# Sick on Morels



## walleyedude

I was wondering if any of you guys got sick on morels this year. I have been picking and eating for 10 years now and this is the first time I got sick. So sick I ended up in the ER. I talked to a few people at work and they said they know a few people who got really sick this year from eating morels and ended up in the ER too. I was thinking we developed an allergy for them or something else? I know how to identify true morels so I am positive they werent false ones that got me sick. Thanks everyone!!


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## kroppe

I have never picked a morel. Are you sure it was a morel?


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## Rainman68

Your positive it was a morel? 

Next would be where was it picked? Yard, railroad tracks or golf coarse all a no no in my book because of chemicals.

Was it cooked enough? Animals got to go too


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## walleyedude

Yes I am positive it was a true morel. They were picked last week NE of Gaylord in the woods. My wife cooked them and ate the same batch of them with me and she never got sick. The only strange thing is hearing it come from other people that they got sick from eating them like I did who normally don't get sick.


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## Rainman68

What else did you eat or drink with the morels? Maybe it wasn't them.......

Ok I have a suggestion for next year...I think we need to put out a bulletin warning all folks to NOT pick any morels NE of Gaylord. I'll do my best to check the woods and warn people, heck I'll even dispose of the bad morels for them:evil:


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## Burksee

Linda put a thread up on this subject, might be worth checking out?

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=380938&highlight=morel+sick


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## walleyedude

Thanks for your help and input but, I am positive these were true morels. The link to the article talks about false morels what we call caps and also a mushroom what we call beefsteaks. Neither were picked nor consumed. The ER did complete a toxicology test and everything came back normal. Oh well, maybe I will just help pick and not eat from now on.


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## Oldgrandman

walleyedude said:


> Thanks for your help and input but, I am positive these were true morels. The link to the article talks about false morels what we call caps and also a mushroom what we call beefsteaks. Neither were picked nor consumed. The ER did complete a toxicology test and everything came back normal. Oh well, maybe I will just help pick and not eat from now on.


You sound sure of yourself so I believe you knew what you had. An article in the K-zoo gazette stated that people who have never had any problems can suddenly develope a reaction to them and I have read this before elsewhere. It would kill me to have this happen :yikes: not sure what I would do about that!

Was alcohol a factor? While it is not for me (so far...) it is with some. Also I won't keep those that get dried out and then the rain comes they get sort of oily looking and smelly, but if you are seasoned at morel picking I do not see you eating those either.

I'd say give it another go and see what happens, except you ended up in the ER, so it might not be something you want to relive again... I truely feel sorry for you man!!!


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## Mushroom Jack

Some people are just plain allergic to Elata or Angusticeps ( Black Morels ) I have a friend that can eat Semiliberas and Esculentas, but has a reaction everytime she eats Blacks. Or maybe you used too much butter. I had that problem when I first started cooking them. After the water cooked out of them I kept adding too much butter . Went thru me like greased lightening. I cut back on it and no more problems. 
Rainman 68 has a good point too. Maybe they were from some kind of contaminated area or you had some that spoiled.


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## kingfisher2

I ate morels for over 40 years and developed an allergic reaction. Usually picked several on opening day at the cottage and would always cook up a large batch. The first year I had the reaction, it was just chumming the creek off the back end of the canoe. The following year on opening day I ended up in the hospital. 

The doctors informed me it is not uncommon for somebody to develop an allergic reation after having a surgery. I had a portion of my large intestine taken out the year prior to my reaction. He told me not to eat another one and to wear gloves if I choose to pick anymore. 

Hope this helps.

Marc


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## walleyedude

Thanks for believing me about picking true morels. I actually been picking longer than 10 years and my wife has been picking ever since she was a child. These mushrooms were fresh as we picked them last Thursday and ate them the next day. They were all fresh whites too that we picked. The only thing I can think of is maybe I developed an allergy to them. I really appreciate all of your comments.


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## PA BUCK 2

I had a friend that had the same issue last year- has been eating them all his life and now can not- gets deathly sick. His doctor, like stated above, stated that over time some people develop an intolerance for mushrooms. So he now only picks and does not eat.... Sorry to hear about your reaction.


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## Rainman68

walleyedude said:


> Thanks for believing me about picking true morels. I actually been picking longer than 10 years and my wife has been picking ever since she was a child. These mushrooms were fresh as we picked them last Thursday and ate them the next day. They were all fresh whites too that we picked. The only thing I can think of is maybe I developed an allergy to them. I really appreciate all of your comments.


Walleyedude, after posting yesterday I was speaking with a coworker about the morel season. He told me he was starting to get bad stomach aches after eating morels this season. This guy has picked for well over 40 years. Kind of make you wonder 

As far as belieiving you, of course we do. Whenever you talk wild mushrooms identity is key even for an experienced picker.


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## JimP

Not Morels, but: On his TV show years ago, Rob Trott was happily cooking up the beefsteaks or "Brain" mushrooms after a Turkey hunt. The next week he had a disclaimer to NOT eat them. Seems he got a call from a proffessor at Michigan State stating they had a chemical in them that was in the rocket fuel family! It builds up in the system over time and you might go several years without reaction...then POW, ER bound, or even lights out. :yikes:


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## Linda G.

Remember when you were a kid and just the thought of eating a certain food would literally make you sick? Something that is now one of your favorite foods? Or not being able to eat something now that you ate all the time as a child?

Our bodies are ever changing as we age...that includes our stomachs. 

I can eat morels just fine...but found out two summers ago that I am better off staying away from chanterelles...so if we get them this summer I'll sell them. 

On the chemical possibility, I have a small food plot for gamebirds on our property on the power line across the road from my home...for some reason, for the second year in a row, the seed did NOT germinate at ALL on the extreme west side of the plot...and the seed is a completely different crop than last year-this year, black oil sunflower as opposed to a mixture of sorghums, rye, and oats last year...makes me wonder how "safe"
that chemical that the utility companies use to kill vegetation really is. And it's been at least five years since they used it up there.


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