Apple Cider Vinegar Side Effects

I also become very drowsy after taking ACV. Not the other symptoms, but no one has responded? Everyone else has so much energy?

You must also remember Heinz ACV is not the same as Organic Apple Cider Vinegar with the Mother. It will not produce the same effects.

For Andy from St. Paul, Mn: Noticed you are on Armour Thyroid and Cortef. I was on Armour (since 2004) until they changed the formula, am now working well with Nature-throid. How long have you been on the Armour? I started on Cortef in 2004, am now on the generic for Cortef, Hydrocortisone for my adrenals. You're the first person I've come across also on Cortef. Re. thyroid medication and vinegar, I read it's recommended to give at least a 4-hour window between taking thyroid med and ACV. ACV seems to interfere with thyroid med absorption. This would also apply to iron supplements. I mention this info only because I don't know when you take your thyroid med, cortef and ACV, and wondering if your headaches are related. The Cortef works with the thyroid med according to my dr. I haven't started using the ACV to improve my health, am hesitant, but will start with a little in water 2/3 times daily and work up slowly as I study more info. I also read thyroid med shouldn't be taken with any calcium in supplement or food form; allowing a 2-hour window is sufficient per my dr. It feels like it's working. My only problem of concern to me is that I'm not absorbing Vitamin D though I take it with calcium. It hovered at 32, so I started using Dr. Mercola's liquid Vit. D, and it plummeted to 21, so I'm working to improve it considerably. Good luck, wish you well as with everyone here. All the info here is amazing and I am glad to be here. Lyn

Thank you for your reply, Lyn. I have been on Armour for about 2.5 years and Cortef for 5 months. Per my doctor and pharmacist's recommendations, I take Armour first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. I wait about an hour and then eat breakfast. During or after breakfast, I take the Cortef. The last time I tried ACV and had the severe headache, I sipped on the ACV/water mix throughout the day. I can't remember if I drank any before taking the meds. I am going to dilute it way down and try again and will avoid drinking it within a couple of hours of taking the meds. Thank you so much.

Lyn, is it o.k. to take the acv with taking thyroid meds, vit.d & calcium? I take these & I want to try this but don't know if I should. Thanks, Pat

Taking Calcium and/or iron supplements along with thyroid meds like Synthroid or Levoxyl will interfere with the absorption of the T4. Doctors recommend taking these two minerals separately, at least 4 or 5 hours between doses. Also, it is suggested taking calcium and iron separately.

I'm very interested in your post. I've been drinking 2tsp ACV in a tall glass of water for two 1/2 weeks. The execption being the weekends. Every day I drink it I get a headache...which is why I'm reading these posts, trying to get a handle on it. I'm also HypoThyroid & take dessicated thyroid (same main ingredients as Armour & Naturethroid). Do you think there is a connection between Thyroid, ACV and Headaches? In some ways I'm happy with the ACV but I can't deal with daily headaches. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on the situation.

Hi All. I'm also hypothyroid. Taking synthroid for YEARS. Have tried almost all of them (thyrolar worked until they changed formulation about 6 years ago). Anyway, I will try Armour or dessicated since most of you are on it. As for ACV: had used a few times with no problems. Then I mixed it with distilled water trying to do a 2 day fast. The headache was so severe that nothing including eating or migraine med worked for it. Awoke with headache again next day but did eat all during the day. The ACV made me feel like I had the flu and I was itchy - detoxing me???

By day three, however, I was fine. I have been using the mixture (although not always with distilled water) and am not having any more symptoms. I'm waiting to see the benefits -been on this daily for a week. My Grandma swore by ACV, lived to 96 years and hadn't been to a doctor in over 40 years. I lost about 4 pounds the first two days but now that seems to have stopped and I have the usual bloated look. That's dissapointing because I am taking ACV to lose weight as well as general good health.

Headaches with ACV are due to an excess of tyramine in the body. Fermented vinegars like ACV are reasonably high in tyramine. Google "tyramine foods" for more info.

Yes, when I first started using ACV, I took it too late in the day and couldn't sleep. It really can boost your energy level. I would steer clear of bed time. You'll have to experiment, but I would guess maybe 4-6 hours before bed should be your last dose. I can only speak from my own experience, I'd like to hear what others have to say. Hope this helps.

Yes, I had the same problem after taking it a couple hours before bed time. Is there anyway we can reverse this? Maybe by taking it with baking soda?

The same thing happens to me. I'm confused and trying to find answers.

I just started acv about 3 weeks ago and so far I have not had any bad side affects of any kind accept one! When I take a shot with anything accept water I seem to regret it and become very nauseus for about 5 minutes but that is all and I really think that is simply my stomach saying don't do that. Also I am doing it the hard way or as some people may think. I just use the get over it method and take a full one oz shot and follow it with a glass of water, my wife hates everything and she actually is taking it every day along with one other member of the family and if she is willing to take it then it has to be working for her too.

