Jojo Mellow Posted:

Situation: Had salad for dinner (lettuce, cheese, sliced ham, sliced hard-boiled egg, shredded carrot, cauliflower, broccoli, pear vinnaigrette dressing) two days in a row. On third day, suffered from extremely harsh and extremely frequent type 7 bowel movements for most of the day. Problem has since resolved itself, but I would like a possible diagnosis in order to prevent this from happening again.

THIS TYPE OF REACTION IS TYPICALLY CAUSED BY AN INFECTION WITH THE BACTERIA SALMONELLA, OR, SALMONELLOSIS. MOST PERSONS INFECTED WITH SALMONELLA DEVELOP DIARRHEA, FEVER, VOMITING AND ABDOMINAL CRAMPS 12-72 HOURS AFTER INFECTION. IN MOST CASES THE PROBLEM RESOLVES ITSELF WITHIN 3-7 DAYS WITHOUT TREATMENT.

THE BACTERIA CAN LIVE IN MEAT, EGGS, OR MILK PRODUCTS, SO IT’S DIFFICULT TO SAY WHERE YOU OBTAINED YOUR INFECTION. THE SAFEST COURSE, OF COURSE, IS TO THOROUGHLY COOK EVERYTHING BEFORE CONSUMING IT, WHICH MEANS YOU MAY WANT TO SKIP THE SALAD NEXT TIME AND JUST HAVE AN EXTRA STEAK; COOKED WELL, OBVIOUSLY.