My wife has been vomiting and feeling dizzy since eating some watermelon about 2hrs ago. The watermelon was presliced and bought from a market. She had been taking antibiotics for the past 2 days for a sinus infection. She says it is the worst dizziness she has ever experinced. 1. What is wrong with her and what should she do? 2. Our 10 month baby had a bite of the watermelon, but appears ok. Is he ok??
Optional Information: Female , Age: 39Already Tried: She is resting
Dear XXXXX,The obvious, which you probably know, is some type of food poisoning from the watermelon if that is all she has eaten.But thos could also be related to the sinusitis.However, we can see the same picture as a idiosyncratic response to an antibiotic.Has she had contact with anyone with a viral disease in the past seven to ten days that she knows of?Has she ever had bad reactions to antibiotics? Either similar to this or skin rash?What antibiotic is she taking?The major concern is dehydration with electrolyte loss, mainly potassium and chloride. As soon as she can tolerate fluids, and not plain water please, give her a replacement solution such as Gatorade.You should consider calling the doc who put her on the antibiotic about precribing something like Tigan suppositories.If the nausea and vomiting persist and she cannot tolerate Gatorade, you may have to take her to an ER for medication to stop the vomiting and, possibly, for intravenous fouid replacement.If your baby is comfortable, he/she should be alright.I'll be online for a while. Let me know how she is doing.Teaching Doc
Reply to Teaching Doc's Post: My wife is currently resting, and she has had some water. She has not vomited for about an hour. The antibiotic is Amoxicillin 500MG. To my knowledge she has not had a bad reaction from antibiotics. My guess was also food poisoning from the melon, that a particular cut piece she ate was bad, which could explain why the baby was unaffected. She was concerned because she nursed the baby after this began and worried whether the food poisoning could affect her milk. The doctor who prescribed it is affiliated with her employer and not available until monday. Is this extreme dizziness normal with food poisoning? Should my wife continue with the antibiotic? Also, she has high blood pressure and wants to know if it ok to take her blood pressure medicine.
Since we assume she ingested a noxious substance, let's play safe and figure it can get into the breast milk. Do you have formula?Do continue until the antibiotic is used up. There is more risk in not completing the course than in continuing it.Also, do take the HBP medicine, particularly if she had/has the hypertension of pregnancy.The dizziness may be an indication of dehydration if it comes when she rises from the supine position. If so, push fluids.Try to get some rest.Keep me informed.Teaching Dockidney and hypertension specialistwisenash38891.9596200231
Experience: I've been teaching and practicing medicine for more than 40 years.