Apple Cider Vinegar Side Effects

My grandfather is 93 and has used Apple Cider Vinegar mixed with raw honey and aloe vera everyday for 30 years. He has survived Colon Cancer and Throat cancer. Until the past 2 years he has been healthy as an ox. Warning: A recent side effect has been stomach bleeding which his doctors attribute to ACV.

I tried one teaspoon of Trader Joes organic apple cider vinegar to two cups of filtered water and sipped it over a three day period to try to lose some weight and to balance my ph. I knew I was sure to have yeast overgrowth so to avoid massive die off I started out conservatively. I also stopped all sugars, yeast and carbs. In spite of such a small ratio of vinegar to water, my face broke out in huge puss filled welts. I've always had an acne problem, even now yet at 59 and post menopausal but this was the worst most painful break out since my teens! I tried putting vinegar and baking soda on the infected areas, just soda, just vinegar but could not get the ichiness to go away nor the swelling. I stopped drinking the vinegar and water but after more than a week I'm only beginning to heal from the acne. It's so severe, undoubtedly it will leave some scars. I fully realize that this reaction indicates my body chemistry must be very imbalanced and needs the vinegar and water. What am I to do? Should I try again with even less vinegar? I also did lose some weight almost immediately and want to go back on the vinegar treatment for this as well

Thanks for any advice.
Sandy

To Jayadurga from Eastborough, UK re: side effects of ACV with Metformin. I too am on Metformin for Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome and Insulin Resistance. We need to remember that being on METFORMIN can sometimes cause certain side-effects including Lactic acidosis, malaise and Vitamin B12 Malabsorption.

The symptoms of Lactic Acidosis are: weakness, increasing sleepiness, slow heart rate, cold feeling, muscle pain, shortness of breath, stomach pain, feeling light-headed, and fainting. It is a very dangerous disease and needs urgent medical attention.

Another side-effect of Metformin is Vitamin B12 malabsorbtion. A couple of the signs that you are deficient in Vitamin B12 are tiredness/weakness and depression, among many others. It's a good idea to take a Vitamin B12 supplement or B-complex whilst on Metformin, and this may increase your energy levels and prevent these negative symptoms.

Best thing to do when on Metformin is to have a healthy diet (preferably low in acid-forming foods and drinks, especially sodas), increase fresh vegetables, decrease high GI, high carb foods, take a vitamin mineral supplement, do regular exercise, and drink lots of water.

Perhaps it is not the ACV that is the cause of your tiredness and depression. But just like any treatment, natural or artificial, take it slowly to begin with and gradually increase the dose. Hope this helps :)

I tried the 3 T ACV, 3 T Honey, and 8 oz warm water to cure my sore throat. This was a bad idea for me. I am pregnant, so my gag reflux is ultra sensitive. I tried drinking it first, but it really started to nauseate me, so I decided to gargle. As soon as it hit the back of my throat, I threw up.

Warnings / Side Effects:

Hi Earth Clinic,

I've visited your site many times and read hundreds of posts, and sent many people here. Thank You for existing!

I have a thought, which I hope will be constructive. In the spirit of making information FINDABLE to those of us who are seeking healing on our own.

After trying ACV to alkalinize myself, I experienced a huge overgrowth of yeast and I was forced to stop taking it after 3 days. This set me back at least a month in my healing. I could not figure out what was happening until I spent an hour or two reading online and finally came across a NAY / Sideeffect post on your site from someone which explained the sense of this to me. I stopped taking the ACV immediately and slowly returned to 'normal'. Now this is a peculiar reaction to ACV, but it was immediate for me, within an hour, and runs counter to most of the information out there, so it is confusing.

It took determination and a lot of time to find this information, and I know you want to make this site easy to navigate, so I am suggesting that you make the various categories (Yea, Nay, Maybe, Warning ) CLICKABLE somehow, so we can read the contents of these categories without digging for them. Most people would not spend the time to search and read every post, as I do. So I am writing in the spirit of helping the general population.

Also, I thought it might be helpful to mention this action of ACV, because it was so devastating to my delicate inner flora. For those of us who are slowly rebuilding a population, the use of ACV might be misleading.

thanks!

