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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: superspud on September 21, 2011, 16:10:20
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Bit dramatic you may think but I'm not so sure.
I started growing Rhubarb about three years ago, why, because it bought back childhood memories, I also recently got given a couple of plants and they seemed as if they were going to die and so I quickly threw them into the ground last year with the rest. This year all of them without exception unlike my veggie plants went ballistic, I had so much Rhubarb it was unreal, I had the wife cutting tops and bottoms of and freezing it untill we could get no more in the freezer then it was time for the rhubarb and gooseberry jam ( I bought two hinnomaki reds and a green two years ago and they had so much fruit on I got tired just picking it all ) after which it was time for the crumble every sunday!. I usually cut about two inches of the tops under the leaves but the wife just cuts of the leaf. Now I am not going to say it was the cause but later that evening I felt very ill, as if I had over eaten and then had the heart palpitations, I also felt sick and had pains across the chest and what felt like trapped wind among other things, I refuse to see doctors these days, they are more like butchers too me, 20/21 years old and already qualified unlike years ago. Anyway, the following week we had Rhubarb again, and guess what, same symptoms, these lasted for about 3 days on each occasion.
I love my Rhubarb, but maybe they need to be cut further down the stalk....... as I write this it is getting a bit like a forest in the patch again, and time to pick !!!.....
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Not a good idea to be picking rhubarb now - you should stop round about July!! The level of oxalic acid (the poisonous stuff in the leaves) builds up throughout the plant as the season goes on, so , yes, your rhubarb could be making you ill!!! Let it grow on meantime to build up the plants' strength. It will all die back when the frosts arrive. Then pick again when fresh stalks reappear in the springtime. It's really too late to be picking it now.
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I've never been able to find a reputable source for the getting stronger as the season goes on thing so I came to the conclusion it's 'gardeners' lore'. I have heard it explained that it forces people to rest the plant! To get a fatal dose of oxalic acid for an average sized person would take around 11lbs/5kg of leaves. Stalks have a far lower concentration of oxalic acid.
I'd strongly suggest to the OP that episodes of unexplained chest pain really need a visit to GP/A&E.
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I take a lot of NSAIDs and get similar episodes. A ranitidine chaser helps a bit as does laying off the booze. But it is scary esp when it wakes you up in the night.
When you see what rhubarb does to the glaze on your crockery, well just think what it is doing to your stomach lining. Moderation in all things eh?
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I've never been able to find a reputable source for the getting stronger as the season goes on thing
I'd strongly suggest to the OP that episodes of unexplained chest pain really need a visit to GP/A&E.
Don't know how reputable this source is but it certainly suggests greater acidity as the season progresses. http://pubs.aic.ca/doi/pdf/10.4141/cjps58-062 (http://pubs.aic.ca/doi/pdf/10.4141/cjps58-062) Albeit it is only a fraction of the amount in the leaves. Mind you OP seems to suggest that some leaf ends may have been included.
And I agree that a GP visit would be a good starting point. :)
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That's a vintage paper! It's discusssing the acid content, not the oxalic acid content. There's a bunch of different acids in rhubarb - I think (?) that malic might be the principal one but I'm not a biochemist so I've got no idea how they would behave individually.
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Maybe you are allergic,have an intolerance ?
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I refuse to see doctors these days, they are more like butchers too me, 20/21 years old and already qualified unlike years ago.
Um, it takes 7 years of studying at uni, followed by a few years of more hard work learning stuff under supervision before you're properly let loose. This hasn't suddenly been relaxed - we're just getting older, everyone seems like a kid out of school these days.
I'm biased, because like a huge number of people I'm alive today due to a great GP & the team she referred me to.
See your GP.
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Superspud I've pm'd you, please read it.
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I only eat forced rhubarb in the spring and early summer, when the taste is much milder than later on.
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Well I dont now about seeing the doctor bit, I only got these events on two occasions and both were immediately within a few hours of eating Rhubarb crumble, something I have never had a reaction to in the past, in fact my one over riding memory of both events was how bitter ( for want of a better word) it tasted, I even asked the wife if she had put sugar in it as I thought she had forgotten.
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You hadn't had a row had you ;D ;D ;D.
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LOL@JAN
I f my old man crammed my freezer with Rhubarb I would not be too thrilled ;D
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Indigestion would normally set in quicker than that after eating.
Please, Superspud, go and see a doctor.
No jokes. No Smileys. No exclamations marks.
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Did your wife eat it and was she ill?
If she ate it and was fine I think it is an allergy,what could a Dr do now about it anyway if you feel fine at all other times?
Just don't eat the stuff
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"What could a Dr do"? S/he can listen to your heart to check for arrhythmia, check your blood pressure, check history & possibly arrange for further ultrasound or ECG tests to look at blood flow through the heart and make sure every bit is working as it should. A lot more than an over-the-internet diagnosis of an allergy.
What's the big problem with making sure it's nothing serious?
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Yes you are right I suppose to stay on the safe side but if you only get an event when you have ate the rhubarb it seems a bit OTT to me.