I have much more energy and my blood pressure has come down, also my blood sugars are down and much more stable.

My biggest concern is the affect it may have on my stomach but my regular doctor said go for it.

I also take the other things like fish oil and co q 10 since I have had heart bypass and just before I started using the acv I was told I had another blockage and they are not cutting me up again so I started the chealation therapy and strange enough I found out that Chealation therapy is ACV therapy (go read the ingredients) You will be shocked and by the way I feel great now and my regular doctor say's he doubts a blockage anymore and all my blood tests are better than ever expected...

I will keep using this I am sure and I will continue till something bad happens but I doubt it will.

Please excuse my bad spelling Thanks...

The reason you may be experiencing a stomache ache after taking ACV is because your body is already producing enough stomach acid. Those of us who don't produce enough don't experience the burning, on the contrary, it stops the burning and some of the gas! Best of luck on that one.

Hello Corinna from London,

As the previous reply stated, you may be producing too much stomach acid with (or without) ACV.

You may also have (or are on the way to) stomach ulcers. Excessive stomach acid production is always a precursor to stomach ulcers.

In either case, you might try 1 tsp. of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (sodium bicarbonate) with 4-8 oz. warm water 5-10 minutes before taking ACV. This should help reduce the pH in your stomach before taking ACV (which is acidic).

The only downside to combining ACV with baking soda that you may temperarily produce gas (belching). This should pass in a few minutes.

If this doesn't help, you should see your doctor as soon as possible! Stomach ulcers (or high stomach acid production) can be a symptom of a serious health condition.

Regards,
Tony B

The pain may be due to the bacteria known as H. Pylori which INCREASES stomach acid, and is the leading cause of ulcers and gastritis! Have your doctor test you for it if you can. If you have it, instead of taking antibiotics, there's a natural remedy for eliminating H. Pylori- garlic! Should be whole garlic cloves- one clove a day should do it. Chew it thoroughly and swallow. If this grosses you out, follow it with a small (4 oz) glass of water. I was successful at ridding myself of H. Pylori by ingesting 2 grams of garlic (one clove at a time) for about 4 days- it may take longer or not.

Also, for your ACV mix, you may want to try adding about 1 teaspoon of baking soda (aluminum free of course) with the raw vinegar (_____'s or any other raw organic ACV) to neutralize the acidity at first and mix it with 16 oz of water and sip on it all day instead of drinking it all at once. It's best to experiment to see which works best. Sometimes taking the ACV straight up is just too strong, so diluting it and adding a neutralizer will help with the process. Hope this helps.

It's actually 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per 2 tablespoons of AVC with 16 oz of water (or 1 teaspoon of baking soda per 1/2 cup of ACV). If you're just doing 2 teaspoons of ACV, then you really shouldn't have any issues unless you actually have H. Pylori as described above. If this doesn't work, use more water and less ACV throughout the day without baking soda. I use spring water, not filtered or distilled; seems to work the best :D Hope this helps.

Yes Apple Cider Vinegar can certainly thin your blood. I am on Warferin 2 1/2mg per day for Atril Fibrillation with a target INR of 2.5 but as long as I am in the range between 2 to 3 I'm ok. My usual reading was 2.1 until I took Cider Vinegar when it went up to 2.9. This is thinner than 2.1. I think this can be a good thing as my blood pressure also came down and I don't have any adverse effects. My INR is monitored by the hospital about once a month. Hope this helps.

Regards,
Noels

hi!

im a patient of DVT and PE (twice) and im on blood thinners to maintain an adequate INR value. as most patients will know that green vegetable can lower the INR value due to the Vitamin K content in them but ACV does the same.

im an ardent fan of ACV since 1994 and have been using it regularly but have had to stop using it after getting DVT. i have monitored my blood INR before and after having acv many a times and every time just after having it for 4 days my blood INR dropped to 1.2 when the i should be between 2 - 3.

in other words avc tends to clot the blood so dvt, pe and all other patients PLEASE DO NOT HAVE ACV while on blood thinning medication.

im bitterly missing acv since i know how wonderful it is for so many problems.
hope this helps

Now I am really confused. someone says it thins blood, another says it clots blood????????? Can I get some help from Ted on this one?

I have been taking ACV for Weight loss for about 2 weeks now. Just read your post about the Blood Thinning side effect of ACV. I wonder if it is safe for me to continue. I dont have any blood pressure problem. Pls advise.

Had the same thing happened to me. And I am in menopause.

Yeah, had this happen to me too. Does anybody have any suggestions??