Della Heywood

Taking ACV has made me constipated - contrary to other people's joyous feedback that it has cured this very ailment. I took note of one other person, Robin, who has had the same effect. ACV, generally, has been very beneficial for me except promoting constipation. Can anyone finally answer this question? Thanks, M.

I've started taking ACV 2 days ago (started with 1 teaspoon with 8 oz. of water) and thought it was too "acidic" for me, so I got baking soda yesterday and added 1/16 teaspoon into the water (since I only put 1 teaspoon of ACV). It tasted better but I started to have lots of breakouts near my mouth & on my chin and I also have bleeding gum, I'm not sure if this is normal, but lately I'm pretty stressed out so the breakouts seem to be related to my hormones since they are near my mouth. But my thinking is that the ACV seems to have triggered the problem. So far I don't have the constipation as others described, but my stomach feels a bit weird after drinking it.

I also used ACV on my scalp (for dandruff) face(acne) and legs (dry skin), it does help the dandruff a bit, but after 2 days of using it, my scalp seems to be a bit itchy. For face, I used 50/50 water and ACV, seems to work great,, made the skin smoother, but I still have the breakouts (as mentioned, I'm not sure if it's my stress or the ACV that I took internally -_-"). For the dry skin on legs, it seems to help a bit on KP/ingrown hair, i'm looking forward to apply it tonight to see if it gets better tmw). However the skin goes back to normal (which is to me, still pretty dry) the next morning, but it did help a bit on the dry skin. Anyone has any advice?

Also, is it even ok to start diff. remedies at the same time, or should I stick to one at a time? I'm afraid things that works for one thing might worsen the others... ?

We have been taking apple cider vinegar (without adding honey) for a month or two now. We reduced our twice daily two tablespoon dosage to a twice daily one tablespoon dosage because my boyfriend noticed more pronounced headaches after he took it. He still notices headaches and feels a little queasy afterward. Should we reduce the dosage or dilute it with something? Can the apple cider vinegar be causing these symptoms? (We started it to cleanse our systems, and to help lessen his headaches.) Thanks.

i started to take the ACV in the morning and afternoon for my diabetes. and it really worked well (sometimes too well) to lower my blood sugar. also my head felt clearer and i just felt good. BUT - for some reason it gave me very bad gas and bloating. i tried various ways of taking it - with BS and without - before a meal, during, afterwards, to no avail - for the entire 2 weeks i tried it i had a very bloated tummy and gas so bad i could not sleep. also i was using it on my skin. during this time i developed a lot of huge pimples and noticed that i was getting a yellowish tint to my skin. so i stopped taking the ACV and it took several days for the gas and bloating to go away. now i am using the lime juice remedy without any gas or side effects. oh well, i really liked the idea of the ACV - but for some reason my body doesn't like it.
Dianna

I have read on a website called DHerbs.com that Eczema is caused by over growth of Candia and parasites. If one changes their diet Eczema can be cured. Perfume is not good if you suffer from eczema, it causes break outs as well. ACV helps to cure it, however its a longer process if you are still eating red meats and breads.

ACV everyday!!

Heartburn can be caused by both a lack of OR or an excess of acid in the stomach. Using the ACV has lead to the latter. Add baking soda to the ACV before drinking it to lower the acidity, and it should not cause heartburn.

Maybe you are just detoxing. My guess is that your body can't purge toxins fast enough for whatever reason, so it's using your skin to get rid of them.

I would press on with the ACV, but maybe cut the amount by half until the problem is gone. Just pace the detox slower and be gentle with your body. It's doing you a favor. Try to work with it, unless it becomes too uncomfortable.

Also, drink lots of water and add extra fiber to your diet.

Started on acv since 29 July for constipation.Taking 1 tbsp early morning on empty stomach. It does cure my constipation but after 2 days taking acv, I found rashes appearing on both my arms at the joints. Today I can see rashes appearing around my chest. Like to know is this normal or am I allergic to acv.

