June 2013


JUNE 2013

Tell us your story: On June 9, 2013 our whole family went to the bahamas for a week. we speared hogfish and caught grouper. We brought a lot of “fresh fish!!!” back and ate alot that first week back. On day 1 or 2 my husband and I developed all the symptoms that you have described…severe fatigue, severe muscle aching especially in legs, insomnia, diarrhea, cold burns hands and tongue (even tap water burns my hands). Hot water feels good to me. Did you find any med that helped you? I just finished a total body cleanser but it hasn’t helped yet. We are taking vit b shots. My dr prescribed Neurontin but the first pill I took made me feel very weird, spaced-out, and I couldn’t even function. It has been 3 weeks now and I am getting depressed feeling so bad all the time….I am never sick! Glad I found your site.  CL

CL:

I’m so sorry to hear you guys got sick, unfortunately I never did find anything other than time that relieved any of my symptoms. About two weeks in I went on Gabapentin which is aneuropathic pain reliever but also felt weird & spaced out so I stopped. I know what you mean about feeling depressed, I started to wonder if I would ever get better but I finally did and so will you!

I had the most severe case which did last for months, my daughter’s symptoms lasted about 30 days and my wife and daughter’s boyfriend about a week. I still have reversal of hot & cold but not as severe as when I first got sick. Please let me know what area’s in the Bahamas you were fishing? Also please feel free to call me if you would like to talk..
Sincerely,
Jeff Herman
Hey Jeff, Thanks for responding. It is good to talk to someone who has it and hear that there is hope on the horizon!  I agree with you, I took one Gabepentin that my dr prescribed and it spaced me out also so I quit it after one pill! Today we started Cholestyramine …it is a cholesterol pill but apparently has been used to absorb the toxin in ciguatera cases so we r trying it! I dread bedtime coming because my legs ache so bad all night and I cannot sleep. We have the cold sensation of burning also.Benadryl does not seem to help. I am an RN and am 60 and my husband is 62. We live in Okeechobee but have a house in Marathon also so we eat fish a lot. But I agree with u about not wanting to eat any reef fish anymore! I cooked a lobster ruben (thinking it was not “fish”) last week and it made us worse. Then the next day, I read no lobster and no salt which sauerkraut is high in! We r finding it very hard to find foods not on the “bad list”! We were staying on Sweetings Cay and were spearing hogfish just offshore and they caught several grouper also.  I think this disease is a lot more common than people think! My Keys neighbor said some friends of hers just got back from the Bahamas and both couples got it! Well I better let u go. It has been nice talking to you and thank you for your website.  CL
CL:
I hope the new meds help, please let me know if they do. I feel for you about the sleeping, it was always very hard with the leg cramps and sweating. Your coming up on 30 days so hopefully you will see the symptoms subside soon. Based on where you were I’m now convinced that the east end of the Bahamas has a major problem with ciguatera, that’s the same area the fish we ate came from.
I agree about it being more common that people think, please keep me posted and hope you guys are feeling better soon…
Sincerely,
Jeff

 

Ciguatera toxin is commonly found in Florida, Hawaii, Caribbean and the Pacific Islands. Ciguatoxin is produced by harmful algae blooms called dinoflagellates. Most dinoflagellates are harmless, however some produce toxins that can accumulate in larger reef fish, ciguatera fish list include Barracuda, Snapper, Grouper and Hogfish just to name a few. There were ciguatera test kits manufactured to detect ciguatera toxicity but as far as we know they are no longer available.


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