big possibility in public places like cruises and parks - and later on, she did reveal, as about half of us had already guessed, that it WAS her gallbladder. But she first thought she had food poisoning too!)

 

[whoever]

My family went to Disneyland on Tuesday, June 3. The only food I ate all day was at Disneyland - the enchiladas and beef at the Mexican restaurant for lunch, a churro, and clam chowder in bread-bowl for dinner.

By 6:00 that evening my stomach was sick. So sick we left two hours earlier than planned. By the next morning, I was throwing up.

We were supposed to be at California Adventures today, but I am weak from my experience yesterday.

It could easily be a stomach bug. But it felt like food poisoning. Did anyone else eat at either of those two places and get sick?

The timing is wrong for having it be the food at DL. Was probably something you ate the day before.

 

[brentm77]

Thanks for the advice on the gallbladder. I eat paleo most of the time though - very high fat. So I am not sure that it is the problem for me. But if I see a pattern there, I will get checked out for sure.

 

[Kittyskyfish]

Thanks for the advice on the gallbladder. I eat paleo most of the time though - very high fat. So I am not sure that it is the problem for me. But if I see a pattern there, I will get checked out for sure.

Ah, you're on the paleo diet. That explains a lot! Yes, paleo is very fatty but it's not as rich as a Disneyland diet. You don't eat dairy on the paleo diet so your body wasn't used to digesting dairy, and then suddenly you reintroduced a significant amount of dairy fats to your diet that day. You ate the cheese enchiladas and later the cream-based chowder. Plus the sugars in dairy require the lactase enzyme for digestion and dairy is notoriously difficult to digest.

Paleo diet then eating a LOT of dairy. You were vomiting with no fever, cramping or diarrhea. And you got better very quickly. That's not so likely a bacterial or viral condition. It's nore likely something non-buggy imo. Could be gallbladder, could be your body rejecting the food. It can take a while to toss your cookies from a bad diet; it's not always immediate.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Thanks for the advice on the gallbladder. I eat paleo most of the time though - very high fat. So I am not sure that it is the problem for me. But if I see a pattern there, I will get checked out for sure.

Oh I understand paleo completely, and I have been following something similar for years. Mine STILL went bad. You know what set it off? My salads. Someone had suggested GB but I poo-pooed it because I never ate eggrolls or burgers etc, but then someone else finally said "You know all those salads you eat? I couldn't eat anything with fiber or raw when my GB went bad..." She was really right!

Assuming your appendix isn't bad (mine has been gone for a long time now, and it DOES cause throwing up), GB isn't a bad assumption given that if you eat paleo, you normally are NOT used to eating enchiladas, churros and breadbowls!

I know a friend of mine who has lost 30 pounds and her gallbladder is going bad too. Sadly, there seems to be something to eating healthy and losing weight that can actually bring it on as well!

I'm all for eating grain free etc, high protein and healthy fats, but the fact is, there is a good probability you may be in for surgery here at some point. And a lot of my friends, too. My other friend's husband just had his out, and he's just a regular 20something guy. It's like they are flying out...

Hope that helps. Good news is that is if that IS what it is, its not communicable, not viral, and can eventually be fixed.

Ps. in between my surgery, I could only live on hotdogs and baloney sandwiches, THE MOST processed and softest food basically you can eat. Of course I gained weight (because low sugar, no grains, high protein, healthy fats, lots of healthy fiber is how you lose, but NOT kind to your GB unfortunately...) I couldn't even eat apples! but I was able to eventually get back to it after my surgery... and I lost 35-40 pounds back off!

 

[Drusilla99]

I've gotten food poisoning before from the jazz kitchen in dtd. It was many years ago though, and my friend & I shared a plate & both became quite ill.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

If you think the food at a DLR location made you sick, report it to Guest Services so the incident can be investigated. Just to be safe, we carry PeptoBismol chewable tablets in our DLR bags on every trip. We each chew one when we eat at the parks as a precaution. So far, so good -- no stomach upsets (either from bad heartburn or stomach bugs).

 

[SMD]

You're probably just as likely to get sick touching a handrail or part of a ride vehicle that another guest has touched. Tables are not wiped down between guests, and I'm sure we've all seen babies being changed on tables. I keep my food on my tray and or use wet ones on tables and my hands frequently. I've seen too many gross things in the parks, and I know myself, I'm not going to remember to wash my hands before I rub sunscreen all over my face or unscrew my water bottle, so I try to wash hands or disinfect often.

 

[Malcon10t]

You're probably just as likely to get sick touching a handrail or part of a ride vehicle that another guest has touched. Tables are not wiped down between guests, and I'm sure we've all seen babies being changed on tables. I keep my food on my tray and or use wet ones on tables and my hands frequently. I've seen too many gross things in the parks, and I know myself, I'm not going to remember to wash my hands before I rub sunscreen all over my face or unscrew my water bottle, so I try to wash hands or disinfect often.

^^ This.

If you have stones in the gall bladder, it will be very severe pain in the upper right quadrant of the stomach area/back area. (STones start trying to exit an d block bile ducts causing severe pain.) High fatty diets contribute to this. But you will usually have several smaller attacks before a big attack. (Dealt with this for almost 10 years.)

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

^^ This.