Hi, I want to try using ACV. Is a table spoon mixed with a glass of water enough if I take it once a day? I do not want to drain my body of the good nutrients. I have fibroids and I take natural nutients for my condition. When I do not take those my fibroids cause me problems so I do not want to rid my body of those helpful nutrients. I do want the health benefits from using ACV. Is there a safe balance?

I used apple cider vinegar for about 3 months, yes it does help in weight loss, I lost 45 pounds. Did excercise also. Only serious negative thing was that my blood work showed that I was seriously anemic, so I stopped the vinegar and now I am fine. I guess it washed nutrients as well.

I was taking 1 TBS. acv every morning followed by water. I lost weight which I was happy about, but after a few weeks of taking this I started breaking out in hives!! I was taking acv to relieve symptoms of IBS (which it helped tremendously) but now have been off of it a month and still have bouts of hives?! Could it be the acv?

Leslie:
Most eczema, not all, are often a result of a fungus or mycobacterium that exists along the skin or some minute amounts leading to eczema. The condition is often metabolic acidosis which initiates the eczema, but at the same time the ACV have certain properties which may raise the immune system through its malic acid and mineral content found in the ACV. For example the malic acid is converted into malates which is used by the Krebs cycle giving more energy to the cells. If the energy to the cells is increased, the immunity is increased in the long term. The problem about ACV is it's acid content which does kill the fungus and mycobacterium by the actions of malates or organic components that leads to longer term alkalization. But since the body has insufficient bicarbonates to neutralize the acidity, the mycobacterium may cause greater growth when the body is temporarily acid in the short term, and hence the eczema. This eczema is the result of temporary metabolic acidosis.

There is a way to prevent side effects from ACV use by what chemist use to buffer the acidity to make it more alkaline in many consumer products and medicine we used. One of the simplest buffer is the baking soda, which raises the pH of the Apple Cider vinegar to a close 7 or 7.5 pH, which is closer to biologically active pH that doesn't support short term mycobacterium growth. Mycobacterium, fungus, and other usually flourishes in a more acidic pH. Therefore, this remedy was resolved mostly by taking 2 tablespoons of Apple Cider vinegar plus at least 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda in 1/2 or preferably 1 glass of water. Taken usually three times a day. However, if the conditions of eczema is present, usually I will raise the baking soda remedy from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda plus 2 tablespoons of ACV in 1 full glass of water taken at least twice a day instead.

However, I am not dealing with the fundamentals here. I have a bad history of eczema myself. In an attempt to understand the basic cause of eczema just for me I decided to take an experiment with a carbicarb remedy. The carbicarb remedy used by me is 1/4 teaspoon of sodium carbonate (washing soda...a precursor of baking soda) plus 1/4 teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) in one full glass of water taken twice or three times a day will stop the eczema within a matter of an hour at most. For me it stopped within a couple of minutes. Mycobacterium, fungs and bacterium won't generally grow whenever the body's pH is raised to an alkaline level. It is this reason why the Ocean's water is so sterile: salinity and alkalinity. The alkalinity of Ocean's water is 8.

As to where ACV comes in is that the malic acid raises the energy level of cells raising the immunity of the cells at the same time - the cells simply have more energy to fend off invading organisms. There may be other elements found in ACV, such as acetate, which has limited antifungal.

The problem about temporary eczema may go away with ACV use, but in some cases eczema may be persistent too. The issue appears that some people may have limited ability to neutralize the acidity from the ACV using the body's available bicarbonates to neutralized them and hence why baking soda was added to put less pressure on the body to come up with the bicarbonate currency to make it biologically compatible with the body's pH of 7.35. So some cases eczema may persists and some may get better, but if baking soda was added immediately before use, eczema wouldn't flare up, generally speaking.

Am I missing any other factors on eczema besides alkalization and immunity issues? One other additional fact is most people's diet, with industrialized farming practices, has caused humans, cats, dogs, cows, chickens, and pigs to have low level of omega 3. Low level of omega 3 didn't happen in humans first. It happened in farm animals. Chickens source of food were originally high in omega 3, if raise in the wild, but with modern methods, the omega 6 to omega 3 has risen lowering greatly omega 3. This happens in cows in U.S. as farming practices changed from grass fed to grain fed to economize. When we do that omega 3 goes precipitously down.

