06.07.2026 02:00
Ekrem Aydemir, a 50-year-old who has been consuming mushrooms gathered from nature for 30 years in Erzurum, was hospitalized in intensive care after being poisoned by the mushrooms he ate. Aydemir, who said, 'I have never been poisoned in 30 years,' expressed deep regret after the incident and urged citizens not to consume mushrooms collected from nature.
Ekrem Aydemir, a 50-year-old father of three who has been working as a greengrocer in Erzurum and made mushroom picking a hobby for 30 years, went out with his friends to search for mushrooms in the countryside about a week ago.
PAIN, NAUSEA, DIARRHEA…
Aydemir, who brought the mushrooms he collected from the area he frequently visited to his home, experienced symptoms such as pain, nausea, and diarrhea towards dawn after eating them.
Applying to the Emergency Service of Atatürk University Research Hospital, Aydemir was diagnosed with mushroom poisoning and was admitted for treatment in the hospital's Emergency Intensive Care Unit.
Ekrem Aydemir stated that he brought the mushrooms he had collected with his friends a while ago home and ate them with his siblings. Saying that his siblings and family had no problems, Aydemir said, "I was fine in the evening, but towards dawn I had stomach pain, cramping, nausea, and vomiting, so we came to the emergency room. My treatment is still ongoing, and my liver-related values have dropped."
"I AM VERY SORRY"
Stating that he has been constantly picking and consuming mushrooms for many years, Aydemir said, "I have been picking and eating mushrooms for 30 years and never got poisoned. We learned from the doctors that non-toxic mushrooms in nature can also become poisonous. From now on, I will tell my circle; I don't want anyone to experience this trouble. I am really very sorry for eating wild mushrooms. I felt even more regret after the hospital process. We are living witnesses of the incident."
"THE GOOD THING IS THE BODY STARTED NAUSEA AND VOMITING"
Prof. Dr. Zeynep Gökcan Çakır, Head of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Atatürk University Faculty of Medicine and Supervisor of the Emergency Intensive Care Unit, also explained that the patient's treatment is ongoing.
Stating that the patient's condition, who is receiving the most up-to-date treatment for mushroom poisoning, is good, Çakır said, "He will be kept under observation for a while longer; we will follow up until his values stabilize. The good thing is that the body initiated nausea and vomiting. That vomiting is the organism's response to expel the poison from the body; patients come having vomited and expelled the poison, so we did not perform gastric lavage."
Çakır also stated that they administer medication to patients depending on the type and characteristics of the mushroom poisoning and advised against consuming wild mushrooms.