Can eating crab make you sick?

Question

I've been vegetarian for about 5 years and last night I tried one piece of sushi with crab in it. On the car ride home I started to feel bad, and I sat by the toilet for only about a minute before I started to throw up. I threw up and had diarrhea a few times through the night. Was this because I was vegetarian for so long?

Answer 1

First of all it is unlikely that being a vegetarian is responsible for you becoming sick after eating a small piece of crab (or crab flavoured fish, it depends on the place you got your sushi from, some use real, some do not). Although your body is not used to meat per say the amount you ate would not be enough to set off the reaction you described. There are basically 3 possible reasons you became ill:



1. You have a seafood allergy of some type and reacted to the food you ate. Since allergic reactions do not normally involve throwing up or diarrhea this is unlikely but there does exist that possibility due to the amount you ate. The only way to be certain would be to have allergy testing done. It could be a mild intolerance which chose this method to make itself known.



2. The crab itself, or the substitute used, was bad. However if others in your party ate the same food without experiencing any adverse reactions this is unlikely. if you were the only person to eat this type of sushi or other that ate it had the same thing happen then this is a likely scenario however since you state that your cousin ate the rest without feeling ill this is unlikely.



3. Because you ate meat you basically made yourself, subconsciously, feel sick and what happened was a result of this. This does happen on occasion when a person consumes something they believe that they should not have. In your case it could have been the result of worry about how you would feel actually making you ill.



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Answer 2

"Can eating crab make you sick?"



Yes it's very possible eating crab can make you sick. Some people even a small amount, can make them violently sick or even be deadly to ingest. However usually such people, are also sensitive or allergic to other types of shellfish. The only way to find out if this is the care for you, would be to get tested for it. Until such time though as you are tested for it, I strongly and seriously recommend NOT eating it, or any other shellfish. Otherwise in such a small amount, if you weren't sensitive/allergic to it, should have had no affect on you. People can go years without eating something, eat it with no real affect. Then there are those, who quite literally can eat something today, and be fine, eat it a week later, and become violently ill from it.



Edit point:



Not everyone goes into anaphylactic shock, eating shellfish in the beginning, if they've started to develop a problem with shellfish. With allergies, there's no real set pattern, at the onset of them. Which was why I said what I did in the manner I did.



Now as to the cousin eating it and being fine, that means the sushi itself was fine. It was your reaction to it. I will also agree on the point of it not being crab meat though, due to the expense. Also find out what was used in making the sushi beforehand. This can even possibly help to pinpoint the issue. So you may well be sensitive/allergic to fish and seafood overall. Again as I said before, go get tested for it, and the sooner the better.



Now there are people who have gone a lot longer without eating meaty, or fish/seafood, who have had no issues when they went and ate meat.

Answer 3

It doesn't have anything to do with being a vegetarian.

are you allergic to shell fish?

its a common food allergy.

also shell fish can go "bad" very fast. but since you cousin didn't get sick that probably isn't it.

oh, there might be one other thing . In fact, now that i think about it, it seems the most likely. We all have different bacteria living in our stomach. perhaps on the crab there was some bacteria on it that your cousin was "used" to and you weren't. This is basically the same concept why Mexicans can drink the water out of their home's tap and we can't.

Answer 4

You didn't eat crab!



Unless it cost a whole bunch of money, what you ate was pollock, or some other whitefish made to imitate crab! Very, very few sushi bars use real crab meat. It is just too expensive. Most people with shellfish allergies go into anaphylactic shock after ingestion (wheezing, shortness of breath etc.). Vomiting and diarrhea usually are not "lone symptoms" of shellfish allergies.



That still could have made you ill. It could have been bad, or (my guess) you "thought yourself" into feeling ill! I had a nephew who would actually get sick, even throw up at the MENTION of tuna fish! He was a strange kid, and grew out of most of it, but he still won't get near tuna!

Answer 5

Crabs can make you pretty sick whether vegetarian or not. Crabs just eat garbage in the sea, thus you are eating garbage in turn.

Answer 6

It probably isn't anything to do with being a vegetarian.

You probably either ate some bad sushi or you could just have a stomach bug.

Hope I helped :)

Answer 7

Yeah I think it is because when you do without something for so long and then you start eating it I don't think it matters what is that you do without for a long time I think it can make you sick that's how it was with me one time when I drank coke again after awhile of not having it

Answer 8

Yea if it's not fresh or taken care of etc

Answer 9

dont think so. maybe if its cooked improperly.

Answer 10

well i think yah