Swedish Man Found Dead After Eating Spicy Som Tam

[george]

Swedish man found dead after eating spicy som tam

Girlfriend says it may have been the food

SATTAHIP: -- A 40-year-old Swede was found dead in a Thai friend's house yesterday, following complaints of diarrhoea after eating som tam (papaya salad) and sator (stinkbeans). Sattahip police were alerted by Sopa Kula, 29, that her Swedish boyfriend, Lars Mikaes Gustafsson, was found dead in a room in a house in Sattahip district.

Ms Sopa told police she [more...]

--Bangkok Post 2007-06-24

[TAWP]

I would venture that his middle name is Mikael, and the s instead of the l is a typo.

Apart from that, it must have given him one hel_l of a run if it killed him in less then 24h...haven't heard that this would even be possible. More likely something else failed in his system in combination with this.

[scubasteve]

There is more too this than meets the eye,Spicy Son Tam,dead in 24 hours,what was in the Son Tam we ask????.

[Jai Dee]

Ms Sopa and her friend cooked two dishes of spicy northeastern-style papaya salad, one mixed with pudong (fermented crab) and another mixed with plara (fermented fish) for lunch on Friday. They ate the salads with sator, a strong smelling flat, edible bean.

That is quite a strong combination of Isaan style food... and guaranteed to upset the stomach of one used to Western food.

[TAWP]

Indeed, but isn't 24h to short of a time - unless they found him in his own pool of excrement and the report didn't mention that at all - to complete drain out enough to get yourself a heart failure?

'Violent' episodes usually are labeled as 'several days', and then people are told to visit the hospital [to avoid the risk of draining yourself of fluids]

[Sing_Sling]

It sounds a bit odd that he should die, despite the concoction . . .

[chinthee]

I was thinking maybe he was allergic to shellfish, and didn't know there were very small shrimp in the som tam?

[donna]

poor bugger. what a way to go....with a gut full of fermented crab and plaraa. too much too soon i would say.

[Big A]

I really hope not, but does the air reek with foul play?

RIP

[LaReina]

If I am not mistaken, westerners are advised against eating som tam if it contains shell fish (not the dried shrimp). There have been several reports of people becoming violently ill from miro-organisims associated with the sea food and I don't think they cook it.

It is a built up immunity to the stuff.

Perhaps that was the case, only he decided to ride out the symptoms.

Havent people been known to die from allergic reactions to bee stings?? Same difference.

[chokdeekrap]

i know one time (actually st00pid me, two times) i have drank the juice from som tam poo. both times it sent my guts into a gut-wrenching pain i can't explain within minutes after drinkiing the som tam juice. i just remember the first time, thinking i had done some kind of severe organ damage or something... it honestly felt like my organs were coming out of my stomache. freaky & bad-ass! i remember telling the GF we might be going to the hospital, it felt that bad.

then within about 5-7 minutes i was on the can & my body was flushing something out for the next 10 minutes or so. then i was right as rain, as if nothing in the last 15 minutes happened.

almost the exact same thing happened the second time (i know you'd think i woulda learned from the first episode!) i drank som tam juice.

pretty potent stuff is all i can say. i eat spicy all the time & never experienced any kinda problems like i did those two occasions!

unfortunately i used to enjoy sharing the GF's som tam every night, but have never touched it since that last time drinking som tam juice.

[Zeid]

quantin tarantino movie

Beware the deadly SOMTAM

[jdinasia]

I was thinking maybe he was allergic to shellfish, and didn't know there were very small shrimp in the som tam?

Isn't crab a more common allery

[ZZZ]

Girlfriend offered to take him to see doctor but he refused and self medicated to treat the diarrhoea, probably with Imodioum.

Imodium may stop the diarroea but not what's causing it, if it is serious food poisoning you are better of not to threat the diarrhoea as it is the bodys way of getting rid of what is bugging you.

[plachon]

I was thinking maybe he was allergic to shellfish, and didn't know there were very small shrimp in the som tam?

If his g/f came from Isaan, I doubt very much if there was any shrimp in the mix, as they were almost certainly eating "dam lao". Sounds like the poo did it for him more likely, perhaps in combination with the pla daek. Nasty way to go........

Apparently, not even enough time to call for an ambulance or get him round the hospital.

[Jingthing]

Sad story but clearly there is more to the story, medically speaking. Note the man only ate a small amount of the spicy food. It only takes a little if you are severely allergic.

It might be a shellfish allergy. I was surprised to learn that diarrhea can be one symptom of anaphylactic shock as I have experienced that myself and no diarrhea. It is odd that other more common symptoms like hives and wheezing weren't mentioned.

In any case, it would be absurd if people avoid som tam because of this rare tragedy. I read recently of a Pattaya Thai man who died after eating some oranges. Sad, but not enough to put me off oranges.

