[SIDE EFFECTS]  12/15/2009: Rotem from Hadera, Israel: "Hello,

After using blackstrap molasses for a while, 2 tablespoons, one in the morning and one in the evening, i have noticed some small red circles appear on my back. after i stopped the usage the circles faded away. when i started taking it again, the circles returned."

[SIDE EFFECTS]  02/07/2012: Jenny from Perth, Western Australia: "Hi there, well I'm on my 5th day of taking borax (one wet fingertip's worth in warm ACV and honey) as I'm desperately trying to get rid of the rheumatoid arthritis in my feet (I'm 43). Yesterday I noticed one eye was bloodshot, and today the other one is red and my face feels hot, like it's got sunburn. Any ideas? I'll give it one more day and if it gets any worse I'll stop taking it. It's made no difference to the arthritis or anything else btw."

02/09/2012: Jennywren from Perth, Western Australia, Australia replies: "An update: all has calmed down now and I am taking a 3 day hiatus from the Borax. Will continue it in a 4 days on/3 days off routine and see if it makes any difference to the RA."

02/19/2012: Jennywren from Perth, Western Australia, Australia replies: "Update 2 - I thought I should add this because it seems it may not be the Borax producing these side effects after all but my ______ ACV. After having loss of appetite, nausea, burping, fatigue and diarrhoea a few days ago (an 80ml dose of colloidal silver in water fixed it), I went off the Borax and ACV drink for a day and all was well. BUT last night I had an ACV/honey hot toddy before bed (without the Borax). And this morning woke up with the same symptoms! Another dose of CS cured it. So I think the ACV may be too acidic for me. Yes, yes, I know despite it being made from acetic acid and having a ph of only 3. 075 ACV it is meant to have an alkalising effect. But as somebody who has a very acidic body, I think I'll stick with drinking my alkalising colloidal silver for now. ACV has never worked for me when drinking for asthma, hayfever, bronchitis, colds or rheumatoid arthritis - perhaps this is why? Mind you, it worked great topically for skin tags and herpes! :)

Anyway, thought I should update this is it doesn't look like the Borax is the culprit after all. If I have the courage to return to the Borax I'll update...! "

02/19/2012: Maria from Gippsland, Australia replies: "Hi Jennywren, Just a thought if your ACV is not organic and doesn't have the mother then maybe sometime later try one that is and start with only a teaspoon. The other thing to try is to add the bi-carb soda as recommended by Ted. We tried the ACV that is double strength, because my father-in-law thinks its the bees knees, (plus it's readily available so we didn't have to drive through 2 towns to get to the one that has the organic ACV) but I found it was no good for me."

02/19/2012: Jennywren from Perth, Western Australia, Australia replies: "Hi Maria, thanks for your reply! Yes, I use _____s, so fully organic with Mother. I was just reading about the bicarb so might try that in a week or so after all has settled down. PS say hi to me Mum for me. She lives in Fish Creek! ;)"

02/22/2012: Maria from Gippsland, Australia replies: "Hi Jennywren, Drove through Fishy in late January on the way to the beach could have then. My email is pharlapyes-ec [at] yahoo.com. Au"

11/22/2011: Lily from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia replies: "Hi Aim75, all of these symptoms happened to me also and a few other Earth clinic folks. It goes away. Cheers Lily."

EC: Read more about Borax here.

[SIDE EFFECTS]  11/11/2007: Gulay Ersoz from Los Angeles, CA: "I have been taking one cayenne pepper pill a day with warm lemonade in the mornings for the last 2 weeks or so. I experience slight heartburn like feeling but it was not a big problem. Two days ago, I took two pills instead of one, and it was no more than 3 minutes after I swallowed the pills, I had the extreme cramping in my stomach, became very dizzy, my left arm was hurting and I felt tingling on my fingers and legs... Not only the pain was extremely bad, my head was spinning, I was having hard time walking in my kitchen. I was hot, I just wanted to stop the cramping and managed to throw up. Took two Tums... With the hyper ventilation and dizziness, I laid in the bath tub and turned the cold water on, (I was so out of it and unable to control my reflexes, I couldn't even take my clothes off) it took about another 10-15 minutes before the pain went away, and I actually managed to get up and walk around... I called my doctor friend and she asked me if I experienced chest pain, I said no. Other than that I had all the symptoms of a heart attack. Went to see a doctor, and after the EKG, I was told that I had a bad reaction to cayenne pepper. It was not a joking matter for me, as I was home alone with my 3 year old sleeping in her bed, I had to have a reality check. How healthy is it to be trying to be healthy???"

