Ex-Red Sox star Mookie Betts says mysterious illness has him down 25 pounds and ‘scared to eat’
"Literally every time I fuel my body I throw it up and I don't know what to do about it."
Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts is dealing with an illness that could impact his Opening Day status.
The Dodgers sent him home from Tokyo to focus on his recovery. Los Angeles opened its regular-season in Japan with a pair of wins against the Cubs.
The former Red Sox star, who missed both games, told reporters he lost 25 pounds and has had trouble eating solid food without vomiting.
“I don’t think anybody really knows (what it is),” Betts said. “It’s just – you go weigh yourself and you weigh 150 pounds. Before I left spring I was 175. It’s a balance. I guess my stomach is just really aggravated. It’s hard to just not eat … My body is just kind of eating itself and it’s hard to not fuel it. Literally every time I fuel my body I throw it up and I don’t know what to do about it.”
Betts said he has not received a diagnosis from doctors. He received two liters of IV medicine in Japan. He said he is starting a new medicine and hopes he will be able to keep food down soon.
“My vitals, everything has come back clean. Blood tests, everything has come back really, really clean,” Betts said. “I’m healthy. I guess it’s just something with my stomach being really aggravated so I started some new medicine now to try and calm my stomach down.”
The sickness and vomiting has prompted some fear of eating solid foods, Betts said.
“I’m scared to eat, so I really don’t know what to do,” Betts said.
Betts was scratched from Los Angeles’s lineup for an exhibition game on Sunday. He said he would have attempted to play, but decided against it after vomiting at breakfast.
“If I didn’t throw up (Sunday) absolutely, I was in there,” Betts said. “I had a great day (Saturday) but I didn’t eat literally all day yesterday. I figured giving myself a day of not eating all day and coming in and playing a Major League game is kind of hard to fathom. I ate breakfast and threw it up. It kind of is what it is.”
Betts said he feels good and he wants to play despite the eating struggles.
“I feel great. My body feels great. I’ve been able to do do pretty much everything but eat, which is strange,” Betts said. “The symptoms have kind of gone away, I just have to figure out how to get my stomach kind of calm down.”
Betts said he plans on finding a diet that works, which may include smoothies. This sickness is different than dealing with an injury, he said.
“That’s pretty straightforward,” Betts said of recoving from physical injuries such as a broken hand. “You just rest and let it do it’s thing. But, this is so touchy. You think you feel good and then you don’t really know. I don’t know what’s going on under my stomach. You can’t see … I just have to figure out a way to go drink some smoothies or something and go play at 150 pounds.”
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