Toxoplasmosis and Raw Milk

[superlove]

Hi,

I had a tender swollen post auricular lymph node (behind my left ear) a couple of days ago, and since my husband is studying for his ND medical board exams, he got me all paranoid of toxoplasmosis.

I've been drinking raw kefir and milk for Organic pastures for the last week, and had one slice of ham (not heated)... now this lymph node is kind of freaking me out because lymphadenopahty can be one of the sx's of toxo.

Any experience with this anyone? I'm thinking to get a test for toxo,... or maybe i'm being paranoid. ps. the swelling and pain has gone down, just lasted a day or two, and now it's almost normal.
thanks ladies

[MaerynPearl]

you are likely being paranoid but I would still get tested.

I get swollen lymphs quite often due to any little sickness being fought off and they are more pronounced when I am pregnant.

I would not be horribly worried unless I had other symptoms... but a quick blood test to rule it out will put your mind at ease.

[Jenica]

According to google health: The time between exposure to the infection(toxoplasmosis) and symptom development is 1 - 2 weeks. So if you just ate the ham and drank the milk in the last week then you wouldn't have been displaying symptoms yet. I think the lymph nodes are probably due to some other mild infection.

As for the raw milk/kefir I've never heard of that infecting people with toxoplasmosis. I've always heard that Listeria was the risk with raw dairy. I'm obviously not too concerned about the listeria because I've been drinking raw milk my whole pregnancy and I haven't had any issues. I am friends with the owner of the cows though and I know that she keeps her barn cleaner than most people keep their house. So I know she is very careful with the milk and keeps everything super sanitary. I don't know if I would have continued drinking the milk raw during pregnancy if that wasn't the situation.

If you are worried about these kind of infections you could take a really good probiotic. There's been research showing that probiotics can prevent food-born illnesses.

Also, I would tell your DH to keep the discussions of disease to a minimum with you. It's really natural for him to think he or those close to him have whatever he is studying at the time, they actually have a name for it "Medical Students Disease" or "Medical Students Syndrome". I know I went through something similar when I was studying psychology, it seemed half the people I knew fit the symptoms of ADD or OCD

[chai]

You could get tested... the test results will tell you whether or not you have a new infection. (I tested positive, but the infection happened years ago... I guess there is a difference in the antibodies depending on how long it has been.) You may find you had already been infected, in which case new exposure is not a problem. Or you may find you don't have the antibodies at all.

[superlove]

Thanks, all of the feedback has been helpful. Jenica, i'm assuming you know the owner of Organic Pastures specifically. Your info was helpful and makes me feel better about the cleanliness of their raw milk. I'll keep you all posted on results if/when i get tested, and i'll stay away from DH while he's studying. :-)

[Jenica]

Oh sorry, I looked back at my post and it is a little confusing. I know the owner of the cows I get milk from not the owner of Organic Pastures. If you want to continue to drink raw milk during pregnancy I would do a little research on them. One good thing is you are in California and they have very strict regulations for raw milk so you're probably pretty safe. Most other states don't allow the sale of raw milk for human consumption. People get around this by buying milk that's supposedly for animals, but both farmer and consumer know who's really going to drink it. The problem with this is there's no regulations to make sure the milk is safe. That's why I'd be leery of raw milk here unless I knew what conditions the cows were kept in and milked in.

I just looked up Organic Pastures website and after looking around I think they seem like a really good company. They actually post their bacteria lab test results on their website (http://www.organicpastures.com/labTests.html) because they have such clean milk. They show that the bacteria count in their milk is well below what the state allows and that they've consistently tested negative for E.coli. Don't be freaked out that there is bacteria at all in the milk, that is part of what makes raw milk raw, there's beneficial bacteria and live enzymes in it. The beneficial bacteria actually will keep bad bacteria in check. That's why raw milk doesn't go bad the same way pasteurized milk does. Pasteurized milk actually rots when it's bad whereas raw milk just sours. The sour milk is actually still fine to drink it just doesn't taste the best.

[babyinfo]

Any advice/experience with Toxoplasmosis?

Hi Everyone, I am at 10 weeks and have found from my blood work that I have low level of Toxoplasmosis. My ob said not to worry and they will continue to test me over time. I have had cats since I was 3 years old! Any one know of anything to share. I feel nervous and am trying to just take it easy and not over react.

Thanks!

[jensb]

Hi Everyone, I am at 10 weeks and have found from my blood work that I have low level of Toxoplasmosis. My ob said not to worry and they will continue to test me over time.

Can you ask your dr if you had IgG or IgM positive for toxo? IgG indicates that you've been exposed in the past, while IgM indicates a recent infection. For toxo, only a first-time infection is dangerous for a fetus, so if only your IgG is elevated, you were infected in the past and don't need to worry about toxo for this pregnancy. Also, levels rising over time indicate recent infection, too, so that may be why they want to repeat the tests.