In the Eastern Black Sea Region, there has been a significant increase in the number of people poisoned by cooking and eating mushrooms collected from rural areas.
Prof. Dr. Ahmet Ayar, Head of the Department of Physiology at Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) Faculty of Medicine, who was hospitalized after being poisoned by the mushrooms he ate, said, “I was exposed to an accident that would cost my life at a point in the plateau where I thought I knew, trusted and found my self-confidence high.”
Ayar, who is being treated in the intensive care unit of Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) Farabi Hospital because of the mushrooms he ate, noted that he suffered the victimization of being exposed to such an incident even though he has an academic aspect professionally and said, “I have an academic aspect professionally. But as a person and child of this region, I love mountains and plateaus. In fact, I had the opportunity to travel half of the world and work in some parts of it, but when I think of the highlands, it is a personal passion that I do not leave my hometown and I want to return here as soon as possible. I love the mountains very much, but unfortunately, I was recently exposed to an accident that would cost my life at a point on the plateau that I thought I knew, that I trusted, that I found my self-confidence high. We remember the flavors we ate in our childhood. We hear stories about them, in fact, when you see a white one while walking on the grass, going after it, rejoicing when you find it, looking for the next one, is a different adventure, almost a sport. But unfortunately, there have been very serious life-threatening situations in our region recently. I recently ate one of the mushrooms that I trusted in the plateau, which did not look abnormal at all, and I survived thanks to a very strong emergency and intensive care support thanks to the fact that my house is 150 meters from the emergency room.”
I realized that I had survived a big accident
Stating that he realized that he had survived a big accident, Ayar said, “The most important issue is when trust starts. Either nothing will happen to me, or I know them. After my illness passed, I realized how big an accident I had survived. As a science reader and writer, when I read the data from the centers of the world published in quality journals from reliable sources, I want to give a message to the society as a message that mushroom poisoning is a very big risk, even when traveling in nature, people are afraid of snakes and insects, but they should be afraid of mushrooms. Reliable sources say that poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms can be very similar to each other, that it is very risky to trust your friends in this regard, to make decisions based on photos from programs on phones,” he said.
I was both tormented and experienced anxiety and fear.
Stating that he was treated in intensive care and experienced anxiety and fear, Ayar said, “I don't remember the intensive care, of course. I stayed in intensive care for about a day. Then I was followed up for about a day in the ward and for 10 days after recovery. Because first of all, besides its fast-developing harmful effects on the liver and kidney, its effects that can spread for 10 days can also be seen. During this period, I suffered both torment and anxiety and fear. I think it would be the wisest way for our citizens to be very sensitive in this context, and to stay away from the mushrooms they will collect from nature if they are not very expert. It is not possible to eat mushrooms collected from nature from now on. Of course, we respect the trade in culture mushrooms, but I do not think to consume such a risky food when there are many foods that can be consumed.”
