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24F, feeling very sick after accidentally inhaling a lot of fumes from rotten potatoes. Could I have solanine poisoning?24F, 56, 111 pounds, Caucasian, never smoked, almost never drink, no recreational drugs, located in Charleston, SC. History of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome type III along with a number of comorbidities, including cardiovascular and gastrointestinal issues. More details on medical history at end of post.There has been a smell coming from my pantry for the last several days that I havent been able to identify. Today, I opened the door and just got hit with this wall of fumes, and I decided enough was enough. I spent about half an hour tearing it apart and smelling every single thing in it. By the time I identified the potatoes and threw them out, I was feeling pretty terrible. My head kills, Im super nauseous, and Im having chest pains.I looked it up online and read that rotten potato fumes can be extremely toxic, but its hard to tell if Im feeling awful because of toxins or because the smell and activity triggered flares of my pre-existing conditions (see below). Its not uncommon for me to experience chest pains just from walking around the kitchen for a while, and I have a headache and nausea for the better part of most days as it is. It feels worse than normal, but not so much worse that it couldnt be a heightened version of the regular stuff.That being said, I have been experiencing some other unexplained symptoms over the last few weeks that I wonder might have been caused by inhaling the fumes before they were as noticeable. Ive been experiencing random spikes in temperature (99.6-100) that last for about 12-18 hours, go away, and then pop back up again a few days later. Ive also lost weight (from 122 to 111 in less than a month) with no changes in diet, and Ive had pretty bad diarrhea and abdominal pain too (mostly upper right, but it kinda moves around). Ive also had really bad dry eyes and dry mouth. (My rheumatologist has suspected Sjogrens for a while and ordered a lip biopsy recently, so thats happening soon.) I also have had a sore throat (kinda burns, probably related to dry mouth) and swollen glands.I have an unrelated diagnostic laparoscopy scheduled for next month, and theyre going to test me for covid before that. I dont think I have covid, and neither does my doctor. Mostly because the fever has been so off-and-on, and Ive had no cough at all. But Ill be tested in the next few weeks regardless.I just dont know how to tell whether the worsened symptoms Im experiencing should be worrying me or not. I sent a message to my doctor, but the office doesnt open for several hours, and she probably wont see my message until the end of the work day anyway (thats the time of day she usually sends me messages). If theres a chance Im experiencing poisoning, what steps should I take to manage it until I hear from my doctor?Health issues: EDS (type III), POTS, mitral valve prolapse, MCAS, pernicious anemia, gastroparesis, IBD, GERD, interstitial cystitis, idiopathic hypersomnolence, small fiber neuropathy, cervical instability, scoliosis, kyphosis, tortuous colon, vestibular adenitis (two past surgeries for this), and unexplained eosinophilia (pending hematology referral). Suspected esophageal dysmotility (doctor wanted to do a manometry, but I declined because it sounds awful, so this is unconfirmed). Suspected endometriosis (pending laparoscopy). Suspected Sjogrens (pending lip biopsy).Meds:Ditropan (10 mg/day), Metoprolol (75 mg/day), Nexium (80 mg/day), Sunosi (150 mg/day), B12 (1000 mg/day), Nexplanon birth control implantI have had no recent changes in meds apart from my cardiologist upping my metoprolol from 50 to 75 mg/day because Ive been dealing with shortness of breath, presyncope, and chest pains more often than normal lately due to inactivity (thanks, quarantine).Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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You didnt ingest these? Typically large amounts in children of old potatoes could cause GI symptoms and some central nervous system issues. I would be surprised if the smell alone caused your symptoms and I doubt its connection to your undulating fevers. I am doubtful your symptoms are directly caused by the cleaning and smell. Perhaps it was irritating and triggering nausea, but without ingestion youre unlikely to be poisoned from potatoes.
Sorry about that - hemoglobin was 126 g/L exactly a year ago, 124 g/L now.Happy to expand on the rest. I deal with near constant fatigue and hormonal issues like hair loss, hirsutism, abdominal pain, and digestive issues.
Awesome, thanks for posting. Unfortunately, your symptoms are not very specific for one thing. This means they can be explained by a lot of different conditions. That's what makes them so frustrating-- they're not obvious and that can sometimes get your team challenged. I think that's sometimes why young otherwise healthy women get told it's anxiety. I'm sorry in advance if that's happened. You mention hair loss, abdominal pain, and digestive issues. These together make me think about vitamin deficiencies and malabsorption syndromes. Hair loss alone can also be autoimmune in nature. You'd need to expand more on the GI issues for me to say something meaningful. I think all my recommendations are going to be low quality because I can't have a sit down session to discuss all your symptoms at length (eg what type of GI symptoms, any other autoimmune symptoms).Most vitamins are not on routine labs, and you need to test specific vitamin levels based on the disease you suspect is afoot (which is why we usually start with the history of the disease before we go to look at labs). Do you have any history of abnormal eating patterns, like eating disorders in your past (or present)? If so, that's where to start. If not, I think we might need to go down the route of testing for malabsorption. Fat in the stool (steatorrhea, you can google that, NSFW obvs) is usually a good clue for malabsorption to start with. There are some skin rashes that people get from certain malabsorptions as well, so it might be worth doing a skin check.As a random doc on a computer I'd probably send you to a GI doc to discuss your gi issues at length and evaluate for malabsorption. Even if we are sure that's the issue, though, there are still many conditions that can cause it. If it's not the issue (and again, sorry, these symptoms are not too specific so sometimes a lot of trial and error is involved) it may be worth discussing with a rheumatologist. Your primary doctor can also evaluate generally for rheumatic diseases.On the note of your primary doc, it sounds like you may not have a working relationship. I'm an advocate of switching docs until you find one who seems to be listening and has good open lines of communication with you.Iron itself is kinda a tricky one to get right. Bodies generally don't love iron (in fact we make a concerted effort to not absorb it). You could try taking your dose every 48 hours as one trick (when your body sees oral iron daily it gets more resistant to iron absorption). However, I don't know that is the answer for any of your issues, which is why I first suggested against looking at these labs too closely.Sorry to be long winded - internal medicine people usually are. As a first step, I'd go to a GI specialist to discuss these gi symptoms, stomach pain, and hair loss together as a possible malabsorption phenomenon.