A pregnant woman has shared the aftermath of unknowingly drinking a recalled container of oat milk potentially contaminated with listeria.
Mom-to-be Angel Ocean, 30, voiced her concerns in a series of TikTok videos on her account @angelocean_, hoping for advice from other social-media users after realizing the severity of the situation.
Ocean, from Toronto, Canada, showed viewers a photo of the oat milk in her green screen video and said how drinking it poses a very high risk for unborn babies.
Listeria is a type of bacteria found in contaminated food, such as unpasteurized dairy products, deli meats and certain vegetables. It can cause listeriosis and is particularly dangerous for pregnant women.
Ocean expressed her mounting panic as she checked the product code and expiration date, realizing that it matched those listed in the listeria-related recall.
"I called my midwife last night at 9 p.m., and over the last couple weeks, I've been having on-and-off diarrhea, and I have GI issues already, so I didn't think anything of it, and I'm getting thirsty again and nauseous again," she said in the clip.
With her midwife unable to provide a requisition for listeria blood work and her doctor hours away, Ocean found herself stuck and unsure of what she should do next. In a follow-up video, as promised, Ocean recalled an unsettling visit to a walk-in clinic.
Despite the doctor's lack of experience with listeria cases ("I do not expect people to know everything," she said in the clip), Ocean was given a requisition for stool samples rather than the blood test she had hoped for.
Ocean told the doctor that she could feel the baby moving, but her concern was her unborn child's vitals. "She basically just said I don't have a fever and the baby's moving and I probably just don't have it, so not to worry," Ocean said in her clip.
Unconvinced by the advice she received, the 30-year-old sought further help. With her husband Tom's support, Ocean contacted another doctor who immediately took her concerns seriously, sending her the requisition for the blood test and prescribing antibiotics as a precaution.
In her final update on TikTok, Ocean thanked fellow social-media users for checking in and proceeded to share that her blood work tested negative for listeria. "Yes, we are good; baby is moving... my digestion is back on track.
"However, my doctor did recommend that I continue to take the antibiotics and taking amoxicillin a few times a day just to be safe."
Ocean gave Newsweek permission to use her video.
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