I am also in menopause. I started using it a year ago because I read it was a toxin cleanser because I had fibroids. I was taking it in the day and at night. I did not know it was a blood thinner. I guess that explains why I was bleeding heavier than ever. I don't think I will continue to use it. I will just find something over the counter for fibroids at Walmart. I also have experienced weight loss when I go to the doctor. I sure don't need to lose weight. I knew it had a lot of good effects but I see it has side effects as well. Just be careful how much you take. I diluted mine in alot of water.

A pimple takes 3 weeks to appear through the skin, so what is happening is that ACV is getting rid of all the blemishes that are already under the skin, not causing them. If this was happening 6 weeks after starting ACV I'd question it, but blemishes always appear worse when something is working, because it's ridding your skin of what is already there.

Hi Janie,

Perhaps, you have parasites and the acv and lemon disturbed them which is what all the sudden itching was about. I know it can be used to rid parasites. As for raw, organic honey, there are so many good benefits to it. It might be worth it to see if that is the case and consider getting rid of them. Detoxing is not always a very pleasant experience!

Dear Janie D.

I never respond or write in forums, chat rooms or to emails for that matter, but yours really got the better of me. You mention that you read that Honey is bad for you or, that at least it's bad affects out weigh it's benefits. That can't be right. Are you sure that it isn't instead, that you don't like honey? You see I have always liked honey even though my family did not use it when I was growing up. We were always a straight white sugar family. My mother and sister have suffered horrible health since their mid to late twenties. I have always been a bit of a health nut and was the one in the family more inclined to read up on healthy alternatives and then gravitate towards them. Such as whole wheat over white bread and flax ground up in my oatmeal instead of box cerial, or juice and tea instead of soda and koolaid, or natural peanut butter over the crappy fake stuff, etc. But still even after I left home I did not really buy much honey because it was expensive and less convienient than sugar, also I was not really sure how to use it in all the same ways as regular sugar. But in my mid twenties I became addicted to it's use in my hot beverages and also as a wonderful combination with peanut butter on bread or bananas. Then in my early mid thirties I moved to the country and decided to try raising honey-bees. As you can imagine, I began to read alot about honey and it's benefits to health, both real and imagined. I read about royal jelly and bee pollin and mead. I read about burn clinics and how honey is being used more today in treating burn victoms than it was fifty years ago because science has not been able to improve on it's hydroscopic and anti-bacterial properties. It apparently is one of the best wound mediums for the regrowth of human tissue. Honey it turns out is not "just" sugar. There are many other constituent nutrients in sugar and it metabolizes differently from sugar. Honey is not processed if your buying natural, raw, organic, or local honey. I know every bee keeper in my politacally conservative area of Texas and none of them use chemicals or heat their honey or pastuerize. There are no additives or colors or flavor enhancers and unlike sugar it is not bleached. Todays folks are lucky to get "real" sugar since everything is sweetened in this country with corn syrup which according to my research is much worse for human long term health than is granulated cane or beet sugar. So my point here is simply this! I have spent hundreds of hours searching the net and books and magazines on the subject of health and honey and can't recall a single authoritative article doubting the numerous benefits of Honey. I find it difficult to believe that you did some reading on the subject, only to find that it is not all that good for you. I would be greatly interested to know your source material. I would like to remind every one that honey is one of the oldest known foods consumed by humans. And that since the 1500s honey has been a food source found in nearly every region of the Earth. I can think of no food that has been subject to as much scrutiny and bonafide medical research as is honey. With the exception of feeding honey to infants under one year of age, I have never read deleterious reports on honey and human health but only the numerous benefits.

One classic book on the subject is the medical Doctor Bodog F. Beck's "Honey and Health". This particular book is 250 pages of factual info on honey and health with some of the writings being borrowed from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But I am a firm believer that proof is in seeing. What I have seen over the last twenty-five years is that those people who consume refined sugar and sodas and high fructose corn sweetened products have poor health at best and disease at worst. Those people I have known for 25 years or more who eat honey, molases, sorghum etc, seem to be in wonderful health with no use of pharmacueticals and no excess weight. Yes I realise that whole health is related more to a total life style change and a lifetime habit of health, but I also know that, that habit is more likely to start with the simple choices one makes such as in choice of sweeteners. Did you know that an article printed in Mens Health magazine a few years ago stated that a recent medical study in the middle east indicated that blood sugar levels in subjects fed honey actually decreased. The article was talking about the possible eventual use of honey for diabetic patients.

I apoligize to everyone for being preachy. And no I do not sell honey or make a living from it in any way, but I do come from a family that struggles with weight issues and poor health and know that I eat a pint of raw honey every week to two weeks and am five feet elevin and weigh 165 pounds and at 44 years of age have never had a prescription filled or spent a day in a hospital and can out run my nephews even though I don't work out, or work at it. I also don't have cavities.

