Was My Mother Putting Something in My Food?

[Anonymous]

I know this will sound crazy, but I was feeling a bit nauseous the other day, and I thought back to my childhood when I would get sick to my stomach and vomit for several hours about once a month. The pain typically started at night and would last through the morning. And I would vomit probably four to six times (sorry for the TMI). As soon as I left for college, the pains and vomiting stopped immediately, and I have been sick to my stomach like that perhaps a total of four times during the last thirty years. I can't imagine why I would go from being violently sick on a monthly basis to not sick at all. My mother had some psychological issues, and I started pondering whether she was perhaps putting something in my food. I know that sounds absolutely insane, but I can't come up with any other explanation. The only thing that I can possibly think of is that she didn't wash her hands before cooking meals, so perhaps she was passing along some kind of bacteria to the food. I know I sound completely strange to be suggesting this, but can anyone think of any other explanations?

[Anonymous]

Sounds more like the way she prepared food vs intentionally making you sick. Usually the purpose of making someone sick is for the attention it gets them. Which doesn't sound like what happened here. She probably was accidentally giving you food poisoning

[Anonymous]

Once a month, you say? Did she do anything strange when she was menstruating? Maybe she gave you some of her medicine via your
Food?

[Anonymous]

Once a month? And neither of my parents got sick after the meal -- just myself.

[Anonymous]

You've identified one possible answer: she didn't wash her hands. Another is that she didn't cook food long/hot enough so you ingested bacteria or she didn't clean her cutting board and bacteria from raw chicken or beef was transfered to something else you ate.

Maybe you had stress reactions to things happening at home? People do vomit in response to stress sometimes. Or was there a terrible smell that you remember? That can also make you sick.

It's always possible that she could have been putting something in your food but it would be really hard to know. It can happen, though.

[Anonymous]

I have no idea when my mother was menstruating or whether she was acting unusually strange during that time period. She did plenty of strange things, but I wasn't savvy enough to consider tracking the timing of things.

[Anonymous]

When I was a tween/teen I usually got really nauseous and threw up right before and the first day of my period. It was super weird, but consistent. Could that be what was happening?

[Anonymous]

Cyclic vomiting syndrome maybe?

My DD has this issue (or the ped suspects she has it) but it seems to have mostly gone away in the past few years (she is 15). Nearly always starts overnight without warning, always fine by mid-late AM and used to happen every 1-2 months depending? No one else sick in the household.

Ped says it is associated with migraines later in life but has never seen a real cause for concern or additional tests. DD very healthy otherwise.

[Anonymous]

I did consider that the stress in the household could have played a role in stomach pains, but I'm not sure it would have caused such violent stomach pains or so many bouts of vomiting. I have had a bit of a sore stomach when I was under stress since then, but it was nothing like what I experienced during my childhood.

[Anonymous]

Do you have any reason to think she would intentionally try to make you sick? It could easily be sloppy food prep practices. Was she prone to leaving meat out on the counter or not being fastidious when prepping meals?

[Anonymous]

I have never heard of cyclic vomiting syndrome, but I will google it. I never developed migraines as an adult.

[Anonymous]

No, the vomiting was not connected to my period. It started when I was very young, years before I even had periods.

[Anonymous]

She did not wash her hands before cooking, but the rest of her cooking practices seemed pretty normal, as far as I can remember. We ate a lot of things like hotdogs or frozen dinners, so she wasn't even really cooking the meats for most of the dinners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never heard of cyclic vomiting syndrome, but I will google it. I never developed migraines as an adult.

It would make a fair amount of sense given it is often outgrown with age. We kept food diaries for awhile and there seemed to be an association with DD eating too close to bedtime, but could never be totally sure. I don’t think she has had an episode of it in at least a year or two now (currently 15). Started around preK/kindergarten age if I recall correctly

[Anonymous]

I mean, OP, some people are malicious enough to go there. Did your mom show a pattern of malicious behavior towards you? If she didn't, I would look at a range of causes for your vomiting episodes, not just the random possibility that your mom was behind it.