Ocular Toxoplasmosis - The REAL story!!!

[Spooda]

I have a feeling that I am the cousin that MuskyBuck is referring to (Hey Smirnoff!). Although he has been known to “embellish” his stories from time to time, He’s pretty accurate this time.

We hunted MN and my brother shot a buck Saturday morning. We saved the heart and inside tenderloins for lunch on Sunday after the hunt. Fried in butter with a cast iron skillet. Medium rare. Delicious. 2 weeks later I got sick in Wisconsin during the second day of the deer opener. Came down with fever night sweats etc. Lasted off and on for 2 weeks., then went away. Got tested for Lyme and Erlichiosis but both were negative.

Fast forward to February and I get a blind (gray) spot over night in the middle of my vision in my right eye (Can’t even see the bead on a shotgun looking down the barrel!!!!!!). I go to eye doc, who sends me to retina specialist who sends me to regular doc, and infectious disease specialist. Bottom line is I got Ocular toxoplasmosis which is a parasite, from eating undercooked, NON FROZEN venison. NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!! I actually found that article and brought it in to my docs. They had never heard of it being caused by deer before so they were thankful I brought it in. Usually it is from cats. I hate cats. They never actually thought H1N1 but I was tested for everything including Cat Scratch Fever. I thought that was just a Ted Nugent song!!

Now I am on 6 different medications and eyedrops 4 times a day. Its been almost a month and the gray spot has shrunk, but they won’t tell me if I’ll ever gain it back 100%. Otherwise I might need to learn how to shoot lefthanded…

[mrklean]

thanks for sharing your story, hope you recover fully

[Bear55]

Wow Spooda, that is a heck of a story, good luck on your full recovery and thanks to and Musky Buck for informing everyone about this. I know I had no clue.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Horrible! That really sucks, Man! Hopefully you can make a full recovery.

So, just to get this straight, you can only get this by eating meat straight off the deer that is under cooked?

Freezing the meat first kills it?

If this is the case, so much for bloody Med-Rare tenderloins right off the carcas! Dang!

[Spooda]

This is what I saw on Feb 16th this year.

This is about where I am at today. The "X" is about where crosshairs would be in a scope...

[Spooda]

From what I read, Freezing kills the vast majority of parasites, maybe not 100%, but cooking kills a lot too.

[Musky Buck]

LOL hey there you are. Thanks Smirnoff ! I posted this to maybe help someone maybe avoid what's plaguing you. Thanks for clearing up the story, I truly wish you the best since I won't embellish you are a great cousin and I couldn't wait for you guys to come up to visit when we were younger, we used to get blinded, but that's what a lot of 80 proof can do to 2 young guys. Take care.

[vister]

i never heard of ocular toxoplasmosis, but i never eat wild game that isnt cooked to at least medium well because of parasites. as a matter of fact, i prefer all meat medium well. isnt that why cave men invented fire? to cook food!

glad to hear things are gettin better. spooda, by the way, i think we need more cowbell!!! love the avatar

[Musky Buck]

lol that would be my flying dutchman cousin Vister. I don't even want to know what this spooda name is all about. Growing up he taught me the metro/cities way and I taught him the rural ways, either way we both knew what to do with a cold one !

[vister]

either way we both knew what to do with a cold one !

something tells me we would get along just fine!

what your cousin has as an avatar never gets old watching on SNL. i believe i have it in the best of will ferrel dvd! we watch it over and over when we're at the cabin.

[LightningBG]

Wow, scary.

Guess that means I should stop taking a bite out of the heart right after it drops.

Best of luck man.