I do want to state that it is possible you were having a reaction to your honey with the itching you described. I'm not denying that possibility. The plants visited in the area by the bees that produced the honey you ate might be something you are very allergic too. Switching to another honey from another area, or harvested at a differnt time of year might do the trick. Otherwise you might have a test done to get to the bottom of what causes such a reaction.

Dear Richard, You shouldn't apologize- you have very good points. I happen to agree and know that honey, bee pollen and royal jelly are gifts to this planet. Honey is a very powerful food and is full of enzymes which help us tremendously. Thanks for your input and perhaps your info will help someone out there. Sincerely, Lisa

Hi Richard... You can read the article about "Honey" at http:/healthandlight.com/TheMasterCleanse.pdf Look on page 11. It comes from a book on "The Master Cleanse". after reading this, I am a little leary about eating any more honey!

Janie: never take one source's word for anything (that includes here - and me!). The PDF you linked to has the line "It [honey] is deficient in calcium and has many detrimental effects on the human being". It should take far more than one vague, unsubstantiated statement to make up your mind on something. Exactly what are these "many detrimental effects"? And where is the evidence of them?

Honey has been used for thousands of years and its uses and benefits have been extensively documented across a number of cultures. Ayurveda uses honey in some remedies. Just for the sake of argument, if I were to take just one bit of information to go on as you did, that would do it for me, because a lot of what is used in Ayurveda is now being proven to do just what that 5,000 years old system of medicine claims.

The PDF goes on to say "According to one authority..." What authority? Why don't they name them? Where are the references that any legitimate, responsible writer would include? Many writers are skilled at sneaking this kind of fudging in to convey the impression that they are authoritative and have some sort of backing for their statements. I have been finding this to be particularly true in the "alternative" health field, which is quite sad since it tarnishes this valuable field which already faces enough battles. Never forget that critical thinking is a NECESSITY, especially when it comes to taking health recommendations from any source. Examine all, research all, question all.

Richard, you said "I never respond or write in forums, chat rooms or to emails for that matter..." I hope you will reconsider as I found your post very interesting. You have contributions to make - don't be afraid to jump in and make them :)

I have never read a more bias and intentionaly manipulative article/book on "Honey" and its effects then the one I say in the book mentioned by Janie D. For starters the book starts by saying " Honey must not be used at any time internally."(page 11) what does he realy mean by "internally" ??!! notice also, he did not say consumed. He is trying to avoid a big law suit for misleading the readers. "Internally" here refers to the use of honey in a syringe or in an operational dressing, since it has not been pasturized, which of course is true of any such natural product. You get the gist of it .... etc.

I actually LOVE eating honey and had been eating it throughout the years (in place of sugar) and never, ever had any problems with eating it. It was always regular store bought pure honey that I had been eating (made in the area at local bee farms). About four months ago I switched my brand after reading that "organic" honey would be better for you. I was eating it practically every day (no differant that how/when I ate the "pure" honey).I had it with a rice cake, had it on my oatmeal, had it with peanut butter. I gradually started to develope severe itching everywhere on my body, I try to listen to my body, and tried to think of things that I had recently done differantly that may be causing this problem (it came down to my laundry soap, my body scrub and the organic honey). Well, it got to the (organic) honey and after eliminating it from my food diet, my itching started to disappear. I now have no more itching. I did go back to eating it again to see if I would have a reaction and it did.

With-in two days of eating the (organic) honey, I started itching... again. Do you think I might be allergic to the organic as apposed to the pure honey and maybe the location of the honey has something to do with it, since I had been eating locally grown pure honey all these years and then switched to organic (although both come from the state of Illinois) ? I did try eating the "pure" honey again and so far (it's been three days since I ate the pure honey)and I have no problem with itching. Our bodies are all differant and maybe with mine, I have built up a tollerance to eating the pure honey only. I am not disputing that honey could be bad,as I love honey, but I am wondering why now, my body is reacting to it with the itching. This is why I am on a quest to research honey and read everything I know about it. Is there something in my body that is not able to handle the "organic" type of honey compared to the "pure" honey, and what/why? Thank you for your input. Janie D.

YOU KNOW ORGANIC MEANS THAT THE GROWER CANOT PUT ANYTHING DOWN TO KILL A PEST. THUS, IT COULD BE THAT THAT PARTICULAR HONEY IS INFECTED WITH SOMETHING. IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO SEE IF ANOTHER BRAND OF ORGANIC HONEY DID THE SAMETHING. OR IF THE HONEY COULD BE TESTED TO SEE WHAT IS IN IT. IN OTHER WORDS ARE THERE ANY TOXINS IN IT OR DOES ANYTHING GROW WHEN SOME OF THE HONEY IS PLACED ON A STERILE PETRIE DISH. I DON'T KNOW HOW THEY TREAT REGULAR HONEY. IS IT PASTERIZED?

Itching may come from yeast infection caused by ACV not Honey (especially in hot areas under arms between legs).