Ultrasound for Food Poisoning?

[waiguoren]

Living in Shanghai. Slept only one hour last night because of the perception that I was freezing and burning up simultaneously,a very sore throat, and a near-total lack of muscular strength.

I assumed I had a fever, so I went to the 急诊室 at 瑞金医院 to check in. I was rejected because I did not, in fact， have a fever. Came back home and 'slept' (i.e., hallucinated about vicious insects biting off my limbs) for an hour and then woke up with the most intense stomach pain I've yet to experience. Temperature was still normal.

Went back to the 急诊室, this time mentioned my lack of muscle tone and my stomach pain and was immediately admitted. I asked a rude receptionist if I'd had a number assigned to me so the doctor would know when to look for me. But of course not--as the patient it's my job to run around the hospital searching for a doctor. Located two doctors in a room packed full of old people, patiently waited in line even as more old people poured in and cut in front of me, babbling in their incomprehensible Shanghai language (you might sense I don't like this place).

The doctor examined me for a while and seemed confident that she knew what was going on--her comments and questions pointed toward a bad case of food poisoning. Here's the question for people who know medicine: what is a typical treatment in this situation? The doctor ordered me to perform an ultrasound and then to go for examination. This seems strange to me--what do the medical professionals on c-f think?

I've lived in China long enough to have a sensitive "you're getting ripped off"-meter, so perhaps I'm overreacting.

[joshuawbb]

Edited to include ultrasound information and delete irrelevant info I originally wrote.

That sounds like an awfully uncomfortable time, sorry you had to go through that.

I can't say I would know exactly what to do in that situation, but to my knowledge, generic cases of food poisoning tend to need resting time, minimal food eating and anti-diarrea tablets. For abdominal pain, a warm water bottle tends to help. I am no expert at all though.

The decision to have an ultrasound seems, well, sound. As long as you're not getting ripped off pricewise, it's a fairly normal procedure - an ultrasound will produce images of your abdominal organs, and from these a doctor can rule out things like kidney/gall stones (a major cause of severe abdominal pain, but normally in middle-age to older people). It should also show whether or not organs are inflamed, causing pain. It has quite a lot of uses.

Information source: http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/abdominal-ultrasound

Is the pain generalised around the abdomen? Have you been vomiting? If you press on the abdomen, does it cause shooting, more severe pain? One possibility, but something I as a normal person could never say with any certainty, is appendicitis. Remember also that the abdomen is a real grey area when it comes to figuring out a diagnosis - pain down there can annoyingly mean a huge amount of different things, and sometimes, nothing at all. Thus, it's worth having the ultrasound.

By any chance, did you eat any crayfish lately? I am not trying to make you anxious or panicked, and it is unlikely to be this case, but read this anyway: http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/news14219.html

A washing power used to wash some crayfish has been blamed for temporary acute muscle tissue degeneration in various people who have eaten it. Users of the powder apparently said they had no idea what was in it. Symptoms include "unbearable" muscle pain, weakness and darkened urine - but not nausea, diarrea or vomiting. The medical info in this article may be false or inaccurate, so don't put trust in it. This is only a little public announcement to get you to check and cross it off the list. I personally think it's extremely unlikely and will not be the case if you have not eaten any crayfish. I only worry because your freezing and burning without fever plus muscle pain is alarming.

With all that said, I wish your recovery all the best. Sounds like an awful time.

[889]

The ultrasound, presumably, wasn't to confirm that you had food poisoning, but to rule out a few other possibilities.

[mrml]

I had severe food poisoning in China as well, about 2 years ago.

I went through the same procedure, a doctor pushing different parts on the stomach to see if it "hurts", and then an ultrasound which actually showed an undigested banana in my stomach (ate it the evening before). Didn't get the food poisoning from the banana but it kind of confirmed where the problem was.

I had to go to the hospital three days in a row to get IV, and also got pills for a few weeks.

Doctor also put me on a strict diet, since food poisoning actually is an inflammation in your stomach. Alot of stuff you can't eat since it will make it worse.

Lost alot of weight during this time

[abcdefg]

The doctor ordered me to perform an ultrasound and then to go for examination. This seems strange to me--what do the medical professionals on c-f think?

The ultrasound was probably done to help rule out acute gall bladder/biliary disease. I'm assuming from your note that laboratory tests were done as well. Is that what you mean by "go for examination?" (Such as blood, urine, stool.)

[waiguoren]

Thanks for all the responses.

I went to the emergency room last night as my fever had reached 39 C ,I could barely walk, and everything from my feet to my knees to my neck hurt. Had them do a blood test (20 RMB!), which showed that my white blood cell count was quite high. I had told the doctor that I recently went off long-term antibiotics, which I had been taking for acne, and this convinced him that I have a bacterial infection. Prescribed me a bunch of medicine--the most important being cefixime, an antibiotic--which I took before bed last night. (Note that he also suggested I might do an IV for 90 minutes in a ward packed full of sick people--I declined.)

Today I feel somewhat weak but basically normal, and I'm kind of amazed by the speed of recovery. Had the original doctor been able to spend more than two minutes talking to me she might have had me go for a blood test first.

[abcdefg]

Glad you are feeling better. What did they think was wrong? In other words, a "bacterial infection" of the what?