Healthy dad, 43, almost paralysed by 'catastrophic food poisoning' from takeaway curry

A healthy dad of two was left almost paralysed after eating a takeaway curry that left him with “catastrophic food poisoning”.

David Miller, 43, ordered his regular chicken Bhuna curry from his usual Indian takeaway in London in 2016.

But he was quickly struck down with severe food poisoning and then developed an auto-immune disorder that caused him to lose the use of his limbs.

Miller, who was a regular cyclist, was unable to breathe properly and couldn't walk or see clearly and was left in pain for months.

The web contractor, now based in Welbourn, Lincolonshire, then suffered from a stomach bug caused by the curry for two months and started feeling tingling in his hands and feet two months later.

This led to near-full paralysis where he couldn't roll over in bed, needed a wheelchair to get around and spent two and a half months in hospital.

He was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, caused when the immune system is low.

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Miller said: "It was pretty scary. Obviously we didn't go back to that restaurant again.

"It was a steep decline – I went from having tingling and pins and needles in my hands and feet to needing a wheelchair to get into hospital a week later.

"Some people die from this syndrome. It works its way from the extremities through your core and can stop your breathing.

"Imagine looking at your body and trying to make it move and it doesn't."

Miller was admitted to hospital in early January 2017 and put into intensive care after his breathing became compromised.

He said: "I was worried about my breathing, I could tell I wasn't breathing strongly.

"I was never fully paralysed, I still had some movement in my hips but not enough to even roll over in bed with."

Miller was still using crutches and walking sticks to move around after he was released from hospital.

He said: "It does make you think about food and the knock-on effect.

"It was a year of my life that it affected. My eating habits haven’t really changed, but it does make you think."

Miller has since made a full recovery with no sign of any lasting side effects and is using his returned physical abilities to run the London marathon in April.