Omega 3 is responsible for immune conditions and anti-inflammatory properties and reduction in eczema. So much of the problems in the benefits of raw food of Pottinger Cats, and the eating of animal fats from Weston A. Price is useless since the animals we eat today (unlike Weaton A. Price's time) is that the omega 3 has droped precipitiously. So what we have now in U.S. is an Omega 6 to Omega 3 of 20: 1 instead of an ideal 4:1 or 1: 1 omega 3 to omega 6 ratios. Currently the country that has the highest known omega 3 is Japan at 4: 1 or Omega 6 to Omega 3. Fish oil is the supplements I would very likely take for my eczema besides just the baking soda be added to the apple cider vinegar.

However in a more severe cases of eczema I used a stronger alkalization method, which is commonly called the carbicarb remedy as mentioned already, which causes the eczema to go away in a matter of hours. As a hint to further reduction the use of dechlorinator of sodium thiosulfate added to drinking water may further help (chlorines and fluorine are pro-inflammatory) while sodium thiosulfate will at least neutralize the chlorine. A simpler way to remove chlorine is to add a couple of drops of 3% H2O2 per glass of water, such as 2-3 drops, which will neutralize the chlorine.

If there is anything i forget about the other cause of eczema, its that certain foods, such as wheat products, cheese tomatoes, aspartame, potatoes, peanuts, sugar, fruit juices (contains fructose), yeast product, peppermint in toothpastes, and other fermented products are some of the common causes of eczema due to the mycotoxin and fungus content found in these products. Interestingly the reason why antibiotics causes eczema is it is acid forming, raises free heavy metals, and has mycotoxins and fungus. Antibiotics is usually made from fungus, and hence it's no surprise that it causes eczema too. Meats now cause eczema because it raises the body's omega 6 as omega 3 is now reducing. So

I greatly doubt if unethical industrialized farming practices using GMO cows, pigs, chickens raised on grains, cannibalism and steroids injection is going to have much positive impact on practitioners of raw food diet, paleolithic diet, Atkins diet, eat right for your blood type diet, or any other similar diets fads if the foods we are now eating are toxic. The issue that pervades any dietary practice is to avoid bad industrialized farming practices (U.S. may be the worse), which is a lot simpler theory I proposed than the other guru diet fads. Much of my eczema comes from bad farming practices by corporate world. Now we have babies, dogs and cats to worry about because they eat from the same source of food which comes from processed foods and using the same bad farming practices. Perhaps this is where some of the eczema is coming from.

Ted

Hi! About two weeks ago I started taking acv. I take 1 tbsp in the morning, again at noon, and then again before bed (totaling 3 tbsps a day). I first drink several gulps of water, then take the acv like a shot, and follow with at least 8 oz of water. I've suffered from seasonal and indoor allergies since I was a child and about 4 days after starting the acv I had a horrible allery attack that lasted a little over 24 hrs. After the attack my right ear clogged up (I had been having problems with it for weeks) for 12 hrs or so. Then 5 days ago I had an eczema outbreak. At first it began on my chest, underarms, sides of and under my breasts. That cleared up and then it appeared on my wrists, knees, ankles, inner thighs, and the backs of my thighs. My eczema has always occured only on my hands and started after the birth of my son, it was severe for several years but then cleared up and has only popped up mildly since. The only other time I've had eczema on the rest of my body was last November after learning my mom had cancer and it cleared up after about three days. Anyhow since the allergy attack and clogged ear I haven't had any more problems and with the exception of the eczema I have felt great.

My question is could the acv be the reason I've had these symptoms and is it because it's flushing all the toxins from my body? Or could I be having some type of allergic reaction? The eczema is clearing up completely and I suspect will be gone in a day or so and I haven't sneezed once since the allergy attack a week ago. I'm really hoping this is just the course the acv can take you on, feeling worse before feeling better. I've also bathed in acv several times, maybe I over did it? Lastly I started taking filtered acv first because it was all I could find but for the last four days I've taken organic raw acv with the mother that I found at a health food store.

Sorry to be so long winded, I just wanted to be as detailed as possible! Thanks in advance for any feedback!

