Sick and scared

[HopeI'mWrong:P]

Hello. I posted the other day about eating a raw burger while in France. Anyway, tonight I'm sick. It may not may not be related, I don't know.

It started a few hours ago. I haven't been eating much on holiday as I've felt a bit nauseous (just heartburn I think) and I wanted to be careful not to get sick. Tonight, I've got back to the UK but I'm not at home, we stayed over at a hotel near the airport.

I decided to eat something now I'm back in the UK. My bf and I were both very tired and he offered to get us a McDonald's, so I accepted. I had a cheeseburger and fries. Anyway, after that my heart was racing. This isn't unusual for me after I've eaten a fatty meal, so I didn't worry. But then it wouldn't stop. We ate at about 8pm and my heart was still racing at 1am. It was going very very fast (still is but less than earlier). I also felt like a might have a fever, but it's a warm room so it's hard to tell.

Because it had gone on for hours, I called NHS 111 for some advice. They advised that I get myself to A & E. My bf woke up and told me I'm overreacting and that I don't need to go. But I decided I'd go... Until the diarrhoea started. I feel sick too :(

So now I'm in the hotel room with diarrhoea and nausea, possibly a fever and my heart is racing. But because of the diarrhoea I don't know how to get to A & E - I need to stay near the toilet! And the hospital is about a 20 minute drive away.

I'm really scared and don't know what to do. I'm worried about what's wrong with me - I'm catastrophising so much! What if it IS E. Coli from the burger? Or another horrible bug? If I'm honest, Ebola has even crossed my mind because of the airport visits.

Please can somebody give me some advice?

Thank you

[HopeI'mWrong:P]

Also, we don't have a car with us so I'd have to get a taxi to hospital if I went

[Js2019]

This almost all sounds like anxiety to me. My heart races even before I realize I’m actually having an anxiety attack, it’s our body preparing us for that fight or flight instinct. Take some medicine and drink some water, dehydration can make your heart race and having diarrhea will make you dehydrated. Maybe call your doctor in the morning but this doesn’t sound like an emergency. Relax and please take in some fluids and see how you feel in the morning , best wishes

[HopeI'mWrong:P]

Thank you for responding to my post. This is such a horrible feeling. I think it would be different if I was at home but I was feeling anxious earlier about being here. Because I'm in a big city, I was worried about an attack or something. But I know how unlikely that is to happen which I'm here and it's not something I tend to worry about - so I think that In worrying about it shows that my anxiety is just really high in general at the minute. I calm myself down and tell myself it's anxiety and that if I have food poisoning I'll be OK. But then a minute later that thought of "but what if..." creeps in. Having people here to talk to does help though

[wilky44]

Ecoli would show up in hours not days, and you would know. Probably indigestion. Ebola? Utterly ridiculous. Hydrate, rest, and that's it, let it run it's course

[Carys]

It won't be that burger from days ago, I can assure you of that much.

[ankietyjoe]

Again, raw beef is eaten regularly in France. The chances of catching anything from raw meat is wildly overstated. As I said before, you could eat raw chicken for a week and almost certainly nothing would happen.

Whenever you call 111 with a racing pulse they will tell you to go to A&E, every single time.

Sounds like you've caught a stomach bug, and you're catastrophising about it as you say.