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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Gutter Oil Poisoning?
WARNING: Unappealing symptoms will be described in detail. Digest your meal before reading.
A few days ago, my body started feeling heavy and sleepy. I thought it was a low after an excess caffeine, since I'd just guzzled a 3-pack of Smoovlatte coffee. The feeling went over, but a day later, I noticed my face was covered in spots! It looks like I'm suffering from a sudden acne rash, but there are no whiteheads, and clear white puss is forming yellowy crusts all over my face: Eyebrows, ears, nose, chin... A little blood when I can't stop picking the scabs. Also, my toes are a bit painful, and seem to have spots too. Not much spots anywhere else, though. And besides these symptoms, I feel fine now.
Is this some sort of allergic reaction, perhaps to some street food cooked in gutter oil? It's so weird; I never had a reaction like this in all my 3 years in China. I hope it passes soon.
Staff and kids at the school have said nothing so far. Either they've found a previously hidden resevoir of considerateness, or this stuff is so common in China that they don't even care. Or they could just be gossiping behind my back... I look like a strawberry.
I've had allergic reactions twice here. Once was my first time eating lots of shrimp. Itchy rash everywhere! 2nd time was from two small bits on my thumb at a massage. My left hand looked like a balloon!
On both occasions a Chinese pharmacy fixed it with some seird Chinese medicine that you drank & western Clarityn tablets (anti-histamines!)
maybe be I was lucky but both times the pharmacist knew what they were doing. Give one a try & hope it clears soon.
coineineagh:
i'm taking a mild antihistamine, to see if it helps. i'm looking online for possible diseases that might cause these symptoms, and it's freaking me out: Foot & Mouth.... Leprosy?!
You could be stung by some rare flying animal (mosquito/bee).
In both cases, you should get over reaction in few days, a week the longest.
If poisoning with gutter oil, your appetite should be affected, too.
If you can eat normally, then might be mosquito or 'bee' type of animal stung.
I was stung some 20Y ago by something, and in 2h I was all bloated. Lower parts of the body first, and up. MD gave me some 'horse' dosage (big syringe) of (can't remember the name of medication now. 'cortisone' I think), and I was OK in few hours. MD said, I would probably suffocate, because of swelling in throat, if untreated.
You should observe yourself in mirror every few hours for changes. If 'swelling' occur, seek medical help in Hospital.
coineineagh:
That's an allergic reaction, and i've considered that it might be that too. I know i'm mildly allergic to dust mites, so I gave my apartment a thorough cleaning just in case. But it wouldn't explain why it's only the face and feet. I also thought it might be a creepy insect biting me at night for body fluids - I heard there are nasty things that can bite you in the countryside. But I'm on the 7th floor. Food poisoning still seems the most likely culprit.
icnif77:
Food poisoning happened through your stomach. I always know, when it's food, because I can't eat anything, beside puking and diarrhea. Get well!
I've had allergic reactions twice here. Once was my first time eating lots of shrimp. Itchy rash everywhere! 2nd time was from two small bits on my thumb at a massage. My left hand looked like a balloon!
On both occasions a Chinese pharmacy fixed it with some seird Chinese medicine that you drank & western Clarityn tablets (anti-histamines!)
maybe be I was lucky but both times the pharmacist knew what they were doing. Give one a try & hope it clears soon.
coineineagh:
i'm taking a mild antihistamine, to see if it helps. i'm looking online for possible diseases that might cause these symptoms, and it's freaking me out: Foot & Mouth.... Leprosy?!
Check your mattress for bedbugs. They will look like small black dots. They would be hiding along the seams of the mattess usually. If you do have bedbugs, carefully wrap the mattress in plastic and discard into the trash immediately. Take all your bed linen and carefully put them in a plastic bag and have the dry cleaned or washed in very hot water. If they are dry cleaned, make sure you tell the attendant about them. No need to spread your misery to others. You then need to wash ALL of your clothes in hot, soapy water. Any fabrics need to be steamed or washed immediately. You should do this at least twice if not three times. Finally, buy some Raid roach killer. Do not buy generic stuff. Spray every inch of the bedroom, and any living spaces in the house. Pay close attention to baseboards and nooks and crannies. You might even need to consider getting a professional fumigation done. Bedbug are very hard to kill and get rid of. Many sites recommend wrapping everything up in plastic for three to four months to starve them off. But, that is harsh, considering you have to live there.
coineineagh:
Already considered and checked for. I sleep in my underwear only, but the only places where these spots appear, are my face and toes. Bedbugs would be biting everywhere, and definitely not seeking out the thick skin of my feet.