I take a daily concoction of 1 tsp ACV, 4 ounces of unsweetened cranberry juice, 12 ounces of water, and half of a squeezed lemon. It's part of an eating plan and it's said to help cleanse the liver. All I know about it after seven days is that I feel generally better. I am prone to UTI's so the cranberry is definitely helping, and I've lost 4 pounds in eight days. (Of course, I'm following a prescribed plan of eating all natural foods and eating every three hours). It's a bitter drink, but I'm still drinking it!

In response to the person who got nauseaus after trying apple cider vinegar. I had a similiar result when I started having 1/2 lemon with honey and water every morning on an empty stomach. The problem was, I was also taking my multivitamin. My guess is the lemon was disolving my multivitamin and I was getting my daily dose immediately. As soon as I stopped taking my multivitamin with the lemon juice, I was fine. Now I just wait and take my vitamin after I've eaten my breakfast a little later.

I think you are using the acv too much. 4 x a day is a little excessive, you prob broke out in all your "sickness" because your body is still detoxing. Maybe trying 1 or 2 times a day at 1 or 2 tsps each time. Remember when you do ANY DETOX you will get WORSE before you get better. But also check to see if you have an allergy to acv.

Hi there, I wouldn't go so far as to say that you are abnormal. You just might be allergic or have an intolerance to something in the apple cider. Does eating apples or drinking apple juice make you sick? If not, it probably isn't that. Was this apple cider you drank or apple cider vinegar and did you dilute it with water or juice before drinking it, if it was AC vinegar?

I can see it making you nauseous if you began taking more than a tiny sip of pure AC vinegar, not being used to it. You might try again, but diluting it first, but only if you have no problem with eating apples or drinking apple juice.

After trying my first drink of apple cider, I almost became nausious. I broke out in a cold sweat, and had to lay down and rest for awhile.
Am I abnormal? Dick

MAYBE - INSOMNIA to the writer who wanted to know if ACV was responsible for insomnia, I would definitely say YES. I have had that same experience, with ACV, lemon, limes other citrus fruit grapes and cheese. The reason being these items contribute to anemia in certain persons. I have a genetic anemic situation.

Actually Vitamin C and garlic should be added to that watch list for persons with anemia. These items should be taken in very small doses and not regularly everyday.

In any case it is a mistake to take any one item every day over years, its always good to switch things around.
So i would say take drops of ACV and do it with the bicarbonate, but limit it to every two days or so. For the High blood pressure, i find magnesium helps even a small amt of epsom salts daily is a substitute for the ACV if one cannot tolerate that.

I have been bathing in ACV for two days now and have noticed that little bumps between my lower butt and thighs are getting worse, like filling with puss (yuck) and everytime I do it I feel like I am getting a cold and my lungs feel how they do when you have cold in them and my nose feels like it wants to stop up and I sneeze I mean it feel like an instant cold, I am using regular acv from the drugstore because it is what I have on hand, I have also on the second day added baking soda. the bumps started coming when I was body brushing
oh the cold is gone by morning

Try unfiltered, organic, ACV (health food stores) ....you'll get a deliciously flavoured ACV that is pure and realiably 5% in acidity....the "knock-offs" are almost always impure and far more acidic.....I dilute 1- TBS ACV w/4oz. H20 & a pinch or two of baking soda (5-days on 2-days off)....or 2-TBS. w/8oz. H20 & 3 or four pinches of baking soda (4-days on 3-days off)...If you try this, start with the lower dose ...I think you'll thrive & find that previous problems wree caused by over-dosing,too much acidity and/or under buffering w/soda...(I've come to actually crave the ACV on off days, due to it's delicious taste w/o the multitude of health benefits it offers ...Good luck!

I love taking ACV, however one day I was going to shortcut. So I drank a big tablespoon down without dilution. this made my throat swell up to the point I couldn't breathe. Being at home by myself I quickly got the spray nozzle and started spraying out my mouth and throat. I thought I was goig to die. But spraying the water into to the mouth did the trick. After I could actually swallow again I gulped down water to further dilute it.

my favorite sinus remedy is a neti pot, you can find them at health food stores. but 3 tbs a day sounds like a lot