This year's 30-year-old Xiao Liu never expected that just because of a meal of crayfish, she would get a strange disease like a "zombie". The experience of that ghost gate, that dying struggle, even if I recall it now, I still have palpitations.
The incident happened at the end of April last year, when a large number of crayfish were on the market, and because he liked to eat lobsters very much, Xiao Liu made an appointment with two friends to eat lobsters. On that day, the three of them ate two large pots of lobster.
When she woke up the next day, she noticed that her urine had become very yellow, which she thought was normal due to the night before. But who knows, in the next two or three hours, she has symptoms of muscle stiffness, neck back and thigh pain.
By lunchtime, the symptoms worsened, accompanied by chills and fatigue all over the body. Since she was on her lunch break, the supervisor noticed something was wrong with her and suggested that she rush to the hospital.
But she wanted to observe first, and if it was still like this in the afternoon, she would go to the hospital. As soon as she got to work in the afternoon, she began to twitch her limbs, her whole body fell into spasms, her body twisted, her breathing was extremely rapid, and the whole scene looked like a zombie in a movie.
Seeing this, my colleague quickly called the emergency number.
After going to the hospital for examination, the doctor found that her lungs had an infection, and the creatine kinase reached 8,000, which should be below 170, which means that it exceeded the standard by 47 times.
What's even more terrifying is that if this value is seriously exceeded, it may lead to kidney failure and even death in severe cases.
After synthesizing Xiao Liu's eating history and medication history, the doctor highly suspected that it was "crayfish-related rhabdomyolysis syndrome", and launched consultation and rescue.
In fact, Xiao Liu's experience is not unique. Earlier, Zhang Xiaocheng, the husband of Olympic champion Wu Minxia, suffered from muscle soreness and fever after eating 3 catties of crayfish in one go.
It wasn't until his condition worsened and his urine turned soy sauce color that he remembered to go to the hospital for an examination, and after the examination, it was found that creatine kinase soared, as high as 5613, and he was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis syndrome and was directly admitted to the ICU.
Why does eating crayfish trigger rhabdomyolysis syndrome?
Rhabdomyolysis syndrome, also known as lobster disease and Haff's disease, is caused by eating crayfish.
At onset, large amounts of myoglobin block the renal tubules, which can lead to acute tubular necrosis, oliguria, anuria, and acute renal failure. High levels of potassium in the blood can inhibit myocardial contraction and lead to cardiac arrest. In addition, acidosis not only deprives the organs of the whole body of oxygen, but may also further increase the potassium in the blood, leading to more serious consequences.
There is no clear answer to why eating crayfish causes rhabdomyolysis syndrome, but it is generally believed to be related to the following reasons.
(1) Crayfish itself has some kind of biotoxin or other exogenous chemicals
Although crayfish are rarely diseased when they are farmed, this does not mean that crayfish cannot be infected or carry viruses.
(2) Toxins from washed shrimp powder
When we eat crayfish outside, some businesses will use shrimp powder to make it easier to wash the crayfish, and the shrimp powder may contain some kind of poison.
(3) Food additives
In order to make crayfish more delicious, some businesses will use additives at will, and some chemical synthetic additives with unknown ingredients may damage the liver after long-term consumption.
In addition, excessive consumption of crayfish and shrimp yellow may also be a risk factor for rhabdomyolysis syndrome. Wuhan Central Hospital has done a related study, the subject of which is 60 patients with rhabdomyolysis syndrome caused by eating crayfish in a local tertiary hospital from January 2017 to August 2019.
The survey found that most of the patients had the experience of excessive consumption of crayfish, and 45 of them consumed shrimp yellow, accounting for 70.3%.
Eat crayfish, but also prevent these 4 diseases!
Some people almost lost their lives because of eating crayfish, and some people spent 100,000 yuan in hospital because of a meal of crayfish!
In July 2022, a netizen's experience swiped the Internet.
This netizen ate four boxes of crayfish for two consecutive nights, and the next morning there were purple bleeding spots on his tongue, and the bleeding spots turned into small blood blisters in the afternoon, and on the third morning, they turned into a mouth full of large blood blisters.
After going to the hospital for examination, it was found that the platelet count was only 1, which is a very serious thrombocytopenia, and the hospital immediately issued a critical illness notice, which is estimated to cost about 100,000 yuan for treatment.
So, although crayfish is delicious, it can cost a lot if you are not careful.
(1) Allergies
As a high-protein food, crayfish may have a heterogeneous protein reaction after eating, and people with allergies may cause systemic allergies and rubella after eating. It can also easily cause allergic rhinitis, bronchitis, allergic dermatitis and asthma.
(2) Acute gastroenteritis
Eating crayfish that is not clean or cooked thoroughly can easily cause acute gastroenteritis.
(3) Parasitic diseases
The neck and head of crayfish may be parasitic with a variety of parasites and must not be eaten raw.
(4) Gout
Crayfish should not be eaten too much at one time, let alone with beer, because it is high in purines, and if you drink a lot of beer at the same time, it may trigger an increase in blood uric acid, which can cause a gout attack.
How should crayfish be eaten?
(1) Don't go out of season
As a seasonal food, crayfish is generally marketed from April to July, if the market season is over, there are still crayfish sold in restaurants, it is likely that it is not fresh, and the quality is difficult to guarantee.
(2) Do not stay overnight
Crayfish decay quickly after death, and compared with overnight meals, crayfish have higher protein and bacteria breed faster, sometimes multiplying in a few minutes, even if it is heated and difficult to kill.
(3) Don't overdose
Be sure to control the amount, it is best not to eat more than 500 grams of crayfish a day, not more than twice a week. Eating large amounts of crayfish may not only induce rhabdomyolysis syndrome, but may also induce the risk of gout and allergies.
(4) Try not to eat the fried food on the street
Some street food stalls make crayfish that are stir-fried, and the cooking time is very short, and there is no guarantee that the lung fluke larvae in the crayfish will be completely killed.
(5) Don't eat shrimp heads and shrimp yellows
Most of the organs of lobsters are concentrated in the yellow shrimp of the head, which tends to be more prone to absorbing contaminants such as heavy metals, toxins, bacteria, and parasites. In addition, as we said earlier, eating shrimp yellow may be a risk factor for rhabdomyolysis syndrome, so try not to eat shrimp head shrimp yellow!
Although crayfish is a very common delicacy in spring and summer, we must not forget to be healthy while eating, after all, health is the premise of eating all food.