Who knew antixoidants and/or Omega-3s could be bad for you? Well, they are for me. I found this out last February when I started taking flaxseed oil capsules to keep my eyes from drying out so much (the optometrist suggested it). These contain 700 mg. of Omega-3 and I found out the hard way that this is not good for me.
So I tried Omega-3 fish oil capsules. Same result. 684 mg. Duh. I should’ve looked at the label. So now I have huge dark brown bottles of both sitting on the kitchen counter because they won’t fit in the medicine cabinet and because I’m too lazy to throw them out, flush them down the toilet, whatever.
Oh, what was the result? Severe, I mean SEVERE stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting. And why not throw in diarrhea, too? When I looked up flaxseed oil on WebMD, this was the description for an overdose, except of course I can’t find that description now. But when I called my doctor’s office to describe my symptoms and told the nurse what I’d been taking, she was not at all surprised and simply said, “Uh huh.”
Obviously, I stopped taking the capsules. Then Brian found these antioxidant/Omega-3 granola bars at Trader Joe’s. These couldn’t possibly hurt, we figured. Each bar had under 150 mg. of Omega-3. I ate one bar two days in a row and the same thing happened. And this time, because it had “antioxidant” in the description, I’ve been paranoid about eating anything containing those, particularly blueberries, but with the exception of dark chocolate and foods that I have no idea even contain antioxidants.
Since then, I’ve had the occasional fried, battered cod and I’ve been fine. And I don’t even like fish, but I know it’s good for you even if it is deep fried. But this past Sunday, we took my mom out for fondue on Mother’s Day. Shortly after we got home, I was so sick, I couldn’t keep anything down until like, yesterday, the day before. OMG. I was utterly miserable and had the same symptoms in addition to a sore, achy neck and shoulder on my left side, and a sinus headache just mild enough to be annoying because it wouldn’t go away.
I’m totally convinced that it was from the chocolate fondue — dark chocolate fondue. And I read on Wikipedia that the purer the amount of cocoa, the more antioxidants it contains. Well, this wasn’t just some chain fondue place, so I imagine they use the purest ingredients. Never mind that the one other time I ate there nothing like this happened, but that was long before all this other stuff took place.
There’s a cookie sheet full of chocolate chip cookies on top of the stove that I hadn’t touched all week. OK, I had one earlier and now I’m seriously afraid I’m going to pay for it. These aren’t your ordinary chocolate chip cookies — they contain slabs of dark chocolate.
Oh, and the whole reason I started taking the Omega-3 in the first place was so my eyes wouldn’t be so dry, which is a result of all the meds that I’m on!
Wow, that doesn’t sound fun. Don’t throw out the flaxseed and fish-oil. Bring it to me next time you visit Brian’s family. I’m serious! Hope you get better.
Back to antioxidants. Maybe there are some other antioxidants you can tolerate? I would think it would be worth the search.
Do you know about compounding pharmacies? You can have your hormones tested, and these pharmacies can create “designer” hormone compounds that will fit your body exactly and shouldn’t make you sick. That might be just the ticket to getting your ills fixed. Google “bioidentical hormones” and “compound pharmacy.”
Well…I’m glad we saved them, then! I’ll put them in a safer place. Right now they’re next to the stove. One bottle has oil splatters on the label so you probably won’t want that one.
Vince, I’m so tired of having this test and that test. I’ve had so many in the past year-and-a-half. Anyway, it isn’t that serious. My eyes can tolerate a bit of dryness, and there’s always re-wetting drops.
I just need to limit my intake on pure cocoa and fish. Thanks for being so concerned!
Wow. That sucks! It’s so frustrating when one med causes side effects so you have to take something else to fix it. Even worse if the one to help the side effects causes different side effects!
Keep track of what you eat and when you feel sick. I used to work with a girl who started having stomach problems (upset stomach, diarrhea) and she finally went to the doctor and found out that she has a condition where she has to eat only gluten free foods. (I have no idea what that means but that’s what she told us.)
I really really really hope you can keep eating the dark chocolate!!!
Yeah, it does suck. It’s like this stupid chain reaction as far as the meds go.
I’ve definitely been keeping track of what I eat. Now, anyway. I also need to stay away from stuff like lots of ice cream, mashed potatoes, anything mushy — I’m afraid to eat yogurt, too. That kind of stuff seems to give me bad diarrhea and then all I can eat is Maalox.
I should probably stick to eating solid dark chocolate, a little at a time. Not a huge-ass melted pot of it!