05/19/2008: Perry from San Antonio, TX replies: "As a counter to your expose on Cayanne and after effects, I have consumed three 100,000 units per capsule (cool) cayenne daily for three years with no adverse effects (for high blood pressure). So... works for me!"

[SIDE EFFECTS]  07/15/2011: Pre-diabetic from Uk: "I took some chromium and vanadium since I eat a lot of sweets. A side effect was I had to keep waking up in the night to urinate and was very thirsty. I just didn't feel right either. After I ate somethign and got moving around I was ok. Needless to say, I stopped the chromium and vanadium and the side effect stopped. I know diabetics can get increased urination and thirst. Why did taking these substances seem to bring on a diabetic symptom? Did I not drink enough water to flsuh toxins? Is this just a cleaning or better to stop?"

07/17/2011: Djh from Austin, Tx replies: "perhaps it was because you are not deficient in these minerals and when you added them it was too much. it is also possible that they lowered your blood sugar (in addition to the spiking and lowering going on from eating sugar) and that after the sugar wore off (higher BG) the minerals kicked in and made your blood sugar too low - so your body made more glucose which raised your BG and so you were thirsty and had to pee a lot.

i would stop taking them. I am a type 1 diabetic and also tried taking these (mostly chromium) and had increased hair fall and it did not help my blood sugar.

djh"

[SIDE EFFECTS]  08/04/2011: Candy from Ny, Ny replies: "omg this just happened to me too but I was taking a low dose of chromium only. In fact, each time I take the chromium I repeatedly wake up in the middle of the night and have to urinate and I feel so thirsty, weak, faintish, lethargy, clammy but once I eat something I feel much better. Interesting to read the responses here and see some of us sweet tooths may not need chromium and it might have lowered our blood sugar too much. I thought since some of the symptoms were similar to diabetes that maybe it was flushing me out and I was having a healing crisis but I felt soooooooo bad until I ate. DgH could call, I think you nailed it! If anyone has any other info, please post. Thank you all!"

06/30/2012: Christine from Nottingham, England: "My husband has many heart heath issues icluding high blood pressure. Very high cholesterol and an irregular heart beat. He cannot take statins. We also know the dangers of these drugs. I started him on 150 mg of Q10. He was up all night urinating. He also had a bad headache from dehydration. I lowered the dose to 30 mg. I have tried to increase the dose to 60mg but he gets the same problems. Can anyone shed any light as to why this should be. Many thanks Christine"

06/30/2012: Sara from The Beach, Canada replies: "Co q10 is something the body makes by itself the only reason to supplement is if he has a deficiency of it. It is recommended that a person take a coq10 sup with a statin because statins deplete q10. If he is not taking statins I would check to make sure if he has enough already and stop the pills."

07/01/2012: Timh from Louisville, Ky, USA replies: ""up all night urinating" sounds like a prayer come true for heart & hypertension issues, because the kidneys take the brunt of sodium & water retention. This looks like the detox power of CoQ10 or what is commonly referred to as "healing crisis". If one is over the age of 50, it is advised to switch from CoQ10 to Ubiquinol (that active form of CoQ10). Also, Ubiquinol should be combined w/ Selenium and Vit-E (mixed tocopherols). The amino acid Taurine is recommended for heart disease and hypertension so is definately worth consideration. L-Carnitine will help lower cholesterol and strengthen the heart muscle. Trace minerals will help the dehydration issue, among other benefits."

[BETTER BUT WITH SIDE EFFECTS]  12/07/2012: Roni from Jersey City, Nj: "I had some digestion problems and I was taking coconut oil in empty stomach and one more spoon at night. In the beginning it really helped me to ruduce stomach pressure and pain. Now whenever I take coconut oil I feel burn in my stomach area and its is very uncomfortable. I tried to take coconut oil with apple cider and baking soda but did not help me. Coconut oil helped me to lose little weight. Please advise me how I can take coconut oil safely."