TikTok food critic, 29, details miserable experience of contracting explosive diarrhea parasite

A Tennessee-based social media food critic revealed she recently came down with a “miserable” bout of cyclosporiasis that lasted nearly a month and left her afraid to venture too far from the bathroom.Christina Hart, 29, host of “The Locally Owned Series” TikTok series, shared with her nearly 160,000 followers that she initially thought she had food poisoning or a stomach virus — but ended up testing positive for the “explosive diarrhea” parasite.

“That’s really the best word to sum it all up, was miserable,” Hart told USA Today.After suffering through a week of stomach-churning symptoms, Hart decided to go to the doctor for a diagnosis.“I got tested.

I saw the headlines of cyclosporiasis and I’m like: ‘I’m having those symptoms.I need to make sure I ask for that testing.’ Came back positive,” she said.“I was sick for three weeks with it.

And then around the three-and-a-half-week mark, I started feeling better.”Despite seeing the headlines about the “diarrhea parasite” exploding across the US, sickening over 22,000 people, Hart was unaware of how severe the illness could be.“The timestamps in between having to go (to the bathroom) was just a little extreme for me,” she said.“That kind of stopped me from just living my everyday life because I was scared to go out in public.”Hart explained that during her bout of the parasitic illness she was “scared to go out in public,” because “you lose complete control” over your bodily functions.“It’s not a fun experience…you will need to be near a restroom if you have it,” she quipped.After battling with cyclosporiasis for almost a month, Hart now feels “fantastic” and “completely normal,” but stressed that the food-borne illness that is believe to have stemmed from tainted iceberg lettuce is “very uncomfortable.”She explained that despite not eating much throughout the ordeal, she dealt with severe bloating and lost 17 pounds.The TikTok food critic i...