[Jingthing]

Hmmmm.

Could also be peanuts.

[chinthee]

Hmmmm.

Could also be peanuts.

Probably the most intelligent guess thus far. I agree with those that suggest crab rather than shrimp would have been in the dish.

[larvidchr]

Sad, poor fellow . RIP.

[astral]

Little chance of a autopsy to find the real cause.

[bkkandrew]

Little chance of a autopsy to find the real cause.

Do the Swedish Govt. not do one when repatriating the body? The UK does as a matter of course and a Coroner's Court is established to determine cause of death...

[Lucifer]

RIP

I wonder if he was alergic to certain foods. If so, did he tell his g/f?

I think the Swedish Police should send a couple of cops to investigate this further. If only to investigate and advise

others, of the many, many kinds of ingrediants that go into Thai cuisine.

[rambling]

I had a similar case. I had this severe diarrhea from an ultra spicy som tam (my TGF said it was too spicy for her too) that I had on Koh Samet. My guess is that there was some bad seafood in it as I'm not allergic to anything as far as I know. It was a really violent case as you described, and I'm used to eating very spicy Asian food from street vendors. Anyways I bought some diarrhea pills from a small convenience store on the island and drunk tons of water and I was OK the next day. But at the peak of those few hours it was really bad, not just the bowel movement but overall weakness and giddiness.

Reading this news makes me think if this ever happens again I am going straight to a hospital. Although what can they do other than give you some diarrhea pills? Wouldn't they just send you home after that?

i know one time (actually st00pid me, two times) i have drank the juice from som tam poo. both times it sent my guts into a gut-wrenching pain i can't explain within minutes after drinkiing the som tam juice. i just remember the first time, thinking i had done some kind of severe organ damage or something... it honestly felt like my organs were coming out of my stomache. freaky & bad-ass! i remember telling the GF we might be going to the hospital, it felt that bad.

then within about 5-7 minutes i was on the can & my body was flushing something out for the next 10 minutes or so. then i was right as rain, as if nothing in the last 15 minutes happened.

almost the exact same thing happened the second time (i know you'd think i woulda learned from the first episode!) i drank som tam juice.

pretty potent stuff is all i can say. i eat spicy all the time & never experienced any kinda problems like i did those two occasions!

unfortunately i used to enjoy sharing the GF's som tam every night, but have never touched it since that last time drinking som tam juice.

[BigSnake]

Sure there must be more to this story, know many farangs that love Spicy Som Tam, never heard of anyone dead from eating it. RIP!!

[meadish_sweetball]

Hmmmm.

Could also be peanuts.

I don't think that sounds as likely, but then again I am no doctor.

Peanuts are common in Sweden, and he would have known by age 40 if he was allergic to them or not, and they will typically be visible in the som tam.

Crabs are not so common in Sweden though (expensive and not part of the national cuisine, albeit a bit more common on the West coast).

Normally an allergic shock would not take hours to develop and be preceded by a dodgy stomach?

As said above, DO NOT TAKE LOPERAMIDE (IMODIUM) for diarrhoea unless absolutely necessary.

It does not cure the diarrhoea, it just stops your bowels from moving, resulting in stuff staying inside, that should be allowed to pass out the natural way.

[jdinasia]

Little chance of a autopsy to find the real cause.

I thought ALL farang deaths in Thailand had autopsies!

[technocracy]

Hmmm well I should of been dead a long time ago!! I eat dam maak huu (Papaya Salad: Lao) and bpaa dek (the Fermented fish) quite regularly.

If like has been said before if true Lao style Papaya it wouldn't have dried shrimps and neither would it have peanuts. True Papaya salad consists of Papaya, Chilli's (lots), Fish sauce and Fermented fish sauce (dependant on taste) and maybe MSG or salt for taste. The crab version is same just with the added crabs - normally just added in and smashed up in the mixing bowl.

I can't see any reason why someone would die (particularly within 24hrs) from diarrhea - if an allergic reaction you would have far more noticeable symptoms and would WANT to see a doctor!

Also on the death from extreme diarrhea I suffered from amoebic and bacterial dysentry (at the same time) whilst in Nepal, I was going to the toilet 20+ times in a day but I didn't die. I literally could crap on demand - slight contraction of the bowel and hey presto!

Personally I think there is something slight more to the death than death from diarrhea!

RIP - hopefully my thoughts are wrong.

[Whitey]

I'd be interested to know more about this other single woman he was staying with. (The original article says the girlfriend left him alone with the other woman who he was living with)

[Ping]

This really is worth a separate thread just on som tam - not flaming, I genuinely cannot understand how any farang can eat the stuff (or why they would want to).

[meemiathai]

I think he died of a heart attack.