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I think its best be safe than sorry i would go to the doctor and get them to check out out maybe leave off the rhubarb for a while and as your freezers full stop picking just in case :)
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I have an alergy to heart attacks, as would most
I'd rather be considered OTT than RIP,
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keep your hair on love :)
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Never pick after July. TTaste and texture go downhill, oxalic acid levels rise - very bad for people prone to arthritis or gout - and the plants need a rest so they can use their leaves to build up their roots for next year's crop.
You can make rhubarb and strawberry jam and rhubarb chutney and rhubarb compote for storing so you can enjoy rhubarb in moderation from July to April when the first forced crop is usually ready.
Episodes with the heart are always worth checking out, whatever the cause. You may be doing irreparable damage to your heart muscles and one day it will just stop pumping because it's worn out so please, moderation in rhubarb consumption and common sense in health maintenance to the fore. Your wife might have passing murderous thoughts for filling her freezer with rhubarb but I'm sure she'd rather you were certified healthy or treated for any underlying problem.
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See a doc it may be Gallstones or Acid Reflux / Oesophagitis as certain foods set these off
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Rice pudding anyone ? ;D
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Better not let my wife no or I'll be getting rhubarb for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
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I know this is a serious tread and all, but every time i see it I can't help thinking that "Did my love of Rhubarb nearly kill me?" is a forgotten song by The Smiths
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;D ;D ;D....you never know!
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A bunch of students at a Uni hostel in NZ in the town I was living in, were made very ill by Rhubarb which was picked late in the season. Only the students who had eaten the rhubarb were ill.
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My OH had severe pains in his kidney area after eating a bought rhubarb crumble late in the year. Obviously we don't know when it was harvested ::).
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I am quickly going off Rhubarb
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I love rhubarb but a couple of years ago it seemed that every time I ate it I got terrible pains in my thumbs. Arthritis thought I ::) so I gave it away. It turned out I had trigger thumb after lugging approx 150 bags of manure & 120 bags of rubbish when we cleared the plot. I can't really ask fit back though can I, no I can't ;) ;D.
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Oxalic acid clogs up your kidneys. Symptoms include:
Abdominal pain
Burns and blisters where the acid contacted the skin
Collapse
Convulsions
Kidney problems
Low blood pressure
Mouth pain
Shock
Throat pain
Tremors
Vomiting
Weak pulse
I suggest you had something else.
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OMG Im shocked by all the awful things Oxalic acid can do to you :o
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Oxalic acid is in many plants ...... pinched from Wiki ..
Oxalic acid and oxalates are present in many plants, including black tea, and occur naturally in animals.
Members of the spinach family are high in oxalates, as is sorrel, and a, "steady diet of raw leaves," is not recommended.[9] Rhubarb leaves contain about 0.5% oxalic acid and Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) contains calcium oxalate crystals. Bacteria produce oxalates from oxidation of carbohydrates.[3]
So how do animals cope with eating raw leaves all the time?? :-\
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Everything in moderation and at the right time of year ;D
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Thanks Stopp- I guess the answer is complex and down to evolution- some life forms can live where it would instantly kill others.
But you've answered something for me- I heard recently that you should not feed a lot of spinach to chickens- I think you have explained why! :)
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your rhubarb query made me wonder if it was also affecting me kidneys after reading about toxins in late season stems doing just that,I only mention it as being a "Diabetic" I guess mine might be more prone to infection
than your normal Jo public.
After getting shot of the water works infection with anti,s,me kidleys are still nagging and next time im at the quacks I will mention if Toxins from rhu can be absorbed and leave after effects as mine are stil nagging me 4 weeks later.....this after also having an ultra sound that found nada......phew.
That said,ive now stripped our Rhu back and wont be eating any till the new season,but interestingly none of the other plot holders knew that Rhu after July was a tad dodgy.
anyway,nuffo the scare mungering and back to the lotty !!!!!!!!!
I hope you dont get any more grief yourself.
Gazza
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Clearing out some old stuff and came across a Radio Times from 1957. Surely Mr Pastry can't be wrong? ;)
(http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/gallery/7178_25_09_11_10_07_04.JPG)
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Ive just sown sowm spinach & was planning on eating alot of it as winter salad leaves.....would it be safer to cook it instead? Im just recovering from hepatitis so really dont want to put my liver/kidneys etc under any starin. Thanks for any advice x jane
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I'm not aware of there being any doctors on the forum but even if there were, it's not safe to take medical advice from anonymous people on the internet. In your shoes, I would ask my GP next time I had an appointment and/or phone NHS Direct and ask them. You're absolutely right to take no chances with your health. Good luck!
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Well we have allabout liverpool [something like that]he is a GP but don't suppose he comes on to do medical consultations.
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The quantity of oxalic you get from eating spinach won't hurt you, so chomp away. Rhubarb leaves can make you ill, but I don't know anything else which contains enough to harm you, apart from the packet of the stuff on my shelf of course!
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Excuse me ceres, I was nearly a doctor once, but I didn't have the patience. :-X