If you have stones in the gall bladder, it will be very severe pain in the upper right quadrant of the stomach area/back area. (STones start trying to exit an d block bile ducts causing severe pain.) High fatty diets contribute to this. But you will usually have several smaller attacks before a big attack. (Dealt with this for almost 10 years.)

I didn't have gall stones. Inflammation killed mine (and stress!). I also had pain in the center about 1-2 inches above my bellybutton and lots and lots of bloating.

But I talked to one girl who threw up everything including water. Hers was bad too.

GBs appear to effect people differently...

 

[zanzibar138]

I didn't have gall stones. Inflammation killed mine (and stress!). I also had pain in the center about 1-2 inches above my bellybutton and lots and lots of bloating.

But I talked to one girl who threw up everything including water. Hers was bad too.

GBs appear to effect people differently...

I had this too (inflammation and infection without stones) and had my gall bladder out about 3 weeks ago. I had the localised pain, which couldn't be controlled with regular pain killers, plus the bloating and 'full' feeling. I'd agree that the extreme pain associated with stones is the usual indicator for gall bladder issues, but it's not always the case. I also wouldn't say you need to have experienced any smaller attacks in the past. I'd never had any signs of gall bladder issues before being hospitalised with mine and having it out.

Having said that, personally I think in the OP's case it's more likely to be either a 24 hour tummy bug, or just his body struggling with a sudden change in diet and environment.

 

[etaber5]

Thanks for the advice on the gallbladder. I eat paleo most of the time though - very high fat. So I am not sure that it is the problem for me. But if I see a pattern there, I will get checked out for sure.

Last time I was in the parks I went off my paleo diet and this happened to me as well. I attributed it to the dairy, felt like I was dying! next trip I will ease into the diet change well before our trip.

 

[heybets30]

Gallbladders!! How funny this turned into a GB discussion!! I had a random week in Nov of throwing up randomly, no upset stomach, just 2-3 times a day. I felt perfectly fine, no pain or discomfort, would eat normally then at some point, throw up. I went to the doc, they drew blood, i got a call the next morning to go immediately to the ER as my liver and pancreas numbers indicated they were shutting down. An ultrasound showed I had several 10- to 13-mm gallstones stuck in my bile duct and I was apparently in horrific shape - all while feeling fine. 4 ERCP procedures, a stent, 2 drainage tubes, a Rendez-vous procedure or also known as "hot flossing" later, my gallbladder came out - tons of complications.

I lucked out and my surgeon picked out the gallstones one-by-one in a 4-hr surgery, vs standard 45 mins as the stones were too big for standard procedures. He said as a mom of 2 young kids he couldn't cut me stem to stern which would include a really long hospital stay and long recovery, even though the surgery would've taken a lot less time for him.

My GB journey started Nov 14 and didn't end until March 10 when they removed a bile duct stent. A total of 17 days in the hospital on 3 different occasions! My first hospital stay I was released day before Thanksgiving. All I could eat was cottage cheese. I had to wait for the GB inflammation to go down into Jan before the GB removal.

If you take anything away from my long-winded post, know that GB issues affect people very differently. I had no, and I mean ZERO pain and had what my surgeon said was one of the worst gbs he had seen in 17 years. I know my story is not typical as no one knows how I was even vertical.

I joke that my GB journey balances having 2 of the easiest, fastest natural childbirths ever!! (I have an unnaturally high pain tolerance, like no novocain needed for dental procedures, and an epidural never even crossed my mind as needed, yet a papercut feels like death!)

Good luck to anyone suffering from gallstones!! I hear the pain can be excruciating! ;-)

 

[nikkislaght]

Gallbladders!! How funny this turned into a GB discussion!! I had a random week in Nov of throwing up randomly, no upset stomach, just 2-3 times a day. I felt perfectly fine, no pain or discomfort, would eat normally then at some point, throw up. I went to the doc, they drew blood, i got a call the next morning to go immediately to the ER as my liver and pancreas numbers indicated they were shutting down. An ultrasound showed I had several 10- to 13-mm gallstones stuck in my bile duct and I was apparently in horrific shape - all while feeling fine. 4 ERCP procedures, a stent, 2 drainage tubes, a Rendez-vous procedure or also known as "hot flossing" later, my gallbladder came out - tons of complications.

I lucked out and my surgeon picked out the gallstones one-by-one in a 4-hr surgery, vs standard 45 mins as the stones were too big for standard procedures. He said as a mom of 2 young kids he couldn't cut me stem to stern which would include a really long hospital stay and long recovery, even though the surgery would've taken a lot less time for him.

My GB journey started Nov 14 and didn't end until March 10 when they removed a bile duct stent. A total of 17 days in the hospital on 3 different occasions! My first hospital stay I was released day before Thanksgiving. All I could eat was cottage cheese. I had to wait for the GB inflammation to go down into Jan before the GB removal.

If you take anything away from my long-winded post, know that GB issues affect people very differently. I had no, and I mean ZERO pain and had what my surgeon said was one of the worst gbs he had seen in 17 years. I know my story is not typical as no one knows how I was even vertical.

I joke that my GB journey balances having 2 of the easiest, fastest natural childbirths ever!! (I have an unnaturally high pain tolerance, like no novocain needed for dental procedures, and an epidural never even crossed my mind as needed, yet a papercut feels like death!)

Good luck to anyone suffering from gallstones!! I hear the pain can be excruciating! ;-)