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…

Could it be wind/ indigestion? I say this because I have had this after eating a meal and drinking Diet Coke. It was excruciating. I actually thought something was seriously wrong. Was doubled over and like you this weird feeling coming over in waves.

I’ve had it about 6 times in about 8 yrs (although didn’t know it was this to start with) so now I never drink fizzy drinks with dinner.

Sounds daft but I actually thought I was having a heart attack.

I get awful gastritis at times from drinking things like Diet Coke, it’s because of the aspartame in it. I’m fine if I drink normal coke though x

This is how I feel after Diet Coke too, which turns into gastritis! X

Im no doctor but would bet money it wasn’t diet coke that caused it

You’re not wrong most sweeteners are pretty much poison, some are known to cause cancer I believe.

In most other European countries they have had health warnings for decades. Consuming regular amounts can cause diarrhoea, nausea sickness etc. so not very likely. Unlikely it’s from the single bottle tho but may be interacting with other sweeteners.

Sometimes artificial sweetener can make you crampy and give you dirrhea and/or stomach cramps
if you aren't used to the sweetener. It's like if a regular person started eating a few diabetic candies.

Was your cholesterol level checked? Some are suggesting gallstones, of which is basically made of cholesterol.

I get the same sometimes, the pain is excruciating its hard to believe its just wind/indigestion as you actually think something is seriously wrong but it usually passes after a few hours

Gallstones or gastritis. You need endoscopy and ultrasound of your gallbladder bladder.

I get agonising pains if I have artificial sweeteners or anything with soy in. I mean pains to the point where I’m doubled over crying. Was convinced for years I had gallstones but had an ultrasound and nothing was there 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m just very careful what I eat/drink these days!

Ask for a CT scan. Only way to be sure. Appendix can rupture and also fall behind ovarys/womb which makes a ultrasound useless.

You can Google a lot of things in fact I’m sure if you google almost anything you can find an answer that you want, but dp has the research to back it up. FYI this isn’t some muppet on TikTok, they spend millions on research! Millions!
to be fair it’s probably not as bad as people think as we’ve been having it for years? Ad it hasn’t caused a great deal of problems

Definitely sounds like your gallbladder objecting to it. It can be very painful and yes comes in waves. Did they scan your liver and gallbladder? Hopefully it’ll settle down as mine did, but I’d stick to a gall bladder friendly diet for a couple of months. Good luck!

Oh god! Me too! I had my trapped wind after having a fizzy drink then bending over gardening. My poor son was so worried, eventually it eased a little so I went for a lie down and within minutes let out the biggest fart ever!! Then I felt much better. 🤣

Colic type symptoms, bloating and these can be from the sweeteners

They was artificial sweetener in a dessert you ate and also diet coke which contains sweetener. The sweetener could be the issue. If you consume a substantial amount of sweeteners you can get bloated, gassy/fatty, stomach pains, diarrhoea. Also sweeteners can affect the composition and function of gut bacteria in your body.

If I eat too much sweetener then I get painful stomach cramps, severe bloating, god awful farts and then finally horrendous diarrhoea 😭
Poor you 🥺 Fingers crossed for you that it's not gall stones and it's just a need to reduce sweetener consumption, or something simple and easy to sort out or nothing wrong at all.

I avoid anything with Aspartame in it. Many years ago there was a big scandal in the US where they were experimenting on rats with this stuff. Results werent published but mysteriously the lab was broken into and all the rats were killed.

I get this whenever I have diet fizzy drinks!

Try your best not to drink anything like these vile drinks again, if you can. They are muck and are so bad for you. Might aswell just knock back a bag of sugar...

Most artificial sweeteners can cause IBS symptoms in me but acesulfame-K should be fycking banned. It makes me feel so ill 😕

I had this yesterday after drinking a slushie . I don't know why i do it to myself it happens everytime but their so good.

And you’re well enough to repeatedly post on MN, despite your tummy boo boo making you pass out with pain.

You”re not the gate keeper of A&E, so stop acting like you are.

I get very unwell with stomach cramps with diet coke too.
YANBU

Sounds more like endometriosis to me.

You’re probably allergic to one of the sweeteners in the drink or the cake , worth checking that out