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

[Lalalalalalalaaa]

At the weekend I was so unwell I rang 111 and ended up in A&E with severe stomach cramps that lasted days. I was really worried- they came in waves like period pain but when they kicked in a was bent over double and unable to move. Really scary.

Doctors were great but everything (bloods, urine) came back normal. I’ve been racking my brains to see if i ate/drank anything that may have caused this and this morning I suddenly realised that Diet Coke is the out of the usual thing I had on Friday- my symptoms came on after drinking it. I don’t usually- my husband got it as Coke Zero was out of stock. I also generally don’t drink a lot of fizzy drinks but was tired, saw it in the fridge and took it to work.

Now, I have one friend that swears she will never ever drink Diet Coke as it “rotted her stomach” to the point she needed surgery (I’ve messaged her for some more info!!!)

How likely do you think it might be that Diet Coke has caused this reaction? Has anyone else ever had awful side effects?

I’m scheduled in for an ultrasound but wondering if something like that will even show anything up if it’s that…

I’d say incredibly unlikely. Assume you’ve had diet coke in the past without such a severe reaction?

Was it just one bottle?

The pain so severe you’re bent double and coming in waves sounds like the pain I had with gallstones.

I can’t remember the last time I drank it to be honest!
But- at Easter weekend I may have when I was with family. (Can’t remember but will try and check) A family member is also unable to have sugar and made a sugar-free dessert which contained artificial sweetener. I had some and suffered with bloating and mild cramps for the next fortnight (again, I assumed maybe a reaction to fish that I had eaten or over-indulging)

i do think I’m probably being unreasonable though! I think I’m trying to look for less scary alternatives to what it might be…

Definitely sounds like gallstones to me. Mine started like this when I ate or drank anything my body didn't like.
It escalated to me throwing up for hours and passing out from the pain and needing emergency surgery, so if you're going for a scan I would specifically ask them to check that.

I highly doubt it was the coke alone.

Incredibly unlikely because most of the ingredients are common to other drinks and not a common breeding ground for bugs..

Your symptoms sound like mild food poisoning. Did you go to a barbecue? Eat chicken or rice or anything with minced meat? Eat out anywhere? Buy a sandwich or an ice cream from a van? Anywhere you didn't cook the food yourself? It was very warm this weekend. Food left out, even for a short period of time could result in these symptoms.

Or someone not washing their hands before handling food?

Did you go swimming? Did you handle change in a shop? Been in contact with any small children?

There are dozens of possibilities. I'm glad you are better,

I drank litres of diet coke a day for many years, due to an eating disorder. Actual litres, multiple big bottles a day. Never had any issues like that at all.

It is possible. I hadn’t had it for a while, took a drink went dizzy then passed out.

I think it’s worth the scans though as it could be anything.

You do realise Coke Zero and Diet Coke are virtually the same?

My DH avoids drinks with a particular sweetener in but he doesn't get cramps as bad as that. I think you'd know already if they were caused by the ingredients of diet coke.

I didn't think there was much difference with zero and diet? They both have no sugar

If you’d never drank a coke drink, or you drank vats of it I’d say maybe but it seems unlikely otherwise

My friend has her gallbladder removed due to drinking excessive amounts of Diet Coke when she was at work. She was so embarrassed by it and for ages she didn't log Diet Coke on the food diary she was keeping to work out what was causing her symptoms. Her consultant asked her in the end if she drank it as he had seen the cause of her pain before.

Sounds like gallstones. What did you eat? Anything particularly high in fat? I'm no expert but I think it's unlikely to be diet coke.

There is a type of sweetener that makes me feel awful. Sweat lashing off nausea, diarrhoea, it’s like my body misidentifies it as poison and desperately tries to get rid. I avoid them completely now. Fizzy water is my ripple of choice.

Diet Coke and Coke Zero and both quite dangerous because they have an artificial sweetener called Aspartame. Aspartame causes real havoc on the system. Google Aspartame. Having full sugar coke is far healthier than the ones with the dangerous artificial chemical.

It is possible. Artificial sweeteners cause me terrible stomach cramps. They are in everything these days. I can only drink "normal" coke.

Coke Zero and Diet Coke are basically the same (Coke Zero just has more of everything for a stronger flavour)

The dessert probably used polyols, which are a type of fairly indigestible sugar which absolutely causes symptoms like extreme wind and diarrhoea if you don't eat them, then eat a load (do not get the little boxes of sugar-free sweets by the till in Aldi!)

My ex once had an extreme reaction with cramps (although not for days to a Smirnoff Ice, and we found others on the internet having the same issue

Likeliness -zero.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.