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23rd May 2007, 07:06 AM
My killer dinner: How a vegetable diet lead to organ malfunction
Nick Kettles lay critically ill, his organs failing. Then doctors discovered the cause of his illness - a plate of broad beans.
At first, I dismissed my pale, red urine as the result of a large beetroot salad I had eaten the night before. Nevertheless, as my pee turned steadily darker throughout the day, until it looked like strong Ribena, I began to wonder if I should seek medical advice.
Being a staunch vegetarian and advocate of all forms of complementary medicine, I was stubborn about seeking advice from a system that I believed was more concerned with sickness than wellbeing. It wasn't neat blood I was peeing, so surely there must be some innocent explanation. I would sleep on it, I thought.
Perhaps the fact that the short walk to the toilet was leaving me progressively breathless should have been the red flag; or, maybe, the entry in my book on homeopathy, which said "call 999" beside the description of dark red urine. But, then, these things are easy to ignore when you're short on oxygen and delirious.
After another half-pint of Ribena pee the following morning, and the insistence of my partner on how frightening my now yellow, jaundiced face looked, finally persuaded me to see a GP at the local hospital.
It's lucky I did. Little did I know that without treatment I was heading for major organ failure, a heart attack for example, within 24-48 hours......
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2568428.ece
Nick Kettles lay critically ill, his organs failing. Then doctors discovered the cause of his illness - a plate of broad beans.
At first, I dismissed my pale, red urine as the result of a large beetroot salad I had eaten the night before. Nevertheless, as my pee turned steadily darker throughout the day, until it looked like strong Ribena, I began to wonder if I should seek medical advice.
Being a staunch vegetarian and advocate of all forms of complementary medicine, I was stubborn about seeking advice from a system that I believed was more concerned with sickness than wellbeing. It wasn't neat blood I was peeing, so surely there must be some innocent explanation. I would sleep on it, I thought.
Perhaps the fact that the short walk to the toilet was leaving me progressively breathless should have been the red flag; or, maybe, the entry in my book on homeopathy, which said "call 999" beside the description of dark red urine. But, then, these things are easy to ignore when you're short on oxygen and delirious.
After another half-pint of Ribena pee the following morning, and the insistence of my partner on how frightening my now yellow, jaundiced face looked, finally persuaded me to see a GP at the local hospital.
It's lucky I did. Little did I know that without treatment I was heading for major organ failure, a heart attack for example, within 24-48 hours......
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2568428.ece