To think Diet Coke caused my visit to A&E?

For all of you saying artificial sweeteners are ‘bad for you’ - you do realise the volume you’d need to drink for them to have any effect don’t you? It’s something ridiculous like 100s of cans a day!

I had a very similar sounding pain issue a few years ago and ended up in hospital as they thought it was gallstones but it was diagnosed as gastritis - an irritation of the stomach lining. I had not had any fizzy drinks or anything at that time. The Dr’s never knew exactly what did cause it and I’ve had milder versions of it since then but never as bad as when I was taken to a&e

They’re not. Coke Zero is designed to be sugar free but to taste more like the original full sugar version, so there are significant differences in the ingredients, including the sweeteners used. Diet Coke uses aspartame as its only sweetener, but Coke Zero uses both Aspartame and something called Acesulfane Potassium to sweeten. Diet Coke also differs in that it contains citric acid, while Coke Zero contains potassium citrate, which can be an irritant.

I can't believe you went to A&E for this.

Wow! This is so interesting. DP actually works for the cola company and let me say this is incredibly unlikely. Glad you are better

@Lalalalalalalaaa artificial sweeteners are nasty !
If your scan comes back clear then just stay away from them. Hopefully you won’t have the symptoms again.
Do some ready up about them and see what you think .

I avoid eating or drinking anything that is sugar free as it really upsets my tummy. I ate some sugar free Polo mints instead of the original ones, in error one day and ended up with the worst cramps and diarrhoea ever.

Do you have other things with that kind of sweetener in? It is unreasonable to think of it as like "diet coke should be band because it made me ill" kind of thing, as loads of people drink far more than you and are fine. However, people can have sensitivities to loads of things, you in particular having a sensitivity to one or a few of the artificial sweeteners in diet coke, and the dessert, is not unreasonable at all!

I never drink diet versions of anything because the sweeteners and other shit in it are so bad for you compared to the sugary version. I just steer clear of all of it unless having a treat when out and about/Christmas ect. But if I had to choose, I’d rather have something sugary than something toxic.

I can't drink any of those drinks that say diet or zero sugar they make me ill stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting. Its the artificial sugars in them.

If my experience is anything to go by, they won’t either. I had exactly the same symptoms as the OP (I don’t drink Diet Coke) but only discovered I had a large gallstone nearly ten years after the attacks (having had no pain in between) during a private fasting ultrasound ordered for a gynae issue during which the consultant radiographer checked my gallbladder ‘just in case’. Ten years previously I’d had all of the tests possible for every eventuality/organ in the abdominal/pelvic region but no one had conducted a fasting ultrasound - which I later discovered is the test you need to check a gallbladder. Apparently if you are fat, fair and forty you are most susceptible to gallstones. I was all three at the time…The consultant declared the fact it is a large gallstone as ‘lucky’ because it is too big to get stuck in the bile duct ( the issue with smaller ones). Despite his cheerful pronouncement I did not buy a lottery ticket on the way home 😂

@Lalalalalalalaaa you need to ask for a fasting ultrasound test. Hope you feel better soon, the pain was up there with childbirth.

DH also ended up at A and E with awful stomach cramps (query appendicitis). They’d be flaring up for a while and he also narrowed it down to fizzy drinks. In his case from a certain supermarket own brand. He had also had some ibuprofen the day before and was likely a combination thing. Whilst lots of people are saying no if you google it artificial sweeteners are actually a common cause of IBS. Not everyone gets iBS though so of course most people are fine with Diet Coke.

Agree with other posts - sounds like gallstones to me as well.

Are you sure it wasn't just trapped wind that can be really painful.

Extremely unlikely - many people (myself included) drink multiple cans of Diet Coke a week. It will not have “rotted your stomach”

It’s possible - some people react really badly to artificial sweeteners. But if you normally drink Coke Zero without an issue then I’d be surprised if Diet Coke was an issue.

A relative of mine developed colitis which the doctors suggested was due to addiction to Diet Coke (she drank multiple cans a day). She also had a child born with a malformed heart, whether that was connected IDK.

Sound like food poisoning or viral

Hi OP, so sorry to hear you were unwell.

I'm not a huge fan of artificial sweeteners, and I'm sure there are studies now showing things like aspartame is a possible contribution for cancer. Obviously you'd need to drink gallons of it for years probably but it's not a healthy substance IMHO.

Anything that causes your body to react is always saying to you that it's not nice. I guess I'm biased after having been injured by psychotropic drugs (and subsequently now more likely to be sensitive to things like artificial sweeteners), but i always say to avoid them like the plague.

I get really bad burning, sore stomach when I drink any coke drink, started a few years ago before that I was fine.. so it is possible.

Hang on - so the hospital still hasn’t checked your gallbladder for gallstones?

It’s either renal colic from kidney stones, a gallbladder attack or gastritis.

The sweetener aspartame used to give me violent heart palpitations. When I realised the cause, I started checking ingredients (I found it in some unexpected items, such as vitamin tablets) and I’ve avoided it for years now.

It's possible that the combination of caffeine, aspartame and sweeteners that could cause cramps in coke. It could also be the start of gall stones so I'd mention it to the doctors.

Well do some investigating. If you can drink diet coke with no issues...look at the ingredients in coke zero and compared. Are there any that are in zero that aren't in diet coke?

Call you relative and ask what sweetener they used in the dessert.

If you can find an ingredient that's in the dessert and the coke zero but not in diet coke then you may have found your cause.

Some people are allergic to some sweeteners so this might be the cause. But as pp have suggested, you might have gallstones caused by all the diet drinks and something triggered an attack in both cases. It's good you are getting a scan to rule that out.

Likeliness -zero.